Cebu ICT: Promoting Investment in Asia ICT/ITES

"When it comes to excellence there is no finish line."
- Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT Chairman

I was privileged to be part of the panel for the plenary on "Promoting Investment in Asia ICT/ITES" for the Cebut ICT 2007 International Conference & Exhibition held at the Mactan Island Resort & Spa today, June 26, 2007.


Speakers for the plenary include Dipanjan Banerjee (Manager - Strategic Alliances, Center for Science, Development Media Studies) and Eric Alberto (Senior Vice President and Head-PLDT/SMART Corporate Business Group, PLDT). Other panelists included Oscar Sanez (CEO, Business Processing Association Philippines) and Eun Jung Lee (Cheif Executive Director, KIICA Singapore). The session was chaired by Michael Alan Hamlin (Managing Director, TeamAsia).

This is what I learned and shared during the session:

Investment is an intangible product and is best done "country" or through companies synergizing with each other. Mr. Alberto said that the "World is flat" with technology making communications and transactions borderless. Media and communication has evolved tremendously in the past few years. Marketing is no longer about promoting your products and services to the masses. What is key is finding and connecting to your niche, your target market - people who are interested and who will purchase your product/service.

Be found. Be searched.

And then communicate the following to your market:

• competency/services
• successes
• initiatives and incentives (usually by the government)
• available infrastructue

One thing I think would also help is for individual companies to share their successes or highlight winnings, be it in products/technology or talent. And, of course, for those who are successful to give back to your homeland - the same way how the Indian nationals did after taking studies in the US.

"Pinoy, ipakita natin sa mundo!"

What it's Like Working for Google

Fun company, fun video to watch!



Opening specifically for Pinoys:
Localisation Editor (Filipino)

The Social Geek: June 26 to July 3

I'm excited to be in Cebu and Davao again in the next 2 weeks and here's my schedule:

June 27 - 28
Cebu ICT

June 27 (evening) ---> moved to June 28 6 p.m.
Meet-up with bloggers/SEOs
Bo's Cafe, Ayala Mall, Cebu

June 28 (evening)
Marketing your Business Online
Meet-up with SMEs

June 29
Marketing Your Business Online
Department of Trade & Industry - Davao
with Yehey.com
2:00 p.m. to 5:30 pm.

June 30
Google University
Blugre Cafe
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Meet-up with Bloggers/SEO (evening)
venue TBA

July 2
Google University
University of Mindanao, Davao
8:00 to 11:00 a.m.

And then I fly back to Manila for another series of engagements:

July 3
Google and Research
Department of Labor and Employment
Intramuros, Manila

Blogger Food Fest at Tasia Asia
Mall of Asia, Bay City

Youtube Localized in 9 More Countries

Youtube.com launches in 9 other countries including local sites for Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. Watch Youtube.com founders Chad & Steve talk about it and talk about the objectives of Youtube.com.

100 Bloggers in 48 Hours

How do you get a hundred people to attend an event with less than two weeks preparation time? And considering the fact that the week before the event you'd be out of town for other events in other regions. What???

That was the question I asked myself last weekend. I spent Saturday evening thinking about it and chastising myself for getting myself into a huge task. I was in deep thought the whole weekend, but still had no answer. Monday came when I suddenly had a brain fart (my former colleague JV taught me that term). Aha! Eureka!

THE POWER OF NETWORKING!

I realized I met more or less a thousand people in the last 6 months or so and have gained a lot of contacts and friends. So I segmented the Pinoy blogosphere and got coordinators for each segment to invite their blogger friends to attend the event.

Interested bloggers signed-up in my blog or through any of the coordinators and then we encoded, in real time, the guest list through Google Docs & Spreadsheets. I would've encoded the guest list myself, but I realized I had tools I could use to make my life easier! Everything's being coordinated through electronic means (Gmail, Gtalk, Blogger and Google Docs & Spreadsheets).

And less than 48 hours later... a hundred plus bloggers have already signed-up for the event!

I'd like to take this opportunity as well to thank the following bloggers and Yehey.com for helping out in coordinating the Taste Asia Blogger Food Fest - Sasha Rico Janette Jedi Jay Abe Ely Marc Jayvee Shari Noemi Sexymom Jonas Pierre Jomar Markku Jonas of Yehey and AJ

Your help and dedication is greatly, GREATLY APPRECIATED. God bless you!

I Heart Picasa

I love using Picasa. I must admit I'm not really great with Adobe or Corel and the "I'm feeling lucky" button in Picasa really does wonders to my photos and the "Collage" button also saves me time from stitching photos up. The slideshow feature must have been around for quite a while now but I never really did try it, until now.

Check out the photos from the musical play that made me laugh non-stop for two hours last night - Zsa Zsa Zaturna Ze Musicale.



