My BAT XP and VETERAN BATonics!!!

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To some it reminds the Dark Knight , to some it reminds Sachin

Tendulkar ; but when you ask the bloggers, BAT reminds them 

the red and blue, three haired winking Marshal   .

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Are you are here to decide the topic for BAT 13???

Click here to do so.

Or simply continue reading My Blog-a-Ton Experience and Meet the Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.

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It’s been one whole year, a wonderful one year in this journey of Blog-a-Ton. As a blogger, I have created my own niche in this period while as the Marshal, I have enjoyed the whole process and the appreciation I have received for my initiative.

Did I ever expect BAT to rise to such an extent?

Yes, I always hoped so. That’s why the mission from DAY 1 was to have an edition with 100 participants. It was frustrating when after rising initially, for next six editions the number of participations kept swinging around 40-45 and came crashing down to 35 during BAT 9. It was surprising when in the very next edition, the number touched 60 and within two more editions, it has reached 70. The ultimate mission now seems within reach, thanks to all the bloggers who keep participating month after month, also attracting other fellow bloggers in this process.

Did I ever expect to win BAT?

Yes, I always hoped so. It was very frustrating when despite writing some good posts in the initial editions, I failed to garner desired votes. Competition was always stiff. The quality of entries was always great. It took 10 BATs to win the BATOM badge award and within two more editions, I have two BATOMs under my belt.

However, this has also got me thinking if it is fair for other participants. Should I, being the Marshal, be competing with them for BATOM? With due respect to all those who have voted for me in previous two BATs I participated in, and made me win both of them, I do wonder if  there is any kind of favoritism taking place! It is a tough call for me as BAT has become a way of life for me, not just as a Marshal but also as a Blog-a-Tonic. So, do give your feedback about it!

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FELLOW TRAVELERS
THE VETERAN BLOG-A-TONICS

In the last three weeks, four wonderful bloggers have shared their BAT XP with you. These are the four who started this journey with me on August 1, 2010 participating in Blog-a-Ton 1. There were 7 other bloggers too, but only these 4 have stayed and enriched BAT with their wonderful posts month after month.

Click on their respective names to read all their BAT entries

	Shilpa Garg 12/12 BATs BATOM 1
Pawan Maruvada 11/12 BATs BATOM 5 SILVER BATOM 12
	Siddhesh 'Ravan' Kabe 10/12 BATs Designer of BATOM and Veteran BATonic badges Meet Marshal of BAT Pune Meet
Vipul Grover 10/12 BATs BATOM 10 GOLD BATOM 12 Founder Marshal of BAT
	Dhiman Manji 9/12 BATs Future BATOM *fingers crossed*

I’ll like to share my gratitude by inducting them in BATs Hall of Fame, which has been named as  'The List of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics'!!!

So the first five inductees to the List of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics are

• Shilpa Garg
• Pawan Maruvada
• Siddhesh Kabe
• Vipul Grover
• Dhiman Manji

Click on their names to read their Blog-a-Ton Experience (BAT XP)!!!

Here is the list of all the 13 entries for Blog-a-Ton 1. The topic was "The Cream and Scum of Blogging".
Arjuna, Saimanohar, Dhiman, Vipul Grover, Avdi, Daisy Blue, Sid 'Ravan' Kabe, Shankar, Shilpa Garg, Bharathi, Ranee[1], Ranee[2] and Pawan.
Shilpa Garg was voted as the First Blog-a-Tonic of the Month.

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There are many others who joined in the following editions and have been with BAT ever since. You all will be inducted in the following months after scrutinizing your posts and your performance in BAT.

To be eligible, you must have participated in atleast 10 BAT's.

Once your number of participation reaches 10, just drop me a mail with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send me that single link).

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Hoping to see many more inductees in future

Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

All in a year's work.

Blog a ton. A year ago when all the hype about it started I had no expectations on it. I didn’t quite like the idea in the first place. Who’ll write? I thought. And time knocked me out my senses. Blog a ton. Now it’s a phenomenon on the Indian blogging platform. When Vipul asked me to participate in the first edition in those seedy gtalk pop up boxes I had no option. Now it’s the largest generator of traffic on my blog. Come blog a ton my page stats zoom up into the sky. The first Saturday of everything is a treat to my hit counter and Google analytics. Blog a ton. The example of great marketing. Vipul has built a global brand locally. As we talk, a blogger from the remote Guinea islands hits the ‘follow’ button. The first two months, blog a ton was just a group of twenty members writing together. Later, the scale got larger and the topics more intense.

