National bloggers conference 09, don’t flog just blog!!

Today was a great day, I arrived at the national bloggers conference at the Regent plaza hotel around 330pm and stuck there till almost the end. What I got to hear and see were great speaking sessions by some of the most noteworthy bloggers in town, Jehan Ara, Awab, Farhan, Ammar, Asghar, Raja, Ramla, Ammar(Urdu Blogger who i thought had a grt presentation cut short) with some Rabia garib & Akc humor thrown in for good effect.

The government was there as well, with the IT ministry which must take a bow for the great support and exposure they lent the blogging community today & Dr Farooq Sattar who was a joy to hear. I thought the way the 11 year old Umaima Adil was honored was amazing.

Speaking of amazing, although the wifi kept dropping in the start, by halfway point there were more than 4 active connections available and that showed an organization team which fumbled initially but caught the ball brilliantly and carried it to the end. I with the Teeth Maestros collaboration covered it live on this blog and on some others as well via embedding. Quite frankly it was an overall great experience. However I have to say, that even though there was much light put on us bloggers and blaggerettes and many backs patted we failed to mention the people who worked like anything to make this event happen. Ok so we didn’t wanna see anything go down the political road, but there was a Mr Rehan Shakoor who was running from pillar to post organizing behind the scenes, there was a Mr Ali Raza Abidi who probably has not slept in days to keep everything positive, there was a Mr Faizan who was with the media folk making sure everyone’s cozy and a Mr Zeeshan tirelessly manning the laptop in the front to keep the presentations going. there was also Yasir who made so many networks on so many wifi routers he drove me giddy and a Mr Kanwar Moeez Khan or a Mr Khalid manning the security. There was also a few other people who I do not know the names of or do not remember but you get my point, all of these people deserve a clap on their backs cause they made it happen today. It really does not matter which party they represent, they worked their ass off so I applaud them for their effort.

Below are some of the pictures I took of this event.

Did i forgot to mention that most of the print media (mainstream) ditched us? Except for Batool Habib of Hamse and Salman of Dawn I saw no one else going around making an effort. I guess they are too busy finding filler for tomorrows “imported” newsprint from  copy/past.com ho hum. Who can blame them though bloggers have no integrity man, they do not do research man…we need 5 more boxes from yahoo news to fill page 3 man.

Ardeshir also graced us with his presence, however I think he did one of those I put on a good shirt so why bother with the pants thing. A bit shocking but alright. I wonder what he dresses like for a casual occasion if he chose this ensemble for a conference?

All in all “tension lena ka nahin tension denay ka” Rawk on Bloggers and rawk on Karachi!!!