Check-out My Picasa Web Album as well.

How Much is Your Blog Worth?

Ever wondered how much your blog is worth?

I did because a friend of mine broached this subject once because he received an offer for a buy-out. Got an idea on how to measure my blog's worth through Sasha and Sarah's blog posts where they based their blog's worth on Dane Carlson's ingeniuty.

An Apple a Day has a bigger worth, but here's how Stitching fared:

My blog is worth $36,130.56.
How much is your blog worth?

Ghost in iGoogle?

Now you must be thinking I'm nuts. How could there be a ghost in iGoogle?

Well, check out Sarah's blog and find out what this is all about.

Congratulations Sarah for catching the ghost! I wouldn't have :D

Spice-Up Your Google Calendar

I've been keeping track of Philippine holidays through my Google calendar so I'd know when Miguel will be home and so I won't make the mistake of setting an appointment during a holiday. It's easy, just sign-up for it through your Gmail or go to the Google Calendar directory and add the public holidays calendar. Stay on schedule and get alerts on your mobile phone.


Head on over to the Google Calendar directory and add up TV shows , events, sports, entertainment, miscellaneous (i.e. Mozilla Firefox updates), holidays and Google's calendar (like Adsense, Google Developer, Google Doodles and even phases of the moon). I've gone crazy and added up the Disney calendar and all Google calendars. I hope the local broadcast networks would add up their calendars because I'm so bad at remembering TV show schedules (Miguel does that for me).

Want this for your organization or school? Just sign-up for Google Apps for your Domain and you can easily share your calendar of events. You can also check-out my calendar.

Googlers Speak about Working for Google

Why you should apply for work at Google:



Google's looking for the following:

Localisation Editor (Temporary) - Singapore

Check out other openings in Google Singapore here or check out Google jobs around the world.

Being Sincere in a Mad, Mad World

It's been ten years since I graduated from college and six years since I completed my masters and I'm onto my 11th organization. Eleven?!? Yes, 11 coz I've been working since I was in college and I got moved around a lot due to product ownership. I must say I've found THE ONE and I'm sticking around for as long as I can.

Getting moved around a lot also means you get to experience different kinds of organizational culture, norms, morals; bosses of all shapes, sizes, moods, hair color and whatever. You get seasoned by that and I believe all the products I've handled were great. I was passionate about all of them and I gave my best for each one of them.

But I believe it takes more than a great product for it to be successful. Being sincere in your objectives is key.

On the ground level, I remember handling several bookstores for prepaid card distribution. You'd know from the staff if the store manager is accommodating and has customers foremost in her mind because it reflects on how they treat their customers (both buyers and suppliers). The staff mimic their boss. On the executive level, I remember having a very progressive boss. He's a Wharton Business School graduate and I learned a lot from him because he's a forward (futuristic) thinker. He would be in a business today that would be the next best thing tomorrow. But sadly, the people under him do not see his vision. His sincerity is lost because his minions are all only after their own objectives.

I've seen products and services go down the drain, not because of lack of support, strategy or programs, but because of the lack of sincerity of people running the organization.

Provide what people need and the rewards will follow. Be sincere. It shows ya know.

Friendster's Newest Friend

The other night a friend of mine was bugging me to check out his Friendster profile. Logged in my Friendster account, but it was under maintenance. That was Saturday evening.

I was pleasantly surprised to find new changes in Friendster's search box... check this out:


Cool eh? You can also do this for your own website or blog, just go to Google AJAX Search API.

June Activities

Back-to-back speaking engagements this month in Manila, Cebu and Davao!

Here's my sched:

June 18, 2007, Monday
Marketing Your Business Online Workshop
Digitalfilipino.com
Time: TBA
Venue: TBA

June 19, 2007, Tuesday
New Media Marketing
Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Venue: Ateneo Professional Schools, Inc., Makati City

June 20, 2007, Wednesday
Marketing Your Business Online Workshop
Philippine Trade and Training Center
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Venue: PTTC, Pasay City

June 24, 2007, Sunday
Google Marketing Secrets
Fil Negosyo Expo
Time: 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
Venue: Megatrade Hall, Megamall, Mandaluyong City

June 26 to 28, 2007, Tuesday to Thursday
Promoting Investment in Asia (as panel)
Cebu ICT 2007 Intl Conference & Exhibition
Time: June 26, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Venue: Shangri-la Mactan Island & Spa

June 29, 2007, Friday
Marketing Your Business Online Seminar
Department of Trade & Industry - Davao
Time: TBD
Venue: TBD

June 30, 2007, Saturday
Google Apps for Education
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Venue: Blugre Cafe, Davao City

This post will be regularly updated.