Christmas get-together

It's the 1st of December! And what do most people think about when it's the last month of the year? Christmas parties! I'm sure we've all got a few lined up already by now. But what of the bloggers' Christmas party in Davao?

Well, we won't have a full-blown party this time. But, we're going to have a year-end get-together somehwere. Just a gathering of like-minded individuals, somewhere in the city. More on that later!

If you have any ideas, please feel free to leave your comments / suggestions here.

Bloggers and travel agents together

After some juggling of dates due to the busy schedules of both groups, I was finally able to bring some bloggers and Davao travel agents together for an informal powwow. Five travel agency owners and managers attended, as well as five bloggers including myself. We got together yesterday at Coffee SPOT, whose owner generously sponsored our refreshments. Thanks Rhea!

This was the first of a series of gatherings I've been cooking up for bloggers and other groups. The objecive is two-fold: for more people to appreciate blogs and blogging; and for bloggers to be able to connect with people directly involved in the things that the former write about.

Yesterday was all about the travel and tourism industry. Since some of us blog about places to see in Davao, what better way to get fresh insights and more material than to talk to travel professionals?

The travel agents were clearly eager to know more about the world of blogs. So much so that they've invited me to conduct a blogging workshop for their group, the Davao Association of Tour Operators (DATO). And thanks to that get-together, they've come to realize how powerful bloggers' voices can be. Now they're starting to see that blogs are an effective way to promote their products, namely, tours and travel destinations.

The bloggers, on the other hand, now have access to travel consultants; ergo, now they have sources for richer and broader content for their blogs. For example, Ria Jose of MyDavaoCity.com has been invited to join a major tour to be conducted by DATO this week. The Association is expecting 100+ visitors and will run a special tour of Davao and Samal Island this weekend. And Ria will surely be able to get tons of bloggable material from that -- stuff she might not be able to do on her own.


The travel agents who met up with us were: Alex Divinagracia (Global Wings Travel); Edmund "Mon" Mayormita (Travel Advantage Tours); Ruben Neri (Surelite Travel & Tours); Dizon Namuag (Dizerlin Travel & Tours, based in Panabo); and, Pia Partoza-Montaño (Par Travel & Tours).

The bloggers: Andrew, Blogie, Christian, Dom and Ria.

I'll be coming up with more of these meet-ups real soon. Potential target groups include: hoteliers, restaurateurs, and real estate brokers. Watch out for that!

[Photo courtesy of Christian Te]

Mindanao Blog Awards

We're still finalizing the mechanics and other minutiae for the Mindanao Blog Awards, but I'm proud to give you the logo of the Awards! I thought that the vinta would be a very recognizable image of Mindanao, hence the choice. And how do you like the colors? :) I think Andrew did a swell job rendering this logo (considering that he says graphics design isn't his strong suit).

The Mindanao Blog Awards 2007 (MBA2007) is an attached event to the Mindanao Bloggers Summit -- the awarding will be done after the Summit on the 27th of October, and during the bloggers' party.

Mindanao blogs submitted and accepted into the Mindanao Blog Directory are eligible for nomination. We still have to come up with the technical side of this undertaking, but rest assured, you'll have your say in this! Click here for the MBA2007 info page.

You got blogged!

The 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit just got more interesting. In the hopes of promoting the Summit and the blogs of Mindanao, the organizers have come up with a unique blogging contest for everyone: You got blogged! DigitalFilipino.com / MinanaoBloggers.com Review-a-Blog Competition. The official announcement is on this page.

Check it out: three winners will get $150, $100 and $50 to start with. Depending on how many more sponsors come on board, the prizes just might go higher!

Are you a Mindanaoan blogger? Submit your blog to the Mindanao Blog Directory and get a chance to have your blog reviewed! Winning reviews will also mean prizes for the owners or authors of the reviewed blogs. And you can join the competition as well -- but try not to review your own blog. ;)

This competition is co-presented by DigitalFilipino.com -- join the DigitalFilipino.com Club! The "You got blogged!" title was Migs' idea, and the link badge was designed and created by Jehz.

Second Davao blog party?

People have been asking me when The Usual Suspects will organize a sequel to the Davao Blog Party #1. Well, let's see now... Why not a get-together in time for Kadayawan? It doesn't really have to be something that's so planned like the first one. We could just meet up somewhere during the Kadayawan festivities, right?

What say you, my fellow Dabawenyo bloggers?

The Usual Suspects

When our group made a splash in the Davao blogging scene last 17 March 2007, we made such a wonderful mess that bloggers started pointing fingers in our direction when people asked about blog-related activities here.

"Who organized the blog party?" "Who came up with this seminar?" "Who's bright idea is this blogging event?" And in answer: "the usual suspects."

Hence the name of this group of bloggers in Davao City, The Usual Suspects™. We are: Andrew, Dennis, Dom, Jun, Kim, Marc, and Ria (you'll find our links on the blogroll). I guess I'm the de facto head honcho of the bunch, but that's only because of generational seniority. But in terms of blogging, Andrew and Dennis surpass me by a few Zodiacs.

We come from different backgrounds, aspire to various dreams, but we are of the same mind when it comes to our goal: to enhance and push forward the Davao blogosphere. During the first-ever Davao bloggers party last March, we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to gather more than 50 people together. This gave us the inspiration to organize more stuff to do for local bloggers.

And not only that! We're also gearing up for the heightened awareness of blogging as a communications tool among the city's businesses. We've been getting requests for how-to seminars, etc. And we're going to do just that in the near future.

Care to join us?