1. Businesses and Bloggers Connected at
Blogapalooza Manila Networking Event
When In Manila, the bridge that unites 50 businesses to 150 bloggers happens only here
at Blogapalooza!
Blogapalooza aims to connect big and small businesses to the online community. Blogapalooza send
invites to influential bloggers of different genres, social/media influence-rs and businesses that have
something cool to offer, put them all in a room and VOILA! The connection starts there!
Businesses will have to present their products/services in the most unique way they can, preferably
without slides to bring out the creativity within them. A maximum of 5 minutesper presenter is allotted.
Bloggers on the other hand, get to see, feel or even experiencethe
products/services/others FIRSTHAND. They also receive promotional items/freebiesfrom the
presenters. This way, they are free to blog about the experience, the event, the details of the businesses.
Brilliant and simple isn’t it?

2. I was one of the lucky people to be able to witness the launch of this awaited event
organized by Vince Golangco, founder of WhenInManila himself, on September 17,
2011.
As early as 6am, Vince, together with some staff were already at the back-doors of Fully
Booked at Bonifacio High Street, unloading the repacked “freebie/loot bag” for the
expected 150 bloggers and getting the place ready for the crowds.
Located at the 5th floor of Fully Booked, I had the
chance to help out and carry these loot bags up to
Fully Booked’s Top Shelf function room , and let me
tell you that those loot bags were the biggest I’ve
EVER SEEN!
Hannah Villasis of Flair Candy, Cheryl Golangco,
the Little Running Teacher and Philippe Villareal
of Yajapa were also there to help out.
The function room was set up with about 10
tables for the business booths near the entrance of
the room.
The whole function room had a FREE wi-fiaccess
courtesy of some friends of When In Manila.

3. Early birds were Easy Pha-Max Wheat grass,
Unilever’s Lipton Iced Tea
and Shopinas.com.

4. Right next to the registration and right when you enter the Fully Booked function room,
you’ll immediately see the giant photo-wall. The photo-wall was very personalized in that
all the bloggers’ URL addresses, of the 150 bloggers, were included.

5. The Registration was located just
in front of the elevator. Pre-
printed name tagsnumbered
accordingly was already prepared
to facilitate faster registration.
The first 50 bloggers to register
got to choose additional items
like shirts and water
bottles fromAquabest, umbrellas
from HTC, notebooks, pens and
others from some business
presenters. PLUS, they get to
have their numbers included for
the raffle TWICE! The name tags
also entitles the bearer to a 10%
discount for the day at Fully
Booked, BGC.
From the blank space, chairs were
arranged in 10′s to avoid
overcrowding. At the right side the
sound system/media booth was
located.
A projector screen was also set up
at the stage beside the
Blogapalooza backdrop.

6. At around 10 am, bloggers started arriving and signing up for registration. Some mingled
with other bloggers, took photos with the POLECATS and tried to spin and get up their
pole.

7. 12 pm, Lunch was served for all attendees courtesy of Italianis. Drinks were sponsored by
Aquabest and Healthy First. Bloggers started lining up at the counter to get their share of
food. Vince Golangco personally recommended the drink provided by Healthy
Firstspecifically the mango-lychee flavor. Too bad I was not able to try it because it ran out
of stock too fast. Although I had the chance to taste the carrot-strawberry and the carrot-
four seasons flavor, which I can say is yummy! :)

8. Exactly 1 pm, everyone was settled on their seats. Tweets with the hash
tag#Blogapalooza started to flood twitter. Thanks to Chef Tonio for the Free internet
access. Officially, Vince Golangco opened the event with a few reminders for everyone. He
also thanked the sponsors and the people who contributed to the event itself. After he called
the presenters up on stage one by one. Like what was agreed, 5 minutes was given to each
presenters, in that span of time, they should be able to get the attention of the audience
and convince them to write something for what they have presented.
Out of 50 businesses, 30 of them gave their presentations, from antivirus to gadgets to food
to quality Filipino products, surely the bloggers were enriched with new updates to blog
about. Here are the preview of presenters as seen on Blogapalooza.wheninmanila.com.

9. 1. Avira Antivirus
Avira antivirus has been on the market for 25 years now and has entered Philippines just
last year. They believe that without quality, no superiority can happen, thus encouraging
customers to avail of premium antivirus software instead of settling to free ones. They
campaign for intenet freedom and can only be acquired with premium software.

10. 2. Lay Bare
Lay Bare talked about the the advantages of waxing over shaving. They presented
drawings to make the audience see the difference, they surely had creative minds prepare
for their presentation.

11. 3. 360 Fitness Club
360 Fitness Club is circuit training facility that promotes faster and more effective means
of workout. Complete workout consists of 5 levels and is to be completed in a span of 30
minutes. Alternating 30-second workout and 30-second rest makes this workout effective.
During the break, we were able to roam around and mingle with other bloggers, I even saw
a familiar face. At first I was too shy to approach her but as our eyes caught each other, I
smiled and told her that I think I have seen her somewhere, but I can’t remember where
and when I saw her. Later did we realize that we come from the same school in college. She
was a nursing student, Marianne Maric, who is the beautiful face behind NYOQ. She
happens to be an active fashion blogger too.

12. As Vince called on the next presenters, bloggers hurriedly went back to their seats because
it was Sofitel‘s turn to present what they have. Being a known luxurious 5-star hotel in
the metro, surely they were able to catch the audiences’ attention easily.
12 more presenters like the new entrepreneurs of Freestyle Ballers, the sassy and sexy
photographers of Boudoir Dolls, the amazing Pocholo Gonzales of CreatiVoices and of
course, the big and tasty burgers of Size Matters were introduced on the second batch.
Snacks were served after the second batch courtesy of Size Matters ! I got the Hungarian
Sausage Burger, which really was tasty and BIG. Size does really matter! :)

13. I also had the chance to try Lipton Iced Tea’s Almond Calamansi Tea. It was soothingto
the throat and tasted really good.

14. The third and last batch of presenters started around 4 pm. It included the unique buying
and selling strategy of Shopinas.com, the relaxing and pampering services of Blue Day
Water Spa, with performance from the Polecats Manila, and the innovative technology
of HTC.
I personally got excited with the performance of Polecats since I have been wanting to
enroll to their classes.

16. The event closed as Vince Golango THANKED every blogger and business presenter who
contributed to the success of the event. Moreover, he promised everyone to stay tuned for
the next Blogapalooza sometime in November. He ended with the raffling of items from
the sponsors. BIG Bags from Tripologie, USB flash drives and speakers from Avira
Antivirus, and giftpacks from BlueDayWater Spa. Followed by the distribution of the loot
bags! Faces of bloggers overwhelmed upon receiving their lootbags! Congratulations to
raffle winners!

20. Truly Blogapalooza is something every blogger must look forward to. For it does not
only give them something to blog about, but also it is a great experience to meet with
fellow bloggers, possible business partners and maybe meet more friends! PLUS who
doesn’t wantFREEBIES? :)
So WHEN IN MANILA, you wouldn’t wanna miss BLOGAPALOOZA! It’s where people
getconnected :) Stay tuned for Blogapalooza 2 this November!
Source: http://www.wheninmanila.com/businesses-and-bloggers-connected-at-blogapalooza/