learnings from #AOLIBC international bloggers conference

Whenever you go to a conference you get doubts. Questions like the following arise

1. Will it be worth the drive?
2. Will I learn something new?
3. What will be the quality of speakers?
4. Can time be spent in something more useful?

 But still the open mind pushes you along and tells

Just go and chill
If nothing more you will breathe the ashram air

So I do arrive on a beautiful Sunday morning wading through the kanakpura traffic.
There were few traffic snarls as one bully mini-truck brushed the back of a poor motor biker.

At the ashram gate, waving the teachers card, swooned inside.

After lots of pain and with support from spouse and kids I found the printers power cord. The invitation to the international bloggers conference was printed.
At Vishalaksmi Mantap, the reception simply ignored the printout and waved for me to jump in inside.
+Khurshed Batliwala (Bawa from here on) was already on the stage. I just dropped the body and glued my eyes and ears to his presence.

The kindergartens were to have session at ground floor and pro would go to Mahaveer hall. I thought for a while and marched on the steps and took the two floors flight.

A part time diamond merchant, full time Google super user (apparently got a tablet from Google to try) was struggling to go through without the slides. Bawa was reading out the points and he described, a truly humble sight. His recommendations were to

1. group blog
2. join and create presence on gang of 4 (Twitter, Facebook, Google and Youtube). Youtube is catching up with Facebook with over 800 Million users. So if you don't then do #videoblog.

Then came entrepreneur from UK who gave tips on blog monetization. The points from his talk

1. it takes atleast 18 months before money starts flowing in
2. try different advertisers, learn online terminology like CPC/CPM/lead generation and use Google Analytics.
3. if you lose the #1 in organic search then it takes atleast 18 months to get it back. He narrated Groupon's loss of number 1 spot and its desperation to regain it and Google penalizing it for the same.

Slipped away to Mahalxmi Kalyan Mantap's to congratulate Richa on her marriage. Thank you Hunar for making me feel at ease. 

Came back from another delight from Bawa. He played 

1. United breaks my guitar that caused United Airlines to lose almost 180 millions (that could have effectively bought 51000 guitars in replacement if they had acted in time)
2. a+b whole squared video that went viral. He had given more interesting talks of Guruji knowlegde but this video was posted on an urgent request from +Dinesh Ghodke who wanted something to be up on Mathmagic before his session in Hyderabad.

The whole point is that your voice will not get unheard. Even a silly video, a little tweet can dislodge the best of system and corporate if the voice echoes across the social media. You don't have to depend on newspaper or Television to get insight into what is happening outside.

Off to Sunday afternoon treat at Annapoorneswari (the ashram kitchen). Got beautiful insight from Mahima on

1. Dairy milk contains blood and pus from cows udders as they use machines that can pinch and wounds that dont heal
2. chemical trails kill natural seeds
3. every art of living part 1 project should take up a project to save a desi cow
4. the desi cow licks the hands of human and grazes the relevant herbs to cure them when they drink the milk from the same cow

She got her insight from Dr. Velkov and is creating a website for her initiative on raw vegan food.

Then came the afternoon. 

With meals in belly and no inspiration to write 

found a little shade and eyes closed 

looking at vast empty skies

Over Heard the security talk. A couple with two kids was talking in kannada and broken English, the security in broken English was asking them to leave ashram. When I spoke Hindi, he released 

यह लोग आश्रम मैं आने के लायक नहीं हैं, वहां पीछे बैठ कर गलत काम कर रहे थे। 

And I was aghast. With two kids you come to ashram to nuggle. Some more samples of sick minds. 

After a long time sat in the front row in open air amphitheater to witness satsang with Gurudev,

An evening of pure delight
melodies from sahil
body had to get up and dance
little nuggets of advice
from your very own and mine

Off to bloggers conferance to hear that +Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal too was into meditation and +The Art of Living  and even he yearned to meet Gurudev as anybody else. Some insights from his talk

1. Problems are game
2. open mind - if people copy game it means its popular, re-invent 
3. measure - found that at level 7 of parking frenzy
4. All active - be proactive, reactive and above all hyperactive - always respond to your listeners and online/offline community. A 13 year old game player asked him what CEO was when he tweeted to her he was? 
5. use JGD to greet on birthdays, when people ask then redirect them to the grace of Guru.
6. write post like "how to meet Guruji" and say when the soul beckons he will meet. The post is number 1 on Google search.
7. Describe T-shirts and why they are worn when he meets Guruji.

Then something on 2+2=5. 

A beautiful song from Bhanu didi and few feautiful tips

1. be responsible and make a positive impact with your post
2. write often and tweet more

A lovely questionnaire from Gurudev post awards ceremony. Few tips from the master

1. focus on the positives
2. spend time with the face behind the book 
3. God has books of all the faces
4. moving children from violent games
1. create a company which welcomes and respects them, make your presence more beautiful then the computer screen
2. kids in america do not know the difference between shooting in video games and in real life. there are more gun shops in America than grocery stores.
5. chorus against alcohol  

Witnessed the historical moment when Gurudev (+Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ) launched his personal blog

Please add on the above if I have missed any (I know its MANYiess :))