So I went to this year’s Graphika Manila with high expectations. With an entrance fee that was twice as expensive as a UAAP 2007 ticket (I got mine at 750 pesos … early bird rate) I got the feeling that I was going to be the part of something really big.

I was wrong.

The moment I got my “loot bag” (which was mostly empty aside from stickers, a pin, and tons of advertisements) I knew this was going to be another one of those “It’s all me” seminars. Yes, I got the term from 2net’s friend Jobert who, aside from Spinweb buddies Onin, Audrey, and Mylaine, were just about the only things that kept me from walking straight out of the “convention”.

I mean, come on guys. You obviously know your stuff and your works are definitely top-notch. You can keep showing me all the awesome stuff you’ve worked on all day, but hey guess what: that’s not the reason I went there. I went there hoping I could learn something, maybe even meet people on the side but instead I got the educational equivalent of surfing designer’s website + browsing magazines + watching end-product videos.

Tip to next year’s speakers: when showing us your stuff, at least tell us how you did it, what you used to make it, who helped you along the way and why you did it. If you just show it while making some useless comments at the side, then it means only one thing: you did not prepare well enough. We paid you (a lot). You could at least prepared something of substance.

Oh and the conference was too long. The speakers obviously did not know how to make a good presentation. Some didn’t even appear to be bothered by the fact that they are speaking to a very large crowd. Audrey described their speech very well. It’s like, “wala lang”. Sometimes this proved entertaining. But next time try not to swear too much, hmmm?

Next year if you’re going to give another show-and-tell at least give us free t-shirts and food, okay?

But then again, I probably won’t be attending any Graphika Manila conferences in a long, long time.

The highlight of the event was probably seeing Mario Arroyo, Allan Gruenberg, and team Nexus at UCC (they were there for an SM contracted project). That, and seeing that Harney Carcedo was still alive and well and is now doing graphic design.

And so I propose a toast … to Reyes Barbecue.

In other news, Jobert was right: Ratatouille was much, much, much more entertaining. At least I didn’t walk out of this one.

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