The 1st Google Student Leader's Summit PH

At 8:00 in the morning of the 27th of April 2013, I eagerly went up the elevator of the JVC Building in Aguirre street in Makati City. I remember being enthralled by the buttons of the elevator because you see that they were kind of from years back because of their design - white, plastic, and opaque and the whole button lights up when you click them. But when the elevator bell buzzed to signal I was in the 3rd floor (the Orange and Bronze Inc. offices), I immediately snapped out of my enthrallment. As the door opened, the voices of chit chat slowly filled in the elevator. 

As I stepped out, I was greeted by the light gray carpet and fifty (50) student leaders from across the metro talking to one another. Some were seated on the couch, some were on the coffee table chairs, and the others looking out the window. There were some familiar faces from the university where I come from and we said hi. Right after, I saw the other Google Student Ambassadors - Ryan Caro (who spearheaded this event), Kirk Jamison, and Kriztoff Dela Cruz. We were also greeted by our new friends from Orange and Bronze Inc.

Click "read more" to know more about what happened and to see more photos!

The timeline of events for the day:

Time	Program
8:00	Registration
9:00	Bring Me Game Opening Remarks - Janet Yoon via Hangout
9:15	Introduction of GSAs
9:25	“Circle Me” Activity (Ryan Caro and Kirk Jamison)
	About the Google Student Ambassador Program (Queenie Reyes)
10:00	Google Business Group and Google Developer Group  (Chelle Gray)
11:00	Short talk on leadership (Calen Lagazpi - CEO of Orange and Bronze)
11:30	Map your Precinct Discussion (Kriz Toff)
12:00	Lunch
	Google Apps for Education (Patricia Chengliong) Google+ (Pat Chengliong and Queenie Reyes)
12:45	Google Search - Tips and Tricks (Queenie Reyes and Ryan Caro)
1:05	Gmail - How to become a Gmail Ninja (Queenie Reyes and Ryan Caro)
1:35	Drive - Collaboration (Queenie Reyes)
2:20	Calendar (Queenie Reyes and Ryan Caro)
2:50	Sites - Make a site for your org/council (Kriz Toff)
3:30	Pizza
3:45	Group Activity
4:30	G+ and Hangout
4:50	Sharing and Evaluation

*The delivery of lunch arrived late, so we had to adjust the timeline but all these events transpired. 

We continued setting up for a few more minutes, then at 8:30am, we opened registration and the delegates got their name tags, stickers, and button pins.

GSA Ryan Caro from UP Diliman stayed up all night handcrafting each of these Gmail envelopes
that contained Google Stickers. Great job, Ry! :)

The name tags. 

We started off with a bring me game. The participants who brought something forward, won Google swag and introduced themselves.

Google Swag given away
Android plush toys of different sizes, Google ID laces, Google notebooks, Google Tshirts in navy blue and gray, and Google canvas bags, Google water bottles.

After that, we played the boat is sinking then they sat down in groups of 10. They had to learn each others' names and universities so that they could introduce them to everyone in the room. The participants who got everyone's name and university correct won swag. Luckily, the five people who presented won! :)

After that, I gave a short introduction to the Google Student Ambassador program and some of the GSA's came forward to introduce themselves. Hopefully the delegates who applied to the program got more excited to hopefully be accepted into the program.

We continued with the festivities by going on a Google Hangout with Janet Yoon the Country Manager for the Google Apps Supporting Program for the Philippines, who was in Singapore. She welcomed all the participants to the event and gave the opening remarks.

After which, we played the "Circle Me" activity conceptualized by GSA Ryan Caro and brought to life during the event by GSA Kirk Jamison. It's almost like human bingo but we used circles just like the circles in Google+. Each color represented something like the same university, same interest, etc. They had to go around the room and fill their circles with names. It was a great chance for everyone to get to really talk and get to know one another.

The first speaker was Ms. Chelle Gray who is the Google Business Group (GBG) Program Associate for SEA Developers Relations Team and GBG Country Champion for the Philippines. She talked about the Google Business Group which you can check out here. They organize Map-ups, Hackathons, and the like. It's an avenue for developers to maximize the use of the Google products and services. 

The CEO of Orange and Bronze Inc. (their office is where we held the event) Mr. Calen Legazpi gave a short but meaningful talk on leadership. You can read more about him, what he does, and about his company here.

As the event went on, more Philippine Google Student Ambassadors arrived and we'd ask them to go up front and introduce themselves and their favorite GSA memory.

(L-R)
Kirk Basa from PUP
Mafe Ortego whose favorite memory is going to Singapore for the GSA Summit is from PUP
David Ramos from DLSU.

GSA Kriztoff Dela Cruz gave a talk on Map Your Precinct. As the Philippine 2013 midterm elections are coming up, you can contribute to its success not only by voting on election day but also your fellow voters who need information on where their precinct is located. You can help map the location of the precincts in your area through a link found at http://www.findyourprecinct.ph/.

Then we had LUNCH!! :)

After lunch, we proceeded to talks on Google products that we very much are aware of and use! The talks were by GSA's +Pat Chengliong, +Ryan Caro, +Kriz Toff, and I. We put focus on features that many don't know about. I'll definitely follow up this blog post on those features some time this summer vacation so guys would feel as though you were there too and maximize your Google experience :)

The delegates were also divided into new groups so that they can create stories using the Google Story Builder.

Here's one of the stories that were created: Awesome Story. 

The group with the best story won prizes. The winner was GoogleLandia whose link I have to find. I'll add it here :)  Hopefully when you check back, it'll be here. If  you're a delegate from the event and you happen to know where the link is, may you please kindly link it to me on Google+? Thanks in advance!

I had to leave right before the last talk which was about Google Sites was given. Sorry, Toff :( I saw pictures and heard stories that the delegates grouped again and brainstormed on an event that maximizes Google that they could make into a reality in their school. +Pat talked more about it on her blog.

Over-all it was a successful event! I got to meet so many new people, I got to host for the first time which is one of the most exhilarating parts of the day, the GSA's got to see each other again in one room after a long time, and we got to impart more knowledge to 50 student leaders in the country. Hopefully they continue spreading what they learned from the event to more students and even faculty so that more people can enjoy the benefits of the Google applications. :)

Over a hundred (100+) applications came in for this event, but sadly we could only get fifty (50). Hopefully you guys still stay tuned for more events that we or the next batch of Google Student Ambassadors will be holding.

Thank you to all the delegates of the event! Thank you for your questions, participation, and laughter! Looking forward to seeing you around. Let's stay in touch through the various social networking websites especially Google+. Continue spreading the Google looove.

This was another event brought to you by the Google Student Ambassadors Philippines.

Stay Googley! :)

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One of the participants of the event, John Natividad blogged about it! Check it out here.

To see more photos, click here.

The 1st batch of Google Student Ambassadors Philippines 2012-2013

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