embrace and engage (bloggers gathering)

UPDATED VERSION – originally posted on 22 april, 02:00 hrs
1st announcement here – posted on 6 april
this is STICKY POST, which means it will be up here all the time, so please scroll down for new posts.

2nd update

howdy! are you guys reading to embrace and engage on 19 may? no, i’m not talking about that kind of embrace (hug) and engage that leads to wedding bells. what we are going for is to embrace the blogging phenomenon in malaysia and to engage it by blogging (for those who haven’t yet)… or for those who are so against blogging/bloggers (like the trio – zam, nan, man) to engage bloggers in dialogue instead of thrashing them.

yes, ’embrace and engage’ is the theme for the bloggers united malaysia gathering to be held on 19 may at the lakeview club in subang, selangor.

as it had been two weeks since the first announcement, here are some updates.

firstly – speakers. we had confirmed speakers such as you see above in the banner, namely:

jeff ooi of screenshots
marina mahathir of rantings
tony pua off philosophy politics economy
tian chua from parti keadilan rakyat (PKR)
r. nadeswaran of citizen nades fame in sun2surf

ahirudin attan or more popularly known as rocky will give a talk on the newly set up national alliance of bloggers (shorten to all-blogs) .

coming up… more high profile speakers to be announced when they confirmed attendance. by 1 may, we should have lined up all the confirmed speakers. we try to get speakers from different fields so that the forum will be more diverse. as you can see above, we already have (sort of) representing bloggers (jeff), NGO (marina), opposition (tony and tian), media (nades).

each speakers will speak for only no more than 10 mins, so don’t worry about the forum being dry (someone thought it would be!) as no long speech from any of the speakers.

ah yes, very important – payment update. please pay RM30 to the following maybank account:

Account Name: Yoong Yui Foong
A/C No.: 1071 4403 8074

for more details, hop over to the official blog.

you can also find lots of other details there of course, like the menu for the buffet (under FAQ) at kampung-ku restaurant in lakeview club. look at what you’ll get at only RM30! just to tantalise you with some of the food – curry chicken with potato / thai style chicken, asam stingray / sweet and sour fish slices and many many more. oh, and the lakeview club boss, datuk soh chee wen, is generously throwing in two roast lambs GRATIS!! whoaa! thanks, datuk! meanwhile, mr lee, the club’s contact person had assured us that the management will do up the decor to make the event a grand affair!

so what are you waiting for? be there… or be square! sign up now immediately! just make your payment and your attendance is consider confirmed.

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the details here from the front page of the official blog (in case those of you are lazy to pay a visit there at this moment).

Name:
Bloggers United Malaysia Gathering 2007 – Embrace and Engage
An event in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day on 3rd May

Date:
19th May 2007

Time:
6.00pm – 11.00 pm.

    * Forum: 6.00pm – 8.00pm
    * Drinks: 8.00pm – 8.30pm
    * Buffet: 8.30pm – 11.00pm

Venue:
The Lake View Club
Lot 3606, SS12/1, Subang Jaya
47500 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Malaysia
Tel: +603 3733-8342

The club also has a prayer room available for use. Fits 8 persons max.

Payment:
Please deposit RM30 to the following Maybank account details:

Account Name: Yoong Yui Foong
A/C No.: 1071 4403 8074

Please scan your payment slip and email it to freelunch2020[@]gmail[.]com to confirm your payment.

Do bring along your original ‘Deposit receipt’ as Entry Pass to the event.

Attire:
Smart casual

RSVP:
By 9th May 2007 (Wednesday). Please send all correspondence to howsyh[at]gmail[dot]com.

Speakers;
We have confirmed attendance by Jeff Ooi, Marina Mahathir, Tony Pua, Tian Chua and R. Nadeswaran (of Citizen Nades fame). Ahirudin Attan (Rockybru) will be a special speaker. We will update this list as soon as others confirm!

What to expect:
Each panellist will share their thoughts based on their field of activity, expertise and experience stating whether they agree or disagree with the following statement:-

"That the media environment under the present Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration is more open and liberal compared to the previous administration under Dr Mahathir Mohamad."

Special speaker Rocky will speak on the National Alliance of Bloggers.

Hope to see you all there! :