Oh My God We're FACT Again

Ah, FACT, we meet again for the...8th time now? My oh my, how you've grown. Like, literally – over 1100 people!? Considering the first FACT had about a couple dozen people, that's some pretty good work that's been done.

Here are some of the highlights of the weekend for me (in the order I can remember them):

- Walking in to the workshop about the history of the Philippine Student Association (PSA) and sitting with the other three past presidents who were there (awesome workshop that made me proud to be part of PSA, by the by) (well, more proud)
- Excel's freestyle about BakitWhy (we owe you an article!)
- Interviewing the FACT coordinators and seeing them reflect on what they had just accomplished
- Hearing positive feedback from my workshop (I still think I bombed...content was good, but delivery needed work)
- The second annual post-FACT dinner with Jon, Manny, Rowie, Voltaire and Noel (swapping Alfa for Melissa)
- Seeing the video Ram had created for the first time
- The crowd cheering during the BW video and getting the shout-out from them
- BW Midwest team photoshoot
- Red velvet froyo! Knocked me back in my chair
- Talking about what FACT 2011 might look like
- The idea of creating a FACT advisory board (to also provide help to the MAFA conference)
- Chris and Marah emacee-ing the variety show. How do you top last year's “I'm at FACT” video? With a live musical performance of course!
- Barkada (aka PSA cultural) performing vinta. Still not sure if I like vinta or singkil more.
- Being called Ryne-ee at the end of my workshop (I think people are starting to think that's the actual pronunciation)
- Meeting the creator of the Taiwanese BakitWhy
- Rick Bonus highlighting the issues the Midwest has
- Hearing about all the people who want to join up with BakitWhy
- Justin's video. FACT never looked so classy
- Hearing how schools have really prioritized going to workshops
- Voltaire playing variety show DJ and getting the crowd into a Backstreet Boys sing-along
- Noel Kunz's drumming skills possibly surpassing his yo-yo ones
- Seeing people doing the Wonder Girls' “Nobody” dance routine during Manny Garcia's performance of it
- Kevin Nadal impersonating Charice on Glee
- Professor Espiritu highlighting where the Philippines appeared within Obama's platform
- Seeing the number of schools that were represented by only one student (Ram included!) Oh, and the one guy who was the only Pilipino at his school – I think Miguel made some new friends this weekend

Honestly I had a lot of reservations about this year's conference (especially the variety show, which had to be moved from it's normal theater space to a club), but everything really came together nicely. The theme was fresh, all the workshops seemed really interesting (I always wish I could split myself in two) and the variety show was tight and energetic.

Of course, I'm going to have a very unique experience with it. I've run this conference before, I've been to it many times, and my main priority (along with running my workshop) was BakitWhy coverage and outreach. But honestly, my favorite times during it were sitting in on the keynotes and workshops. There's always something new to learn, and something new to inspire you. When you grind hard on the Pilipino-American scene, it's easy to get burnt out, but FACT always gives me juice to keep going at it. Eight FACTs later and I never regret the decision to make the three hour trip down.

Oh, and let's all share our experiences together! If you were at FACT, you can create a free account here on BakitWhy and create your own blog (look at the upper-right corner of the page). Have your friends do the same! Also keep an eye out for our full-blown coverage of the event coming soon – tons of pictures and some really sick videos. <3 FACT!