IDEA Global Entrepreneurship Workshop Series 2014 - Where Aira had been in the past few days [Part 2]

Last June 25 - Friday. Yes, just the day after Geeks on a Plane, I attended IDEA Global Entrepreneurship Workshop 2014, a three - day workshop series organized by PhilDev, IDEA and USAID (Yes, I dumped my Sunday family day for this and it was all worth it!). In fact, topics 1 - 4 were presented somewhere in March 2014 which I did not know. :( Anyway, they did an awesome recap so I did not feel like I've missed something + copies of the presentation were given. *thumbs up*

The workshop is very effective that they didn't just discuss the A-Z of planning, executing and all the things in between (legal requirements, funding etc.) of making a startup dream come true, but they also organized groupings and gave us, participants, a chance to feel like being co-founders.

So, here's our team during the last day of the workshop, with Eros Resmini.

While consulting our presentation, which was only created using my iPad. 

But eventually was chosen to be presented on stage!

The workshop started with this provocative line by Engr. Dado Banatao, PhilDev chairman: "We would like to see you, Filipino entrepreneurs, after you become successful, to give/pay back to the country." and ended with expressing his ambitions for us that he really want us to succeed in our entrepreneurial endeavors in the future, at least during his lifetime.

I was really touched by his message and treat those words as one of my "push" to continue striving for my entrepreneurial and success vision. Hoping that someday, I'll be the one on stage and inspire others who are in the middle of dreaming, contemplation and making things happen, just like where I am right now.

Geeks on a Plane Technopreneurship Summit - Where Aira had been in the past few days [Part 1]

Last July 24 - Thursday morning, I have attended Geeks on a Plane - Exploring the Technopreneurship Ecosystems



The event is fully packed with angel investors from the Silicon Valley. They truly see a lot of potentials here in the Philippines that only need to be tapped. The whole program only lasted until around 12 noon, it was mainly composed of panel discussions participated by the "change makers" of the Silicon Valley.


Credits to: AIM for Innovation Facebook Page

Look what I have got!

It is never too late to blog about SEO Lead Generation Conference

Find me... CLUE: I'm in the right side nearly in the middle

This is event is fully packed by known personalities in the digital marketing, SEO, freelancing and business.

Aside from having a clubhouse sandwich without a ham or any meat, these are the things I got from this event:

- The mathematical equation - guess what, the topic is not math nor finance, but about USP (Unique Selling Proposition) by Marc Acsay
- Met the person behind AyosDito.ph (Mannix Pabalan) and listened to his talk about SEO, User Experience and Lead Generation
- Finally seen Janette Toral in person, the Philippine's E-Commerce Lady. She talked about SEO and Lead Performance Metrics.
- Learned that using the words "Xerox" and "Copy Center" or "Photocopy" have big difference in Marketing. The serial entrepreneur who shared this experience is Fitz Villafuerte. I was also amazed to know that there's a Filipino version of Fiverr
-  Genesis Reonico of OnlineJobsLifestyle creatively compared lead generation to fishing
- Sean Si, the "SEO hacker" talked about not just SEO but also e-mail marketing. Got some tips which e-mail marketing tool to use.
- There was also a part where the importance of storytelling in digital marketing was emphasized. Carlo Gonzales made this talk more interesting by showing a picture of a popular sexy actress here in the Philippines.
- Lastly, the first time I saw a presentation with a background music from games (imagine the tune of Super Mario while the speaker is discussing something.. I feel like watching Super Mario live) Disclaimer: he's not Mario, but he's Paul Agabin of Essays.ph

Along with the event is the Lead Generation contest which will last until December. Yours truly did not let this opportunity to passed by.

That's all folks!

Really looking forward for more events like this.
(Of course I welcome invitations. hihihi)

How I Learned About Time When I was Just a Curious Little Girl - A #ThrowbackThursday Post

Photo from: southernlagniappe.blogspot.com

It was at that time when I was just a little girl with full of questions, having a conversation with my mother. I forgot how the conversation started or what I asked first to open the topic. All I remember is it was about what we see in a calendar and this part:

Calendars have 1, 2, 3, 4... and so on. Then have a 1, 2, 3, 4... and so on again.

- Yes. Next month will have them again, and next next month and all months to come.

January, February, March....?

- Yes. They are 12. After all the 12 then it will be back again from the start, January again.

How about years? 1998, 1999... 

- No. They will never be repeated.

I felt sad after hearing the last answer. Enough to remember that conversation until now that I am already 21 and still curious about things. I was expecting the same "yes" answer, thinking years just have longer cycle than months that's why it seems to be not being repeated, but I was wrong. The moment my mother was saying yes that days and months are being repeated, I was thinking that time we can always have birthdays, Christmas etc. like it keeps on coming back and will not be lost. But when I heard that years will not be repeated, it struck me and realized time cannot be turned back. Digits of days, names of the months will be repeated but they will never be the same. 

We can have birthdays in a yearly basis. 18th on a monthly basis. Mondays every after 7 days. But nothing is exactly the same. We lose time. We shed pages of calendars. We grow old. We may never return to that time we wished for. But unlike calendars, we don't have to shed memories. We can still have it 'til the rest of our years.