It’s done. The weekend is done.. It was the longest event that I have volunteered for. But it was also one of the most productive learning event. Not just for me but for the rest of the participants who joined. They are all winners.

Free flowing thoughts. Written immediately after the event. Edited and processed day after. Had to release my thoughts. (:

Entrepreneurial Activism and the Demographic Sweet Spot

The reason.. the reason why I volunteer for events like these is because of entrepreneurial activism. I would love for fellow young professionals know the challenges, acknowledge the opportunities, build their own businesses and bring about the social change needed in their own communities.

I believe that the young professionals will be the hope that Philippines is looking for.

In 2015, on that year, the demographic sweet spot will be the dawn of a great future for the Filipinos. During that time, the average Filipino will have that purchasing power that drives the economy. With that power, they are now part of the consumers who will join the leagues of Filipinos who will eventually do commerce online. E-commerce will now see a rise and gain a large portion of activity that Filipinos do online. I am looking forward to the time when I won’t be just another voice longing for a #betterinternet or more opportunities locally.

Are businesses, the government, and local infrastructures ready for this surge? I hope so.

Startups and Boot Camps

Vinnie Lauria mentioned in his tweet about Startup Weekend Cebu — “..nascent scene, great company names, and some hard hitting ideas.” He’s right about that. These kids are still learning. It’s nascent but it will grow. I believe that.

That is why Startup Weekends, Entrepreneurial Camps, and other boot camps like these are essential. We should encourage entrepreneurs. We should encourage people to have that drive to create – to “stay foolish and hungry”.

Why look for jobs? Just go build your own business! We need move forward, learn, and encourage others to do so.

Social Entrepreneurship

In another note,  social enterprises see  good opportunities here in the Philippines. That is because, we need it. We need it so much. The social enterprise. The social entrepreneurs. And it is one thing that is encouraged by investors from DevCon/PhilDev, AppBridge, even the U.S. Embassy, among others.

I experienced the same pressure we had when I joined the Generation Change Program last April. We were taught how to face media, taught how to use social media for social good, reminded of what problems Mindanao is facing with right now and how our help could impact change in communities.

Enterprises like these will give the Philippines a huge hope for growth and improvement. Let’s hope more social entrepreneurs will be created soon.

Time to Process Thoughts

..but the important part – No Talk. All Action. I have to do that too for Third Team Media. I have learned a lot during the weekend and I will be processing everything that has happened.

Congratulations to the everyone who joined Startup Weekend Cebu!!

Happy World Bloggers Day everyone!!

This is THE day for bloggers all over the world. Check out the hashtags #worldbloggersday and #tattawards on Twitter and you can say HI to fellow bloggers.

To celebrate World Bloggers Day, I will share my tips on how to have FUN while using all these tools within our reach. Here are my 5 Tips to Have FUN in Blogging and Social Media. Hope you will find it useful.

1. Have a greater purpose aside from earning.

Are you aiming for the moon?

Anyone can easily create a blog. Go to blogger, setup one, create an article – voila! You are now a blogger. But what creates the difference between one blogger from another is their purpose.

It can range from an advocacy or to earning or to simply share your thoughts. Knowing your greater purpose will give you that edge over other bloggers who create blogs and then forget about them. What is your greater purpose aside from earning?

2. Build your audience beyond your family members.

Promote. Build a community.

There are lots of tactics on doing this but the bottom line is to get the word out and persuade people to join you. The fun there is that you meet people from ALL OVER the world beyond your family and small circle of friends. You will have more fun if you explore an audience.

3. Meet your peers offline.

Meeting the Davao Bloggers and Flow Galindez of ABSCBN.

Go on. Turn off your laptop and get out of your house. Meet the people you have been tweeting, liking, messaging to on your social media channels. The best way for a relationship to work is to close that with an offline engagement. It’s more fun when you actually get to meet them in person!

4. Gain good karma by giving and doing a LOT.

That's me. Having a lot of Karma. XD

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
Steve Jobs

Do you believe in Karma? If you do, you are in for much fun in blogging and social media.  It brings you to places. It gives you opportunities. And like Steve Jobs, you somehow get to connect the dots looking backwards on your blogging journey. Have fun. Trust in that gut feeling.

5. Advocate.

One for Iligan saved many lives. Nuff said.

