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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Blogathon 2012 - Better Luck Next Time !!

Blogathon Blogger's Meet
Blogathon Blogger's Meet

*** I have toned down parts of this post to pacify certain section of readers who found my take on the event,too aggressive and unkind . My views are of my own and the choice to agree or disagree is entirely yours. If your sentiments or sensibilities are ruffled please close the webpage and read something more interesting. You may or may not continue !!
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I replay that moment when i chanced upon this update from one of my fellow FB friends saying that he is going to this event. I wish i had never seen that and been there. Anyways , since i did spend my 5 hours i need to promote this event through my writing which i am doing dutifully !! So lets talk about all the components part by part.

1. Organizers -  A bunch of  ' Gen X or Y' ( watever) who come along to host a event forgetting what was it all about. The event in this case was a blogging event, so they planned everything around it and successfully making sure they don't touch the theme even remotely or tangentially. Dressing sense and personal styles were impeccable and very much suited for a Saturday evening fun. The event definitely had its oomph, glitz and glamour.Hope you guys shake a leg in the same pub tonight !! :)

2. The Choice of Venue - I ever never been invited to any public gathering organised at a pub. That chasm was broken today and i learnt that public gatherings can be even held at pubs and beers are also served at the very first meeting itself. Next time when i meet people for the first time i will make sure i drag them to a bar or a disco and have this heavenly influence on their senses. The interior designer of the pub gave so many serpentine curves to this place that looking beyond the next table was not at all humanly possible. The speakers were barely visible to 50% of the crowd. Anyways the choice of the venue justified a relaxed Saturday evening :) .

3. The Sponsors - How can i even think of not addressing these set of wise men who burnt their cash to sponsor this event and even more wise to come all over to witness that. This gentleman from an IT firm showed a ubiquitous power point and made sure he talks of everything that has no co relation to the event what so ever. His intent was to showcase the line of the products that his company is launching and finally he managed to do that by showing 2-3 gadgets one by one. Is the basic qualification to write adjudged by a gadget ??
Another interesting person spoke of his company that's pretty new in India and talked of  all 'Life made easy improvisations' that his company is into. Most interestingly he did throw a competition to speak on his product line and the best 3 selling pitches will get prizes.
There was another gentleman who represented an online e-commerce website. He spoke for some time , lost interest in what he was saying and ended up suggesting the crowd that please surf the website yourself. Thank you so very much !! Again none of them touched upon blogging as an activity or did draw any link between the set of audience and the product being promoted ;)

4. The Crowd - All young and happy faces who would have written their first blog last month and happily found Blogathon to invite them for beers and snacks for their stupendous feat. Dear Organizers !!Had you swapped this entire crowd with a set of people from any other background they would have equally enjoyed sans any contribution. More over we all were seated in hideouts that seeing or interacting with each other was a distant dream. :)

5. Finally the Prize Winners - Is it necessary to fix a prize and then demean the crowd by publicly accepting it in their presence ?? For instance one product company at the event was asking people to make videos and speak on their products. The best speaker or the presenter gets a prize. The girl making video was seen recording the last one just 2 minutes before the results were announced. I wonder what a great task it would have been for the judges to play 20-25 videos in a span of 100 seconds and announcing the winner. Hats off to you guys, you work faster than the super computers even !! :):)


NOW SOME SENSIBLE STUFF !!

Had blogging been all about funky gadgets ,cool dudes and gals , jazzy venues, marketing guys the literary world would have died down years back. When one blogs he or she gathers lots of courage to pen down his thoughts and vets it 100 times before putting it on public domain. It's about sensible and responsible writing and not pandering to reader base or monetization of the effort. There is a role that you play as a blogger in molding the opinions of the masses and / or guiding people who come to your webspace to seek information. Please respect the time and effort one spends reading your thoughts and if they are not sensible enough , you better not write it. The event was about blogging and promoting the common thread and connecting with common minds but no one took the pain to address that.

My last 2 cents !! Blogathon - To sum all i would say is, the soul of this event was 'blogging' . I wish you all had engaged the audience to understand what they write about? what are they passionate about? how they want to connect ? how can they use this platform as a medium in future ? Something should have come from your side  !!


6 comments:

Amlan said...

It was more of a Marketing seminar rather than a Bloggers meet. Had high expectations, all gone.

Viveksheel said...

Quite right bro !! I too had great expectations but nevertheless we must thank the guys for beers and snacks. At least the fun part of it was not left out :):)

Kashish Jain said...

Maybe the event was not that far good as expected but all the bloggers were there.. The motive of bloggers meet is to meet other bloggers,share ideas, learn new things and since everyone was there including pro-bloggers you could have used your time to the fullest instead of counting the drawbacks of the event.

Debanish Achom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kriti said...

Completely agree with Amlan and Debanish here. Perspective is imperative. I recall the last indiblogger meet... that's where we got in touch, Vivek, if you recall. Over 200 people were present and I can recall definitely more than 30 names, most of who I have bothered to stay in touch with.

This 'meet', on the other hand, was no 'meet'. If the idea was the promote their goods, perhaps they could've mentioned so in the invite. There were no formal introductions, nothing to break the ice. Out of the 130 people present there, I recall 4 names.


And Kashish, most of the bloggers I've met are people who are a tad socially inept. I understand that this is a generalisation, but it is one that has holds true for me. Sadly, the venue with its maze-like design wasn't helping. There was no free movement at all. Everywhere I went, I bumped either into furniture or into people.

One needs a conducive social environment to get acquainted with others, and you can't deny that the event failed in that.

Viveksheel said...

Before i reply to the comments i will enlighten you all that i have toned down certain parts of this post. This has been done to pacify certain section of readers who found my take too aggressive and unkind !!

#Kashish- Do we benchmark against the best or feel smug in what have we achieved? Please let me know your takeaways from the event !! If you feel your objectives were met its great.

#Debanish - I totally agree with you that the event focused on consumerism and used bloggers as a tool to promote that. Like you i don't what people telling me what to do with my passion ? I would rather write meaningful than not writing at all!! Hope to connect with you on a one to one level.

# Kriti - You capture in your comment what i have indirectly hinted at.People who write do that in isolation and they might not be socially active people. They need a platform a comfort to speak and express. The event failed to provide that. I waited to hear some amazing stories of the bloggers , a cause or a crusade but sadly no one was given a chance to speak. Buddy let's wait for our old IB to lift our spirits :):)