As the coronavirus hits big parts of the world outside China, at the China Speakers Bureau we are looking at alternatives in video conferencing. In the past we worked with Google Hangouts, but our mostly conservative event organizers preferred to stick to real life meetings, and we abolished this tool.

But times are changing, and the internal debate at the CSB on exploring video conferences as an alternative for real-life meetings has popped up again. Currently we are looking at two tools: Zoom and Tencent Meetings. Zoom has become fast the preferred choice for many outside China, and we have already good experiences with them. But Tencent Meetings (VooV) is also emerging, and even helping the United Nations in setting up public conferences.Read More →

Tencent’s WeChat has been an unprecedented success story on the China internet. But new platforms are undermining the dominance of WeChat, says marketing expert Arnold Ma, CEO of London-based Qumin, at  CBBC. Short-video medium Douyin is one of them.Read More →

Facebook is struggling to remain relevant for its users and had a good look at China’s WeChat where group interactions are more private than the chaotic mess Facebook offers. But business analyst Ben Cavender wonders if the Chinese approach works at Facebook, he tells the South China Morning Post.Read More →

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has implicitly admitted he wants to learn from China’s WeChat. Marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok sees here a pivotal moment where a leading US platform starts to learn and copy from China’s success story, she explains in the South China Morning Post. Ashley Dudarenok: There are keyRead More →

China’s internet giant Tencent has become a winner, first by copying US competitors, but now it has become their inspirator, says Tencent-watcher Matthew Brennan to Leadersleague. “WeChat does not monetize data, but it is a growth lever for other businesses in the Tencent group. It’s a bit like iOS or Android in that regard,” says Brennan.Read More →

Digital transformation is key in the planning of companies, governments and individuals, as the world is changing beyond recognition. But for the world outside China it often remains unclear how the most innovative country is going to influence their digital future. 

Speakers at the China Speakers Bureau can help you to make sense out of this often disruptive change of the world. Here we bring together a group of leading experts on China and how its digital transformation is going to change the world outside China too.Read More →

Startups are mostly at the mercy of quasi-monopolies like Facebook, Google, Tencent or Alibaba. William Bao Bean, managing director of Shanghai-based SOSV tells in this elevator talk how his no.1 accelerator helps them to avoid spending money on those giants to get access to an audience, creating a win-win situation.Read More →

Tencent’s WeChat has been a winner in China in terms of users but might even beat its Western competitors in terms of functionality, writes WeChat analyst Matthew Brennan at the China Channel. The bigger question is will the tech giants outside China ever be able to catch up?Read More →

Most internet startups are at the mercy of Facebook, Google, and in China Tencent or Alibaba. William Bao Bean, managing director of Shanghai-based SOsV, co-founded the Mobile Only Accelerator MOX, an independent platform offering not only capital but also an audience to launch, he explains in the News Lens.Read More →