For me, the greatest benefit of being a blogger is that you get the clout needed online for people to start listening and tuning in to you. With that, you can contribute to the greater good and for social change by persuading people to join your cause.

A good example is the very successful campaign by the Iligan Bloggers Society, Inc. with the “One for Iligan” initiative. We were able to generate donations from all over the world using social media to help out with relief operations during Typhoon Sendong. It literally saved many lives.

Blogging and social media are powerful tools. Do you have your own 5 Tips to Have FUN in Blogging and Social Media too? Please share them.

About World Bloggers Day:

World Bloggers Day is an initiative by the Cebu Bloggers Society. This year, the online event will culminate with a General Assembly at the Diamond Suites. You can also nominate your favorite blogs and bloggers by visiting TattAwards.com.

Sponsored by:

• Diamond Suites, your cebu business hotel.
• Globe TattAwards 2012. Nominate your favorite blogs NOW at Tatt Awards!

Last week, I made a post about the Generation Change Program in the Philippines. The training ended but the mission just began for the participants that have been given the responsibility to become change agents in their communities.

At the day of our arrival, we were just individuals from different parts of the country – gathered and called to one training of which we were sponsored for. We were expecting a learning opportunity that could help us enhance the skills that we have. Little did we know that it was a boot camp for social change agents – community leaders and social media activists.

Boot camp is what I call the two-day training. We were put in one room and were given training by our two facilitators – Ms. Humera Khan from Washington, DC and Mr. Wajahat Ali from California. Both have been given the mission by the U.S. Embassy of Manila to spread the seed of change through social media (as a tool!). We were guided through a group activities, media training and speed pitching of our ideas for projects in order to have the chance to receive a $2000 seed grant from the U.S. Embassy.

It was a mind-blowing experience but in the ended, I made new friends and created a personal mission statement for myself.

I am looking forward to doing a project with IBS, Inc. and apply for a grant.

Below is my Storify with compiled tweets and photos from the training.

I have been invited to a social media training for the Generation Change Program. I would just like to say thank you so much to Mr. Jay DJ for this opportunity to be part of the program.

“The Embassy of the United States of America is spearheading a Generation Change Program through its Cultural Affairs Office which will be held in Davao City on April 24-25, 2012. The Embassy highlights the participation of “Change-Makers” who may be artists, bloggers and journalists, businessmen and women, student group leaders and NGO founders.”

Over on Twitter, I have been tweeting to @FlowGalindez and @jonharules who were also invited to the program. Hoping to meet these rockstars soon!

But, wait. What does the picture above have to do with the program? I believe that it represents the change-maker’s quest.

• The boy on the potter’s wheel represents the change-maker. He is given an ample amount of clay to mold. The same with each of us in our own community and our own network. We all have that ability to change the world within our reach.
• The other kids around him represent the on-lookers who may be loud enough to cheer you on or to criticize you for the work that you do. Can you handle the pressure?
• The adults around the kid represent the mentors who give us the guidance to a change-maker – Are you holding it too tight? Are you molding it well enough? What else can you do to make the world better?

About Generation Change

Generation Change is a youth-led global network dedicated to empowering the next generation of innovators and leaders. It provides a platform for the free exchange of ideas across borders and cultures, and a community of peers and mentors who use their collective resources to positively impact communities locally and globally.

It was launched on September 7th, 2010 by the Office of the Special Representative to Muslim Communities (S/SRMC) at a State Department event that brought together 74 of the most innovative American Muslims under the age of 30 – from prize-winning poets to filmmakers, to youth activists and founders of national charities – to discuss pressing issues that young American Muslims face today. Secretary Clinton called out the work of several of these “change-makers” and declared members of “Generation Change” “unofficial ambassadors on behalf of our country and our values.”

It was a lazy Wednesday afternoon. Yet, the atmosphere was good enough to meet awesome techies.

After the presscon at Ching Palace for Startup Weekend Cebu, I found myself in a soothing atmosphere at A Cafe in Crossroads Banilad.

I was there for the purpose of meeting Gwen Tan from SGEntrepreneurs.com. She and Terrence just came in from Singapore to interview the startups that joined ON3 Pitching Competition by STACS Silicon Valley.

