Being Sassed by the Sassy Lawyer

(Photos by Jon Lao)

Bloggers are an unusual bunch. They share their inner most secrets and thoughts but keep a safe distance from their real world audience. On-line personas so meticulously crafted might crumble under the weight of real-world contact.  And so, when The Sassy Lawyer was introduced at iBlog, it was Connie Veneracion who took to the stage and faced her loyal readers.This was a virtual reunion but also a real world first meeting. The warm reception marked by cheers and loud applause confirmed that The Sassy Lawyer had touched the lives of most of the bloggers in attendance.

I must say she didn’t disappoint.

Proving in 5 seconds flat that she lives up to her monicker, the organizers (i.e., the folks at the Internet and Society Program) got sassed at the get-go. I had set up her presentation on our laptop and had volunteered to run it for her. When she had settled in on the stage, I made the mistake of saying “I hope we don’t get sassed.” She calmly said, “Just wait.” It was my fault. I invited it.

She narrated how we had pushed her the topic “Driving Traffic” and how she had started working on it only to receive an email changing her topic to “How to Make a Bookmark-worthy Blog” which made her start all over again. She called out our speaker-liaison, Will Varias, gave him a nod, a wave and a smile. You don’t inconvenience her without paying for it.

And then she launched into her well-considered and well-written talk (she posted this excerpt). We were witnessing something very few people have the privilege to do — we were hearing a Sassy Lawyer blog entry in real-time. I must say the real thing is more engaging as Connie never wants for a punch-line or a zinger to drive the point home. Everyone was holding on to every word as she shared blog life-lessons to us mere mortals. We had earlier spoken hypothetically about plagiarism and copyright infringement. She’s lived it. She shared the story of an international ad agency that ripped off her content just a few days before and how she spent two hours on the phone giving her own version of hell to some apologetic executive in Singapore. Her terms were clear – “take my stuff off your site in ONE HOUR and I won’t sue.” The executive was concerned about the negative PR and pleaded with her not to mention them by name at iBlog. She relented even though it would take another 24 hours, a few phone calls, a conversation (unpleasant, to be sure) with their IT staff, and a lecture on Movable Type before the content would finally be removed. Those guys got sassed big time!

In many ways, this last session with the Sassy Lawyer was the emotional high point of the event. This was her audience, her loyal readers, the faceless hordes who’ve visited her site, emailed her, left a comment, or was touched by what she’d blogged about on any given day. We savored her presence and her sage advice. And when it was all over, iBlog had ended on a high note.

Thank you, Connie.