Tips on picking a great speaker (4)

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How does the organization of your event looks like?

You are probably familiar with that famous children’s game, where children queue up in a line, a message is whispered into the ear of the first child and is passed on till the last. In almost all cases the original messages has been changed profoundly.

In business conversation with longer chains of command, we have seen similar processes, especially when the organization of an event is not rather straight forward, for example because there are third parties organizing the event.

You have to be aware of the organizational setup and be alert for problems that might trigger off. We try to be as close as possible to the targeted audience, and try to find out as direct as possible what they are actually looking for to avoid misunderstandings. It does not always help.

Sometimes we see that the ideas of the audience and the organizer clash, in different ways. Speakers are then sometimes being asked, five minutes ahead of their speech, if he or she is able to change the topic. Most of our speakers are professionals and very knowledgeable in their fields and mostly it does not provide a problem.

Although dealing with this kind of challenges of rather diverse decision making processes is one of the elements that make our work interesting, finding a harmonious solution on a timely basis is better. Often, direct contact with the audience is hard to get, when embassies, consulates, PR-firms and travel agencies are the intermediaries. Making the communication lines as short as possible is very important.

Sometimes we see very complex processes, for example where a business school is organizing events for corporate clients. Then not only the professors and the company involved make the decisions, but the participants, often high-end executives take actively part in the process.

How China's sexual revolution revolutionized

James Farrer

In the second half of the 1990s, I now and then assisted James Farrer as he was doing field work for his groundbreaking book on the sexual revolution in Shanghai, Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai. So, it is interesting to hear him revisit that book, here in the Shanghai Journal:

I think that when I wrote the book I was worried about exaggerating the scope of these changes. Now, I think the book probably doesn't do enough to suggest the scope of the changes in sexual culture that I was seeing. Some of the individual cases that I saw as rather extreme back then strike me as rather mainstream now.

James has become one of the leading experts in this field, both in China and Japan. His current research focuses on foreigners in Shanghai. James Farrer's first conclusions:

First, that Shanghai has become an immigrant destination with a large community of long-term foreign settlers, and, two, the development of Shanghai as a global city is shaped very much by the presence and activities of this multinational foreign community.

James Farrer is available as a speaker, do get in touch when you are interested in sharing his experiences.

Calling the China Speakers Bureau

The China Speakers Bureau is getting its communication channels in place. You can not only call us at different places in the world over more conventional phone lines, if you prefer that. Are you interested in one of our speakers? Call:

Our Asia office: +86 139 1734 4564
Our Europe office: +32 484 758562
Our US office: available next month

Chinese youth dives into online purchases - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

Every time when you do not pay attention for a second, CMR president Shaun Rein is trying to kill one of the holy cows we have been cherishing in China. One of those standing assumptions is that most Chinese as we know them in the mainland save much of their money and shun the US-style of spending more than you earn.
That assumption might no longer be valid, as the young generation moves into (spending) power, according to an editorial in Forbes:

In interviews the China Market Research Group (CMR) has conducted with 500 young adults between the ages of 18 and 32 in six cities across China, nearly 80% of respondents said they had made an online purchase in the last six months. The vast majority expected to buy something again in the next quarter. Seventy percent said they weren't putting aside any money in savings accounts and that they would use a credit card for online purchases if they had one.

Our findings suggest it is a lack of credit cards and other payment options, rather than a cultural aversion to buying online, that has curtailed the growth of e-commerce in China.

It tails nicely with the enthusiastic reports of tourism bureau's in Europe, but also else in the world who notice that at least a part of the Chinese visitors belong to the big spenders. The picture is often mixed: they would still book the cheapest travel arrangements, the least expensive hotels and try not to eat in expensive restaurants. But when it comes to big ticket purchases, fashion, jewelry and especially diamonds, money is not problem.

Shaun Rein is also available as a speaker of the China Speakers Bureau. Do drop us a line, if you are interested in sharing his insights on site.

Innovative thinker Rowan Gibson joins CSB

Rowan Gibson

Leading thinking on corporate innovation Rowan Gibson, co-author of amongst others "Innovation to the core", has joined the China Speakers Bureau. His much praised besteller, published by the Harvard Business School Press, will be published in Chinese later this year.
Innovation is very high on China's political agenda and many companies and organizations in China will be happy to share his insights.