Didn’t know that I would also be able to meet an awesome “Woman in Tech”. I met Ms. Christina Laskowski, the president of STAC Silicon Valley. She flew in with Denny and Jojo Flores of Plug and Play.

She travelled with her two sons who both sounded like very smart kiddos! We got to chat about work and what they do at STAC. I also got to ask her about mommy stuff like homeschooling and Montessori school, which sounds like a very good alternative for regular school.

But the main reason that she visited Cebu is for their initiative which is the ON3 Pitching Competition. She and the team are there to explore the startups in the country and maybe meet the next big names in tech.

Last year’s 2011 ON3 winner was Piclyf.com and they are very much blessed to be picked for an immersion program in Silicon Valley. This is what the other startups aim for as they pitch their businesses.

Hope I can meet more women who are into tech and who are supporting the local startups and people who are brave enough to venture into entrepreneurship.

Below are some details about ON3 –

ON3 2012 | Making it Happen

April 10-12:
Visayas Regional: UP Cebu AVR, Main Admin Bldg, UP Cebu, Gorordo, Ave., Lahug, Cebu City
April 13-15:
Mindanao Regional: Martha’s Place, Brokenshire College, Madapo, Davao City
April 16-18:
Northern Luzon Regional: Philippine College of Science &Technology, Nalsian, Calasiao, Pangasinan
April 19-21:
Southern Luzon & NCR: Meridian International College (MINT College) Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City

The ON3 National event to be held in conjunction with the National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) in July

Grand Prize

3 Month Immersion in Silicon Valley

• A three (3) month Silicon Valley immersion and funding mission at Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley.
• Introduction to at least 5 top-tier VCs and angel investors in Silicon Valley. The winners will participate at one of Plug and Play’s EXPO series.
• Participation at Plug and Play’s 3-day Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship  Academy.

Next Steps and Other Activities

• Winners will arrive in 2012
• Coaching and mentoring in Silicon Valley
• Creative Workshop in July 2012
• Founder of Pixar Animation Studios and Producer of  Nickelodean shows will lead the Discussions
• Silicon Valley VCs to the Philippines

I am very much eager to share it with you! Why? It’s because the lessons learned was something to be reflected upon. I was immersed in a 3-day course last March 27-29 at the Watefront Hotel here in Cebu. The course is the Certified ScrumMaster Training from ScrumAlliance.org.

I was initially aware of this course while looking up what agile was. By then, I also learned that my mentor – Ms. Janette Toral was also a Certified ScrumMaster. It led  me to inquire about the course and with that, learned that Codelean was only offering it in Manila. I was down-trodden as I could not easily travel and stay in Manila for three days straight. The expenses will be too high if I decide to take the course there.

So I put the interest aside. The good thing was that I ended up getting in contact with Ms. An of Codelean and was told that they are bringing the course to Cebu soon. I was contacted a year later and got to learn that they are actually bringing it here in Cebu and would need my help (and another coordinator) to promote the event.

To make the story short, the course pushed through but I had several lessons learned with this experience and will be ranting about that here.

1. A marketer may not be a good fit for a project.

..especially when the project is not something he is interested in or the ex-deal is not something he can benefit in monetarily or professionally. Our other coordinator who could have helped in promoting the course ended up awol after signing up his help for the project. It left a bitter experience for me to experience something like that from a marketer that I respected. It’s all done now and I guess it will just be written of as “lesson learned”.

 2. If you are not sure if your product/service will generate customers, create a community first.

We had a hard time reaching out to companies who would be interested in joining the course. The challenge is that this was to be the first course done in Cebu therefore zero community = zero awareness. Well, that is except for the companies who are already actually starting to use Scrum in their product development. We tried reaching out and asking for the support of local Cebu tech nonprofit groups but didn’t get the support from them. In the end, we ended up with 8 students. Barely enough to get the course to push through. Have a community and validate your offering.

3. Focus on the benefits. Not features.

As someone who has only a minimal knowledge of Scrum, promoting a course because of its features is harder than it looks. You have to focus promoting the benefits of your offering rather than the features, the cost, the venue, etc. Your prospects need to know how their lives (work life in this case) could be changed when they buy your product or service.

