It has been around one and a half years of mine in the world of blogging and throughout that period, I have come across many people online from which some are those who are in regular contact with me online. In this way, I have become a member of the circle of e-friends. But it has been my curious desire to meet these friends face to face.
Last month when I heard that the LBM ‘08 is going to be held, I wished it would be great if there will also be a bloggers meet-up in Karachi too. Soon my wish fulfilled when I saw a Facebook group named Karachi Bloggers Meet-up ‘08 inviting everybody whether he/she is a blogger, student, professional etc. for a get together in a local club. I registered via the link given in the event board in Facebook.
By keeping in mind that the venue was unseen to me and also somewhat far, I left home for the meet-up at noon, to reach the Royal Rodale Club in time. At 2 PM sharp, I was entering the club. But when I reached the meet-up room, there were no more than a dozen people inside. After waiting for a hour or so, the event finally started.
Rabia Garib (Editor In-Chief, CIO Pakistan) held the mic and told the people without laptop to move to other table and meet with their new neighbor so as to enable the participants socialize with each other. After that, Dr. Awab Alvi of Teeth Maestro and Sabeen Mehmood of T2F were asked to come to stage and answer the question raised by the audience about ethics and methods all related to blogging.
Then came Badar Khushnood (Google Pakistan’s Country Consultant) to the stage. He emphasized on the importance of blogging and shed light on it from different angles.
After that, two notable tech bloggers Haris Nadeem and Saad Hamid were invited to the stage to share their blogging experience and the hurdles they faced in their blogging journey. I am sure the audience would had learnt much from them.
Then came a panel of seven people namely Haris Nadeem, Saad Hamid, Dr.Awab Alvi (these three came for the second time), Ammar Yasir, Khalid Omer, Ramla Akhter, Shazia Hassan (a blind but motivated blogger), to share their blogging and social media experiences.
Then there was a contest held, questions were asked about blogging terms and social media etc. I also answered one of the questions and won a goodie bag which includes a coffee mug, a ball point pen and a CIO Pakistan December Issue.
At last, the meet-up ended with snacks and drinks. The third and the last meet-up named the IBM ‘08 will be held in Islamabad. Date and venue of Islamabad Bloggers Meet-up is TBA. I should say that these type of meet-ups should occur at-least once in a year. What do you say?
PS: I have made some good friends like Imran Hussain, Umair Jadoon, Abdullah Ibrahim in the meet-up and also met first time with my online friends. Those who didn’t come to the event have surely missed a great deal.
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