CDO Bloggers Group Hosts Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3!

(Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines – October 21, 2009) – It’s all systems go for the Cagayan de Oro Bloggers (CDO Bloggers) as they play host to the much-awaited Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3, an annual gathering of Mindanao-based bloggers, IT industry experts, community leaders and new media advocates, on October 24, 2009 at Pearlmont Inn, Limketkai Drive, Cagayan de Oro City. Roughly 300 bloggers are expected to attend this year’s summit.

With the theme, “Mindanao: Bag-Uhon Ang Panan-aw,” (Changing The Way People See Mindanao) the event aims to uphold the beauty and strength of Mindanao, to highlight the diverse cultures and fascinating tourist spots that are uniquely Mindanao and to provide a platform where bloggers and other new media practitioners can discuss concerns related to Mindanao – all with the help of new and emerging technologies.

“Mindanao is the home of everything fascinating or in bloggers’ lingo – bloggable. Through the Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3, it is the hope of the CDO Bloggers, along with our partners and generous sponsors, that we listen to knowledgeable resource persons, meet other Mindanaoan bloggers, share and maximize all of our skills and resources and adopt tried and tested practices that can help us to fully promote Mindanao and for us to become better bloggers as well,” emphasized ChiQ Montes, president of CDO Bloggers.

“Of course, we also want all of the participants to have a good time and experience the sights and sounds of Cagayan de Oro,” Montes added.

Montes said that apart from Mindanaoan bloggers, the summit will also see the participation of some bloggers from Luzon and Visayas.

Expected to grace the summit are United States Embassy’s new Deputy Chief of Mission Leslie Bassett, Atty. Adel Tamano, Agusan Lone District Rep. Rodolfo “Ompong” Plaza and Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Constantino "Tinnex" Jaraula.

Considered unprecedented in the Philippine blogosphere, a top ranking United States Embassy dignitary is set to deliver the keynote address. Bassett’s trip to CDO will be her first trip to Mindanao since assuming office in June. She previously served as DCM in Mexico.

“We are deeply honored. We’re certain that the summit participants will be delighted to meet her and we can’t wait for her to see our beautiful city,” Montes said.

Other speakers during the whole-day affair include Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Constanton "Tinnex" Jaraula, Agusan Lone District Rep. Rodolfo “Ompong” Plaza and Atty. Adel Tamano.

Google’s Philippine representative Aileen Apolo, whose talk will focus on beginners, Digital Filipino’s Janette Toral, who will discuss blog advertising and Lyle Santos, who will talk about making money online will also be present. Representatives of other blogger groups including those in Davao City, General Santos City and Zamboanga will also give updates.

After the summit proper, participants have the choice of joining either the city tour (Xavier University Museum, Cathedral, Divine Mercy Shrine, Opol Aviary, Limketkai Mall) or the whitewater rafting adventure.

Also happening on October 24, right after the MBS 3, is the Philippine Blog Awards – Mindanao awarding ceremonies.

CDO Bloggers, Inc., a group duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is the lead organizer of this year’s Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3. Previous summits took place in Davao City and General Santos City.

The Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3 is generously supported by SMART Communications Inc, Nokia, Syntactics, Inc., STI, Rafting Adventure Philippines, MakatiAve.com, Majesty Sales Center, Havaianas Philippines, OLX Philippines Free Classifieds, Clara Shoppe, ASTERISK Events and Communications, RG & K Construction, Paguia’s Cottages, ThePacificaCompanies.com, The Site, Spruce, The City Government of Cagayan de Oro, Office of CDO First District Rep. Rolando “Klarex” Uy, SM City Cagayan de Oro, Ultra Craft Advertising Corporation, Magnet Advertising, Provincial Government of Misamis Oriental and the Mindanao Bloggers community. Media partners include Papa Ardie’s Concepz, STI, ABS CBN, MOR 91.9 and HOT FM 106.3.

For more information about the Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3, log on to http://www.mbscdo.com

About CDO Bloggers
CDOBloggers or Cagayan de Oro Bloggers, Inc. is a duly SEC-registered organization that promotes Cagayan de Oro through blogging. Among the group’s goals are to create impact in society through blogging, to help promote Mindanao to the world as a bustling and peaceful land, to promote Cagayan De Oro City and Kagay-anons around the world with a sense of pride and to use blogging as a media platform.

The CDO Bloggers group is the main organizer of the Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3 (MBS 3). For more information about MBS 3, log on to http://www.mbscdo.com

For more information about CDO Bloggers, visit http://www.cdobloggers.com or send email to cdobloggersinc(@)gmail.com

About Mindanao Bloggers
Mindanao Bloggers aims to unify the island through this exciting new medium — the way of the blog — thereby promoting deeper understanding of our different cultures and beliefs. Thus, it is hoped that this community blog will help in presenting to the world at large the true beauty of the Philippine South, as well as the marvelous diversity of the peoples of Mindanao. For more information about Mindanao Bloggers, visit http://www.mindanaobloggers.com

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Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3

Mindanao is a big, beautiful island and it has a lot of interesting sites, people, and traditions. Since pre-colonial times, the island of Mindanao has captivated many people from near and afar and it still continues to do so with more people from a wider scope. Mindanao has kept abreast with changing times and through the internet, it remains an important place that should not be missed.

