GDayX MNL: Exploring the Wonders of Google and Business

                On August 23, 2013, the Global Business Group Community held an event called GDayX Manila at Xavier School, San Juan from 8am to 5pm. This event was just one of the many GDayX Philippines events that were held in many different places in the country.  It aims to inform and teach businessmen and students, entrepreneurs, and even non-business people the different services that Google has to offer. You see, Google is an essential part of our lives, but not all of us know how to maximize the use of its services.

               Different speakers who are experts in their own fields, like business, or blogging for example, shared their knowledge about Google and gave tips on how to improve one’s business or how to have easy access to places. One of the speakers was Ms. Fleire Castro who is from GBG Cebu. She talked about Crisis Mapping, and how it could help people by immediately knowing their location in case a typhoon or a calamity strikes them.  Ms. Castro encouraged the people to help add different locations to Google Maps so that more places would be easily detected when a calamity comes. Another speaker was Mr. JR Padilla, who talked about Google Maps and its new features that are indeed more sophisticated compared to the previous Google Maps. One example of the new features of Google Maps is the Street View in some places, where people could actually see a certain street and “walk” around it. Mr. Padilla also talked about the history of Google Maps – how it evolved from just words of places to actual images of them. The third speaker (from the moment I arrived in Xavier School), was Mr. Fitz Villafuerte, the owner of the Ready to be Rich blog in the Philippines. He talked about how blogs could be a great help in attracting more customers. “Making a blog is very easy,” he said. “By having a blog, you can reach out to more customers, and it is absolutely free.”

                Google Maps and blogs were not the only things that were discussed in GDayX Manila. Different Google services like Google Analytics, Google+ for Business, and others were also discussed. Most of the talks were meant for businessmen so that they could improve their businesses, but non-business people learned a lot, too.

                GDayX Manila was a great event. It was very educational and inspiring to people from different walks of life. With great topics by great speakers and with freebies given like free coffee and lunch, the Global Business Group Community indeed made GDayX Manila fun and successful.