(no subject)
This is the part where I do Mobile Monday Tokyo.
I am late in mentioning this, but I got "lucky" enough to be one of the presenters at the Tokyo Mobile Monday event on November 30th. By presenter, I mean that they had a the monthly party, and I had a table along the wall of one side of the room, where I passed out fliers and talked to people.
Mobile Monday Attendees = Not good potential customers for anyone running a real business.
1) Foreign Press (Met some guy from Tech Crunch)
2)Tech guys (with no purchasing power, are just there from "jouhou shuushuu", or information gathering)
3)Presidents of small, venture companies looking for funding
4) Business consultants (Again for the "jouhou shuushuu")
5) Women looking to meet a foreign husband with a good job (These women are dressed to the nines, and will hand you back a flier if you pass them one.)
I went with my direct boss and the head of the department to the Monday evening event. They both became emphatuated with the free buffet and cheap glasses of wine. The department head drank something like 5 glasses of wine and went home early because he wasn't feeling so good. ("hero hero" was the word he used.) My direct boss seemed to find the pace too fast. It is weird to hear an experienced salesman complain that getting 20 business cards in a couple of hours involves too much talking to people. (Whiner.)
Also, the coordinator, a man in his forties or fifties with long gray hair, attracted comments from my co-workers. Comments such as "Nani-Mono da" (Who the heck is this?). The department head thought he was a burned-out hippie and my direct boss thought he was a burned-out metal head. I love to see generational twists on Japanese predispositions against long hair.
(Although the coordinator is definitely an odd duck.)
All in all, Mobile Monday is the kind of event attended by people who want to seem like they are in the know. I have noticed that Mobile Monday and other networking events in Tokyo are all held at the same 4 or 5 establishments and the same people show up almost everytime.
Is this really useful for research on the Japanese mobile (or other) communities?
I am late in mentioning this, but I got "lucky" enough to be one of the presenters at the Tokyo Mobile Monday event on November 30th. By presenter, I mean that they had a the monthly party, and I had a table along the wall of one side of the room, where I passed out fliers and talked to people.
Mobile Monday Attendees = Not good potential customers for anyone running a real business.
1) Foreign Press (Met some guy from Tech Crunch)
2)Tech guys (with no purchasing power, are just there from "jouhou shuushuu", or information gathering)
3)Presidents of small, venture companies looking for funding
4) Business consultants (Again for the "jouhou shuushuu")
5) Women looking to meet a foreign husband with a good job (These women are dressed to the nines, and will hand you back a flier if you pass them one.)
I went with my direct boss and the head of the department to the Monday evening event. They both became emphatuated with the free buffet and cheap glasses of wine. The department head drank something like 5 glasses of wine and went home early because he wasn't feeling so good. ("hero hero" was the word he used.) My direct boss seemed to find the pace too fast. It is weird to hear an experienced salesman complain that getting 20 business cards in a couple of hours involves too much talking to people. (Whiner.)
Also, the coordinator, a man in his forties or fifties with long gray hair, attracted comments from my co-workers. Comments such as "Nani-Mono da" (Who the heck is this?). The department head thought he was a burned-out hippie and my direct boss thought he was a burned-out metal head. I love to see generational twists on Japanese predispositions against long hair.
(Although the coordinator is definitely an odd duck.)
All in all, Mobile Monday is the kind of event attended by people who want to seem like they are in the know. I have noticed that Mobile Monday and other networking events in Tokyo are all held at the same 4 or 5 establishments and the same people show up almost everytime.
Is this really useful for research on the Japanese mobile (or other) communities?