In the initial days there used to be simple topic suggestion threads with the topic almost being decided in a matter of a few comments later on the selection process started becoming more vivid with weird ideas pouring in. Time travel, all in a day’s work, what if, topics like this fuel the spark in a writer. Given that there are no restrictions, each post has a different dimension. The more abstract the topic, the more vivid is the thinking. This has given me a rare opportunity to hone my skills in different genres. Sci fi, romance, tragedy, drama, murder, crime, horror, I’ve done them all. The main beauty of Blog a ton lies in the format itself. Indeed blog a ton is a life changing venture for me and I think it’s the same for many other bloggers. If not for BAT, I’ve wouldn’t have met wonderful people like Shilpa Garg (consider her my mentor/editor, a special thanks to her for making my journey in the blogosphere smooth so far!), Neha, Guria, Karthik, Rumya, Tikuli, Vinay, The Fool (an meticulous reader and a better reviewer).

Once the topic is finalized, it’s the time for the mind to set out on a creative rampage. I generally think till the last Friday before the competition and then start writing, a process that every time consumes the deadline to every last minute. I’ve the recognition of being the last submitter of the post for Blog a ton all the time. Well, it’s something I hope to continue too :D Those warm comments, intense criticism, moments of pride, and similar moments of defeat are something that’ll go down the memory lane. My blog got popular, it is only due to Blog a ton. Winning the title once and coming second 6 months later, I something I’m really proud of. My entry for “All in a Day’s work” topic took my blog’s status to higher levels, giving me more freedom to write on bolder topics. Ironically, I’ve won the top slot for an emotional drama and the same genre brought me the second title too. Those who follow my blog closely will know the irony. I’ve noticed the pattern of the winning posts in BAT; they are always emotional posts, written on a deep seated problem or conflict. Well, this is not revealed until the results night, usually the Friday after the D- day. In between there’ll be random suggestions inside the blogger community and some reviews on who is good and who is bad. Good posts are appreciated and are spread like wildfire and the bad ones criticized (not on the blog though, where one can still find comments like cool, good etc)

Once the winner is declared, there’ll be massive traffic bound towards the winner’s blog and therein emerges another super blog. I’ve been seeing this for over a year now, except for one edition I’ve taken part in all the others. It has been a wonderful journey for me, and I guess it has been for the others too. I can’t think of a world without blog a ton, without which our blogs would be the correct examples for draught in the sub Saharan region. I think we all owe one for Vipul, founder in chief, CEO and Marshall of this wonderful concept which is constantly encouraging new talent and has been grooming the old. This idea has endured a year’s journey and no doubt, it’ll survive an eternity. Hail Blog a ton.

Amen.
Pawan Maruvada

A to Z of My BAT Experience

Blog-a-Ton turns ONE, this month! And I turn ONE on Blog-a-Ton too!! Yeah, I have had the pleasure of participating in all the 12 Blog-a-Tons!!
When, Vipul asked me to share my BAT experience here, was I thrilled?? Well, that’s putting it mildly.
So, here’s my BAT experience from A to Z…

