ProFora Media welcomes renowned professional photographer Edwin Celestino, as one of our featured speakers for the month of October.

Edwin Celestino is one of the Philippines’ foremost fashion and commercial advertising photographers. Collaborating with agencies such as J. Walter Thompson, Basic Advertising and BCD/PinPoint, his photos have enhanced the message of numerous ad campaigns. Having started in 1977 as an in-house photographer for the Metro Manila Commission, he is now transferring his knowledge to the new generation, first as a teacher in the UST College of Fine Arts and for the past 5 years, in the DLS-College of St. Benilde.

Beyond what’s written on Edwin’s speaker bio, however, we have managed to dig up ten things you might want to know about him, just to get more acquainted with Edwin Celestino:

1.  Edwin is the technical half of the only husband-and-wife photographer team in the Philippines.  He and Tesz Celestino had clocked some thirty odd years of experience working with designers like Pitoy Moreno, Ben Farrales, Frederick Peralta, Cesar Gaupo, and Lulu Tan Gan.   Their work has been published in the coffee table books, TAO: The Filipino People, KASALAN: Philippine Weddings, Philippine Costumes, and in magazines like Design And Architecture, InStyle and LifeStyle Asia.

2.  In 1977, while working for the Metro Manila Commission, he unhooked himself from the helicopter’s safety harness just to get the right angle for a picture of the reclamation area that would become the CCP Complex.  The “that-was-a-really-dumb-thing-to-do moment” only occurred to him several awkward seconds after he was back on the ground.

3.  Goes into God mode when on a photo shoot.  If you’re the client, tell him how you want the picture to come out, then step back and let him work.  If you’re the model, don’t tell him you know better- or better yet, don’t even talk- or he walks out.

4.  Can be bribed with a case of Coca-Cola.  Make sure it’s not diet or Zero though, as he can tell the difference since he averages 3 liters a day.

5.  Laughs like a loon when he sees people shooting outdoors and their portable flash units are pointing straight up “…what are you bouncing the additional light off?  The sky?”

6.  Thinks that people who keep their DSLRs on “Automatic” and call themselves good photographers, should be shot.  Considering the affordability of cameras today, an AK-47 clip just wouldn’t have enough bullets.

7.  Always brings a Canon A570 point and shoot digicam and uses the pictures he takes with it to emphasize that learning the basics is more important than the equipment.

8.  Remodeled part of our house and built a darkroom just so he could “play” with all the aspects of conventional photography and because he wanted to learn more.   He figured that his children didn’t need an additional bedroom anyway since his son and daughter hadn’t reached the point of actually killing each other yet.

9.  Can do things with conventional film photography that is only possible now with PhotoShop.  Up to this day, his children’s friends think that they each had a twin that died because of a picture Edwin had experimented on with double exposure.

10.  Has The Beatles, Ne-Yo and Akon on repeat in his iPod but memorized all The BackStreet Boys songs for videoke.  Give him a mic and he’ll belt out “Quit Playing Games With My Heart”, complete with the dance moves.

Edwin Celestino will be conducting a series of photography webinars together with ProFora Media, with actual field trips and face-to-face sessions mixed in.   His first set of photography workshops, Basic Photography: Understanding Exposure, begins on October 22.

Everyone has a blog these days, so why shouldn’t you?  Blogs make great online journals or scrapbooks, photo albums or a collection of links and excerpts you’ve found online- but there’s so much more to blogging than you realize, and you can use your brand new blog to promote just about anything.

Yes, blogs have a practical use.  And while you can do pretty much what you want to do on a blog, there are some guidelines and best practices you might want to be aware of to make your blog more effective- so you can get your message across the right way, as well as connect with other people just like yourself.

ProFora Media, in cooperation with Digital Filipino, brings you Blogging 101- a workshop that will help you go through the entire blog creation process.

This webinar will be conducted by Janette Toral, founder of Blog4Reviews and Digital Filipino.

Topics for Blogging 101 will include: setting up a blog from scratch, configuring your blog for personalization, a discussion on blog ethics, developing content, and letting the world know that your blog exists.  The online workshop will also tackle how blogging can be used to promote a company’s products and services. It will also look into the various ways that blogs can be monetized and make it a self-sustaining asset.

Blogging 101 happens on Thursday, 22 October 2009, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, standard Philippine time (GMT +8:00).  The webinar price is Php750.00.  Register for Blogging 101 now!

Attending this webinar is easy and convenient: you can plug in from anywhere within the Philippines (or even from anywhere around the world), and take the course, as long as you have a decent PC or laptop, a USB headset, or speakers and a mike, and a fairly stable internet connection.

For more information, interested parties may contact the ProFora Team via email– info@proforamedia.com, or through phone– +632.376.7040.  More information about ProFora Media and its upcoming Lightbulb Sessions are also available on the websites and
social media pages included below.