The Mindanao Bloggers Summit is an important event that allows bloggers from and of Mindanao to convene and uphold the goal to celebrate and promote Mindanao. Now on its third year, the Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3 aims to change the way people see Mindanao.

The Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3 has the theme “Mindanao Bag-ohon ang Panan-aw” and it will be held on October 24, 2009 at Pearlmont Inn, Limketkai Drive here in Cagayan de Oro City.

The following is the schedule of activities for Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3:

October 24, 2009, Saturday
7:00 – 8:30 : Registration
8-30 – 8:45 : Opening Prayer & National Anthem
8:45 – 9: 00 : MBS3 Introduction – ChiQ Montes
9 :00 – 9:30 : Welcome Speech – Mayor Tinnex Jaraula
9:30 – 10:00 : Introduction on Mindanao Bloggers – Blogie Robillo
10:00 – 10:30 : Adel Tamano/ Khalid Dimaporo – State of Mindanao
10:30 – 11:00 : AVP on Mindanao and BREAK
11:00 – 11:30 : Tourism Director
11:30 – 12:00 : Keynote speaker
12 :00 -1:00 : LUNCH BREAK
1:00 – 1:30 : Aileen Apolo – Target: Beginners
1:30 – 2:00 : Janette Toral – Blog Advertising
2:30 – 3:00 : BREAK
3:00 – 3:30 : Lyle Santos – Make money Online/ Adsense
3:30 – 4:00 : Davao Bloggers Update
4:00 – 4:30 : GenSan Bloggers Update – Avel Manansala
4:30 – 5:00 : Zamboanga Bloggers Update – Ryann Z. Elumba

At 7pm, the Philippine Blog Awards Mindanao Awards Night will take place and make MBS 3 a more memorable event!

If you would want to be part of the said event, pre-register now and hope to see you soon!

The Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3 is organized by the CDOBloggers, Inc.

Digital Filipino in CDO

photos by ChiQ Montes

17 July 2009, 6pm, Philtown Hotel, CDO – One of the Digital Filipino Club’s distinguished members Ms Janette Toral was in the city to talk about the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs 2009 Writing Project with the local bloggers of CDO. The weather had been bad but those who braved the heavy rain were in for a treat!

The program started with Ms Toral introducing herself then she handed the microphone to the participants so that they (umm it’s actually WE because I was there together with other CDOBloggers hahaha!) can introduce themselves and talk about their blogs. Some of the participants in the event were newbie bloggers while some were not new to the blogging world.

After the introductions were made, Ms Toral presented the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2007 and 2008 and stated the reasons why those bogs ended on the lists of both years. They were all amazing and had various unique content! Ms Aileen Apolo who was one of the influential bloggers in 2007 was at the event and shared her blogging experiences too!

Ms Toral encouraged Cagay-anons to unite and nominate blogs by local bloggers to be part of the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs 2009. There’s barely two weeks left for Cagay-anons to come up with nominations! I hope there will be a local blogger who can make it to the top 10!

The event was sponsored by Syntactics, Inc. who also introduced their project LetIThelp.org that helps give training and employment to underprivileged local graduates.

The night ended with good cheer and most of the participants were cam whoring (forgive the term hahaha). When we left the halls of Philtown, we had to face the rain again but it was ok. It all had been worth it!

CDO Bloggers Blogging 101 Workshop A Success!

Last Saturday, 23 May 2009, CDOBloggers conducted a workshop on the basics of blogging. The event was held in Sentro 1850's conference room and it was attended by more than seventy people. I was one of them!

The following were discussed in the workshop:

• Setting Up a Blog (Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, etc.)
• Blog Writing (Types of Blogs, Niche Blogging, Blog Ethics)
• Blog Promotion and Marketing (Driving Traffic and Search Engine Optimization)
• Monetizing (Paid Posts, Advertisements)

Due to time constraints, there were some points not discussed but the organizers pledged to send additional tips to the participants via email.

A mini-contest was part of the workshop to check out if the participants really understood what were discussed and the prizes included free website domains and hosting, and ILOVECDO t-shirts.

I pretended that I was a bit thick-faced (hahaha! just a bit) and stood up to answer one of the questions asked by one of the speakers. I won a free domain and hosting too! I wanted it badly so I grabbed the opportunity! Hahahaha!

The event was CDOBloggers' first baby and the org vows to learn a lot from it for improvements in the future. I'm looking forward to future events with CDOBloggers and I hope the org will become more successful!