Parentin.TV Talk Series - Review

Suffice it to say that I should have been more than wary of the sponsors for this event. But I really also thought it would be just like most of the baby fairs we go to where sponsors are allotted some time to speak and promote their products. I guess, to them, that is just what they did. But since it's more of a talk supposedly, instead of a fair where attendees really mill around, we were sort of a very captive audience.

THE HIGHLIGHTS
Breastfeeding Talk
Nona Andaya of the Breastfeeding Clinic presented a really greatly summarized breastfeeding talk. She was able to highlight important key points, was very engaging and well, used some really graphic videos. Haha.



Sex Talk
Maribel Dionisio of the Love Institute also gave a really good talk on initiating and handling sex talk with your children, whatever age they may be. She also touched on the importance of communication within the family as a cornerstone of raising kids who are aware of what parents disapprove of and why.



Fashion Show
Let's just say, I salivated and drooled and coveted. There were a lot of maternity wear which will convert to nursing wear after so they'd be really great purchases. The mom models were all fab! It was a pity to be seated so far from the stage.



The Host and the Prizes
Tin-Tin Bersola Babao was very charming. And there were a lot of good prizes raffled off. A 4-month preggy mom went home with a newborn package (stroller, diapers, pillow set) while some moms got P5,000 worth of David's salon gift certificates. I got an Off Lotion loot bag (it wasn't much but it saved me some P200 at least).




THE LOWLIGHTS
Oh... where do I start?

Flyers said we could register online, which I did. Since I thought it was a prestigious event of sorts, I expected a confirmation of our slots. Maybe I'm just used to blogger events but I was concerned by the lack of confirmation so I found others to e-mail at Parentin.TV. I was texted by someone that they really don't send our confirmation e-mails but confirmed our slots.

I don't know how I'm going to word this properly without sounding like an arrogant, uppity person but come the day of the event, my husband and I were surprised with the crowd that greeted us. The topics for the day included cord blood banking and financial security, there was going to be a fashion show of nursing and maternity wear, and it was being held at St. Luke's Global (currently the most expensive hospital in the country, no matter how much they downplay that fact) so naturally we assumed it was going to be attended by mostly A and B crowd. I even dressed up nicely for it. So seeing really rowdy moms in slippers with their own mothers and all their children in tow was kinda a surprise.

Not having enough seats was also annoying. Lack of visibility of ushers for the occasion also didn't help. Tables were scattered with PSBank envelopes so we didn't know which places are still available... and yet, PSBank was also giving the same envelopes at the door. There was just no order nor system with the distribution of say, complimentary eco bags or snacks. There were too many people that the venue ended up being crowded... and kids were playing on the stage area.



Plus, most of the talks turned out to be hard sell opportunities. The most notable thing I got from it is that parents planning to send their kids to DLSU should prepare some P800,000 per sem 17 years from now and that only 16% of Filipinos save. Other than that, it was just one boring, self-serving pitch after another. I was even really disappointed to see the OB-perinatologist (Dra. Valerie Guinto) who performed my CAS doing the sales pitch for St. Luke's Global. No, she didn't extol the virtues of the Lazy Boy and Wifi and flat screen in their birthing room but she did take longer than usual on how St. Luke's is equipped with the latest and the brightest when she was supposed to be tackling obstetrical care.

What's even laughable about the whole thing is that she said it isn't that expensive to give birth at St. Luke's Global while I have it on good authority that one can expect to spend at least P120,000 there for just a normal, uncomplicated delivery.

Plus, I expect only 10-15% of the audience would be able to afford spending that much on a delivery, and not all those who can, will.



The same will echo in all the other talks. PSBank showed the current and projected cost of sending kids to top universities while about half of who attended will just probabaly send their kids to public schools. There was a talk on cord blood banking (P8,000 yearly fee) and insurance and the virtues of brown rice but the disconnect between the topics and the crowd was just too much.

I did use the word laughable already, right?

And I was actually worried for Tin-tin because although the turnout was spectacular, her sponsors might complain that they weren't able to deliver their target market.

Oh and the event started late and just went on forever. I was beat and we didn't finish anymore the last topic. And I may never attend another event like this with Parentin.tv again. In the end, I found it was just not worth my time, eventhough it was free.