4. Slideshare + LinkedIn + Events for B2B marketing.

It’s a challenge to just use Facebook and Twitter to promote a hight ticket offering unless you want to get in touch with those who mention your business or are already a part of your community. With brand new (spanking new!) offerings in a new location for example, start out with being the most helpful brand for your target industry contacts. Give it time. Grow awareness. How? Create events, connect and offer tips through LinkedIn, upload presentations on Slideshare.

5. Lead generation involves calls. Not just email followups.

Call prospects. Grab that phone and dial numbers. This was my greatest challenge for this project since we don’t have a landline. It would be very, very costly to actually call them using what I have (Skype) and I don’t have the resources to do so.

So those are all my notes so far. I am glad that this course produced the first eight ScrumMasters from all our effort in promoting the course (which was evaluated as poor/not enough). There have been lessons learned in this case and am very much happy for the support of those who took the time to read our invites, tell their bosses, or answered their emails when we contacted.

If there’s a next run, however, I am looking forward to have the above items looked into to improve the student count.

Kudos to me for being a Certified ScrumMaster! Finally.

]]> http://fleirecastro.com/thoughts/5-lessons-learned-in-promoting-the-certified-scrummaster-course-in-cebu/feed/ 2 http://fleirecastro.com/thoughts/information-overload/ http://fleirecastro.com/thoughts/information-overload/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:06:38 +0000 plsburydoughboy http://fleirecastro.com/?p=2087

I have been using Evernote for over three years and I’ve been really enjoying it. However, I did something early on that I seriously regret now, and that is collecting weblinks. I found myself enjoying all these little websites and these useful articles, and some amusing pictures and so on and so forth and couldn’t bear to let them go. Soon enough, I found myself stuck with hundreds of site links and over half my free Evernote account used up.

I might have a problem with packrat mentality but you don’t have to have that to be dealing with information overload. You take a look at a site like Project Gutenberg, YouTube, or Salon archives and you can get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information available.

You will need to filter information, and you will find no lack of advice on how to this online (of course). At the very basic level, you filter based on separating what you need from what you want, prioritize appropriately, and then choose to dispose or archive. However, filtering also requires a leap of faith that you will be able to find whatever information you need whenever you need it online. To be truthful this is not always the case, and in the end, you’ll simply have to accept that you can’t retain everything. If it does give you solace, you should know that this does not mean that the information itself is lost.

Fortunately, this connectedness we have with information benefits the advance of information itself. As David Weinberger discusses in “Too Big To Know“, facts themselves have evolved from the traditional facts, which would presumably be accumulated and stored to eventually form a complete picture of the world, to networked facts, where we view and recognize the connections between these facts, as well as the differences between them.

As of now, I’m preoccupied with cleaning out my Evernote, but I only do it when I can. Sensibly enough, I put my real life priorities first, and slowly sort though my links to figure out which of them I will need and which are disposable. I retain control of the information I have, but more importantly, I’ve regained control of how I process information, how I react to it emotionally and how to deal with it so I can live my life.

Here‘s a Lifehacker article on how to deal with information overload, and if you have the time, I’ve embedded below Clay Shirky’s twentythree minute talk on the topic, from Web 2.0 Expo three years ago.

If you are the type of mobile worker that hangs out at coffee shops not just for the coffee but also for the excuse to be around humans, you will also yearn for that always-on internet device that you can easily carry around for internet accessibility. Why? Because a coffee shop internet connection will never be enough. Those lines have limitations either with sites that you can access, the bandwidth you can use, or the amount of time you can connect to their network. Thus, the need to have your own personal zone for yourself and your gadgets.

The Globe Tattoo Superstick (Huawei E5) is a pocket wifi modem – a device that a mobile worker like me might find very convenient to use. It is a handy and light device that you can easily hide in your bag or include in your gadgets pack for storage. Right now, it is part of my mobile pack for when the need to go out of house arises.

 The first thing that I did when I had the device (since it’s postpaid) was to find a sim card for it. I had to specify that I needed the Tattoo mobile broadband sim for the device. I got it at Greenbelt for about Php 200.

When you open your pack, you will get two guides for your device. Included is the USB cable which you can use to access the device admin UI. It is also the same USB cable that you can use to charge it. Aside from that, you have the Huawei E5 and the battery. You will obviously need to put them together — unit + SIM card + battery.