Over the years, Rowan has spoken to a long list of organizations, including ABN AMRO Bank, Ahold, CAP Gemini Ernst & Young, Carlson Wagonlit, Cognis, Concours Group, Deloitte Consulting, ESOMAR, EURO RSCG, ESA (European Space Agency), Generali Group, Heineken, IBM, Investec, Mercuri International, Metro Group, Microsoft, Mövenpick, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Rexam, Sara Lee, Siemens, Sonae Group, Steelcase, Symbol technologies, Teradata, and UPM-Kymmene. He has also shared the stage with a host of well-known speakers like Neil Armstrong, Ken Blanchard, Deepak Chopra, Bill Clinton, Jim Collins, Newt Gingrich, Guy Kawasaki, Bertrand Piccard, Jonas Ridderstråle, Alvin Toffler, and Fons Trompenaars.

Read here more about Rowan Gibson. Do get in touch with us if you are interested in Rowan Gibson as a speaker.

Tips on picking a great speaker (3)

Who is in the audience?
via Wikipedia

Who is in the audience?

For us it is the first question: who is coming to an event? It is the first question we ask during a client briefing and it might most easily be the most important question to ask. All too often even this basic question is met with blank stares.

First, is the size of the audience. We have done everything between speeches for one thousand and briefings for five, but our speakers do need to know a bit about the size in advance, so they can prepare themselves well.

Who is in the audience? Most of our professional speakers are rather content-driven and - it is an obvious issue – want to know what the audience already knows about China or a specific industry. We are dealing sometimes with high-end experts, business executives who are in an event to have their traditional conventions about China challenged. The other day we are dealing with an incentive tour, where most of the audience has just figured out where on the map they can find China.

All those different audiences need different kind of speakers, panels, formats. Sometimes, especially during business visits, we have to be able to change a program or its settings pretty fast, because changes in those trips do occur rather frequently.

Finding the best match for your event is as serious as dating: both partners have to know each other as good as possible to make it into a success.

A few special guests our speakers would like to know of when they give a presentation. Are there any Chinese officials present. In general, you have to adopt your speech according to the cultural background of the setting, but having official in the room would take some extra measures.
Also, the question whether journalists are presents matters to some of our speakers and, additionally, whether those journalists are based in China or just visiting. While all journalists are able to misquote people, the danger is larger when they are not familiar with China. A small selection of our speakers wants to be sure their viewpoints are off-the-record, meaning that speakers cannot be quoted.
Nowadays everybody can be a journalist and post - even during the session - reports on their weblogs, mailing lists, twitter and other social media tools. It is important that - depending on the insight of an audience - you set the rules of the game clearly before the show starts, if a speakers wants to speak off-the-record.

"Soccer in China is dead" - Simons

Rowan Simons

Soccer in China is dead and its grassroots base too small, Rowan Simson, author of the groundbreaking book "Bamboo Goalpost" and speaker at the China Speakers Bureau, said in a recent interview with Reuters.

"China first victory in their Asian qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup against Australia on Sunday was too little, too late and they now have no chance of appearing at international soccer's top table until 2014.

"Rowan Simons, whose book "Bamboo Goalposts" was published last month, believes that only widespread reform of the whole footballing structure in China can save it."

More about Rowan Simons at Reuters.
If you are interested in booking Rowan Simons as a speaker, do get in touch.

Tips on picking a great speaker (2)

via WikipediaWhen to look for an outside speaker?

"We cannot ask Peter again, can we?"
Before starting to give tips on how to look for a professional speaker, we have to see how we get to the point where we actually start to look for outside help.
In many cases you can find people with enough qualifications inside your own company, organization or its extended network. Suppliers, customers, services providers: they might often be all too excited to help you out by sending one of their better speakers to your event. For them it might be an ideal way to solidify an existing relationship. Chambers of Commerce and other business association often rely on their members to share their knowledge and expertise with the not-so-experienced members. Often they are happy to do this on a voluntary basis: that is what makes these organizations often run.

But when you want your company or organizations to take a new turn, when your board of directors is coming to China for a meeting, when you really want to make sure your customers have a good time, it is time to look for a professional speaker outside your own network. In short: when a performance is critical, when you cannot afford a "no show" and need to be sure a target is met.
Then the selection can start. Next: how to pick a great speaker?

