Lou MC Yelps a Lot

People often ask me how many UYE I have hosted. Well, before I lose track of things. I need a blog to keep me in order. lol. Lunar New Year Community Celebrations: 2014 Hot Pot @ Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot |  Reviews | Event Page |  2015 Year of the Sheep UYE @ San Dong Noodle House | Reviews | Event Page | 2016 Year of the Monkey UYE @ Jinya Ramen | Reviews | Event Page | 2017 Hotpot Year of the Rooster UYE @ 75 Yummy Kitchen | Reviews | Event Page | 2018 Year of the Dog UYE @ 75+85 ChinatownCrawl | Reviews | Event Page | 2019 Hotpot Year Of The Pig #ChinatownCrawl UYE | Reviews | Event Page | 2020 Year of the Rat with Go Panda Go UYE | Reviews | Event Page | 2021 Virtual UYE - Dumpling Party on Zoom | Video | Event Page | 2022 Year of the Tiger Chinatown Crawl UYE | Reviews | Event Page | 2024 Year of the Dragon @ 75+85 Chinatown Crawl UYE | Reviews | Event Page | Scan to see where my next UYE will be Asian Heritage Month Community Meetup...

Let me explain hot pot in one sentence. Hot pot is a traditional meal with a group of people seating at a table equipped with a bowl of boiling soup. I started my hot pot UYE since last Winter Olympic Games. It's not difficult to prepare. But it can be humbug to shop and expensive to make it at home. Thanks to 75 BBQ & Hot Pot Buffet in Houston Chinatown. They made it easier for people like you and me to indulge a feast without costing a fortune. When you arrive at my  Year of the Dog UYE @ 75+85 ChinatownCrawl Sequel , let me find your table. Tell wait staff what you would like to drink and proceed to the buffet line. If this is your first time to this restaurant, be sure to watch the videos on the items at the buffet line  https://youtu.be/WGZkyPlZSgo and  sauce bar   https://youtu.be/sI0koJDkMuk . Sauce Bar It can be crowded when everyone is at the buffet line. You can start with a bowl to mix your dipping sauce at the sauce bar. There will be some...

2017 was a thrilling year for me. I spent a lot of time on taking better photos and sharing more with the communities. Not just Yelp, I also Google a lot.  Funky YES! Here is my status on Yelp : Completed 111 reviews in 2017 Updated 14 reviews in 2017 Uploaded total of 8025 media files (7549 photos & 476 videos) since the day I started Yelping, March 2011.   As of December 30th, I had 6 Baronies. Somehow, it's no longer visible in 2018 (Android). I could never broke my record of 300 reviews from 2016. Due to reviews disappearance, I've included a counter at the end of each review. I also saved the direct link to each published review with my archive. This process was extremely time consuming. I completed my 111 reviews in 2017. You can only see 110 reviews because 13th review was removed. Here is my story .  As of January 2, 2018, before I added more stuff. As for Google, I joined Local Guides sometime last year. I am currently Level...

This is part of my Yelp Workshop during the Zoom Zoom 100 & Beyond UYE . We are going to talk about the features on the Yelp app (Android) and website. Houston Yelp Houston First of all, I have no affiliation with Yelp. Second of all, I am not getting paid by anyone to represent Yelp. Most of all, #iYELPaLOT. I love to share what I know about Yelp and help Yelpers to get the most out of this app. Once you know how things work, it will be more fun to Yelp about. Featured topics: Friend or Follow Missed You on Yelp Yelfie 101 Yelp Cash Back Yelp List on App Auto-Friending Feature (website) Where's my Badge Last 90 Days Stats Send to Phone (website) Yelp Talks The Local Yelp (fka The Weekly Yelp ) If you want to create a list for Yelp Challenge, please be sure to bring your user name and password to login to my laptop. Or, you can bring your laptop and you can use my mobile hotspot to connect to the internet.

