Maverick Indonesia

Pesta Blogger 2007!

I was given the task to blog about Pesta Blogger 2007, the nationwide gathering of bloggers that attracted about 400 bloggers and 100 guests on November 27. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get to this task done until now because of work commitments. I know, I know, it’s a little bit late in the day for such a posting but better late than never. Besides Priyadi has just completed the audit report and posted it on pestablogger.com, and that puts a bit of finality on it enabling me to relax since I was one of the team members from Maverick charged with seeing to the smooth running of the event. So here goes my account:

Saturday, October 27th, 2007 was blessed with bright sunshine. We could all see it from the huge windows of Blitz Megaplex which is on the 8th floor of Grand Indonesia. Our team was there by 8am. Shortly afterwards we had one or two enthusiastic participants showing up way ahead of everyone else wanting to claim their Entry Code or reservations to attend and enjoy Pesta Blogger 2007.

 

Registration desk was filled by big smiling faces of Maverick staff, helping out in giving out 500 goodie bags.

By opening time at 11am the place was already packed with bloggers, some lining up to claim their reservations while others who had been registered took the opportunity to meet fellow bloggers, introduce themselves to new ones and take lots of photos together.

Shortly after 11 am the bloggers were asked to enter the auditorium where the event’s main activities would be held. Inside, State Minister for Information and Communication of the Republic of Indonesia, Muhammad Nuh gave an opening ceremony speech and officially made October 27th as National Bloggers Day.

 

 

This was followed by a talk show hosted by Wimar Witoelar and four panelists: Budi Putra, Enda Nasution, Mohammad Nuh, and Adrianto Gani. These icons of the blogosphere, I believe, are very concerned about the future of blogging in Indonesia. Bravo!

One of the highlights of the event was the interactive voting for the participants’ favorite blogs in different categories, namely online marketing and sales, women issues, technology, personal blogging, celebrity blogs, current issues, bridge blogging ( blogs that are written in English so that the wider world has an alternative window to the happenings in Indonesia) and the New Blogger Award, for those who have started blogging in the past six months. From 216 Indonesian blogs that were nominated by Indonesian bloggers, three top blogs from each category made it to the shortlist where the participants at Pesta Blogger 2007 get to vote their favorites.

After lunch, there were the breakout sessions hosted by well-known bloggers. Many of the groups had quite impassioned discussions and virtually the only complaint about the breakout sessions was that they were too short.Finally, the bloggers trooped back to the auditorium for the finale of the event, which comprised a summary of points discussed in the breakout sessions, followed by the announcement of the winners of the favorite blog categories. The winners were:

1. Online marketing and sales category: Media Ide Bajing Loncat
2. Women’s issues category: Fashionese Daily
3. Technology blog category: Ilmu Komputer.com
4. Personal blog category: Istri Bawel
5. Celebrity blog category: Jennie S. Bev
6. Current issues category: Perspektif. net
7. Bridge blogging category: Enda Nasution
8. New blogger award: Lidya Wangsa

Each received a certificate, and on the hand it was only Lidya Wangsa who received Nokia N73 Music Edition.

Here’s a few interesting comments or reviews from bloggers who attend Pesta Blogger 2007 that I found on the blogosphere: Priyadi on his personal blog, priyadi.net wrote: “Yang menarik dari sini adalah diketahui bahwa salah satu peserta berasal dari Poso dan tidak bisa kembali lagi karena kehabisan uang. Di akhir sesi salah satu sponsor memberikan tiket kembali supaya yang bersangkutan bisa kembali lagi ke tempat asalnya.”

One of the sponsors, XL Business Solutions jumped to their aid and agreed to pay their return passage.

There were also many bloggers who came from other cities to show their existence in the blogger community. They are Angkringan (Yogyakarta) , Anging Mammiri (Makasar), Go Ranah Minang (Padang), loenpia.net (Semarang), and Bali blog community who unfortunately could not attend by they did send felicitations to pestablogger.com.
Another interesting comment was from Rendy Maulana who wrote on www.rendymaulana.com “Seharusnya acara ini masuk MURI, karena ini merupakan acara blogger terbesar sepanjang perjalanan Blog di Indonesia, Suara Baru, pemersatu dari berbagai komunitas yang ada di Internet, apakah panitia mau mengklaim ini sebagai acara terbesar kepada Muri ?” This is sounds like a great suggestion.

And last, I found this one very unique yet impressive: Cak Andry wrote on Human vs Machine PestaBlogger 2007: “Pesta Blogger 2007 is a lot like having sex for the 1st time. You’re excited but you don’t really know what the hell you’re doing. And some way, one way or another, it’s over too fast.” There were other many interesting reviews from bloggers, I just couldn’t fit all here.

Thank you for the support and participation to make the national-scale blogger gathering a reality. Pesta Blogger is organized by Maverick together with Bubu Internet and is supported by the Ministry of Communications and Information. The main sponsors are Microsoft Indonesia, Nokia Indonesia, and XL Business Solutions. The media partners are Kompas Cyber Media, Koran Tempo, The Jakarta Post, and O Channel.

By: Finnie