An ‘Aha’ Experience…	Awesome!! Amazing!! has been my BAT experience. No, I am not saying this coz, I am doing the guest post here. And believe me, neither did Vipul ask me to say so!!
Blogging Marathon…	BAT is a blogging marathon par excellence. All the activities, announcements are on time, as per the schedule. That’s something commendable!
Cool Comments	Needless, to say that BAT posts always receive the maximum comments, which is like elixir for any blogger!
Diverse Diversity	It’s always awe-inspiring to see such diverse thoughts and expressions on a topic.
Excellent Exposure	Looking for that perfect exposure in the blogosphere?? BAT is the platform!!
Friends Forever	Have found some wonderful people here. Thank you BAT!!
Great Experience	The whole process of deliberating, expressing, sharing, understanding, learning at BAT is a great experience.
Hats Off	Hats off to Vipul for hosting such a wonderful contest.
Ideas Galore	A BAT post which was on a format of a research paper, simply floored me. There have been pretty innovative and imaginative ways of presentation of BAT posts…Lists, A to Z, Puzzles, Picture Posts…
Journey Joyous	12 months and 12 BAT posts with a winner post too is a joyous journey, truly!
Knowledge Everywhere	Knowledge is the food of the soul… and I got it in abundance at BAT.
Learning Experience	BAT has opened my world to newer forms of expressions viz Drabble, Minisaga, Cinquain, Haiku, 77 Fiction, Mirror poetry…
Midnight Oil It Is…	Somehow, I have always written for BAT on a late Friday night. May be subconsciously the idea is, “Early bird…” :D
New Networks	BAT has been a wonderful platform for networking too.
OMG!!	There have been many ‘OMG moments’ with BAT. An amazing write-up, an unexpected twist, a beautiful and poignant tale, an appreciative feedback… all left that lingering wonderful feeling.
Plus Plus Plus…	Being a part of BAT has been ALL PLUS + PLUS… and not a single Minus!!
Quite a Lot Coming Together	With each BAT, more of our brethren are coming together and blogging together. That’s something cool!
Reading Galore	With each new edition of BAT, the number of posts to read is on the rise. So the more you read, the more you learn…
Some Serious Fun	Yeah, BAT is some serious fun!! I had loads of it!!
Topics	The topics have been great for almost all the BATs. Though, there were a couple of them, which I didn’t fancy much.
United We Stand	BAT is unity in action! Truly!
Vote for…	Ah! This has been the toughest part.
Winner is…	Refreshing the BAT page every other second after the deadline (10 or 11 pm), to know the winner would surely cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, some day!
Xtra Xtra For…	You get extra marks, extra love, extra fun for good writing at BAT!
Your Post on Your Blog!	Nothing could be better than this and I’m lovin’ it!!
Zeal and Zest Continues…	A year with BAT but my zeal and zest to participate in BAT continues. How about you??

Here’s wishing a very Happy 1st Birthday to all Blog-a-Tonics!! And a great fun time too, at BAT!!
Cheers :)
Shilpa Garg

The Dent in the Blogverse!!!

What is intellectual, bald, little kid in half pant and tongue out?

Of course no points for guessing, Marshal.

Which is the ossum idea that caused the dent in the Universe, atleast Blogverse? Blog-A-Ton!!!

Now looking at the title of post, you may think I am writing a intelligent article which will be praising marshal, Blog-A-Ton and all that, but no, you see, I am going to share you the secret of Blog-A-Ton. Now as this post was supposed to be about my experience with Blog-A-Ton, I am going to share the timeline of Blog-A-Ton with me in it, and you will be surprised to know, I was there in all of them. Sacchi.

The first and foremost formula used by Blog-A-Ton, was identifying the Cream and Scum of Blogging, the purpose was to clear the scum in the beginning of the event. You see, once that was settled all we were left was enjoying the cream.

For me, Blog-a-ton was glory, I started blogging in 2006 and no one, not even the monkey who was randomly typing on computer reached my blog. I did force my friends to read it, threatening to spam their email inbox if they don't comment (hmmm... should do that now no?) but only few visited, because others didn't mind, they already had Microsoft-yahoo lotteries and special sex capsules in their inbox.

So I was looking for different options to show the world that I am still there, when I accidentally reached Indiblogger and 3 followers. So profound was I about this discovery, if I had a jacuzzi in my house, I would run around naked shouting 'Eureka,' anyways, just after a week of discovering the indiblogger, I reached the ultimate site, Blog-a-ton. I am not sure from where I landed, because I was exploring many blogs and their widgets and stuff.

Those who do not know, I joined Blog-a-Ton in first 12 people the glory event, the small step for our marshal, but a giant leap for bloggers and then like a big wall of dominoes it all came crashing down. Whatever Marshal may say, I am sure he did not envision blog-a-ton to grow this way. This is the only event which has an ordered chaos, yet it succeeds.

Blog-a-Ton will be a blogging event that I always hold close to my heart. The 'Blog-a-Tonic of the month' golden widget was a small contribution from me to the great plan of Blog-a-Ton and I am sure we have a lot more words to run.

Heres wishing all the Blog-a-tonics, all the best for Blog-a-Ton #12 and a big cheers to many more Blog-A-Tons to come along the way with more interesting post and stuff. :D

The cake we ate for the 1 year celebration in Pune.

P.s. I will win Blogaton one day. Hu hu ha ha ha.

P.p.s. Those who do not know me (seriously, I would like to meet you o_O) I blog at Sidoscope, Ravan's guide to Life, Relationships and Career, Because Life is seriously funny.

P.p.s. The badge on top is just a concept, not an official badge of Blogaton.

P.p.p.s. Is P.p.p.s even a thing? o_O

Cheerio,

Blog-a-Ton Meet @ Pune

Hello Folks,
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Venky. I have recently been baptized into this fascinating world of blogging. I happened to be a part of the First Anniversary Celebrations of Blogaton. Sidhesh, Mahesh, Chetan and I met at SGS Mall, Pune. I wrote a small post about me and the meet. I shall upload the pics soon.