To reply my Yelper friend's question from awhile back, "Why do I see some people on my feed but they are not my friends?" Answer: You marked to follow them. Doesn't matter if you are friends or not, anyone you follow will be showing on top of all feed, reviews and tips. It's good to follow someone on Yelp. It's completely anonymous until November 28, 2017. After that, any new follower will be visible ( updated per Yelp Blog 11/02/17 ). They don't know you are following them. Befriend with someone on Yelp will reveal each other's check-in messages. I don't see any harm to follow your friends. Except, the contents from people you follow will go to the top of everything. I like extremes. Porsche posted over 17k media. From what I know besides reviews, tips, photo post notifications, you'll receive notifications from your friends' interests in Events and posts on Talks on the feed. It's much easier to read them on the app because...

Mike M has been hosting BOTM “Burger of the Month” UYE since last February. This was from a Talk thread when Rachel B returned from her ACRONYM meeting in 2015.  After a long gap in Houston, BOTM was born. First few months, they were hosted by Rachel B. Then, Belly G, Jamie A finally, Mike M. This mock up t-shirt was an idea to generate interest.  Here is a quick overview of his 12 successful BOTM's. The attendance has increased month after month. It has became a popular and well-known event in Houston. UYE Page in… Event Page February 2017 UYE: February Burger of the Month @ Rachels Cafe January 2017 UYE: January Burger of the Month@Stanton's City Bites December 2016 UYE: December BOTM @ Bernie's Burger Bus November 2016 UYE: November BOTM @ Killen's Burgers October 2016 UYE: Burger of the Month@Little Bigs September 2016 UYE: September Burge...

It's been in my wildest dream to host a Cross+Cities UYE with a road trip. I always want to try something exotic, exciting and unique to link Yelpers across the Lone Star state. From Houston to San Antonio takes about 3 hours. After reading a blog  Seattle & Portland Yelpers Swap Cities Road Trip , I posted my idea on a  Talk thread . I found Phillip B of Austin hosted a BBQ Crawl UYE in Lockhart on July 26, 2014. Yelpers from Houston, San Antonio and Austin (maybe Dallas) met at the center of these major cities. That was an epic. ( Reviews ) I am not able to pull something like his scale without Yelpers from other cities. In November 2015, I hosted a  Cross+Cities UYE - Austin Edition . Since I didn't have many Yelper friends in Austin, we had a small party. ( Reviews ) After my recent trip to San Antonio, I saw the city's beauty and tourism opportunity. I want to revisit the idea. I am hoping the Yelpers in San Antonio could help me put to...

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to announce this year's Asian Heritage Month UYE in Houston. It's my pleasure to introduce the growing popular UYE year after year, besides my Lunar New Year celebration. In the past 2 years, we've dined at Thai/Chinese @ Thai Jin  in 2014 and Vietnamese @ Pho Binh 59  in 2015. I want to bring Asian Heritage to Chinatown this year. I want to showcase a few of my favorite businesses with my Chinatown Crawl UYE model - Dine, Dessert & Shop on one day. Do you know any of these regional food types in Houston? Dine - The main focus of the evening is eat authentic noodle soup at  Strings Noodle . You get to watch how the hand-pulled noodles are made in front of your eyes.  Shop - we are climbing a few steps above Strings to shop at  Fit Japanese Store .  Dessert - we are going to Six Ping Bakery next door. After that, I'll guide you to find tapioca drink among 10 bubble tea joints at Dun Huang Plaza. ...

All of the sudden, my Yelp friend list got so big. Wait, who the #%$* and that *#@$ from my Facebook are now my Yelp friends. Then, I went checking on my settings. Oh, no, I don't like this idea. I want this feature to be permanently un-checked. Not everyone on my Facebook with a Yelp account is Yelp active. In fact, my Yelp friends on Facebook is more active than those Facebook friends with Yelp account in general. I keep my Yelp friend list small is because the ease of sending invitations to my UYE's and other events. The current process is very time consuming, unless HQ changes the invitation style. I created a  step by step instruction on my blog . I guess HQ was responding to some people complained about they still having trouble to invite FB friends. Then, I noticed the request screen has changed. Below is a capture from desktop compared to the app, The request from Facebook appeared differently. I'm happy to get my control back.

