SENERES CALLS FOR PROTOCOLS IN MULTILATERAL MEETINGS
An interview with Ike Seneres
(Mr. Seneres is a columnist and broadcaster. He writes about technology and diplomacy. His columns are syndicated in more than three dozen community newspapers nationwide. He is also a computer consultant for private companies and government agencies. Visit his blog at www.senseneres.blogspot.com and watch his talk show in the Global News Network, shown in Destiny Cable Channel 8 and in more than 200 local cable networks nationwide. He is also the Chairman of the Corinthian Coffee Clutch, a think tank that is dedicated to nation building.)
Q. What do you mean by protocols for meetings?
A. Let me start by saying that having a set of protocols for meetings is not the same as using Robert’s Rules of Order. Protocol defines who could attend meetings and how the attendees should relate to each other. Robert’s Rules define how the meeting should be conducted and in what order the attendees should be allowed to speak.
Q. Why are protocols needed in multilateral meetings?
A. More often than not, the attendees or the prospective attendees of meetings would tend to disagree with each other. It is because of this reason that they would rather not attend the meetings, or if they would decide to attend, they would not want to sit next to each other, or would not want to be near each other. As it usually happens, the lack of a defined set of protocols would prevent meetings from being convened in the first place, thus defeating the purposes for convening the meetings in the first place.
Q. Has this been done before?
A. A classic example of disagreements that would have led to protocol problems happened in the summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in 1996. At that time, there were still three “Chinas”, and even before the start of the meetings, it was very difficult to bring them together to sit in the same conference table. To cut a long story short, it was fortunate that they all agreed to adopt a set of protocols, and the summit was successfully conducted.
Q. What are the three Chinas?
A. It could be said that among the three, Hong Kong could be considered the passive element. It was a British Colony at that time, and they considered the other two Chinas as separate countries, even if their own handover to the mainland was just around the corner.
Q. So what happened?
A. It was the People’s Republic of China (PROC) who would not attend the summit and would not sit in the same table as the “other China”, if it was recognized as the “Republic of China” (ROC). After rounds of pre-summit negotiations, ROC finally agreed to be recognized as “Chinese Taipei”, and PROC agreed thereafter to attend, provided that they are not seated to each other.
Q. Is that all? Was it just the seating arrangement?
A. The key to the amicable entry of the three “Chinas” into the APEC is the legal fiction that it is a forum of “economies”, and not a forum of “countries”. This is the reason why there are no flags in APEC meetings. It is also the reason why the delegates to the forum are recognized as “Heads of Economies”, and not as “Heads of State”. Otherwise, PROC would not attend any meeting where Hong Kong and Taiwan are also recognized as “countries’ carrying their own flags, and represented by their Heads of State.
Q. How is the work process done in the APEC?
A. The key to the success of APEC (and also of the ASEAN) is the sequential approach of doing the substantive work first in the level of the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) as a first step, before elevating the process to the next level of the Senior Officials Meetings (SOMs). For practical reasons, the TWGs are attended by those who have the rank of Director, while the SOMs are attended by those with the rank of Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister.
Q. What happens after the SOMs?
A. After the work process is completed by the SOMs, the substantive outputs are elevated to the level of the Foreign Affairs Ministers, in the Minister’s Meetings (MMs). Thereafter, the last and final steps are the Leader’s Meetings (LMs) that are attended by the Heads of Economies (or Heads of State, in the case of the ASEAN).
Q. Who should attend these multilateral meetings?
A. In the case of local inter-organizational meetings, the TWGs could be attended by their own sectoral committee heads, and the SOMs could be attended by their Vice Presidents. Going up the ladder, the MMs could be attended by their Presidents or Corporate Secretaries, while the LMs could be attended by their Chairmen or Board Members.
Q. Who should attend in the case of municipalities?
A. In the case of local inter-municipal meetings, the TWGs could be attended by their assistant department heads or their senior sectoral staff members and the SOMs could be attended by their department heads. Going up the ladder, the MMs could be attended by their Vice Mayors or Senior Councillors, while the LMs could be attended by their Mayors or Administrators.