Since the battery is already initially charged (and you can’t wait to use it just like me), you can immediately turn it on using the instructions on your quick start guide. It will initially show you an icon with the number 5 (which probably is the device name – E5- or the fact you can actually connect up to 5 devices to it). After everything is setup, your screen will look like this image below.  It shows you the signal that you have, the connection strength (depending on your location), the network name, the wifi icon (not shown) and the battery level.

I connected the device on my laptop via the included USB cable. If you access it on your laptop, it will ask you to install the admin app/UI of the device. Default is 192.168.1.1 or e5/home. The default password: admin. Here in the panel, you can access and change info on the connection, review SMS received, see the SD card status and, of course, change settings. For vanity and security purposes, I changed the connection name and added a password to my connection.

Now that you are ready, make sure you have load credits for your Tattoo SIM. I am not really a Globe user so basically, the network (and branding/terms) is new to me. I had to contact my eloader – Ms. Binky – to load Php 300 via Autoload Max. I am not sure why but she had to do it at 100 pesos at a time. Sending an SMS – SUPERSURF 220 and sending to 8888 will now give you unlimited access to the network for 5 days.

Tech Specs:

• Flexible WiFi Hotspot (5 devices)
• WiFi 802.11 b/g
• HSUPA/HSDPA/UMTS 2100/900 MHz
• EDGE/GPRS/GSM 1900/1800/900/850 MHz
• Equalizer and receive diversity (UMTS 2100/900 MHz)
• HSUPA data service of up to 5.76 Mbps
• HSDPA data service of up to 7.2 Mbps
• MicroSD card slot
• Li battery
• LED display
• Plug and play

To sum, the device is something that I would use when I am mobile. I can easily connect the iPad, iPhone, and laptop to it. Traveling and on the move? No problem. Just turn on the device, leave inside the bag you are carrying and now you have a network you can use to access Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, etc.

The DigitalFilipino E-commerce Summit 2012 that was held at The Peninsula Manila was a learning experience on the state of e-commerce and digital marketing in the Philippines. It was well attended by the digital marketers, business owners, and managers of companies.

I was glad to be able to meet the club members who I have only communicated with online. I got to chat with Jam Mayer from Mayer Consulting who is providing assistance and tools for businesses who want to use virtual events like webinars. Also got to finally meet Vanj Padilla from Pangasinan. Wilson Chua of Bitstop Networking Services also flew in from Singapore to attend the event. In my table, I got to chat with Raffy from Multiply Philippines.

My personal highlights

As a social media manager providing services for clients outside the Philippines, the stats I picked up from the speakers were very much amazing. True that the Philippines is still at level 1 in terms of e-commerce and digital marketing. With that, any local business that attempts to do e-commerce here in the PH should be very much applauded for their attempts.

My personal highlights from the talks included my top 3 below.

1. Less than 1% of total PH retail market are doing e-commerce.
2. Filipinos use the internet for research and discovery. Transactions still offline.
3. Cebu Pacific Air is the juggernaut of PH e-commerce. (CebuPac is doing it right!)

Notes from Speakers

Below are some notes that I was able to take during the summit via the hashtag #ecom2012:

Mr. Jack Madrid on Ecommerce

Mr. Donald Lim on Digital Marketing

 More Photos on Facebook Album

The state of the Philippine E-commerce has been a very interesting topic for me. The internet has been a very viable place to sell products and service. With entrepreneurs and brands turning to online marketing to promote offerings, it has become a very competitive medium as well.

As a social media manager selling my offerings online, I turn to the internet not just as a source knowledge but also leads. It has become a great medium to execute the needs of my clients as well. Knowing the sphere locally would be beneficial for me to truly grasp the needs of the local businesses who are in need of online marketing themselves.

With the knowledge, I could fully arm myself in improving the offerings for Third Team Media – our social media marketing team.

This February 24th, I will give myself a refresher on the state of e-commerce here in the Philippines. I will be joining the 3rd DigitalFilipino E-Commerce Summit 2012 this February 24, 2012 at The Peninsula Manila, corner of Ayala Avenue and Makati Avenue, Makati City from 9 am to 5 pm.

Below are the 10 reasons why I believe you, as an online netizen, might be interested in joining too.

10 Reasons to Attend the DigitalFilipino E-Commerce Summit 2012

Will you be going to the summit? Full agenda and registration here.

Image from bizcem.com