Nuffnang Blogopolis 2012.

So a couple of months back, someone from Nuffnang called me and asked whether I would like to speak at a bloggers' conference-- Nuffnang Blogopolis.

At first, I was like, "Harh, what police ar?" WTF.

Thinking that it will be a gathering of about 50 people, I was like, sure why not! And didn't give much thought to it because July still seemed very far away then.

However, when Nuffnang started promoting the event, and information about Nuffnang Blogopolis was actively circulating on all social media platforms, I got a scare of my life. The event is HUGE, people. We are talking more than a hundred attendees, and an event that will receive a lot of media coverage. I saw the list of speakers, and I gulped. These are heavyweight bloggers, like Xiaxue, Kenny Sia, Beautiful Nara, KY, to name a few, and experts in the industry such as Premesh Chandran (CEO of Malaysiakini) and Chee Wah (editor of Timeout KL). And I will be speaking along them! WHATTTT!!!

It didn't help that Shah, the Talent Executive from Nuffnang called me every few days to ask me whether I am nervous wtf.

Anyway, the event was last weekend! Pictures are a mixture of mine and Nuffnang's.



It was an early morning for me (I woke up at 7-ish am) because my slot was the second slot of the day.



The set-up. This was before the event started.



I was partner-ed with Huai Bin from www.sixthseal.com to speak about opportunities gained via blogging.

Whilst preparing for our session, I was really forced to evaluate the opportunities that have arose for me through blogging. And I felt so so thankful! Because of blogging, I got to gain experiences that would have otherwise been quite out of reach for me....



I was interviewed on air on Red FM and Capital FM in the span of 2 days! :O
Picture taken off Red FM's FB fanpage.



Getting invited to exclusive events.
Read more about Johnnie Walker Black Circuit Lounge here.




Filmed a fashion video with Star Online. Click here to view the video.


Guest-wrote an article for Tongue in Chic. Click here to read the article.



Invited by Dior for a private tête-à-tête. Click here to read more.

These are just a few off the top of my head... And also the support I have gotten from you all for AZORIAS (don't think I don't know, I go through our customer list sometimes! :P)... I have also been asked to do a catwalk for a client (didn't work out in the end as I was out of country on the day of the event), invited to meet Jimmy Choo (didn't work out for the same reason T___T)....

I AM SO LUCKY!! And all because of blogging. :')



All pumped up right before our turn to go onstage.



... and it's our turn! The guy at the corner of the photo is Carlos Nizam, who is also one of the speakers of the day. He is SUCH an amazing photographer! If he can do a photoshoot for AZORIAS, I would probably weep out of joy.



One of the highlights of the event is the live Twitter feed that is shown real-time during the event. Participants can ask questions via Twitter, and we (the speakers) will have to answer the chosen question(s) on the spot!



With fellow speakers Ernest Ng (super talented comic blogger!!), funny man Ken Wooi, and KY (he shared his secret of the best nasi lemak in town, muahaha!).



Face of deep concentration. -_-



With Pinky! With pink hair, haha. Don't know what were we talking about, we seemed so intent. And that's Sue Anna Joe and Maria Elena, who spoke at the event as well! I have met them before at Jezmine's events at Old Blossom Box. :)


Us on TV wtf.

By the way, I want to announce here that Huai Bin is such a great co-speaker! :) He told me privately before we went up that he enjoys public speaking, and to be honest, I feel the same. So we just came to an understanding that we will stop referring to our speaker notes, and just relax and HAVE FUN! Onstage, we sort of finished/re-capped each other's opinions, tying off any loose ends... We complement each other well! :D



Random photo because I want to show off my shoes.

It also makes sense to talk about my outfit now:

Floral bias cut racer back dress: Topshop
Faded denim jacket: Topshop
Oversized tribal pendant necklace: F21
Navy gold plated ankle heels: Korea



Clearer picture with Ernest, Ken Wooi and KY.



Yay, speakers get tokens of appreciation!

It was so much fun to speak onstage! Our session was cut short due to technical problems though, we had so much more to share! But it's okay, hopefully we will have a chance next year to do so. :)

Also, my blog was presented as an example of a good blog design during the Blog Design 101 session! WOOT! :D

All in all, it was an awesome experience. Not only the speaking part (which was exhilarating), but also learning from some of the top people in the industry. I was talking to some fellow speakers, and we shared with each other that we were actually already practicing some of the tips given during the sessions, just that we never knew it! So it was a great opportunity to actually compartmentalize some of our prior knowledge (but the funny thing is, we really weren't aware that we knew the stuff), and picked up some new useful tips as well. For example, the optimum font size for a blog, SEO, ways to title your blog entries etc etc. I can't wait to see what next year's Blogopolis has in store!