15–16 October 2014

The International IT-BPM Summit 2014 Philippines has ended and, as I mentioned during Day One, I will again report from a remote, physical non-attendee’s perspective via Twitter feed of the hashtag #IISPH, so that you may vicariously experience my vicarious experience of this Philippine outsourcing event with the widest scope (IT, call centers, non-voice BPO, game development, animation, HIM). Too wide, in fact, that I believe it spreads too thinly. Spread-too-thin/”strategic and high-level.” Potayto/potahto.

We ended Day One on the lookout for drunk tweets. There seemed to be none, until I saw this tweet-pic (please click “Continue to the media” and do not try to “meet foreign men now”), which offered an explanation.

Apparently, the sponsor—Globe Telecom—created its own hashtag for the gala night, #GlobeIISPHGala. Perhaps the drunk tweets are there.

A quick search yielded zero result. The silent joy of seeing #OligopolyFail.

Then, I received a text from Globe saying today (October 15) is Global Handwashing Day. The plot thickens…

On Day Two, apparently there was a Gen X vs. Gen Y debate, a hackneyed and played out topic that deserves nothing more to be said about it, hence I will say nothing more about it. Ditto the leadership gap session. Ditto the social media discussion, except for the factoids that 71.7% of BPO companies in Manila use social media, with 58% using Facebook as their primary platform.

Maybe I needed to have been there to have gotten it. Oh, wait, this report is about not being there.

A few key numbers for the second day:

No. of tweets about being “excited” for or “looking forward” to Day Two: 7

No. of people who replied “I don’t really care”: 0

No. of people who wanted to reply “I don’t really care”: definitely >0

No. of live-tweeters actually worth listening to: 1 (@SunilKGupta1)

No. of honest reviews of Day One: 1 (“yesterday was meh, tbh”), but apparently deleted since. A sad day for having cojones.

No. of live-tweeters with handles named after a tadpole: 1 (You didn’t really think I’d link to it, did you?)

No. of tweets just saying that whatever is in the agenda is happening as sequenced/scheduled, offering no additional information, editorial, or value: seemingly infinite

No. of tweets gushing about the President’s presence: 1 / (value of such presence)

No. of words in H.E.’s speech: 1,274, including laughter (considered one word, whether ha, haha, hahaha, LOL, or LMAO)

Quantity and quality of genuine learning derived from this speech: undefined

I will never understand (never? never say never) the presence—or the effectiveness of the presence—of a senior government official (non-technocrat) at a supposedly highly domain-specific business conference. In my mind, there are three main reasons (or categories of objectives) to attend a business conference: to learn, to network, and to lobby your interests. The presence of a senior government official would seem a great fit for that last one.

But what usually ends up happening (and this is just based on my experience from the previous incarnation of this event) is a one-hour wait for the VIP’s arrival, plus a one-hour speech. No interaction, no dialogue, no lobbying.

Some would say a conference would not be the proper venue for such dialogue. So what’s the point of the VIP presence then? For H.E. to give thanks to the industry and vice-versa? Could we just do that in 15 minutes? Or just send a card? Looks like I have a lot to learn about politics and diplomatic affairs.

How could we possibly fix this?

How about no waiting, then letting Mr./Ms. Important talk for 15 minutes (tops!) to set the tone and let them exercise the customary/courtesy ego trip (hey, I’m not insensitive, I get it, it’s needed when you’re in a position of power), then for the next 45 minutes or so, having Mr./Ms. Important address pre-sent or live-but-prescreened questions, interests, concerns, or support/resource lobbies from the industry attendees, in a dialogue or Q&A format.

Or at the very least, just make it entertaining. To justify all the fanboy/fangirl gushing, you know?

But, hey, what do I know about running an event?

What if the Longanisas Run Dry
Apparently, H.E. (not to be confused with my favorite H.E., Pennypacker) is a fan of free breakfast for job applicants. I don’t get that.

First, earlier in the conference, it was sagely advised to hire for a career, not just a job. Well, this act is hiring for something lower than a job — a morning meal. I think it’s an insult to applicants to assume that more of them would apply if we gave them a free breakfast. There’s no such thing as a free breakfast. Sooner or later, you’re going to pay. More on this later.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to offer breakfast to job applicants to show my appreciation and demonstrate my culture of service and gratitude—not to entice more candidates. I wouldn’t put it up on a billboard or post it on my job ad. I’d just serve it onsite, if I should ever decide to.

See the difference? Same act, different reasons/objectives/motivation. And, hopefully, with clear communication of these reasons, different outcomes: someone who joins and stays because of your great culture and not someone who would leave once the perks stop. Because if all that brought applicants to your company is the prospect of having a longsilog, what happens if the longanisas run dry? You got a lot more work to do, buddy, in your company awareness, employee retention, and people engagement programs than being associated with hot coffee.

Besides, would you really want to be known as the Longanisa BPO? (Hey, wait a second, I think we’re on to something here. Headquarters: Vigan, the next Next Wave City.)

That’s the thing with fanboy/fangirl gushing and onsite live social media. The realtime sparkles distract you from the inanity and bullcrap that you are being led into buying—irrelevant sponsors, VPY, fillers for gaps, longanisas for loyalty. The thing with watching from a distance: you’re not buying into anything, and you’re not selling out.

Stay tuned for IT-BPM Summit 2014 by the Numbers [Infographic], coming this Summer 2015. (That’s right, single-digit readers. It will take me that long.)

Update (22 Oct 2014): So I was able to release IT-BPM Summit 2014 by the Numbers [Infographic] before Summer 2015 after all. Under-promise, over-deliver. Psych!