When the climate looks enticing as Salma Hayek, you simply need an excuse to get out. My excuse was: Bloggers Meet at Dorabjee’s. Although I have been blogging for several years, I never felt the drive to shout across the world that I am a blogger.  After all, millions of people in the world were blogging.  I had lazily relegated my blog as a soul-less blog in the Information cornucopia that was overflowing in the Web.  After all Google wouldn’t even know of my existence. Everything seemed okay until I met a farmer.  He walked inside unassumingly as a teacher to teach B2B Marketing. While I sat in his first class, little did I know that this philosopher would wake me up from my slumber and show me the infinite power available in the mother of all networks: World Wide Web. It suddenly felt exciting to be a Blogger. I realized I have been ordained with a divine purpose to exist and spread my ideas in the Web.

 With this new found excitement, I decided go and meet fellow Bloggers in town.Sidoscope, Maheshisms,Smiling Planet and Incorrigible Optimist all came together to celebrate the occasion of first anniversary of Blogaton. We sheepily introduced ourselves by sharing the intimate details of how it all began. It had the same excitement a lover would have when he begins to narrate about his first love. Everyone echoed a sense of fatigue in the world of gravity they knew, you know, the real world as some of us would like to know.  We yearned for a world where we could bend the rules of gravity imposed by the society to chain humans. Web gave all of us a glimpse of this zero-gravity world whose sinews were made of our ideas and our dreams and nothing else. After sharing the first love ( or should I call pupply love) experiences in Dorabjees, we decided to move to SGS Mall to celebrate the first anniversary of Blogaton. We happily devoured the cake along with steaming Momos, while we began to set the floors for discussion. It started with a discussion of spirituality. Much to our amusement, we realized that each of us had a different perspective of the world around us.

 While Mahesh believed in an Objective world which existed at large without the power of network, Sidhesh and I believed in the world, to paraphrase a Quantum Physicist’s famous words, where “I” existed not just as a Noun, but as a Verb. Chetan turned out to be the simple soul who was content to see the little charms of this world.No wonder, his world was a smiling planet. Mahesh’s objective world, Maheshisms, was also concerned with the social conditions which affected our lives. The discussion ranged on a kaleidoscope of issues ranging from Quantum physics, Ramayana, Spirituality, Evolution and Religion. Everyone was happy to find their ideas buffeted by eclectic experiences. As it happens in the end of the blogger discussions, the discussion steered towards laying the foundation for a new blog to share our ideas with the world. Ah! Feels heavenly to be a blogger!

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An Update from the Marshal

You can check out the pictures from the meet here.

My journey with BAT so far…

It feels very nice to be given the opportunity to write about my experiences with Blog-a-ton or BAT as it’s called lovingly. I still remember the beginning of this event. Vipul(the Marshal bhai)was my blog friend and also a fellow Indiblogger. It is from his blog and Indiblogger forum that I got to know about the concept and eventually about Blog-a-ton itself.

So here was an event where one had to write and post on a single topic(suggested by members, then s-elected by members) on a designated day. I didn’t know what to expect of such an event. After passing out of school I was not used to write on a pre-determined topic or subject, so was quite apprehensive naturally. But the first BAT topic “Cream and Scum of Blogging” seemed pretty easy, so without thinking much  jumped in with my post. After posting, I rushed to reading other posts and was amazed by the quality and variety; I mean all the posts were so different and intriguing (I had never imagined one could be so creative with that topic). Well, that’s what set the tone of future BATs and I felt that participating in BAT will be great fun.

The most surprising aspect for me was every time I would see the topic and panic. I would think my god , what am I supposed to write but before the BAT day something decent would be ready with me for posting . The more interesting part was people would read it and post very encouraging comments. In-fact the BAT posts were the ones that would get most attention (read traffic and comments). Moreover I was enjoying this whole thing of writing, reading and interacting. So it became a compulsory event in my blog till December 2009 (in that month I had only 2 posts and one was BAT post!). In the New Year, January 2010 for the first time I missed BAT, it was unavoidable but had decided that I’ll not miss the next editions. So in February 2010 I was back but then again missed in March. Yes in 2010 I have been missing a few editions but if you see I have missed only 3 editions thus far I think and every time came back without fail.

