Blogger’s BNLF moment – First Hand

So this was few months back when I got a notification email which read “Get a seat at IndiBlogger’s most disruptive conference” this was Indiblogger’s most ambitious plan yet, wow reading that i could gauge this was going to be a amazing event for bloggers.

Pre-BNLF Buzz

Back to the BNLF (Blog Now Live Forever) pre-event buzz, bloggers from all corners of India and even abroad were discussing about how things will fall in place regarding ticket booking and stay, however the community of bloggers and Indiblogger team were very supportive to help out through all sort of communications, forum discussion and working out with Stayzilla for the weekend stay part, this bond really speaks volume to how the blogger’s community has evolved through time in India and the active supporter to promote it has been Indiblogger team which somewhere speaks about the committed efforts taking shape slowly and steadily with a strong community of more then 25,000+ bloggers onboard and over 100+ indimeets already and counting.

Indi-Crew Excitement

When Indiblogger team decided to include bloggers to be part of the indi-crew, i wanted to be a part of it and guess what i was chosen in the indi-welcome team, the attempt was to make other bloggers coming from all corners of India beat the blues, make them comfortable and familiar to the BNLF event on the 1st day, rather than making it feel more of a long day conference.

Loading BNLF

Slowly and steadily days seem passing and inching towards 31st October & 1st November, the BNLF event had a different vibe to it which created a buzz in the bloggersphere and boy were we all pumped up and excited (specially the crew ;).

Finally “THE DAY” Arrives

Yes, the day finally came, being in the indi-crew team, members were asked to come early as they were assigned specific tasks, we had brisk breakfast and then we all were given our indi-crew group wise t-shirts, indi-welcome had yellow t-shirt code which we all changed to and were all set to welcome our blogger friends from all over India and abroad.

Registration and INDI-CREW

It was around 10.00am and many bloggers started coming in at the venue, but they were made to wait like passengers who were eager to check in and board the flight of awesomeness, Indi-Police did a good job managing the crowd and made it a point that no one enters the registration desk without further instruction from Indiblogger team, after some time the much anticipated gate opened up and bloggers rushed to the registration desk to get their badges and board the flight of awesomeness which was waiting for them to be discovered in the time to come. I would like to mention that the Indi-hospitality team really managed the rush well and were quite efficient in the registration process.

Folks at indi-welcome team did a good job in managing the rush, they spread across and made it a point to have a quick chat and cut the blues with bloggers, smiling, greeting and showing the way, there were some chat sessions also going on (sort of a informal interview) in which many bloggers took part and shared their views on different topics and experiences while coming to BNLF and what it meant to them, other indi-welcome crew members (including me) were running around capturing the moments on our camera to stay for eternity.

Just the Beginning

Bloggers were busy taking selfies with the speakers and friends, chatting within their group and some fresh faces were amused looking around when Anoop (the veteran Host at Indiblogger) popped up on stage and greeted the bloggers, soon after followed by a mesmerizing, house rocking and stage breaking performance by the Indilive band “blunder in the code“.

Session 1 – Blogger turned Speaker Purbha Pay

After the smashing performance, spirit were high and souls were lit up, the line up of session commence with the forever young and witty Purba Ray, she shared a bit about her journey into blogging, blessed with witty and sarcastic humor in a mix of creative writing is the best combination anyone could ask for, I could see fellow bloggers enjoying her venomous humour and could relate to what she said, inspiring indeed.

BACK Stage – The seriously serious bunch of Indicrew

After the session was over, I quickly tried to sneak pass the backstage to get some photos of speakers and ask them about the BNLF experience, but due to intensely guarded back stage by Indi-stage members, they didn’t let me in, I respect the fact that they did their job with so much sanity, kudos to Fizaah, Ruhie, Aditya,Sumit and others in the indi-stage.

Sessions 2 – Aranb Ray

Following up was session by Arnab Ray, a multi facet writer with zest to speak about his mind musing which are quite interesting, author of multiple books named MayI Hebb Your Attention Plis, The Mine, Yatrik and sharing his views with New York Times India Ink, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal Online, Times of India, DNA and Outlook , Arnab shared many insights about creative writing which were well noted.