Q. What should the seating arrangements be?
A. For practical reasons, all places (seats) at the conference table shall be marked by nameplates. All delegates shall be requested not to move the nameplates in order not to disturb the order of protocol.
Q. Why did you write this protocol?
A. I wrote the protocol as my gift to the nation. I will not claim ownership for it, nor will I claim the exclusive rights to use it for my own purposes.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
VIRTUAL INTERVIEW ABOUT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
SUBJECT: VIRTUAL INTERVIEW ABOUT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Dear Sir/Madam:
This serves as your invitation for your product or service to be featured in the up and coming website “PINOYFAQ” by way of a “virtual interview”.
The “virtual interview” of your product or service will be included in the website as if it is an “infomercial”, meaning that it is actually a “commercial” but it will look like an “information” item. Sometimes, “infomercials” are also called “advertorials”, but the idea is the same, to present advertising content in subtle ways, edited as a story or an interview.
The inclusion of your product or service will be charged on a “per insertion” basis, similar to the practice of charging print advertisements. You can have as many insertions as you want, provided that every insertion is submitted as a new and separate interview.
The rate card per insertion is 10,000 pesos, inclusive of all preparation and editing costs. We suggest that you schedule one insertion per week, and if you decide to do that, we will offer you a 25% discount, bringing down the cost to 7,500 per insert.
Here is how a “virtual interview” works:
1. You could either compose your own set of ten to twelve questions, or we could compose the questions for you to answer.
2. Send us back the answers to the questions via email.
3. Send us your picture and the picture of your product or service also via email.
4. Send us a one paragraph description of yourself, exactly as you would like to be described in the transcript of the interview.
5. The virtual interview could be about any topic of your choice. Topics about current events are preferred, but any other topic is welcome, such as a topic that is within your area of expertise.
6. The virtual interview is just like a radio interview or a TV interview, but in this case, you don’t have to come to the studio or go on air. The other difference is that you could edit the interview before it is uploaded on the website.
PINOYFAQ is a website that is similar to E-HOW.COM and ANSWERS.COM, except that we are managing it like an online magazine, with many sections, each of which will be edited by experts in their chosen fields.
As planned, your virtual interview will appear either in the main page or in the sections. Here is a list of the sections that have been formed so far, with their corresponding section editors:
1. Freddie Lao, creative marketing
2. David Ackerman, stock market
3. Jimmy Tayag, senior netizens
4. Francis Paco, digital arts
5. Alex Virata, foreign tours
6. Robert Marin, handyman at home
7. Narciso Miefregata, science made easy
8. Vivien Mangalindan, fitness
9. Mache Torres, personal relationships
10. Cecille Ong, lucky charms
11. Ike Seneres, electronic commerce
12. Toto Barcelona, home gardening
13. Peter Ong, business development
14. Violeta Imperial, nature tours
15. Jun Urbano, creative thinking
16. Brian Lu, electronic gadgets
Our initial target is to get at least 100,000 hits per day, within one year of our operation. We are confident that we could achieve that target, because we are going to promote our website aggressively, and we are going to use the latest technologies in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
We can assure you of the quality of our website, since we have the support of the First Academy of Computer Arts (FACA) and the Society of Digital Artists (SODA).
For your reference, I am attaching a sample of a “virtual interview”.
IKE SENERES
Dear Sir/Madam:
This serves as your invitation for your product or service to be featured in the up and coming website “PINOYFAQ” by way of a “virtual interview”.
The “virtual interview” of your product or service will be included in the website as if it is an “infomercial”, meaning that it is actually a “commercial” but it will look like an “information” item. Sometimes, “infomercials” are also called “advertorials”, but the idea is the same, to present advertising content in subtle ways, edited as a story or an interview.
