Hyderabad bloggers Meet 2013

yes, it was an awesome event,yes it was at an elegant place. Yes we met lots of new bloggers, young and enthusiastic, wise beyond their age, writing poetry at the drop of hat and reciting with passion. Young ladies, brimming with literary talent and wanting to get their work published. Experienced bloggers giving tips on how to go about the business. Yes I am describing the enjoyable event that was Hyderabad Bloggers Meet 2013.

It was held in a cosy room , at a grand venue, ITC Kakatiya Hotel, in a prime location, Begumpet. The very entry into the elegant place adorned with tasteful paintings lining the stair case and lobby, elevated the participants’ moods to a sophisticated experience.

Thank you ITC Kakatiya http://www.itchotels.in/

The ambiance in the lobby and the Boardroom set to the exacting standards of the Hotel, and the gracious staff assisting the bloggers to settle down in comfort was to be experienced to be believed.

I was already acquainted with the early arrivals so the mood was one of friendship and fun. Bhavana Nissima who came from Chennai, for the second time to meet the Hyderabad bloggers was busy clicking photographs and meeting the arrivals. Thanks you Bhavana, for gracing the occasion and spreading your charm. She was also busy here tweeting the event to other bloggers in India.

It was a pleasure to meet Desi Traveler in person,(seen with Bhavana in the above picture), who blogs at http://www.desitraveler.com discovering places ,capturing them in words and pictures,sharing them with his readers.

Our main Organiser , the calm and cool Subhorup DasGupta and his charming wife Madhavi Padma were early too, and immediately settled down to getting the stuff ready. He was here there and everywhere to see to the smooth conduct of the Meet. Another famous blogger and travel writer Anuradha Goyal arrived almost immediately, sat down to discussing the finer points of the meet. Thanks to Anuradha Goyal , the Hyderabad Bloggers could meet at such an elegant and convenient place.

Meanwhile Satish ( http://www.coolpctips.com and http://www.campus2life.com) too was busy , lending his boundless energy to the event. One needs to hear and feel his presence to get caught in his positive energy, and his simplicity. Many amazing young Tech bloggers graced the occasion. It was wonderful, to witness the humility and the enthusiastic participation.

(image courtesy Satish CoolPCtips and Desi Traveler) All tech bloggers, Satish Kumar – CoolPCTips , Sampath Bhoompally– Gaming Garage, Sai Kumar – Cruchy hub ,Pavan Somu Geek And Blogger, Koundinya – Koundeenya – )

Satish’s talk on SEO best practices can be accessed here courtesy Subhorup Das gupta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdP7dHx8M0&feature=youtu.be …Very interesting,at times daunting to me. I learnt words like Do follow, no follow, position, optimize, rank, inbound link, Trust Rank, Meta Page, SERP, spider crawls, Panda, Penguin being used with different meanings. Spiders will never be the same again for me.:-)

The talk by Anuradha Goyal was interesting to an armchair traveler, like me. She discussed on how to write, and what to write. One has to find their passion, self discovery , niche , and rest falls into place. She is also one of the top reviewer of books in India, and has a huge collection of books. She graciously offered her library for our use with a promise of peace and some tea thrown in. Very tempting.

Anuradha also wears another hat. She is currently an independent Innovation consultant and can help organizations incubate new groups, setup innovation platforms, define innovation strategies and roadmap. I was enriched meeting and hearing her.

Another discussion about authors, E books and self publishing , involved the budding authors and poets. Shankari Sundaram of Oh, I juggle! who came with a sleeping baby on her arms, started off the discussion, suitably followed by Linda Ashok (NotMenButPatriarchy), Madhur Chadda(Mr Unreasonable) and NVL Sateesh Life, Physics, and Philosophy, Debdatta Sahay and Anuradha Goyal . The discussion veered around self – publishing for wannabe authors, problems in editing, book launches, E-books, copy right violations and publishing in U tube.

After a brief interval for variety of snacks provided by the ITC Kakatiya, , we had chance to meet fellow bloggers and exchange notes since last meeting. It was nice to meet Gautam Dhameja again.

Ratnakar Sadasyula who is active on Twitter @scorpiusmaximus, FAcebook, Telugu Patalu, History, Quora, and blogs at – Sleepless in Cyberia – http://scorpiusmaximusindicus.blogspot.in/, was the next speaker.

Image courtesy Subhorup DasGupta

Ratnakar touched upon Social media activism and the evolving trends. HE stressed the need to bring in changes effectively by using the social media and attain wider reach for causes which makes a difference to the society. The Executive Chef, who is also a blogger and social media enthusiast took an active part in detailing his experiences. There were lot of discussion on the subject and ways to go about achieving the goals. It was also decided to take this effort further after due planning.

P.Sekar with Bhavana

Thereafter , it was fun time where in the gifts brought by us all, were distributed by picking out random numbers. The books, DVDs and the Haiku calendars, lovely posters, Diary,coffee mugs , lots of sample tea packets (from Blend of tea, our logistic partners) and a lovely bag were given away amid cheers. Needless to add that I got that lovely bag.

Our Giveaway sponsors Big Basket .com ,distributed gift vouchers to the participants. I have already placed orders for getting the items delivered at my doorstep.Thank you Big Basket.

We received some lovely T-shirts and a pretty cap from Maxthon , our Technology partners.

Links : http://desitraveler.com/

http://tillingtheearthwoman.blogspot.in/2013/01/hbm2013-enabling-change-through-social.html

http://singilela.blogspot.in/
http://subhorup.blogspot.in/2013/01/hyderabad-bloggers-meet-2013.html