It was the first day and the first session ever of the Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Award (MITBCA) 2012 organized by our very own Ministry of Tourism and the Social Media Chambers.
For more, check out both my previous blogposts where I shared what MITBCA 2012 is all about and announced who the award winners are.
Rise & shine! On the morning of Day One, I was all set and ready to go.
Semi-formal/smart casual outfit of the day. TheJessicat wears :
Black pin striped blazer by S.U.B
Pink tank-top by Tommy Hilfiger
Black high-waisted skirt by Cotton On
Grey peep-toe suede wedges by Nose
Brown leather satchel by Forever 21
When I arrived Seri Pacific Hotel, the ballroom was already buzzing with delegates!
Wow, talk about being enthusiastic. Great turn out, guys 
9.30AM | Our very own Minister of Tourism, YB Dato Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen set the ball rolling with her keynote speech & welcomed us all.
This photo only shows half of the ballroom
Sheila Scarborough (prominent specialist of Social Media application on Tourism Businesses)
gave her talk on the 'outreach beyond travel bloggers'
This catered more to business owners of the travel & tourism related industry.
She shared how to identify one's niche markets, where to find them, how to connect to them and recommended ways on how to interest them in one's destinations and places of interest.
11.30AM | After her Tourism Social Media Specialist Talk, it was time for the first panel session to begin.
This session shares the ways of creating an engaged social media community
A friend of mine, David Jr. Hogan of Malaysia Asia, was one of the speakers for this session
Good on you, pal!
He talked about the community expansion through travel and sharing the Malaysian experience 
Other speakers of this panel include other notable people in this similar field of expertise, Ali Watters from Scotland, Kiruba Shankar from India and Shane Dallas from Australia.
I found each of their sessions very enlightening and by the end of this panel session, I can bet your bottom dollar that everyone had learnt a thing or two about building active communities through blogging and how to promote destinations & services through new media platforms such as blogs and twitter.
1PM | LUNCH HOUR!
Time to stretch, mingle about and take a break over scrumptious buffet lunch
Buddy Joe and I – good luck in your speech later! 
Muzaffar and I
David and I – great speech earlier!
Made a new friend and fellow blogger - Lash from the US of A 
Hanie and I – good luck on your speech later dearie!
Bumped into a one of my blog readers, this lovely lady beside me, Glow!
So nice to meet you after a few years of interacting with you only on my blog and on Twitter.
She replied my tweet the night before the conference & mentioned she was attending the conference too. Another new friend made today
It was very nice of her to approach me to say hi! We talked and clicked well 
2PM | The second panel session, which began right after lunch hour, focuses on entrepreneurship in tourism using social media.
Now, we're talking about the money money money here! $$$$$$
A good friend of mine, Joseph Lee began the session by
sharing ways to create good leads and generating immediate income
I found his talk informational and very ingenious!
Good titles, how you say things online to first capture your readers/viewers attention is just as important as being dedicated in selling yourself well to gain monetary returns.
The next speaker was Anuradha Goyal from India who crafted many good ways
on how to create a tourism blog that generates interest
Dr. James Craven from the UK speaks about the importance of feedbacks & market interaction
Improving customer services through social media – something EVERY business must bear in mind.
Iman Brotoseno from Indonesia then shared how to drive engagement effectively
and adding value to social media via travel blogs
After almost two hours, it was time for the third panel session to begin after a short break.
To my surprise, I spotted my friend Khairul Anuar whom I've not caught up with in a while.
It slipped my mind that he was the moderator of the final panel session!
Great bumping into you today, pal!
The session that he moderates will emphasize on effective campaigns through the new media – enjoying one's holiday and sharing it to the world.
Hanie and I again.
See her rolled up paper? She came well-prepared on what to say
And it begins!
3.30PM | The session began with Windy Ariestanty from Indonesia who spoke about lifestyle & travel – going places and blogging about it.
She shared her experience and fun with the delegates.
Michael Aguino from the Philippines presented crafty ways to write
& blog about shoppers paradise in different countries
Good to know! I found his talk very entertaining and I learnt heaps from it as well
Next up was Anis Nabilah, host of 'Icip-icip' a television program on the Asian Food Channel (AFC)
She shared about the food junction : eating > drinking > blogging!
Hanie was the final person to speak!
She spoke about how she started travelling with her family at a very young age and finally decided to document her travels online. Hanie also spoke on how to closing the gap and connecting closely to one's people.
5PM | Day One of MITBCA 2012 ends!
It was great to have reunited with so many friends from the industry that I have not seen in a while as well as meeting a whole new bunch of people from various fields of expertise.
Apart from that, the conference went very smoothly in a perfectly organized manner and it was enlightening to hear different perspectives of the panelists regarding tourism blogging, travelling and social media.
Two thumbs up to the team!
Today was a fantastic day of information sharing and a good flow of questions and answers from the delegates and endless discussions.
Alright, I shall freshen up and put my best foot forward for tonight's MITBCA Gala Award Dinner.
Looking forward to more in store for us on Day Two!
Archives: 