I drafted this blog since February. Most of UYE hosts disagreed with me on writing reviews on UYE, they rather write on the biz page. I recently noticed this new category "Unofficial Yelp Events" on biz page categories. I was so excited.  I'm happy that HQ is seeing the value of such event. This also distinguish from being Yelp Events, but wasn't hosted by CM. There are sources on the Event Terms of Service  explaining about UYE and the article explaining to biz owners.  Rules for UYE... Ooooh... In short, I used Q&A format to summarize the idea: Why do you need a UYE page? It's a good idea to leave your UYE experience outside of the official biz page. A separate UYE page allows your guests to post photos and feedback on a review. If you choose not to, just be mindful how you describe the occasion. What exactly is UYE? According to the Event Terms and Conditions, "members of the Elite Squad and the Yelp Community organize their own meet...

This is my 2nd annual UYE to celebrate the Lunar New Year with my Yelper friends at San Dong Noodle House . In 2014, we met at Little Sheep Mongolian BBQ for the Year of the Horse celebration. I decided not to write a review on my own UYE (thanks to Erin). Instead, I use blog to share my Yelpy experience. ------------ A small group of 9 people filled lots of fun in 2 restaurants This was my 2nd year to share the Chinese culture with my yelp friends to celebrate lunar new year with an UYE. The format was simple. Let's meet at San Dong Noodle house and have some noodles and dumplings. Then, we move on to Parisian bakery for dessert. Thanks to Mark W. for  helping me at the last  minute and Tracey S. chiming in. Not all Chinese people have same cultural customs during lunar new year. We also learned Vietnamese cultural from Eddie S. and Pauline T. I'm sorry Samantha. I failed to check the proper utensil during my planing. I felt so bad that you were struggling ...

It's important to properly entering correct information for your UYE on Yelp Events page. It's best to have a Public Venue with an existing business page. So the location with GPS is more accurate. There is another important element "Who is it for". I discovered it from my guests at my last UYE. It's important to provide accurate information about your event. Originally, my Asian Heritage Month UYE was listed as "Yelp Community." For awhile, I didn't see any activities on the guests count. Then, I changed it to "Everybody" because I want more people to attend this UYE. I never thought this could make a major impact on a Google Search. At the end of my UYE, I asked my guests if they were interested to stay in touch on Yelp. Paul, who was not a Yelper, told me that he just arrived from Singapore, "I wanted to find something to do in town. So I searched 'Asian Heritage Month' on Google. Your event was on top." --...

I was approached by a few acquaintances who were not familiar with Yelp. They often ask, "you had so many check-ins. How much do you spend to eat out?" Yelp is not just a review site for restaurants, it is a resource for different types of businesses in our community. Really, I don't eat out much. However, I like to cook my own food. So, I'm always shopping for good values.  I'm out there searching for outrageously low prices. As I said in my check-in chat: Don't go broke when you think you have to eat out to be active. Don't think eating out often is the ticket to be an effective Yelper. If you can't control your spending, try to log your spending and tally up at the end of day. 

Oh, hello? You want to be my friend? Read on... I only befriend with real people have real activities. That means I will screen your profile on app - looking for tips, bookmarks and photos. If you are an Elite or I met you in person at Yelp functions (such as UYE), you're automatically in. However, I don't friend anyone who lives outside of Houston, never visit Houston, areas I never been to or I had no plan of visiting. Because it will crowd my feeds and I can't filter them out. I only friend with people think like me. I'll unfriend you, if... You use the app and you possess dukes or duchesses crowns without any check-in feeds. You attacked a biz without properly expressed interests for improvement. You wrote dishonest reviews or contradicting reviews. My rules on strangers: 20% valid reviews - if I clicked on "Link to this review", and it's not pointing to you, it counts one minus. If you have more than 20% invalids, you're denied. R...