Been a bit too busy to blog on the recently completed American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) event in Beijing on China’s digital universe. I am somewhat glad I waited as so much good stuff has already been written on it that I can get away with mostly just pulling and summarizing.
AmCham’s brand new blog, the AmCham Daily [link no longer exists], had this to say about the event:
Matt Roberts of About.com moderated the first panel – Decoding China’s Internet Scene – and asked what trends will shape the Internet in China. Siliconhutong.com’s David Wolf, CEO of Wolf Group Asia, cited growing access to wireless and the ensuing mobility this provides as the guiding trend for the next five to ten years. Andrew Lih, a new media academic who is authoring a book about online collaboration, stressed the importance of avoiding situations where content might get your site shut down. “Anyone who can stay ahead of ICP issues will win out in the end,” he said. Micah Truman, CEO of Wanmo Performance Advertising, said e-commerce is the trend to watch: “It’s about to go absolutely nuts.”
Jeremy Goldkorn of The Standards Group and danwei.org moderated the second panel on the business of blogging, kicking off the discussion by asking the speakers why they blog.
On the risks involved in blogging, Will Moss of PR site imagethief.com said he worries about offending current and potential clients, even though he never writes about the former. Despite this, he said the benefits of blogging – an increased profile and potential to attract clients – outweighed the risks. China lawyer Dan Harris, founding member of law firm Harris Moure and c0-author of Chinalawblog.com, answered that his law firm is small enough that even if his blog offended half the world, there would still be another half full of potential clients. “The greatest risk is to my marriage because I spend so much time online,” he joked.
David Wolf from Silicon Hutong had this to say about the event, within minutes after its conclusion:
Just got of the dais from my panel at the AmCham-China “Under the Digital Influence 2007.” The discussions so far have been superb.
What do I mean by that? I mean that this is one of those rare occasions where I have – without exception – learned something useful and valuable from every one of my fellow panelists.
Matt Roberts – Matt moderated, but his preparation, his selection of questions, and the fact that he sneaked his questions to us beforehand made our discussion livelier and better.
Micah Truman – eCommerce is coming back, and it’s coming back HUGE.
Andrew Lih – The tools the Chinese government uses to block certain websites are getting stronger, more robust, and more precise. In one sense, that’s disturbing, but in another sense – the precision sense – it is actually a good thing.
Jeremy Goldkorn – Moderated. Ask risky questions, even weird ones. You’ll be happier with the answers. Jeremy likes asking the tough questions – of all people, including his friends, and it brings out the best in a group of smart people.
Dan Harris – Reader comments that add value are fine, but your dedication to free speech cannot overwhelm the value of editing stupid, ad homonym, or irrelevant attacks from your site.
Will Moss – Will finds what I do: the opportunity to build chemistry with potential clients outweighs the danger of chasing potential business away. Also – companies don’t blog, people do.
China IP lawyer extraordinaire Stan Abrams over at China Hearsay enjoyed the first panel so much, he discussed C to C commerce in the cab leaving the conference. He then remarked on what a geek this made him and I concurred until I realized I was in that cab and a part of the conversation!
Within the first five minutes of the commencement of the first panel, I knew I was going to enjoy it. All of the panelists so clearly knew whereof they spoke and Roberts so clearly knew the questions to ask. By the time it concluded, I had written down six questions I wanted to ask, but discretion limited me to two. I tasked CLB co-blogger Steve Dickinson with taking notes and at the conclusion of the first panel he admitted he had been too wrapped up in it to take notes.
As for my panel, I will simply state that I learned tons from my co-panelists and was hugely impressed by Jeremy Goldkorn’s fabulous handling of our group. I truly feel honored to have been able to participate in a panel with such thoughtful and gracious people.
Jim Boyce of AmCham deserves massive kudos for putting together such a great event and for his hospitality, both before the event and after. Jim is a great guy and he is seeking to be one of the foreign torchbearers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He would be a great representative of China’s expat community and I urge you to go here [link no longer exists] and vote for Jim.