* (blog) www.philippineonlinetraining.com
* (multiply) www.proforamedia.multiply.com
* (twitter) www.twitter.com/proforamedia
* (facebook) www.facebook.com/ProForaWebinars.
* (youtube)  www.youtube.com/user/proforamedia

See you at the Lightbulb Sessions!

When it comes to putting together a marketing mix, entrepreneurs and small business owners have to find the most cost-effective strategies to promote their products and services. Email marketing, therefore, remains as a very popular direct marketing option for many companies and organizations.

But despite its popularity, email marketing continues to be a challenge, particularly among businesses, website owners, as well as entrepreneurs and freelancers of all kinds. It’s not uncommon that email blasts and email campaigns are sent out haphazardly, with no attempt to really connect with the intended recipients.

ProFora Media, in cooperation with Digital Filipino, presents “Get That Email Read! Email Marketing for Entrepreneurs”, a Certificate Course that will be conducted by Janette Toral, as she draws on her 14 years experience in email marketing.

The Digital Filipino Certificate Course for Email Marketing is spread out over 3 days: October 26 (Monday), 28 (Wednesday) and 30 (Friday), from 6 to 8pm, local Philippine time (GMT +8:00).

You can plug in from anywhere within the Philippines (or even from anywhere around the world), and take the course, as long as you have a decent PC or laptop, a USB headset, or speakers and a mike, and a fairly stable internet connection.

On the first two sessions– October 26 and 28- it will mostly be about email marketing theory, and therefore, lots of discussions and demonstrations.

Topics for this Certificate Course will generally revolve around understanding and designing the best possible direct marketing campaign via email. Specific topics include Rules in Email Marketing, Writing and Design Style, Components of an Email Marketing Program, Email Marketing Software and Services, Best Practices, among others.

For the last session– October 30, 2009- the workshop will focus on some more discussions, but will also put more weight on submitted work: putting together your own Email Marketing and Communications Plan. Participants are expected to submit their work before the start of this session, and the submitted work will be shown and discussed for comments and feedback from Janette.

To receive a certificate for this course, participants need to attend all 3 sessions as well as submit their final work based on Janette’s evaluation.

The entire course costs PhP 2,250.00, or alternately, if you wish to attend the sessions separately, you may do so at PhP 750.00 per session. Go right ahead and register for The Digital Filipino Email Marketing Certificate Course today!

Incidentally, Digital Filipino also has a Certificate Course on Search Engine Optimization and another on Link-Building Techniques- something you might also want to check out- two courses also great for internet professionals, entrepreneurs and small business owners.

For details and inquiries, interested parties may contact the ProFora Team via email– info@proforamedia.com, or through phone– +632.376.7040. More information about ProFora Media and its upcoming Lightbulb Sessions are also available on the websites and social media pages also included below.

* (blog) www.philippineonlinetraining.com
* (multiply) www.proforamedia.multiply.com
* (twitter) www.twitter.com/proforamedia
* (facebook) www.facebook.com/ProForaWebinars.
* (youtube) www.youtube.com/user/proforamedia

See you at the Certificate Course!

If you’re a company that does a lot of business online, or an entrepreneur that takes on projects over the internet, or even a student or a member of the academe who’d like to know the latest developments in local e-commerce, then you might want to stop by the 2009 E-Commerce Summit at the Hotel Intercontinental on November 12 and 13, organized by the good people over at Digital Filipino.

The Digital Filipino E-Commerce Summit 2009 is an intensive 2-day educational seminar on all kinds of e-commerce strategies, as well as best practices in online business.  The event aims to serve not only as an additional venue for learning, but also as an opportunity to network and connect with fellow entrepreneurs, internet professionals, e-commerce companies, suppliers and service providers.   The summit is expected to draw in an attendance of around 200 participants, with the majority of attendees coming from the Digital Filipino community.

The Digital Filipino E-Commerce Summit 2009:  Doing E-Commerce For Real

The conference program aims to bring in an engaging mix of e-commerce players and industry practitioners.   Attendees to this event can expect a lineup of highly interactive and insightful sessions spread out over two days.

Day 1:  Thursday, 12 November 2009

9:10 to 9:30 AM:
“State of Internet and Mobile Commerce Market Growth”, by  Donald Patrick Lim, President and CEO of Yehey! Corporation.

Has Internet and Mobile Commerce taken off in the Philippines? What are the numbers? Are the Filipinos today really buying online? A look into the latest market study with cross analysis on the technographic and psychographic behavior of our new generation of digital sellers and buyers.

9:45 to 10:05 AM:
“Building and Managing an E-Commerce, Internet Gaming, and Outsourcing Business during a Global Economic Crisis”, by Enrique Gonzalez, CEO of IPVG Corp.

