HP Connected Music meet at Hilton Garden Inn: My experience

Date: April 20, 2013
Venue: Hilton Garden Inn, Bani Square, Gurgaon
Event: Indiblogger meet for HP Connected Music
Participants: Bloggers from across NCR
Mood: Bubbly, fun, ready to participate in anything.
Activities: Moon walk by non Michael Jackson lookalikes; Ball room dance by two awkward giggly boys- with each other; Sunny paaji's antics by a lady of substance (Picture Courtesy: Indiblogger) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151406485372883&set=pb.67564062882.-2207520000.1366573655.&type=3&theater ; energetic stamping of feet, clapping of hands and singing yay ee..ooooo in different tones by all present; chicken dance, singing off key, talking to complete strangers while doing chicken dance (horror of horrors!).
I can't believe we did all this and more AND it was so much fun.

All the awkwardness wore off quickly and there was just shared laughter and enjoyment, as an end in itself.

Prateek Shah did good to keep the audience engaged and entertained. So did the Indiblogger team whose tried and tested method of online registration works so well. It displays participants' names as they walk in. It gives the first high and makes one feel so good about one self.
The next high comes from the live tweeting which gets updated in real time on the giant display board. One is seen and read by many, so different from when one tweets otherwise.
All of these well thought out measures create an atmosphere where all participants are trying to absorb as much as humanly possible, live tweet it, photograph it, and also be sociable with the people around.

All of this happens at the same time. I know it sounds like a lot but this is exactly how it happens.

HP connected music meet show cased its features.The interface was demonstrated by an audio visual presentation. It showed how one can download one million songs of different genres for a whole year.
 I am not sure but I think it comes preloaded in an HP computer and works with Windows 8. The demonstration of the product was adequate but not great.
I say this because there was some fumbling while trying to find the music to play and the sound quality was not that great.  The choice of music also seemed quite limited.
And this was sad because everyone was so keyed up to see how the music played and what mood it would create.There was just too little music to make any impact at all.
The entire exercise was for the HP connected music but music was 'missing in action'.
The general question on everyone's lips was, "Why bother with this when one can download/listen to any song on  earth at the click of a mouse using YouTube and a host of other such services?"
HP clarified that the openly available music on internet could bring in harmful content onto our computers and crash the hard disc or embarrass us by the inadvertent download of porn or other unsavory material.
Also that the music available on such services could be pirated. I understand the moral point of view but also know the comfort of finding and clicking on a favorite song and hearing it almost instantaneously. Sheer bliss!

HP connected music will face some tough competition, that's for sure. I wish them all the best to work out the glitches and make the product irresistible to the end users.

Hilton Garden  Inn put itself out there for all the participants in the meet.
There were smiling people, smartly dressed, helpful and courteous. Really nice.The place was cool, soothing and conducive to feeling relaxed.
To top it they had an amazing spread of snacks both savory and sweet.
Among others, there were perfectly proportioned little fruit tarts that looked like birds that were about to take off as a flock. (Picture credit : Indiblogger)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151406495332883&set=pb.67564062882.-2207520000.1366573649.&type=3&theater

 And take off they did disappearing into the stomachs of the hungry bloggers whose appetites had been stimulated  by all the singing, dancing and tweeting.
There were some really good prizes too. HP headphones for many and HP laptops for two lucky participants.
DMRC (Metro) did its bit by transporting many of us in comfort, from across NCR, to the cool climes of Hilton in hot and dusty Gurgaon, to attend the Indiblogger HP Connected Music meet. Before Metro's advent it would have been unthinkable to go to Gurgaon from Noida for any such event. So thanks DMRC.

Bloggers community is coming into its own. Soon we will be an exclusive club whose membership will be sought by many and there will be a year long wait list for people to join. Imagine.
Keep Blogging!