Friday, June 29, 2012

The first Malaysian Travel Bloggers Meetup!

Hi there!

I know I'm supposed to blog about this a week ago but kinda wrapped up with work at the moment.  And besides, I just received the piccas from my blogger friend who attended it as well. (After much nagging via fb, twittter and blog. LOL!) All pictures are credit  to Hemy D. KindEmperor of course. I also brought my camera along but was more intent in listening than taking pictures that day.

Sponsor: Sedunia Travel

I'm trying not to re-use the pictures that he already posted on his post. So here goes my take on the meetup! The first picture is the group picture!

From back row left: Adam, Steven, Fazly, Yogaretnam, Keri, Ilya, "yours truly", Jana, Emila, David, Ben, Thristhan, Hemy. From bottom row left: Fienuts, Mastura, Ruggedmom, Dian, Hannah, Anis Ibrahim
I'm sorry, I couldn't get the names for Miss and Mister. Hope somebody could clarify this for me. Hehe. 
Ms. Emila rectified for me via twitter, thanks!

Being among the late to arrive, it didn't take me long to recognize the bloggers around me since I've met pretty much some of them in past blogger events. But it was my first to meet (or perhaps glance. haha) Ms. Anis Ibrahim. (Pictured below on the left). Sorry didn't get to chat with you. =(

I wonder what these three are discussing. Hehe. Anis, Thristhan and Emila in deep conversation.
And just about ten minutes later, the sharing session started. I believe Mr Steven was the chosen emcee for the session with Ilya Houben (wonderfulmalaysia.com), Dian (Tourism Selangor) and David Hogan Jr (Malaysia Asia) as the panelists.

Steven, Ilya, Dian and David laughing at some remarks from the audience. 
We were definitely ALL EARS/ Hint: We stopped eating. haha. 
It  felt like a debate among these three which was fascinating to observe! Haha!
All three had their own ways and opinions on how to brand their blogs and perhaps themselves. While the two on the right preferred using blogspot but Ilya created his blog from scratch on his own servers! That's awesome! He'll never be afraid that his content be put down by third party servers. I wonder if I can drop my blog on his server as well? Err... (wishful thinking.)

Dian talked about being passionate on things you do and later on the way, you'll be rewarded. While David talked about numbers. Hehe. I'm not going deeper into this as these tips can be read from the blogs below.
Another thing to note, never stop shamelessly promoting yourself! Hahaha. (Don't think I can do that though. =p) Last but not least, a picture with the sponsor, Ms Hannah Pearson of Sedunia Travel. Kudos for the meetup, it was awesome! I believe some of my guy friends developed a crush on her. Awww!

Anis, Ilya (at the back), Dian, Hannah and me! Beside me is Fazly. Sitting below was Mastura and Emila.
I believe there's a second meetup coming this September. Hopefully more people will come. Please don't be shy. We don't care if you're a true travel blogger, just as long you love to travel is enough.

The bloggers who weren't in the above pictures but came as well were Abbey, Lash and Tony who in fact came all the way from Singapore! Thanks to all for making this meetup a blast. Hope to meet you all again! =)

Regards,
Jard



22 comments:

AJ said... [Reply]

wahh,quite nice to go meet them...unlucky for me,got other things to do..

yup,travel bloggers can go further...Luckily for me, manage to obtain a few sponsors for hotel stay..some free...some got great discount...

keep it up.. i think if the cooperation is great, to obtain free stay,ticket flights won't be too difficult in future..propose and make them an offer that they can't refuse...hik3...

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

Hi Eyriqazz,, so sad to have not met you during the meetup. maybe next time? And congrats on ur successes! Hope more to come in the future. =)

Hemy said... [Reply]

Err..from what i listened to, "never shamelessly promote ur blog in fb,other ppl status and etc"

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@hemy.. bukan "have to" ke? alamak.. kena minta perjelasan lagi neh. hahahaha..

Fie-Nuts said... [Reply]

Were you really really listening to the whole debate Jard Jard or were you thinking of something else? He he he he.

Ilya said... [Reply]

Nice piece :). Again; the pic is awesome. About the host; my server is hosted in The Netherlands, so no point in hosting your site there. Better find a reliable host in Malaysia or SE Asia. My Wonderful Malaysia host is located in the US, as most of the traffic is from there...so it basically is a matter of deciding where traffic mainly comes from and that's the location of the server...

lily riani said... [Reply]

I believe I was with the SL elephant during the meet-up.

Aisey, miss pulak sessi ilmiah, next round the whole gang #travelholicawesomoe will join ok!

Shane Dallas said... [Reply]

Great to read and see pictures of the event! Thanks for putting the links to other blogger reports, shall read them now. Might see you at a future meet!

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Ilya ahh.. sucks! hehehe. but thanks for pointing that out. It may be a long while until I finally do host my own blog. For now am currently happy with the blog. Just praying that it doesn't go down in the not so far future. hehehe

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@lily riani yayyyy!! hope u all can be there next time!! can't wait! Mode: EXCITED ON!

Anis said... [Reply]

This is a good round-up of the events!! And you all look very serious in the 4th photo :)

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Shane Dallas Aww!! thanks for dropping by!

Really? You're coming for the next meetup. I mean for real!! OMG!! Can't wait to meet u then, for the second time! hehehe!

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Anis haha. we were all intent in listening. and maybe I was admiring something or some-one! ehem! =p

zonaku said... [Reply]

i'm a bit shy on9, in fact everywhere else.. love to observe though

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@zonaku hehe. really? u're sure seem okay and happy-go-lucky when last we met tho. =p

hcvvorld of Travels, Lifestyle and Photography said... [Reply]

what a waste that I have missed it because of other schedule in Klang..haha..and September? I will be in Bangkok...huhuhuhu

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@hcvvorld of Travels and Photography Bangkok? Alaaaa.. I IZ SAD! huhuhu

zino said... [Reply]

best nya..

alexlim said... [Reply]

Nice event... Wonder if a not so frequent travel-blogger can join the meetup. Hmmm...

P.S. As promised... :)

Hannah Pearson said... [Reply]

Nice summary and it was Sedunia Travel's pleasure to host!

And have to say... you made me blush with your comment ;)

Hannah Pearson said... [Reply]

Nice summary - it was Sedunia Travel's pleasure to host and was lovely to see you again :)

Have to say, though... you've quite made me blush with your last comment! Lol ;)

CathJ said... [Reply]

Wah best.... Bro David pun ada... Niceeee..... :)