The inclusion of your product or service will be charged on a “per insertion” basis, similar to the practice of charging print advertisements. You can have as many insertions as you want, provided that every insertion is submitted as a new and separate interview.
The rate card per insertion is 10,000 pesos, inclusive of all preparation and editing costs. We suggest that you schedule one insertion per week, and if you decide to do that, we will offer you a 25% discount, bringing down the cost to 7,500 per insert.
Here is how a “virtual interview” works:
1. You could either compose your own set of ten to twelve questions, or we could compose the questions for you to answer.
2. Send us back the answers to the questions via email.
3. Send us your picture and the picture of your product or service also via email.
4. Send us a one paragraph description of yourself, exactly as you would like to be described in the transcript of the interview.
5. The virtual interview could be about any topic of your choice. Topics about current events are preferred, but any other topic is welcome, such as a topic that is within your area of expertise.
6. The virtual interview is just like a radio interview or a TV interview, but in this case, you don’t have to come to the studio or go on air. The other difference is that you could edit the interview before it is uploaded on the website.
PINOYFAQ is a website that is similar to E-HOW.COM and ANSWERS.COM, except that we are managing it like an online magazine, with many sections, each of which will be edited by experts in their chosen fields.
As planned, your virtual interview will appear either in the main page or in the sections. Here is a list of the sections that have been formed so far, with their corresponding section editors:
1. Freddie Lao, creative marketing
2. David Ackerman, stock market
3. Jimmy Tayag, senior netizens
4. Francis Paco, digital arts
5. Alex Virata, foreign tours
6. Robert Marin, handyman at home
7. Narciso Miefregata, science made easy
8. Vivien Mangalindan, fitness
9. Mache Torres, personal relationships
10. Cecille Ong, lucky charms
11. Ike Seneres, electronic commerce
12. Toto Barcelona, home gardening
13. Peter Ong, business development
14. Violeta Imperial, nature tours
15. Jun Urbano, creative thinking
16. Brian Lu, electronic gadgets
Our initial target is to get at least 100,000 hits per day, within one year of our operation. We are confident that we could achieve that target, because we are going to promote our website aggressively, and we are going to use the latest technologies in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
We can assure you of the quality of our website, since we have the support of the First Academy of Computer Arts (FACA) and the Society of Digital Artists (SODA).
For your reference, I am attaching a sample of a “virtual interview”.
IKE SENERES
VIRTUAL INTERVIEW OF RESOURCE PERSONS
SUBJECT: VIRTUAL INTERVIEW OF RESOURCE PERSONS
Dear Sir/Madam:
This serves as your invitation to be featured as a guest in the up and coming website “PINOYFAQ” by way of a “virtual interview”. Please send ASAP!
Here is how a “virtual interview” works:
1. You could either compose your own set of ten to twelve questions, or we could compose the questions for you to answer.
2. Send us back the answers to the questions via email.
3. Send us your picture also via email.
4. Send us a one paragraph description of yourself, exactly as you would like to be described in the transcript of the interview.
5. The virtual interview could be about any topic of your choice. Topics about current events are preferred, but any other topic is welcome, such as a topic that is within your area of expertise.
6. The virtual interview is just like a radio interview or a TV interview, but in this case, you don’t have to come to the studio or go on air. The other difference is that you could edit the interview before it is uploaded on the website.
PINOYFAQ is a website that is similar to E-HOW.COM and ANSWERS.COM, except that we are managing it like an online magazine, with many sections, each of which will be edited by experts in their chosen fields.
