Blog and Book Fest 2018
The end of July saw many invited bloggers (myself included) and accomplished authors to join for a day filled with creativity and genius at the Lenasia 2018 Jozi's Blog and Book fest : http://jozisbbf.co.za/about/. Yet again the festival was the brain child of Dr Zaheera Jina who put together a splendid event held at SBSM School in Lenasia. This is the third year that the fest is running. The entrance fee was a mere R 10 and SBSM learners ushered guests and speakers to the different venues where the variety of events were being hosted. We first made our way into the hall where we mingled with other bloggers and guests. During introductions we were addressed by Mail & Guardian Editor in chief Khadija Patel who advised attendees of the benefit of "Reading everything." She related a personal story of her time with her granddad who actually taught her to read everything and anything and thus inculcated in her a love for reading and literature. An award was presented to author Ahmed Essof for his contribution toward literature. Thereafter guests were dismissed from the hall and allowed to venture into the different venues that interested them
The star of the show was Mail & Guardian photographer, Xavier Saer who camera in hand thrilled audiences that eagerly awaited his Masterclass. His class quickly filled up in the early hours of Sunday morning and he was all the more enthusiastic to share his tips and tricks on how to be the best photographer. He stressed on everything from how to take a good candid shot to the best type of lens for shooting. He was so prepared he actually brought along his own model! Wow...
If you think major pre-preparation and planning went into adult session our talk, you are seriously mistaken. We were thrown into the deep end arriving at the fest only to then assess for ourselves how our panel discussion on "All things social media" would go. By visiting earlier sessions, myself and blogger Raeesah Omar was able to fathom more or less how our session would go. We hardly expected our talk to fill up but to our amusement the entire classroom filled up rather quickly (with no room for anyone else to stand). Speaking of nerves...... We were asked unprepared questions by the facilitator in front of a live audience. Speak about thinking on your feet. I guess the people behind the scenes at the fest assumed that being bloggers and writers, we have the magical ability to think and speak at the drop of a hat. Turns out most of us are able to....... Don't think only bloggers and authors have this talent though. Spontaneous discussions sometimes have more of a lasting impact than well prepared discussions and it seriously paid off having to speak in the moment.
Something about me that you don't know.... Well the facilitator had my bio and all I thought my readers didn't know about me was written in my bio so I was thrown off course when I opened the discussion floor by having to tell the audience something about me that they didn't know. I mustered up the courage to think out of the box and mentioned how my husband too benefited from my little blog, having the opportunity to tag along with me on most ventures and call himself a "blogger" too without any of the tedious blog work. Truth be told my bestie Aari as well as many family members too benefit from the blog getting to attend events, launches and press parties with me, receiving all the goodie bags too. Now you know why my friend circle is expanding (Just kidding).
Overall the event went well leaving audiences with no idea as to how little work us bloggers and writers actually did to prepare for the event. Disappointment struck though with that mucky yucky vegetable biryani. Probably because I'm more of the "chicken biryani type of girl", I did not enjoy the biryani and went home hungry but hey all's well that ends well!
http://jozisbbf.co.za/jozisbbf2018/
The star of the show was Mail & Guardian photographer, Xavier Saer who camera in hand thrilled audiences that eagerly awaited his Masterclass. His class quickly filled up in the early hours of Sunday morning and he was all the more enthusiastic to share his tips and tricks on how to be the best photographer. He stressed on everything from how to take a good candid shot to the best type of lens for shooting. He was so prepared he actually brought along his own model! Wow...
If you think major pre-preparation and planning went into adult session our talk, you are seriously mistaken. We were thrown into the deep end arriving at the fest only to then assess for ourselves how our panel discussion on "All things social media" would go. By visiting earlier sessions, myself and blogger Raeesah Omar was able to fathom more or less how our session would go. We hardly expected our talk to fill up but to our amusement the entire classroom filled up rather quickly (with no room for anyone else to stand). Speaking of nerves...... We were asked unprepared questions by the facilitator in front of a live audience. Speak about thinking on your feet. I guess the people behind the scenes at the fest assumed that being bloggers and writers, we have the magical ability to think and speak at the drop of a hat. Turns out most of us are able to....... Don't think only bloggers and authors have this talent though. Spontaneous discussions sometimes have more of a lasting impact than well prepared discussions and it seriously paid off having to speak in the moment.
Something about me that you don't know.... Well the facilitator had my bio and all I thought my readers didn't know about me was written in my bio so I was thrown off course when I opened the discussion floor by having to tell the audience something about me that they didn't know. I mustered up the courage to think out of the box and mentioned how my husband too benefited from my little blog, having the opportunity to tag along with me on most ventures and call himself a "blogger" too without any of the tedious blog work. Truth be told my bestie Aari as well as many family members too benefit from the blog getting to attend events, launches and press parties with me, receiving all the goodie bags too. Now you know why my friend circle is expanding (Just kidding).
Overall the event went well leaving audiences with no idea as to how little work us bloggers and writers actually did to prepare for the event. Disappointment struck though with that mucky yucky vegetable biryani. Probably because I'm more of the "chicken biryani type of girl", I did not enjoy the biryani and went home hungry but hey all's well that ends well!
http://jozisbbf.co.za/jozisbbf2018/
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