Old and new names joining CSB

Shaun Rein

As our operation as a speakers bureau gets into shape, a growing number of speakers have committed themselves to work with us. Later the website will give a more complete overview - although we can never put all our speakers online.
Among the people who have joined already we have same famous old and new names: Tom Doctoroff, Jeremy Goldkorn, William Bao Bean, Rex Warner and of course Shaun Rein. We have slowed down the intake-process a bit, pending the unavoidable technical problems when setting up a new operation, but we will go after some of the missing usual suspects again very soon.

"Chinese companies are already innovating" - William Bao Bean

Not yet a Facebook
via WikipediaSome great insights from William Bao Bean, VC at the China/India Softbank, triggered off by Thomas Crampton, He argues against the common cliche that Chinese companies do not innovate. While a Chinese Facebook is still far away, China has its own Sillicon Valley style garages.

To support his argument William cites a company that he recently joined, iTalki, as an example of a Chinese company innovating on a global scale. iTalki is a language exchange site with a global user base that supports more than 100 possible languages. While it does copy some good ideas from other sites, William claims iTalki is the world’s leading language exchange of its kind.

William Bao Bean is going to be a speaker at my upcoming (new) speakers' bureau. If you are interested in having him as a speaker, drop me a line. Read more about him here.

Tips on how to pick a great speaker (1)

(Today I will start some entries to give our potential clients some guidance. Feel free to comment at the bottom if you disagree, have additional tips or otherwise.)

Introduction

One day your company, organization or government department has an uncommon challenge: to find a professional speaker. That might actually be the reason you came to our site in the first place. We are in business since August 2007 with Chinabiz Speakers and since then we have been learning much and fast. A part of that educational process we want to share with you, because we think the more you know about selecting a speaker, the better we can help you.
Why not writing tips for speakers first, you might wonder? Some speakers might actually need some guidance, but for them there is already material enough. Just google a bit and you will find an endless row of books on how to become a better speaker. (See also the amazon link below.)But the equivalent does not exist for those people who are looking for a good speaker. In this matchmaking process there are at least two parties and our focus is on clients.
The focus of our tips has a strong China focus, since that is our business: getting assignments for professional speakers on China. That will create a few extra issues compared to other speakers’ bureaus, like intercultural exchanges and – one of our businesses – visiting delegations who have to organize trips remotely.

When it is your business finding professional speakers, you might not need that help. Event organizers are often already well versed in the process and for us they are a joy to work with. After the first contacts we get a briefing paper of no longer than one A4 telling us exactly what we need to know to select a great speaker.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Some of our tips I will write about will sometimes seem all to obvious, for example our tip to know exactly who your audience is. We still feel it is important to include those basics, but will also get to some more elaborate questions.
Regularly we talk to people who have not really a clue, and sometimes for good reasons. Often third parties are asked to help the organizations or companies that need a speaker. Embassies and consulates are being asked to do this next to their normal business. Travel agencies who suddenly find themselves do more than organizing hotel rooms and trips. PR-agencies, who get clients on visits, and are often not equipped for this more specialized industry.
Sometimes there is panic. Initially, we thought that large scale events, business visits, conferences would be planned long ahead and we would have a lead time of at least two to three months. Sometimes we indeed meet well-organized clients who want to talk to us two years in advance. Now, when you really want a celebrity, that might be a good idea, since they are often fully booked years in advance. But sometimes we only have a few days, because suddenly holes are discovered in programs, other speakers drop out of the program. Then it is very important the organizers get familiar with the process of selecting a speaker very fast.

I will start posting those tips over the coming weeks as blog entries, and hope for some feedback, online or offline, so we can fine-tune the information a bit. Later we will change this in a more comprehensive document for easy download.

Some of the upcoming topics:

• Know your audience
• How is the organization organized?
• What do you want to achieve?
• What is the setting of your event?
• What is the format
• Are you looking for a free or a paid speaker?
• What is your budget?
• What are the extra costs?
• Do you need a speaker from abroad?
• What kind of intercultural problems a speech on China can have?
• When do you need professional support?
• Do you really need a PowerPoint presentation?
• Now we are ready to select a speaker: how does that work?
• How do I find a good speaker on China?

Welcome also from Fons Tuinstra

A welcome from me too. Please get in touch for your speakers' business over my new email address: fons.tuinstra@china-speakers-bureau.com.

Wecome to the China Speakers Bureau

Welcome to the new website of the China Speakers Bureau.

Keep an eye on this site for news of future developments!