baratillo @ cubao

What: Blog and Soul Launch and the Second Coming of Mrs. Fields
When: August 21 (Tuesday), 7:00 PM
Where: Mrs. Fields, Manila Pavilion

Before I was a blogger I was an Aquarist - I owned and maintained an aquarium. Started with one and ended up with many, but that is another story. Suffice to say the fish bug got me and it was not long before the number and types of aquariums kept at the house began to double and quadruple. At the same time my friends who share me with the love for keeping aquariums also began to grow. Until at one point it was decided to group and formalize a club. And that we did. There were two main reasons why we formed the club: The First, was to develop and professionalize all aquarists and the second, was to foster friendship among aquarists. And now here I am a few years older, more wider, and hopefully wiser, joining the activities of the Blog and Soul Movement.

“You want to join the Nike Event?”
“Sure”
“Sign up at the Blog and Soul Movement”
“Nike has a blog called The Blog and Soul Movement? Cool!”
“No …itd just the Blog and Soul Movement”
“Cool!”

A few moments later

“What was the name of the Nike’s blog?”

This was how I got into Blog and Soul. Through a stupid question and attending an event. This of course led to attending other events. So far it has been educational and fun.

Blog and Soul was started by Jayvee early this year and in its About Page purpose and goals of the movement were said:

Blog and Soul is …

* a three year movement that aims to establish blogging as a relevant part of Philippine media

* not an exclusive club or membership-based organization

* a venue for bloggers to expand their horizons by meeting new people through events organized for the media

* a venue for bloggers to hone their craft in becoming credible sources of information on the web

* an opportunity for bloggers with special skills to volunteer time to share their knowledge and expertise with other bloggers

* a group of people who believe that blogging can be a powerful tool to dedicate convictions, spread goodness, and build community

* a movement founded by Jayvee Fernandez with the help of several generous people from several different industries

And so far it seems to done several activities from arranging bloggers to attend events to holding classes and activities. In nearly all activities there does not seem to be a shortage of participants. In particular the Food Critique and Food Photography classes done with Serye was well received by bloggers from different parts of the Philippine bloggers’ world.

Why does it work?

Two main things come to mind and these two factors I have seen before when we were starting an Aquarium Club. First, there is a need to learn and experience things. This is done in the spirit of improvement of craft. Second, There will always be a need for people with similar interests to meet and talk shop. The need to talk and interact with people with similar interests and sometimes with equivalent passion.

The thing that furthers sweetens the two attracting factors is that nearly all activities are easily done or sponsored. This is important specially if one is conducting seminars and events. Money is needed in order to back any type of seminar. In my aquarium club, seminars that were not sponsored had to be funded by selling tickets for each seat. The logistics of preparing and operating an event can be staggering to say the least.

And amidst the goals and information stated in the About page of Blog and Soul, What seems important to me is that (i)the goal to educate and (ii) the goal to provide activities at zero cost answers to (i) the desire to learn and experience new things and (ii) the need to have conversations and activities with fellow bloggers. Educate at the same time entertain and build friendships. And maybe this is the reason why there is nearly always a heterogeneous mix in each event or activity.

I am quite sure this is the reason why there is always a healthy attendance for most blogger events from Iblog 1 to 3 to PBA2007.

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