Auction.ph recently celebrated its 3rd year anniversary as a registered company and the website’s 2nd year of existence in cyberspace. To celebrate the milestone, Auction.ph invited bloggers and the always accommodating members of the Cyberpress.
Executing the party felt like an abridged version of the website’s two years. And here is an unabridged version of what happened. For those who came but are now experiencing a hazy recollection of what took place and for those who were not able to come.
2.00pm August 14. Just 5 hours before the party. Auction.ph Office.
Manu Ofiaza, Auction.ph resident blogger and party promoter was worried about the party. He was worried about food supplies. With over 50 people who confirmed their attendance, he was thinking how to keep 50++ people well-fed and happily inebriated with food and beverage supplies rationed exactly for 50 people.
“Let’s just eat after all our invited guests have eaten,” he said. Everyone accepted, of course. We’ve endured so much more just to keep our website in prime form and small pangs of hunger are relatively benign.
2.30pm.
More people were added to the list. We had a Marketing Meeting but our focus was evenly split. We were discussing future strategies while Manu was counting pizza slices in his head.
4.00pm. Auction.ph Office. Still.
Manu added finishing touches to his presentation as the advance team was preparing to leave to go to the venue. They brought banners, technical equipment and registration materials. There were some food items inside the refrigerator and the team considered bringing them for emergency purposes. They ultimately decided against it. A stick of butter and a Tupperware of kimchi were hardly sufficient in the event of a food crisis.
“Bahala na si Batman.”
4.30pm. Elbow Room, Metrowalk.
The advanced team set-up the venue and put up festive banners to transform the posh private room into a cozy (and gratuitously branded) party room. Manu rehearsed his presentation while Kris Andres, technical director and production supervisor, organized the registration area and tested the equipment.
5.30pm. Back in Auction.ph.
Meanwhile, back at the office, true to the name of the online event, iHoopla was causing some minor hoopla. Executives decided to postpone the event launch and Kris was instructed to pull out the iHoopla release from the press kits.
Moments later, through a valiant effort from the Merchandising Department, iHoopla was reactivated and ready to go.
Kris was advised to put all the pulled releases back in.
5.40pm. The entire universe.
Rain came down in sheets and traffic was at a standstill.
7.00pm. Elbow Room, Metrowalk.
Invited guests started coming in. Despite the torrential downpour, a few managed to make it on time.
| Abe Olandres |
| Jedi Dancel |
| Calvin Lo |
| Eugene Villar |
| Relly Carpio |
| Clea A. Barrion |
| Cha M. Santurcas |
| Kyo Seo |
| Gunnie Lee |
| Edwin Sallan |
| Park Kyubin |
| Joel Pinaroc |
| Melvin Calimag |
| Trina Bahala |
| Noel S. Samulde |
| Marlon C. Magtira |
8.45pm. Elbow Room, Metrowalk.
An hour long delay seemed like a long enough grace period. Angelo Hernandez, resident blabber mouth, started the program. Auction.ph Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer, Ms. Jenny Kim, welcomed the guests. After which, all the revered guests were given time to introduce themselves.
8.50pm. Program Proper.
iHoopla was presented to guests followed by Manu’s presentation about AdAuction. In a nutshell, the point driven home was that Auction.ph is really, really generous. The new program blueprint has additional streams for creating revenues for bloggers and web publishers.
9.15pm. Game time.
Guests were asked to give their recommendations on how to further improve the AdAuction service. Cha Santos, resident model of Auction.ph, made the rounds and collected the suggestions from the guests. They were thrown in together with the suggestions sent online.
(The list of suggestions will be posted on this blog so stay tuned.)
Lucky raffle draw winners were given e-money and gift packs from Neo.
After the raffle, Fleur Zara, resident singer, gave an ear-splitting performance, a startling teaser for what was going to happen next.
9.30pm. Pinoy Blog Idol.
Nothing fosters camaraderie like videoke.
The first-ever Pinoy Blog Idol was conducted featuring three respectable judges (Merchandising Manager, Brian Chong, VP and CMO, Ms. Jenny Kim, Blogger, Abe Olandres) and seven talented and quirky competitors.
Below is a list of the participants, their song choices and a record of their scores.
- Kyo Seo, Media, An Eric Clapton Song,
- Trina Bahala, Adamson Auctionista, A Sappy Song
- Rely Carpio, Cyberpress, A Bon Jovi Song
- Noel Samulde, Adamson Auctionista, A Matchbox 20 Song
- Gunnie Lee, Media, Livin La Vida Loca
- Blozoom, Online Seller, Sappy Song But Nice,
- Abe Olandres, Judge, Same as Noel’s
Trina was given extra credit for being pretty. Blozoom got bonus points for being an online seller. And Abe, despite being one of the Judges, didn’t get any special treatment at all. Sorry, Abe. J
The Korean dude who sang Livin La Vida Loca won the grand prize after showcasing not only his singing and dancing skills, but his acting, his beer-spraying, lighter-flicking and magic-feigning antics as well. Ms. Jenny Kim gave him an 11 from a possible highest score of 10. He got one point for singing and a well-deserved 10 for all the rest.
10.30pm. Wrap-up.
Guests came away happy. They got free loot, free entertainment and they all made new friends. A few stayed for more rounds of singing, drinking and for a fashion shoot that happened out of nowhere.
12.30am. In the land of the plastered.
The team realized that despite the tension and the last minute adjustments, it was all worth it. And just like the past two years, after all the hardships and the struggles, yes, it was worth it. And it still is.
Photos of the event are uploaded here.
On behalf of Auction.ph, we send our warmest appreciation to all the bloggers, web publishers and to all the members of the Cyberpress. Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to seeing you all again in Pinoy Blog Idol Part. 2! J
