To everyone at the conference - make sure you introduce yourselves!
Shane made a fabulous presentation this morning .... we're meeting a bunch of really interesting bloggers, travel twippers, vloggers and speakers. There is talk of bringing in a camel for
The Travel Camel to tour Malaysia on 😊
[Edited: 2012 May 08 11:22 - Administrator D:219793 ]
Reply to this There is talk of bringing in a camel for The Travel Camel to tour Malaysia on 😊
It will be great, if you are not joking about this. Hopefully, they will film it too. 😊
They hope to be able to make this event annual.
Any chance of them introducing new ways for us to qualify our blogs, besides social networking, for next year? Some of us are keen travellers and bloggers, but highly unenthusiastic about social networking.
Maybe, they could ask a number of interview questions about what we think we can contribute to the conference.
Or, maybe how many days in total we have spent in Malaysia during our travels could be a qualifier.
Ther's a nice eco blog from a girl who volunteers when she travels. I was very interested in intuitive traveller's blog and voted for it.
So, you didn't vote for Ali, then! 😉
[Edited: 2012 May 08 11:11 - Mell:49612 ]
Reply to this I was lucky enough to attend a part of the conference today and it was a fascinating group of speakers--many of whom have been blogging for years.
Shane's presentation evoked a lot of emotion and swept the audience with his photos and storytelling.
Ali did a great job sharing the rewarding and oftentimes unpredictable experiences when building and maintaining TravelBlog.
One of the funniest moments was when one of the other speakers, by the name of Kiruba, convinced a volunteer from the audience to jump on his back. I wasn't expecting that.
The overall message seemed to be that, depending on your motivation for blogging (strictly for yourself, friends & family, or more), if you want to increase readers, you have to work at it and...well...keep blogging.
The topic of social media was prominent. It seems that it is a topic that can't and shouldn't be easily discarded. However, I agree that there should be some acknowledgment made for those who are not keen on social networking, yet follow bloggers through email. I'm sure a solution will be found if they do this again down the line?? This would be a good question for the panels tomorrow, Mell. I'll ask if I'm there.
As for how many days were spent in Malaysia total being a qualifier, this might not give travelers a fair ground if they're up against a local Malaysian blogger. ;]
Reply to this It was an amazing first day at the Conference. Ali's speech went down particularly well, as from my position on the stage I could see people listening to his story of how he built Travelblog from nothing with a look of awe on their faces. One presenter later in the day said that Lonely Planet's Thorntree would "kill to get the traffic that Travelblog does".
Reply to this Hi Mell - oops - did Ali enter a blog - I didn't notice!!!! - and , actually, I got Ali's sister Ele to cast my vote for me as I'm not on facebook and have no intention of ever joining,and I didn't quite get the hang of the other voting link. The vote did go to intuitive traveler though. (I didn't want to admit to being so inept on a computer, so I said I had cast the vote!)
I'm so glad everything went well, sounds like it was an interesting and rewarding day!
Reply to this No I didn't enter a blog. I spoke on the topic of "how to identify and build an active community through travel blogs" - first time in front of such a large crowd, a far cry from the technical presentations I usually do.
Lots of new buzz words were shared, vlogger = video blogger, twipper = tweeting tripper - I'm sure Shakespeare would have approved, he invented around 20,000 words.
Reply to this Thanks for the updates on the conference, and well done to Ali and Shane. Don't suppose the presentations were recorded?
The Travel Camel travelling Malaysia on a camel - that entry would definitely get a few votes!
Reply to this Sounds like a blast.
Gutted I couldn't make it guys - would have been fantastic.
- I'm also hoping the presentations were recorded so that an even larger crowd can be inspired by your speeches!
Reply to this I'm sure Shakespeare would have approved, he invented around 20,000 words.
If we are following in the footsteps of Shakespeare, then bloggers don't need to have been to Malaysia to enter the blog contest. Apparently, Shakespeare never left England, but wrote around 30 plays set in other countries.
I hope Ali spelled Shakespeare properly, because I dont know how to spell it, so just coppied and pasted it, from his post. 😉
[Edited: 2012 May 09 05:53 - Mell:49612 ]
Reply to this Just through on Twitter:
All the presentations will be available by logging on to the official website; http://www.mitbca.com/
Reply to this I had a two fruitful day attending the MITBCA2012 and it do motivate me to keep on blogging after my first post on 5th May 2006. However that was on blogger. It was also nice to be able to meet other bloggers local and foreign. Hats off to MOTOUR and Social Media Chambers. Ali, I hope I can keep blogging here to take Mr Kiruba Shankar's tip, that is piggy back on a larger base.
Reply to this One of the funniest moments was when one of the other speakers, by the name of Kiruba, convinced a volunteer from the audience to jump on his back.
...Highlights of the conference included; The Travel Camel doing the chicken dance with the minister for Tourism...
It is a good thing you two share the ministrys enthusiasm for high jinx! 😉
Reply to this One of the nicest things from conference was the number of Malaysians that came up to me and Shane at various points and said;
"We've joined travelblog" - or - "I made my first blog post yesterday" - I'd like to welcome all those new TBer's hopefully you will enjoy our friendly forums as much as we enjoyed the friendly conference. Post here if that was you - we will be looking out for you!
Welcome back to Zahari!
Reply to this Thank you Ali, nice meeting you at the conference. Its my first time since blogging, I had the opportunity to meet a web founder and owner ever since I started active blogging in 2006.
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In response to: Msg #156015
nice meeting you too Shane. What I found out from you is- create an identity for yourself. I tried to create a self-identity for myself for wearing a baretta instead of baseball cap (you wear a hat) but still in the process of making it works.
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