Thanis Lim

All Rounder Chef and Food Journalist

Borneo Bloggers Conference B2.0

It was really exciting to be invited as a guest speakers along with Mr Reedz Anak Brunei for this year’s Borneo Blogger’s Conference B2.0, in the great city of Kota Kinabalu (love their food, beautiful beaches and of course the people!)

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This annual event which started 2 years ago was initiated by BorneoColours.com, Borneo's largest community  portal, at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Organized by BorneoColours.com in collaboration with M.E Malaysia, the third B2.0 took place on Saturday, 1st December at Wisma Bandaraya from 9am onwards and was attended by 60 professionals.

The third B2.0 is proudly presented by Acer Sales & Services Sdn Bhd, the first company to launch the full suite of Windows 8 product with touch capability and DiGi Telecommunications. It is supported by Ministry of Resource Development & Information Technology, Nuffnang Malaysia, Canon, Bombers Burger, Film Production of Sabah, Creative Lasso and Imperial Boutec Hotel.

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Mr Daniel Doughty – the man who started Borneo Bloggers Conference 2 years ago.

I must say I was very excited to meet many other active figures in the social media sphere across Borneo. Bloggers, Tweets , Facebook, Instagrammers, Youtubers, Techies, Marketing and Media personalities, all gathered in one conference.

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Must resist not to nom nom the marshmallow

The events opened up with an ice breaking activity involving sticks of spaghetti and well .. a marshmallow … unfortunately it’s not a cooking activity – I would had conjured some yummy dessert style spaghetti …. the activity involved creating a free standing tower with the marsmallow at the top ~ an interesting activity and Micheal Hiew got a good idea to use the marshmallow to bundle them up together. We put up quite a fight but didn’t win … another team had more creative ideas but it’s a fun way to break the ice!

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Jack looks super pro on the stage – charming and lively MC

The first session was a panel where we discuss issues with the current social media. In the panel were famous blogger and also from Sabah Tourism, Murphy Ng who aims to explore the whole of Sabah and showing the world through his lens, Twitter expert @KKcity who has about 9000+ followers and growing, Thanis Lim (me me me) the food blogger and our moderator Jack from Everyday Food I Love – a great food blog from Sabah and KL.

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Murhphy Ng, Thanis Lim (seemed like I am thinking about what to eat) and @KKcity

The issues raised were self moderation and censorship – whether we should focus on money making – and how to raise your influence in the social media. Murphy gave a very good point on how companies should not be afraid of the social media – and in fact use social media when they face problems. A company with good PR and social media can not only promote their business but also repair the damage done through good social media strategy. On how to increase traffic – building connections especially through conferences like these, being disciplined and consistent with your content, making use of proper internet promoting techniques such as search engine optimization, hash tagging and social tagging were discussed.

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Inspiring speaker Reeda Malik

Mr Anak Brunei Reeda gave a very informative and entertaining talk on the sharing of pictures from the historical perspective to the modern day image sharing. A funny moment came when Friendster was mentioned and the whole room erupted in laughter. One of the interesting video shown was the Stolen Scream – where one man’s image became a sensation and used many times without his consent, he even saw his picture on Tshirts, posters and walls – they’re everywhere! It’s interesting how our images can be easily shared through the social media but could also be stolen and used without our permission for commercial purposes. Reedah also shared many useful tools on image sharing and also on the potential for images to spread through the net ~~ viral levels.

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Sue Ann speaking like a boss at the podium – support NuffnangX!

Nuffnang Malaysia was also present at the event and showed us the growth of mobile apps – and the number of users at a very fast rate. Sue Ann from Nuffnang introduced their new app for bloggers to keep track and search for blogs of their interests – much like twitter or instagram but in your timeline – you see blog updates from the blogs you follow! They also have a management system where you can manage, communicate with your followers or bloggers you follow – all from your mobile phone! Be sure to download it from the App Store or Google Play – search for nuffnangX and start following!

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Tristan, sporting a fashionable yellow top and luscious hair – talking about fashio.. erm I mean video games~

Team Sprocket, a video game developer based in Sabah highlighted the use of social media for the video game industry and I must agree there’s a strong usage of social media to promote video games in the modern era. Popular video game social media players can elicit interest and promote sales big time. Tristan, also mentioned the ethics of the social media, on how certain social media figures promote games for special privileges, spurring a lot of backlash from the social media.

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There was also a surprise birthday cake for one of the team members, John. Awww

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Tai from KL, with his poker face and very very entertaining talk

Next came my favourite talk of the day. The talk from Tai from Kuala Lumpur. His talk on DIGI’s successful campaigns using the social media was very entertaining and an eye opener to how useful social media can be to develop your brand image and influence. I had so much fun, especially since I am not from Malaysia and had not seen those videos – laughed out loud and also touched by the various videos – highlighting the powerful marketing skills of DIGI. The talk kept me wanting for more – even screaming for Tai not to skip the videos when he was running out of time! Thumbs up and really gave me a new found respect for DIGI.

This video really made us laugh out loud and just because as social media and the modern obsession with sharing our lives with the world. Brilliant to Digi for coming up with this video! Best part? You can to choose his DESTINY! It’s a story mode play! Do it! Watch this now!

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Kathleen excited to show us the Windows 8

Kathleen Lee from Microsoft also gave a talk on the use of the Windows 8, and Acer being one of the touch screen laptops to utilize them. Highlighting the uses of the Windows 8 and its ease of use, especially for the active social media community. But I have to say that if you don’t have a touch screen laptop, you can’t really enjoy the full value of the Windows 8, which was brought up in the talk.

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Moses (FPS) and Jared (Grim Films - gotta love those red pants) – Those glasses must be the new trend for budding video directors~

The final session: Last but not least – is a talk by two goliath figures in the Malaysian Youtube community. Jared from Grim Film and Moses from Film Production Sabah (FPS – which I initially thought was First Person Shooter). I got the chance to watch a few of Grim Film videos and were almost moved to tears (gotta control myself in such a big crowd – might actually cry if watching alone! lol). Moses also showed his Hakka Sabah style – a Sabah parody to the famous Oppa Gangnam style, which I feel is ultra hilarious and to me – a must watch video – pretty models, delicious Sabahan food, drifting cars from Sabah – you name it! They also showed how making videos involved lots of hard work and stress, but also showed how social media can inspire and help one promote their great work.

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The winning drawing – great abstract art!

Another interesting activity was drawing on a green card to show why you should win the Acer Iconia W510Ooooh how I would love to own one of those! Can act as a tablet and when you attach it to the keyboard – it’s also a laptop. Each person was also given a facebook like sticker to stick on their favourite drawing – this was the winner!

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The winner Hin Ching ~~ ahhhh how I wish I can have this!!

An important aspect of the conference was of course to meet and connect with fellow social media and exchange vital contacts. It was a very fruitful event which I learned many things and of course made many friends!

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I took the chance to shoot this sunset picture after the final session.

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Me with Jack from Everyday Food I Love

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Calista – Model and Events Planner -

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Not sure if the camera is gigantic … or Calista is … well …. microscopic ~~

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Singing Coconut Nathalie (who was tweeting and instagramming with dedication the whole event and Charlotte Fong)

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Mr Anak Brunei

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Sue Ann and Charissa from Nuffnang Malaysia

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Jared from Grim Films and Moses from Film Productions Sabah

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Group picture of organizers and guest speakers! Till we meet again next conference!

1 comment

1 comment :

  1. Thanis, great review! and thanks for taking those awesome pictures! Really looking forward to the next social media conference!
    http://creativelasso.com

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