Joined the 3rd Cebu Blog Camp

The 2012 Cebu Blog Camp

Congratulations to Cebu Blog Camp for a successful event that was held at CICC (Cebu International Convention Center) last November 30, 2012. This was the third blog camp and actually my first Blog Camp experience: it was fun, it was lively, it was awesome - worth my time!

A room of bloggers, entrepreneurs and students filled the event, learning lessons on blogging, building communities, branding your business, being an influencer and more. Too bad I wasn't able to gather pictures as evidence.

The event was a blast headed by Mister Johnn Mendoza, Social Media Manager for The Center Suites, that was flooded with sponsors, food, freebies and most of all with outstanding speakers:

Miss Clarisa Briones of www.pinoygreatdeals.com
Miss Fleire Castro of Third Team Media and the Google Business Group Manager
Mister Coy Caballes of Social Media Manager for Globe Telecom
Mister Ruben Licera of RLCOMM, Google Developers Group Manager and Cebu Bloggers Society president.
Miss Janette Toral of Digital Filipino, Social Media Expert and Internet Marketing Consultant
Chef Anton Gomez

What did I learn from the event?

I've learned different lessons - lessons on communities: what are they, what have they done, and how they were build? Communities are those who raise awareness, those who are responsible, those who promote advocacy, those who influence us with lessons in life. What are the lessons we get from Communities? Miss Fleire speaks:

Communities responds to crisis - helping those who are in need.
Communities win Awards - being recognized, gaining trust from the public.
Communities connect to members - know each other, make a bond (offline or online)
Communities teach - gives lessons, reaching out to others.

Anyone can build a community but it takes a lot of work to make it work! As what Sir Ruben said:

"An empowered community is one which is confident, inclusive, organized, cooperative and influential"

To be confident a community should posses a lot of skills, patience, and readiness.
To be inclusive a community should set rules, guidelines to remain on track.
To be cooperative a community should have a supportive leader and members. Listen to each other, learn and grow as one.
To be influential a community must serve its advocacy, the group should serve as a role model.

Lessons on entrepreneurship, blogging and eCommerce from Miss Janette Toral, and men was it splendid! It served as a great lesson for both professional and aspiring entrepreneurs and bloggers. Her stories never fail to amaze me. It makes you want to do more in life - no wonder why she's a role model influencer. As what Globe's tagline is "Go lang ng go!", it fits her well.

Janette Toral - Digital Filipino

How can we be able to sustain a business? Can we make it last? It takes a great plan to do that, settle for the long term goals and target those revenues. Here's how:

The Seven Areas of Revenue by Janette Toral

Must have the opportunity for a one time sale - being able to sell your brand
Is there an opportunity for a repeat sale - quality of service and brand will ignite your customers to have more.
Must have the opportunity for a short term relationship - to get to know people, customers.
Opportunity for a long term relationship - build a bond, build friendship.
Opportunity for an up-sell - business upgrade, leveling up your services.
Opportunity for Cross-sell - grab the opportunity, render services and never say "NO"
Find you magic number - find your comfort zone, your target number!

Challenges and hurdles may come along the way, so remember to stay motivated. Talk to people whenever you need help, everyone could use a little help sometime. Stay focus and reach for your goals!

Be a Blog and Social Media Entrepreneur and explore your 'influencer' potential. - Janette Toral

Once again thank you to the all sponsors who made the event for free. I'm looking forward for next year's Cebu Blog Camp!