pInOy MeD [it] tEcH: IE9 Community Launch, “An Earth Shaking Event?”

After the release of the Windows Internet Explorer 9 RTW, I received an email from Gian Javellana asking for help in organizing the IE9 RTW community launch and if I can tag along some community members who can help. The planning and meeting was set on March 10, 2011, ten days before the community launch. It was all agreed that the theme of the launch is all about speed and the main idea is car racing. We also assigned tasks to each member of the organizing team. I volunteered to discuss the {Dev: Unplugged} contest featured in IE9’s www.beautyoftheweb.com. Other members of the planning team are Erwin Magno, Jeffrey Lacatan, Cesar Cuaresma, John Remir Cueto, and Dexter Dar (all of them are members of the windows7ako community)

March 21, 2011, the day of the IE9 RTW community launch, the organizing team met early before the event to prepare the venue. We did some art workshop like making a racing flags, cones, printed some traffic signs and the like. We finished the workshop on time before guest and community members started to arrive. We started the event by filling our stomachs with the catered food courtesy of Microsoft. During the dinner an unexpected earthquake with a 5.6 magnitude disturbed the festivities. Since we’re all in the 16th floor we can really feel the shaking of the building. The building admin issued an order to vacate the premises as the situation might get worse, so without finishing our food, we immediately proceeded to fire exits and took the stairs all the way to the building’s ground floor. About few minutes later when the building admin determined that it’s safe to go back inside the building, we went back at the 16th floor to start the event proper.

The event was hosted by Miss Chay Saputil, a fellow MVP, welcomed guests and community members by attending the event. After the welcome and introductions I started to discuss the mechanics of the {Dev:Unplugged} contest. A big wow came from the crowd when they’ve seen the prizes of the competition. My discussion was followed by a game hosted by Erwin and John Remir, followed by Dexter’s IE9 tips and tricks, and another game hosted by Cesar and Jeffrey. The event ended at around 9PM in the evening with all smiles (though tired) from the community members who enjoyed the event.

I forgot to mention that Miss Mae Rivera-Moreno, product manager for Windows and members of the DPE team was also present on the said event. :)

Here are some pictures taken from the event (pictures are credited to Peter Baltazar, Mark Barraca, Daryl Silao, and I)