The “Kick-Off” Event

Today is the “Kick-Off” Event that will be held at Max’s Restaurant in Gateway-Cubao, Quezon City. The RSVP affair will be participated by some (80)  café owners from Metro-Manila and nearby provinces with invited guests coming from the national agencies whose functions has something to do with the operations of cafés. The “Kick-Off” is a whole-day event sponsored by Intel Philippines and organized through the initiatives of Internet Café Association of Imus (ICAII) Inc. headed by Mr. Gener Morada who is also the Country Manager of G.ho.st Philippines.

I have already discussed about the “Kick-Off” when I announced its confirmed schedule together with the objective of the event in my previous blog. Originally aimed at bringing together the heads and representatives of Internet café associations (ICAs) in Metro-Manila and nearby areas, the organizers of the event decided to include individual café owners in order to gather as much information as possible on the status of the industry and where the café owners stand on the issue of forming a national body that will represent their interests in various national forums and events.

As far as I can remember this is the first attempt to reach the grassroots in the formation of such organization. There were attempts before to form such a kind of national association but the efforts got waylaid due to luck of support from below. The need for a national body cannot be under emphasized especially in lieu of plans by national agencies to formulate rules that will further regulate the operation of cafés in the country.

The event will start with a short “getting to know you” play among the participants before proceeding with the actual workshop to be facilitated among the the café owners as the participants. The activities will be interspersed with speeches by the sponsors and guests from the government sectors. In the end, the workshop is expected to come out with a manifesto by the café owners expressing their acknowledgment of the current status of the industry as well as their support for the formation of a national body.

I write this blog to inform those who cannot attend the “Kick-Off” and with the sincere hope for its success. I shall report to you the outcome of the event in my next blog.