Sessions 3 – The Story Teller – Christoph Trappe

The next session was of Christoph Trappe, the authentic story teller as he is known, multiple award winner in the field of Content writing marketing, he shared some useful tips and hacks of which some quick pointers are:

• Story telling with a sense of connecting is the need which lacks in many marketing driven content.
• The art of simplifying, breaking it into readable content.
• Maintaining a calendar and organizing content and events helps optimized results and better efficiency.
• The 60-30-10 formula : 60 – talking – 30 responding- 10 – links
• Creating Unique stories because they set us apart, they cannot be commoditized.
• Declaring intent, being more passion driven, sense of what makes us unique.

Are your hungry for networking and fun

After that was lunch break, bloggers were eager to have some good food and network alongside in this 1 hour break, as it turned out there were some interesting activities/try out lined up by Cleartrip like segway , wall climbing, mini golf, super bike for posing with back drop, Harley Davidson bike, which I totally admired and posed for.

I guess the hour long break felt short and bloggers were just all over the place, Anoop and team had to literally drag everyone to the event dome to get the next session started.

GIG TIME with Youtuber – Kanan Gill

Guess what, I saw all the ladies in the house seated as I came after lunch, I was a little perplexed what’s with them? Then I asked someone who the next speaker was, came to know it was Kanan Gill, gosh you could see the sparkle in each one of them, I thought Kanan would be mobbed for sure, but ladies kept their love for Kanan to themselves and admired his entire session with twinkle in their eyes. Kanan’s session was more of a self explanatory of his struggle with himself and how he overcame them with his own formulas of success; it was more of a stand up gig which was crazy and funny at the same time.

Sessions 4 – Social Media optimized with Jeff Bullas

Sessions moved on and it was time for the Forbes listed, top marketing blogger – Jeff Bullas, the Australian swipe the floor away with some ground breaking insights on optimizing content on social media, the creation of good and valuable content and the need for authenticity in each writer to list a few, not to forget his motivational slides about discovering one’s self to set new benchmarks and creating unique content. I would love to list more but it would be too lengthy. I will share the complete details in my upcoming post.

Sessions 5 – The Never die spirit – Preeti Shenoy

Preeti Shenoy’s session was on the benchmark of how she went pass through all the struggles in her career, the challenges she faced when approaching publishers with her story, the ever hungry attitude to succeed and her amazing and inspiring journey to becoming the best seller in the charts, a very humble personality with a passion to share and grow, was a inspiring session.

Bruce Dickinson – I leave it up-to you to decide on the subtitle, cause I am short of words

Anoop then came on stage and made us charge up with the trademark hur – hurr – hurrr move, with that done it was time for the moment of truth which each blogger in the house was waiting for eagerly, to sense and feel the moment was for real, Anoop with all his glory voice made a emotional introduction to the Iron Maiden lead vocalist and a truly multi talented entrepreneur Bruce Dickinson, yes you heard it right, the aura that he brought on stage was phenomenal, I loved his simplicity and sense of humanity throughout his presentation about his life journey and learning he shared with all of us, there were few fan star stuck moment between the presentation as well. Learned a new perspective of looking at things and life, the 0+0=1 formula by Bruce Dickinson which is something Ill mention elaborately in my coming posts.

 

Back Stage Party

The Day didn’t end there, Indiblogger team had something more lined up for us as a token of appreciation, we bloggers were invited to the backstage part too, after an hour break, we assembled at the basement of Lalit Hotel’s ballroom where the mood was set and drinks. Mocktails and cocktails were served, had some good insight talk with all the speakers and enjoyed the company of fellow bloggers with some yummy snacks hovering around to beat hunger.

Day 2 at BNLF

Day two had 2 sessions which were conducted by Christoph Trappe and Jeff Bullas respectively, it was good learning curve with work exercises and one on one interactions, came across common problems faced by bloggers and their solutions by speakers besides that new and trending tools for marketing content overview, discussion and a lot more.

My Takeaway from BNLF

To sum up, had a time of my life, it was fantastic meeting bloggers in person finally, BNLF helped unit bloggers and improve bloggers vocabulary as to say by calling outstanding speakers with their vast knowledge in digital media to share their experiences, gained a lot from the sessions in every aspect of blogging, from writing creatively to marketing and beyond.. Kudos to INDIBLOGGER team for making this happen and wish it continues for the time to come.

Special mention of all the members in the Indi-crew who dedicated time and effort when demanded:

1. Indi-Welcome – 2. Indi-Police 3. Indi-Hospitality 4. Indi-Stage

Ps. Guest Host on day 1 of BNLF

Archana Kapoor and Vinita Bahl (blogwatiG), it was a job well done is what I’ll say.

Photo credits : Indiblogger Facebook Album