As planned, your virtual interview will appear either in the main page or in the sections. Here is a list of the sections that have been formed so far, with their corresponding section editors:
1. Freddie Lao, creative marketing
2. David Ackerman, stock market
3. Jimmy Tayag, senior netizens
4. Francis Paco, digital arts
5. Alex Virata, foreign tours
6. Robert Marin, handyman at home
7. Narciso Miefregata, science made easy
8. Vivien Mangalindan, fitness
9. Mache Torres, personal relationships
10. Cecille Ong, lucky charms
11. Ike Seneres, electronic commerce
12. Toto Barcelona, home gardening
13. Peter Ong, business development
14. Violeta Imperial, nature tours
15. Jun Urbano, creative thinking
16. Brian Lu, electronic gadgets
Aside from being a virtual interview guest, you also have the option of becoming a regular contributor. The following resource persons will be invited to become our regular contributors:
1. Zac Sarian, commercial farming
2. Paul Rubia, agricultural marketing
3. Ernie Gonzales, street economics
4. Rene Abad, affordable computing
5. Desiree Segovia, organic farming
6. Virginia Teodosio, farmers cooperatives
7. Howard Mijares, solid waste management
8. Patrick Pineda, practical recycling
9. Erano Evangelista, clean air
10. Gonzalo Catan, renewable fuels
11. Ric Javelosa, water management
12. Marlyn Kragh, skin care
13. Margie Holmes, sexology
14. Riva Galvez Tan, natural products
15. Ojie Angeles, land titling
16. Elvie Medina, commuter protection
17. Thomas Lee, product development
18. Fernando Juan, solar lamps
For your reference, I am attaching a sample of a “virtual interview”.
IKE SENERES
Dear Sir/Madam:
This serves as your invitation to be featured as a guest in the up and coming website “PINOYFAQ” by way of a “virtual interview”. Please send ASAP!
Here is how a “virtual interview” works:
1. You could either compose your own set of ten to twelve questions, or we could compose the questions for you to answer.
2. Send us back the answers to the questions via email.
3. Send us your picture also via email.
4. Send us a one paragraph description of yourself, exactly as you would like to be described in the transcript of the interview.
5. The virtual interview could be about any topic of your choice. Topics about current events are preferred, but any other topic is welcome, such as a topic that is within your area of expertise.
6. The virtual interview is just like a radio interview or a TV interview, but in this case, you don’t have to come to the studio or go on air. The other difference is that you could edit the interview before it is uploaded on the website.
PINOYFAQ is a website that is similar to E-HOW.COM and ANSWERS.COM, except that we are managing it like an online magazine, with many sections, each of which will be edited by experts in their chosen fields.
As planned, your virtual interview will appear either in the main page or in the sections. Here is a list of the sections that have been formed so far, with their corresponding section editors:
1. Freddie Lao, creative marketing
2. David Ackerman, stock market
3. Jimmy Tayag, senior netizens
4. Francis Paco, digital arts
5. Alex Virata, foreign tours
6. Robert Marin, handyman at home
7. Narciso Miefregata, science made easy
8. Vivien Mangalindan, fitness
9. Mache Torres, personal relationships
10. Cecille Ong, lucky charms
11. Ike Seneres, electronic commerce
12. Toto Barcelona, home gardening
13. Peter Ong, business development
14. Violeta Imperial, nature tours
15. Jun Urbano, creative thinking
16. Brian Lu, electronic gadgets
Aside from being a virtual interview guest, you also have the option of becoming a regular contributor. The following resource persons will be invited to become our regular contributors:
1. Zac Sarian, commercial farming
2. Paul Rubia, agricultural marketing
3. Ernie Gonzales, street economics
4. Rene Abad, affordable computing
5. Desiree Segovia, organic farming
6. Virginia Teodosio, farmers cooperatives
7. Howard Mijares, solid waste management
8. Patrick Pineda, practical recycling
9. Erano Evangelista, clean air
10. Gonzalo Catan, renewable fuels
11. Ric Javelosa, water management
12. Marlyn Kragh, skin care
13. Margie Holmes, sexology
14. Riva Galvez Tan, natural products
15. Ojie Angeles, land titling
16. Elvie Medina, commuter protection
17. Thomas Lee, product development
18. Fernando Juan, solar lamps
For your reference, I am attaching a sample of a “virtual interview”.
IKE SENERES
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