10:20 to 10:40 AM:
“Creating a Niche and Identifying Your Online Target Market”, by Stephanie Caragos, President and CEO of Syntactics, Inc.

Creating an e-commerce website is not merely the act of having the site developed and launched. Careful study and analysis plays an important role in identifying the target market and knowing how to attract it. Insight on potential customers helps in strategic positioning of your products and services.

10:55 to 11:25 AM:
“Search Engine Friendly Web Design: Making Site Visitors Click!”, by Jan Alvin Pabellon, Vice President for Business Development at IT Group, Inc., and Arnold Alvarez, General Manager of BF Homes Properties.

Improve your rankings, increase your visits, and make more money by building a web site that is attractive to both automated search engines and real live people. Discover how “search engine friendly” web design can help you get more traffic from search engines. Speakers will share experience in making their sites search engine friendly, launching additional websites to improve rankings, get more visits, and consequently improved revenues and bottom line.

11:40 AM to 12:00 PM:
“Measuring Effectiveness of Blog Advertising Campaigns”, by Eric Ramirez, Chairman, Nuffnang Philippines.

A growing number of companies are exploring blogs as a medium to market their products and services. This session will tackle the effectiveness of blogs as an online marketing tool, measurement of performance, and lessons learned in carrying out blog marketing campaigns.

1:30 to 1:50 PM:
“The End of Faceless Brands: How the Internet has Forced Brand Marketing to Personalize”, by Brad Geiser, Co-Founder, GeiserMaclang Marketing Communications.

One of the reasons why there are few companies in the Philippines who invest in e-Commerce is due to the perception that it is just a business structure and has not yet explored the idea of e-Commerce as a marketing tool. This discussion gives an overview on how some social marketing experiments have turned in groundbreaking results.

2:05 to 2:25 PM:
“Technology Presentation: Delivering Advanced Search Engine via Next-Generation Networks”, by Cyril C. Rocke, President/CEO of  DataOne Asia (Phils.), Inc.

2:40 to 3:25 PM:
“E-Commerce as a Viable Retail Market Outlet for SMEs”, by Ma. Regina Bundang, CEO of RegaloService.com, and Russell Ri, CEO of e-Philippines Travel and Adventure Tours.

Entrepreneurs will share their experience in putting up an e-commerce site, working with partners, challenges, lessons learned, market changes, and tips to aspiring entrepreneurs who would like to expand their business online.

3:40 to 4:00 PM:
“Improving E-Commerce Sales Performance”, by Dustin Andaya, CEO, of IslandRose.net.

4:15 to 4:35 PM:
“State of Online Payment in the Philippines”, by Paul Hubbard, General Manager of Yes IT Corp.

Day 2:   Friday, 13 November 2009

9:00 to 9:20 AM:
“Challenges and Opportunities in MOBILE MONEY TRANSFER: Implementation of GCASH”, by Rizza Maniego-Eala, President of G-Xchange, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom, Inc.)

A look into Mobile Commerce in the Philippines and how its applications have evolved to be able to service both mainstream and unbanked markets. Insights on the challenges and opportunities of Mobile Money transfer within the mobile commerce ecosystems, and a specific look into its current role in the banking industry.

9:35 to 9:55 AM:
“The Future of E-Commerce is Mobile”, by Chito Bustamante, CEO of Chikka.

The Philippine market is actually ripe and ready for electronic commerce, driven by both on-line and mobile communities.  Compelling products and services especially those that immediately gratify, as they are delivered instantly are now needed.

10:10 to 10:30 AM:
“E-Commerce Policies and E-Government Growth in the Philippines”, by Dir. Maria Lourdes Yaptinchay, Supervising Director of the Department of Trade and Industry E-Commerce Office.

An update on e-commerce policies approved and for ratification to push the growth of e-commerce in the Philippines. Government e-commerce transaction growth in dealing with stakeholders, citizens, customers, and businesses shall also be discussed.

10:45 to 11:15 AM:
“Building Online Trust:  Making E-Commerce Secure Against Fraud”, by Mannix Pabalan, General Manager of AyosDito.ph, and Jovel Cipriano, CEO of PinoyDelikasi.

The intricacies of E-commerce have provided merchants with a host of interesting challenges. Perhaps the biggest challenge is establishing and maintaining trust. Spam, fraud, identity theft and fly-by-night e-retailers threaten consumers’ fragile trust in online marketplaces, particularly those in which they are asked to provide credit card information. Trust becomes a key issue in the buying process. Winning the customers’ trust and increasing their confidence is essential for E-commerce success.

11:30 AM to 12:00 PM:
“Make Self-Service Advertising Platform Work for You”, by Aileen Apolo, Country Consultant of Google.com, and Carlo Ople, Global Digital Marketing Head of Friendster.com.

