Day 2 in Bicol: Food, Friends, and Events

Bicol Youth for Technology Exposure 2013

+Jerome Locson invited me to be one of the speakers for BYTE 2013. I will be sharing about Gmail (with Contacts & Tasks), Calendar, Google Search, and Google Sites. +Jomar Tigcal will be sharing about Android development while +Wayne Manuel is going to share about Google Maps API.

The BYTE 2013 Morning

Jomar, Wayne, and I had breakfast in Naga Regent Hotel. By 8:00 AM, one of the faculty from Ateneo de Naga picked us up. On our way to the Capitol Convention Center, +Jerome Locson called to let us know that his flight is being rerouted to Legazpi Airport, he is set to arrive after lunch at around 12:30. With that, the program needs to change.

Photo from Jomar

We arrived at the venue, and the lines outside are really long! According to the organizer Sir +Joshua Martinez, there are 906 people in attendance that day. I was scared! It was my first time to be giving a talk to such a huge crowd! I said my prayers and did my best.

Photo from Jomar

The program opened with the National Anthem and a prayer. This was followed by a Keynote Speech from the Dean of Ateneo de Naga and Ms. +Aileen Apolo. Then, it's my turn! I did a talk on tips & tricks of Google Search. I was followed by Ms. Aileen, who gave an Overview of Google Apps for Education. After which, I gave a demo and talk about Gmail, Contacts, Tasks, and Calendar. Right before lunch, Ms. Aileen gave a talk about Google+.

Lunch: Camarines Sur Watersports Complex

We had lunch in Camarines Sur Watersports Complex. The food was delicious. We had Pizza Laing (which falls into the category of only-in-the-Philippines kind of pizza - like the Pinakbet Pizza in Ilocos), Laing, Bicol Express, Java Rice, and Pork BBQ! The pizza, Bicol express, and Laing were really spicy, and it's balanced out by the sweetness of the pork bbq. Fantastic and relaxing lunch, enough to energize us for the afternoon sessions.

Mouthwatering Lunch from CWC

Relaxing lunch at CWC

The BYTE 2013 Afternoon

The afternoon session started late because the food sponsor delivered the food late. Jerome opened the afternoon sessions discussing Google Drive, Docs, Spreadsheet, etc. I am next on the stage with a short talk about Google Sites. What I love about the event is the students ask exciting and challenging questions! It seems that they learned a thing or two from my sessions because of the Tweets I read.

Gmail has much more to offer than just sending an email. #BYTE2013

— johanchu (@yohandchu) October 19, 2013

After my Sites talk, +Jomar Tigcal shared about Android Development and most of the questions he got is on monetization. Up next is +Wayne Manuel who discussed about Google Maps, Maps API, and MapMaker. Last to take a stage is +Vince Tabor who shared about the Google Communities in the Philippines: GDG, GBG, GEG, and GSA.

Google Tasks! Let google do your planning. The techno-lazy-way yet effective way of planning and I like it! #byte2013
— Kennedy Cuya (@atchiyaw) October 19, 2013

Lastly, we all did a panel kind of thing where students could ask any of us questions.

Beach, Bonfire, Bonding!

Right after the event, we headed to Villa Merced Farm - a beach house owned by the family of Ms. Aileen. It was already dark when we got there so they had a bonfire for us. It was the second time I personally witnessed a bonfire. On our way back to the city, I was sleeping at the back of the van! Talk about tired from the whole day event.

Red Platter Dinner

We had dinner in Red Platter with the organizers of BYTE 2013! We ordered too many delicious food that I did not even try to take a photo of everything. Below is the only photo I took, their version of Bicol Express and Laing. Given the chance to come back, I will definitely have to try their Red Velvet cake! After dinner, we were dropped off at our hotel and got a well-deserved sleep.

Red Platter's version of Laing and Bicol Express