News and developments in the community.

Monday, November 11, 2013

10th year anniversary of the DigitalFilipino Club - a community of e-commerce advocates

The DigitalFilipino Club has its hands full this 2013 with a lot of activities taking place in different parts of the country as we go all out in our Startup 100 Project. This is also part of our 10th year celebration as a community. (DigitalFilipino Club started last December 25, 2003)

Club members are reminded to avail of their free slots in both free and online programs:
  • Corporate (3 slots)
  • SME (2 slots)
  • individual (1 slot)

E-Learning programs (protege membership):

There are also face-to-face training programs that are happening in different parts of the country where club members can send participants. 

  • Search Engine and Social Media Marketing workshop took place in Ateneo De Manila Graduate School of Business last January 2013.
  • Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Project Planning and Review took place in Tagaytay and Boracay this year.
  • E-Commerce Boot Camp took place in 9 provincial locations (Cebu, Davao, Boracay, Pagadian, Dipolog, General Santos, Bohol, Zamboanga, Naga) this year.
  • The Digital Influencer Boot Camp was conducted in 6 provincial locations (Cebu, Davao, Boracay, Cagayan De Oro, Dagupan, Bohol) as well.
  • Search Influencer Boot Camp was brought to Cebu and Davao. 
  • Digital Marketing and E-Commerce for the Tourism Industry was done in Boracay and Bohol.
  • E-Commerce Entrepreneur Program had its first face-to-face session at Ateneo Graduate School of Business last October 2013.
  • E-Commerce Creators Boot Camp - WordPress will have its first run in Boracay this December 2 and 3.

Not to mention our annual activities such as the: 

  • E-Commerce Summit. This took place in Manila and Cebu early February and March 2013. Our next year's event will be on February 15, 2014 and re-branding it as an E-Commerce Entrepreneurs Summit.
  • Digital Influencers Marketing Summit happened in La Union, Rizal, and Manila last January, February, and September 2013. Our next one will happen sometime September 2014.
This does not include the talks and outreach I have done this year in partnership with government agencies, companies, and various organizations.

The next 5 to 10 years

2014 will be a period of big change for the club as we begin with our 11th year. I will slow down.

We will focus on building technical training components necessary to help aspiring e-commerce entrepreneur startups getting knowledge resource access they need.

This includes building training modules on:
  • Mobile application development
  • E-Commerce security (hope to finally finish my Certified Ethical Hacker certification)
  • Software development standards
  • E-Commerce technologies on B2B
  • E-Commerce platforms for B2C
  • Predictive analytics
We will still complete some e-commerce marketing and entrepreneur modules focusing on public relations, corporate communications, and digital marketing entrepreneurship.

The above training programs will be developed with interested club members as co-trainers.

I hope to complete the above before mid-2014 to build the necessary package as we partner with various high school and college educators wanting to use our free e-learning resources in their classroom.

People, Competition, and Change

What I always love about the Internet and e-commerce is that your biggest competition is always yourself. Can you level-up each time you roll out a program? Will you be willing to start over again to reach out to newbies - making yourself accessible in the process?

I think that view has also protected the club through the years as we always focus on how we can be better than the last time in serving members.

Through these changes, we attracted new members in the process who each have their own needs - either for training, connections, mentorship, support, friendship, inspiration, advice, among others.

Thank you to all of our club members who have joined and especially to those who have stayed with us for at least 5 years (and became our honorary members). This community would not have lasted this long without you. I am honored and humbled every day by the trust you have given in supporting our e-commerce advocacy.

Here's to the next 5 to 10 years.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Touching 6000 people on first quarter 2013

The first quarter of 2013 can be considered as unprecedented as we are able to reach out to at least 6000 persons face-to-face and online through our free E-Commerce Boot Camp and Digital Influencer Boot Camp webinars.

AIE College - DigitalFilipino E-Commerce Boot Camp

 Here's a run down of what we did in the first quarter of 2013:

1. Cebu E-Commerce Summit and Cebu E-Commerce Boot Camp

Close to 110 participants grace the event making this 1st E-Commerce Summit and Boot Camp in Cebu a success.

2. AIE College E-Commerce Boot Camp

Around 1600 students joined this activity making it our biggest E-Commerce Boot Camp to date.

3. E-Commerce Boot Camp Mindanao kicks off in General Santos City and Zamboanga

77 participants joined our E-Commerce Boot Camp General Santos City and E-Commerce Boot Camp Zamboanga City that debunks earlier perception of Mindanao being not ready for e-commerce.

4. The 1st E-Commerce Boot Camp UP Diliman, E-Commerce / Digital Marketing Project Planning Workshop / Personal Goal Setting, and Search Engine / Blog / Social Media Strategy Workshop at Ateneo-Rockwell

Manila served as an important jump off point as we launched the 1st E-Commerce Boot Camp at UP Diliman last January 11.

We served the needs of our club members by giving workshops specifically for them such as the E-Commerce / Digital Marketing Project Planning Workshop / Personal Goal Setting, and Search Engine / Blog / Social Media Strategy Workshop at Ateneo-Rockwell.

5. Club members in action

Club members also helped out shared their knowledge in the Digital Influencers Marketing Summit La Union, Digital Influencers Marketing Summit Rizal,  4th DigitalFilipino E-Commerce Summit Manila, and Cebu E-Commerce Summit.

I also spoke at the following events this 1st quarter:

1. PR Batch Gilas - DLSU Dasmarinas (March 26)
2. The 3rd Annual Sales and Marketing Professionals Convention (March 21)
3. Social Media Influencers Summit (March 16)
4. Internet Mastery Workshop (March 9)
5. Legal Forum on Data Privacy and Cybercrime (February 21)
6. PUP Technology Festival 2013 (February 21)
7. Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (February 15)
8. Thomasian Junior Marketing Association (February 6)
9. MarketingJays - PUP (February 5)
10. Batangas Information Technology Council (February 2)
11. Junior Media Summit (January 24)
12. GoNegosyo 2nd Filipino Technopreneurship Summit (January 21)

Although the volume of speaking engagements I had is no longer new, the simultaneous club-initiated activities through our boot camps and summits further increase the activity level.

And we are just beginning...

Our 2nd quarter to 4th quarter will result to more activities as we increase our boot camps. Definitely, club member participation will be of great importance.