Self-managed Internet advertising campaign is one of the many things that entrepreneurs and businesses can undertake on their own today. This session will give an overview on the size of this market, what works, what doesn’t, and new developments that should be learned and taken advantage of.

1:00 PM to 1:30 PM:
“Why running an e-commerce business is similar to growing WHEATGRASS & Moving towards the 4TH GENERATION of E-commerce”, by Edward Ling, Chief Executive Officer, Easy Pha-Max Philippines and Platform2U.com Philippines, and Eddie Lee, Chief Information Officer of Platform2U.com.

1:45 to 4:30 PM:
Recognition of 3rd DigitalFilipino Web Awards winners. All winners were invited to give their 5-slides/minutes best practices sharing.  Nominations ongoing till October 19 at http://digitalfilipinowebawards.blogspot.com.

4:30 AM to 5:00 PM:
E-Commerce in the Philippines 2010, by Janette Toral of DigitalFilipino.com Club.

How to Register for The Digital Filipino E-Commerce Summit 2009:

The Digital Filipino E-Commerce Summit 2009: Doing E-Commerce For Real is a 2-day conference with sessions and activities spread out over two days: Thursday, 12 November and Friday, 13 November 2009, at the Hotel Intercontinental in Makati City.

The regular rate for the 2-day summit is Php9500.00.   This fee includes snacks and lunch for both days.  Attendees who register and pay early get substantial discounts:  you only need to pay Php8500 if you settle your account before October 31, and you get an even lower rate of Php7500 if you pay on or before October 9, 2009.  You will be charged Php10,500 if you elect to pay after the event.

Payment for your registration may be conveniently settled through a number of ways: direct bank deposit, or via credit card, PayPal or GCash.

Register for The Digital Filipino E-Commerce Summit 2009: Doing E-Commerce For Real today by clicking here! Another special offer from ProFora Media: register with us now and get a 10% discount on all webinars you attend until 31 December 2009!

For more information or for payment details, interested parties may contact the ProFora Team via email– info@proforamedia.com, or through phone– +632.376.7040, or through the following sites and social media:

* (blog) www.philippineonlinetraining.com
* (multiply) proforamedia.multiply.com
* (facebook) www.facebook.com/ProForaWebinars.

See you at the Summit!

“O captain!  My captain…”
-from the poem by Walt Whitman (1865), and popularized in the film “Dead Poets Society” (1989)

I was in 3rd grade when I first experienced Pido.   It was 1985 and we were asked to pick an extra-curricular activity and I chose to join The Ateneo Children’s Theater.   He was the assistant director then.

Pido Aguilar is our featured speaker on the ProFora Media Lightbulb Sessions on October 13.

During our very first cast meeting, I remember him coming into the grade school auditorium dressed in the most peculiar outfit I had ever seen—purple leg warmers over black leather, zip-up boots, jeans, a yellow scarf, and a white long sleeved shirt.   Furthermore, he came in speaking with a different accent and was making all sorts of gestures which I found to be a bit over the top.    In addition, I couldn’t reconcile with the idea that he was a teacher in the grade school department.   How could the Ateneo have someone who acted the way Pido did—unusual to say the least—teach?

None of my other teachers were like him.   So I, naturally (at the time, anyway), did not know how to relate to him.   “This guy is weird,” I thought to myself and recalled being confused as to whether I would be amused by his enthusiasm or dismiss him as an outright crazy person.

In 1989, I found myself with Pido again.   He was to be the class moderator of my final year in elementary.   He was still the same Pido I remember from four years back—odd, eccentric, and energetic.  But this time, I no longer saw his off-the-wall antics as strange in the negative sense.   In fact, it was now quite the opposite.   I looked forward to them.   His passion was infectious.   He was just so much fun to be with that there was a time when my only motivation to get up in the morning and go to school was to find out how Pido would sound like (would he sound Indian today?  French, perhaps?  Maybe even  German?),  what he would look like (what outfit he would end up wearing for that day), or what surprise he had in store for us in class (would he stand up on the teacher’s table and scream at the top of his lungs again, etc.)

He made learning an adventure, an adventure where every day we learned something new, or we learned to see something so mundane in a new light.    However, I think the most wonderful part of my experience Pido was not so much that I enjoyed the exploits and antics, but in the way that he related to me as his student.  I may no longer remember many of the subjects that he taught, but the most important lessons I carry to this day.

Pido had helped me believe that I could– that belief made anything possible, and that passion was the fuel that drove everything.

Pido Aguilar– author, educator, training expert and international speaker- will be doing a series of webinars for the ProFora Media Lightbulb Sessions.  His online talk, “Train to Retain/Teach to Retain”, scheduled on October 13, 2009, emphasizes the need for quality training, and touches on the seven standards of highly effective training.

Know more about Pido Aguilar, and check out his webinar on October 13, 2009.  Register for “Train to Retain/Teach to Retain” here.