So, what BAT has done for me? It has helped me improve my writing (Koi Shaque!Ok! Now don’t judge by this post, I felt that after going through my BAT posts!). Then in my first and only Indiblogger meet Harsha Chittar(another Blog-a-tonic) recognized me as a fellow Blog-a-tonic. So you see participating in BAT made me World famous (OK! OK! I am exaggerating!) . But the truth is BAT has helped me in getting some very good friends.

As BAT completes 1 year I wish BAT a Very Happy First Birthday. Also congratulate Vipul(the Marshall bhai) and fellow Blog-a-tonics for keeping it up and running, actually making it better. BAT’s still a baby and it would be great pleasure to see it grow up into a youngster. It would be an ultimate dream come true to see it reach the goal of 100 bloggers writing at a time (It will happen I am sure). Then I’ll write another post here commemorating the occasion :P .

Dhiman Manji

Blog-a-Ton Meet Mumbai edition

We emailed. We decided. We met. We talked. We laughed. We had cutting chai (which wasn't cutting, was it?)

Parth had Irish coffee. Parth said, "What baccha?". We talked some more. We took (a few) pics. Dishit made a famous theater person to take our pics. We think he was shocked. We left.

My sincere thanks to all of you that came. I'm sorry I'm posting from my phone so I can't link your names and blogs but you know who you are. Thanks for coming and be a part of the first ever BaT meet. :)

This is me, PC signing off.

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An Update from the Marshal

Read here what Gkam has to say about the Mumbai Meet.

Jab We Met : Blog-a-Ton Delhi Chapter

Date - 4th July
Venue - Barista, Connaught Place, Delhi

We had a reason to celebrate; Blog-a-Ton turned one and the city wise meets were planned. It was a Sunday and the weather gods were happy too. So we all met at the Barista. People started joining in and slowly we were a group of 13.

The agenda was to meet up, get introduced, eat the cake, do some chit chat and then leave. It started off slow with casual discussions on blog platforms and problems that few of us might face with different browsers, platforms etc.

We then moved on to each one and their blogs and what a discussion it was. Everyone talked about what made them start with blogging and what all do they write. With each one getting few minutes of spotlight, stories started coming out. Some wrote for a social cause, some for bringing a change, some for the love of writing and some just for love; but what was common in each one of us, that we enjoyed thoroughly this world of words.


The cake brought by Geetanjali was a visual treat and even yummylicious to eat.

Lot of pictures followed the cake cutting ceremony and it definitely did not look like a group of people that met just few hours back. We then scribbled a line or two on a white t-shirt about the meet. The Marshal - Vipul actually wore the Tee and here it is (please focus on the comments and not on the pot belly :P)

 More pictures followed and we finally said a bye with plans of another meet soon. I thoroughly enjoyed organizing the entire event and being a part of it was even bigger fun.

 I would like to mention here the contribution of Himanshu Shekhar  in helping me find the right place for the meet.

Also, a special mention to Vipul Grover for starting B-A-T and getting us all together.

Long live BAT :) :)

P.S. for more pictures - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pankajb/sets/72157624295900651/

P.P.S. I shall soon post with a line or two on each of the participant. Watch out for more :)

Love
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Richa S.

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An Update from the Marshal

Taking our tagline 'If its Your Post, It looks Best on Your Own Blog', too seriously, our Delhi Meet Marshal saved the best part of her write up for her own blog. So also visit here to read her take on all those who attended the meet including me.

And here are some more pictures from my camera - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=189464&id=653175263&l=a6afe88b73

BLOG-A-TON MEET in FULL SWING - CONTACT ASAP

As you all know, we at blog-a-ton are planning to have a meet to commemorate this blog turning ONE.

Before, I delve further, lets welcome the new blog-a-tonics;

• Zee
• Shyam Govind
• Sticky Feet
• Rohit
• Mango Man Bunty
• Muddassir (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Giridhar
• Mr. Narci
• DV Systems (Please provide a personal bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Pranava
• Naveen
• Swathi Pradeep
• Anu
• Megha Rana
• Nikita 
• Upherwani (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Priya D

 You all will be blogrolled soon!

On July 4, we are trying to have a meet in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Pune and Hyderabad to bring together blog-a-tonics and also other bloggers so that they get to know each other and share ideas beyond the virtual network. Camaraderie is the basic idea behind Blog-a-Ton and this meet is just an extension to it.

If you are interested in attending this meet, please contact the following city-wise meet marshals as soon as possible.

