This is Hard Work...

Just a quick update from Shanghai... I'm still here wheeling and dealing for Zunch. So far I have several strong leads for SEO and development work.

I'll be here for another few weeks on business, but don't worry- as you can see in the picture above I'm still finding time for fun!

AD:TECH closed with Zunch's triumph

Hi folks,

AD:TECH ended today, but Zunch China has driven onto the Chinese information superhighway.

With all kinds of applause, respect and glory, AD:TECH marks Zunch's being recognized as the technology guru in China. Chinese major Internet players are desperate to team with Zunch to offer search marketing solutions in this huge market. Certainly, individual clients are also seeking SEO solutions for their web marketing.

American Consulate General also visited our booth today to offer information assistance.

There are a lot of contacts and visits to follow, and I'll keep you guys posted as frequently as I can.

Thanks John for creating a great company that Chinese people love. Thanks every Zuncher's hard work to make Zunch famous worldwide.

Day Two

Today has been exciting and exhausting! I can’t remember how many hours I’ve talked today. I am getting a sore throat.

Some companies have expressed interest in our Click Fraud Detective - they seem excited about it and were asking lots of questions.

My workshop (see picture above) on Chinese search engine optimization was used to offer Q&A for an audience of about thirty. I was able to discuss strategies for and the concepts behind optimization. It was a definite success!

Quite a few visitors are from Europe and India including SEO firms and more. Everyone here is very excited about where interactive marketing is headed in Asia and many are very interested in Zunch!

It is 1 a.m. now and I’ll have to rest for tomorrow.

I’ll bring you more exciting news tomorrow, hopefully.

Cheers!

Day One of Ad:Tech Shanghai

Exciting!

Now I am counting how many business cards I've received. I have over 200 of them and I've given out 300. I printed 1,000 sales sheets and today half of them have been taken.

We've got industry peers and interested customers to visit our booth. We also got a local newspaper "Economy Daily" and an online newspaper to interview me. We also met a SEM veteran who is willing to share his business experience in SEO service in China. We've also got people willing to work for Zunch.

Many local companies in traditional media (newspaper), interactive marketing, and portals came to talk to me about working together to develop the market. They can't wait to see us reside in Shanghai officially early next year.

I also met two American interactive marketing companies who are excited to find us. Additionally, Google's appointed AdWords agent in Shanghai came to chat with me about SEO's future.

A leading international hotel chain came to ask for Chinese and English website development. I'll follow up to visit their office in Shanghai sometime.

An American online PR company based in Shanghai has been providing online PR for eight years. There are also companies from India, Japan and Singapore to participate the show. I also had Yahoo China and Taiwan, Acconna to talk to me.

My day 1 feeling is that, China is a booming market for web development and search marketing. Based on this common perspective, Chinese marketing/web companies are looking for reputable American partners to explore the market.

I delivered my speech in Chinese. Since the audience has been waiting for someone speaking their language, my speech received applause twice.

Tomorrow night, I'll have a dinner with Microsoft. I'll also have a lunch with another major Internet player who is eager to team with us to develop SEM service.

I look forward to tomorrow.

The Zunch Booth is Busy!

Sunday Update

This afternoon, three booth interns, Sunny and I had an inspection to our booth in AD:TECH exhibit hall. Our booth had been set up when we got there at 4 pm. It was gorgeous!

Most exhibitors have standard booth, but larger companies such as Sina.Com, Acconna, Yahoo have customized booths. Our outside banner will be hung up tomorrow. Thanks Gina! Tomorrow afternoon, Zunch delegation will complete the registration and I’ll be moving to the Riverside Hotel adjacent to the Conference Hall.

I did watch the Rockets game against Nets. Thanks to T-Mac we won the game eventually.

Meet the New Zunch China Team for the Ad:Tech Shanghai Show

This afternoon the real estate agent met me to discuss the road map to visit office buildings in Shanghai for 11/18. We’ll be visiting some places where Intel and some good companies rent while keeping the price the most reasonable. During the second half of this meeting, I turned it into a SEO presentation to show him how Zunch China can help with their future English site development and SEO for his company.

Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be visiting our booth with the five new Zunchers to check the setup quality while doing a quasi “rehearsal” for the real show.

For the first time Shanghai had sunny day after my arrival.

Setting Up Shop

Last night (Shanghai time), I returned to my former college after I left 15 years ago. Astonishing changes in campus made me very excited to see. New buildings, such as a modern gym and theatre were serving students and faculties but that made the campus extremely crowded.

I delivered my first Zunch presentation in the Dean’s Office to 15 graduate students about Zunch’s mission in the AD:TECH and Zunchina. The Dean who used to be my mentor was very helpful to arrange the meeting and interview. But it did bring me a problem – how would I choose 4 students out of 15? Ten of the fifteen are girls and five are boys. You can tell that I could get more girls than boys. True, eventually, I picked three girls and two boys.

1:00 PM today (Shanghai time), five students came into my hotel to receive Zunch orientation and training. Together we went through our sales sheets in English and Chinese, the handouts and Zunch sites. We also went through AD:TECH sites and saw pictures of past Zunch trade show pics. Finally, we made schedules for attendance at the show..

Tomorrow (Saturday), I’ll give me a little break by touring the city around to see new changes since the year when I left. One of the major objectives is to try the genuine Chinese dishes and food. I’ll also get together with the real estate guy who is searching for office space for Zunchina and discuss some information before we have office building tours after the AD:TECH event.

Yesterday afternoon, I also paid a brief visit to my grandma (my great antie) and her daughter’s home. This grandma used to take care of me a lot when I went to school in Shanghai. Sadly, I could not meet grandpa (her husband) any more because he passed away three years ago without seeing me. My two cousins are doing high salary jobs in Shanghai in actuarial and foreign trade. One of them returned to Shanghai from Australia for career development.

That’s today’s news!

My First Day in Shanghai

Finally I arrived in Shanghai around 10 p.m. last night in a very warm and humid weather. I can wear just a shirt but I can easily get wet by sweat. People say it’s been in this weather since summer.

This morning I picked up the Chinese sales sheets and my Chinese business cards. Tonight, I’ll be visiting my former college’s campus to meet a group of graduate students and select two of them to work for Zunch in the booth. My professor said if I am not satisfied with those I’m meeting tonight, he’ll take me to the campus in Shanghai’s suburb tomorrow to get more.

When walking down the streets I had been through years ago, it rang my bell about my days in the past. I had a lunch in a Wonton restaurant and bought two apples and oranges back to my hotel. Foods are very cheap.

I called Anhee Min, a Korean girl who’s very active in assisting the AD:TECH and who’s a co-chair of international division of SEMPO. She was excited to know I am in Shanghai and is looking forward to getting together with me.

It costs about 15 cents/min to access the Internet from my hotel room. So I am composing these paragraphs offline and publish it within two minutes.

I’ll take a look at our booth on the 13th afternoon.

Urgent! Help to pack my Zunch Wagon!

Last night I realized that I would not have a transportation tool when I get there in Shanghai. So, I've been working hard to try to pack my Zunch Wagon into my luggage. But, she is a little big to get it packed. Any idea except dissembling into pieces? I don't want to be caught by the Chinese Customs for smuggling vehicle parts into China!

All-nighter?

I am leaving for Shanghai at 5:30 Tuesday morning. It may be better to be an all-nighter for that. I'll seriously consider it. Thanks folks. I'll keep you posted from China.