Last Saturday, I freely attended iBlog 5. Even if it means being awake for more than 24 hours since I’ll be coming from work, I guess it was worth it. Being a first time attendee, I expected learning new things about blogging. Yeah, Im doing this for more than 5 years, but I guess I need to hear what the experts had to say.

The summit covered a wide-range of topics. From Blogging 101 to different types of blogging.  They’ve also discussed on how to take your blogging experience to the next level, as well as the legal concerns and the 2010 elections. I’ve learned a lot. But the topic that really had my attention was the Do’s and Don’ts of Blogging 101 by Benj Espina and Juned Sonido. It made me reflect on some things that made me a blogger on and off.

Why did you blog in the 1st place?
Everyone practically started blogging because they wanted to be heard or share their thoughts to other people. The money-making was just a bonus. It’s basically wanting a personal space on the world wide web.

Don’t be distracted with the trend and stats.
The biggest downfall I had a year ago. I wanted to join the bandwagon that’s why I moved to different platforms. I totally forgot why I started blogging in the first place. I would even write things that I think people would like me to write and not the things that I really wanted to share.

You don’t have to justify.
Your blog is your personal space. Whatever it is that you write, it’s for yourself and not for other people. Remember, don’t feed the trolls. Just take it as a learning guide, not as a distraction. People would definitely find something to criticize. But you should remember the very reason you started blogging.

Enumerating all the things I have learned from the summit would take me writing all day long. I just shared what I really remembered from that day and which applies to me personally.

Even though I exerted so much effort on staying awake the whole afternoon, I actually had fun. I was also starstruck-ed with some of the famous bloggers. It was fun attending this kind of event not just for your personal learning, but you could actually meet new people. I even met some of my plurk mates. LOL. And I loved the iBlog shirt that I won from the raffle.

With the experience I had, I’ll definitely be attending iBlog 6.