• New Delhi - Richa Sharma - er.richa.sharma[at]gmail.com
• Pune - Siddhesh 'Ravan' Kabe - hi5[at]sidoscope.co.in
• Mumbai - Rashi aka Psychedchick - rashiv[at]gmail.com
• Hyderabad - Tavish Chaddha - tavish.chadha[at]gmail.com
• Kolkata - Sourav C. Pandey - sourav.c.pandey[at]gmail.com

Also give your inputs to them to make this event a success. So contact them ASAP to allow them to make proper arrangements. You are also welcome to invite other bloggers to the meet to introduce them to the Blog-a-Ton Community.

While contacting the meet marshals, cc it to me - vipul.grover[at]gmail.com.

For those waiting for Blog-a-ton 12, just wait till the coming Saturday!!!

Hoping to organise successful Meets
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

Hello!!! Anyone there???

 Lets welcome the new Blog-a-tonics before carrying on with this discussion

• Aishwarya
• Nouman (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Loga (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)

As you all know that Blog-a-Ton will be celebrating its first anniversary soon and I had put up a discussion for the same. Some of you have shown interest in holding Blog-a-Ton meets but no one came forward to volunteer as a Meet Marshal, i.e., the person who'll coordinate the plans in his/her respective city.

The cities we are targetting are Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kolkatta, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

The event will be simple, without any pomp and show. Just some Blog-a-Tonics getting together over a cup of coffee or mugs of beer on July 4.

So, if you are interested, please volunteer as soon as possible or we'll have to ditch this idea.

Moreover, no one came forward to design the Hall of Fame badge for the veteran Blog-a-Tonics. If there is anyone willing to help me with it, please send me an e-mail.

As comments are being moderated due to ongoing voting for BATOM 11, I'll keep publishing the comments for this post at regular intervals.

Looking forward to a little more enthusiasm this time

Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

ONE YEAR CELEBRATIONS - IDEAS NEEDED!!!

Hello fellow Blog-a-Tonics. We have successfully organised 10 editions of Blog-a-Ton. The latest one which concluded last Friday was the biggest by all means. As The Fool puts it,

"This was a landmark Blog-a-ton for many reasons. Of course 10th is in itself a landmark... Other landmarks - greatest number of posts. Half century this time. Greatest number of votes. Greatest number of people in the points list. The list can go on.."

The credit for the same goes to all of you who participated, urged others to participate, took out time to go through the entries and voted for their favourite ones.

Let us welcome the new Blog-a-tonics before proceeding to the main issue;

• Raksha D'Souza (Please provide your bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Priyanka
• Bulls Eye (Please provide your bloglink to be blogrolled)

You all will be blogrolled soon!

As you might be knowing, Blog-a-Ton was born as a discussion initiated by me in the Indiblogger forum. This blog was created on Jul 5, 2009 and hence is nearing its first anniversary. It is still a couple of months away and in between we have Blog-a-Ton 11 too. However, to take the advantage of 5 Saturdays this month, I thought of inititating this discussion before we start discussing the topic for Blog-a-Ton 11. That discussion will open on or before May 22.

A lot of ideas are coming to my mind to make the First Anniversary celebrations more special.

First of all, Blog-a-Ton 12 might be shifted to July 5 (instead of the first Saturday which falls on Jul 3).

Secondly, let's introduce a Blog-a-Ton Hall of Fame where some veteran Blog-a-Tonics will be inducted. For this I want an apt name (to go with our marathon theme) and a nice badge that the inductees can display on their blog. So kindly come up with ideas for the same. We already have one in-house designer Sid aka Ravan who designed our BATOM Badge. Lets see who are the others!

As for the Blog-a-Ton format, we'll try to go with the existing one. However, if you have anything special going in your mind, you can dish it out here. But try to keep it as close to our existing and time tested format.

Then, how about mini Blog-a-Ton meets in different cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Pune/Mumbai, Kolkatta, New Delhi, etc. This one is too ambitious but if anyone of you is interested, then you can initiate discussions with those from your city. In short, you can volunteer to be the Meet Marshal for your city. Number of attendees won't matter as long as those attending can find a way to have some fun. It can be conducted on Jul 4, 2010 (Sunday). lf it materialses, then Blog-a-Ton can be conducted on Jul 3 itself and Jul 5 will be used for posting reports about the meets and other things like Hall of Fame etc.

The Comments section of this post is the space to dish out your ideas and concretise them by having discussions with all of us.

Even I'll keep updating this post with newer ideas as they spring up in my mind.

And yeah, I again invite you to join our new Facebook page, The Marshal to have Some Fun Beyond Blog-a-Ton!

Hoping to see you all there

Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover