First of all, PISCon stands for Philippine Impact Sourcing Conference and it was the first impact sourcing conference hosted by the newly formed Department of Information and Communications Technology or DICT under the leadership of Secretary Rody Salalima.
If you remember my interview a few months ago with the then Executive Consultant to the DICT, Monchito Ibrahim (you can listen to the interview here), he talked about the government’s thrust of providing online freelancing jobs in the rural areas of the Philippines.
Now the first PISCon is the major national event that will spread the word about online freelancing opportunities across the archipelago and drum up support from all sectors, most especially from the local governments, to make impact sourcing a reality.
I keep talking about “Impact Sourcing” and you may ask, what the heck is “Impact Sourcing”?
According to ImpactHub.org:
Impact Sourcing is a global initiative to bring internet-based jobs to disadvantaged communities.
Impact sourcing aligns with my mission for Freelance Blend — to eliminate unemployment in the Philippines through freelancing opportunities.
And I am very humbled and honored to have been invited by newly-appointed DICT Undersecretary Mon Ibrahim to this prestigious and life-changing event, where I not only hung out with old friends in the industry but made tons of new friends as well.
Meanwhile, to document the 2-day event, I took Facebook Live videos so that you, my loyal follower, won’t need to travel all the way to Davao and be able to “attend” the conference with me and learn from the amazing speakers and panelists during the event.
However, please pardon me, for some of the videos are dark and a bit shaky. These were live videos taken from my iPhone, not a pro camera, so I hope you understand. What matters most is that you will still be able to listen to and enjoy the inspiring stuff that people shared throughout the videos. Enjoy!
Day 1 of #PISCon 2017 (April 5, 2017)
In this first video, you’ll meet:
- Jun Baranggan – Google Adwords Expert, cebudigitalhub.com
- Jonathan de Luzuriaga – Event Host and President, Philippine Software Industry Association
- Undersecretary Monchito Ibrahim – Department of Information and Communications Technology
- Benedict Hernandez – President, Contact Center Association of the Philippines
- Secretary Rodolfo Salalima – Department of Information and Communications Technology
- Miguel Warren – Country Manager, Payoneer
- Paolo Baltao – Eon Head, Unionbank
- Albert Tinio – President and CEO, GCash
- Atty. Jocelle Sigue – Board, National ICT Confederation of the Philippines
- Regina Evangelista – Head, Davao Virtual Assistants Community
- Piper Ramboanga – CEO, Davao Virtual Assistants Association
- Genesis Reonico – Founder, Online Jobs University
- Lief Margallo – Founder, Virtual Workforce Professionals
- Maritess Pasag – Founder, Frontline Virtual Services
- Ace Gapuz – CEO, Blogapalooza
- Ginger Arboleda – COO, Taxumo
- EJ Arboleda – CEO, Taxumo
Day 2 of #PISCon 2017 (April 6, 2017)
- Senator Sonny Angara – Republic of the Philippines
- Ginger Arboleda – COO, Taxumo
- Olivia Briones – Former Mobilizer, Upwork
- Jennifer Que – Vice President, 51Talk
- Monica Martinez – Marketing Lead, Freelancer.com
- Julia Jasmin Sta. Romana – Content Dev’t Specialist, Onlinejobs.ph
The last day of the PISCon was also when they announced the launching of the Digital Careers Advocates of the Philippines (DCAP), an association dedicated to promoting and protecting the Pinoy virtual worker.
However, I was not able to get video footage and interviews about DCAP, but my friend, Ginger Arboleda of Taxumo, wrote a great article about it here: http://mommyginger.com/2017/04/digital-career-advocates-philippines.html
Also, during the last day of the event, 3 simultaneous breakout sessions transpired, particularly: (1) Opportunities in Online Job Platforms; (2) Home-Grown BPO Development and Success Stories; (3) Impact Systems Support Services, where panelists from the previous day were given the chance to present in more detail about our services.
I wanted to attend all of them because I was really interested in learning from everyone. But unfortunately, I can’t obviously do that so I selected the one that will give the most impact to my audience, who are mostly beginners.
And that’s why I selected “Opportunities in Online Job Platforms” which was hosted by Ginger and where the freelance platforms like Upwork, Freelancer, 51Talk and OnlineJobs.ph were given about 10 minutes to talk about their service. That was what you saw in the video.
Takeaway
Taking part in a Philippine government-led conference for the first time, the experience went way above my expectations.
To be in a big room with 500+ people who all care about our nation, I feel confident that the country is already on the road to achieving bigger things and I seriously feel that the future is bright for our children.
I salute all the men and women responsible for making this first PISCon a reality. I look forward to seeing you on the next one!
P.S. Special thanks to Juaymah Abesamis of Freelancing.ph, Ginger Arboleda of Taxumo.com, Apple Allison, Cyrel Nicolas and DICT for sharing their photos for this video.