South China Morning Post at Web Wednesday (V118)

Calling all news aficionados and lovers of digital media disruption!

Following on from celebrating its 115th anniversary last year, the South China Morning Post has just launched a new website (scmp.com), employing AI to enrich and personalise content recommendations based on interests, geo-location and reading behaviour. [See the official announcement by the Editor-in-Chief, Tammy Tam].

For our 118th Web Wednesday social mixer, we have the pleasure of inviting Malcolm Ong, Head of Product for the SCMP, to discuss all their new offerings, especially the role of artificial intelligence in personalisation, expanded multimedia content (see links below) as well as the challenges of customising content (and user interfaces) for fickle audiences in the age of bite-size journalism.

We're expecting a good crowd. Save time at the door by pre-booking your entrance tickets here.

Malcolm oversee SCMP’s Product department, which includes product management, product design (UI/UX), engineering, and partnerships across our entire portfolio of brands: SCMP.com, Abacus, Inkstone, Goldthread, and more.

We're back at Levels, 2/F, On Hing Building, 1 On Hing Terrace, Central, Hong Kong. Doors open at 6:30pm with the interview kicking off at 7:20pm. [Find on Google Maps]

Entrance fee of HK$100 gives you one complimentary drink, top quality networking and an insightful (always entertaining) interview!

Their special sections:

SCMP Spotlight

SCMP Videos

SCMP Podcasts

SCMP Infographics

And my personal favourite, the political cartoon, Harry's View.

Sign up via our communities on social media:
- Facebook Page (1,537 followers)
- Facebook Group (4,900 members)
- LinkedIn Group (1,602 members)
- MeetUp Group (879 members)

See you on March 6th!

Live stream - Crypto Predictions 2019

We'll be streaming the fireside chat live onto our Facebook Page (facebook.com/webwednesday) for tonight's 117th social mixer, "Crypto Predictions 2019 at Web Wednesday Hong Kong". If you can't be there in the flesh (free entry + free drinks), you're welcome to join the live video stream.

Hosted at Spaces Sun House, doors will open at 6:30pm and we'll aim to start the streaming video at 7:30pm.

You're welcome to post questions to the live stream and I will select some to fire directly at our two speakers, Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com, and Mike Kayamori, CEO of Liquid Global.

We'll close off the video around 8:30pm and post it to the Facebook Page.

See you this evening! 今晚見！

Crypto 2019 at Web Wednesday (V117)

Happy New Year! The Year of the Earth Pig is fast upon us and we've dug up some golden truffles for you!

We're kicking off 2019 with a double bill, inviting two pioneers to forecast the future of cryptocurrencies, Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com and Mike Kayamori, CEO of Liquid Global (Quoine), who's flying in specially from Tokyo.

Kris will share the consumer perspective and how Crypto.com is building out a wide range of convenient services that will incorporate cryptocurrencies into our daily lives.

With the lofty vision of "Cryptocurrency in Every Wallet", they have already launched the Crypto digital wallet and card app, the metal MCO Visa card (no annual fees) and recently announced Crypto Chain for transacting in any crypto, anywhere, for free. (Download their mobile app: iOS or Android).

Mike will share the trading side of the crypto business, providing insights on crypto exchanges and the role that blockchain plays in facilitating liquidity in this fast evolving digital economy.

NOTE: This event will be hosted in a super cool, new venue, the groovy ground floor of Hong Kong's latest co-working location, Spaces at Sun House, 181 Des Voeux Road Central. [Google Maps]

In the spirit of celebrating new beginnings, the entrance fee will be waived and the drinks will be generously sponsored by Crypto.com and Liquid Global.

Come discover the future of finance and ecommerce on Wednesday 16th January, 2019.

Register via any one of our online communities:

- Facebook Group (4,900 members)
- Facebook Page (1,506 members)
- LinkedIn Group (1,594 members)
- MeetUp Group (876 members)

Here is Crypto.com's promo video (great energy)!



Their CEO summarising the "roller coaster ride" of 2018 with a teaser preview of what's to come in 2019 with Crypto Pay, by their CMO, Sean Rach:



And a talk given by Eric Anziani, SVP, Group Strategy and Bobby Bao, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Monaco addressed delegates at Consensus 2018 in New York City.



Formerly known as "Monaco", the company raised US$25 million from on ICP in June 2017. According to TechCrunch, around US$10M was used to acquire the "crypto.com" domain from Matt Blaze, a professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania who sits on the board of directors of the Tor Project.

Dive into this intro to Liquid Global:


And an "Ask Me Anything" (hashtag #AMA) session with Mike Kayamori:

OnTheList at Web Wednesday (V116)

Calling all bargain hunters!

The Christmas shopping season is fast upon us. Just when we've recovered from the mania of Double 11, Black Friday and Cyber Monday...it's now time for Web Wednesday!

For our 116th social mixer, we'll be talking flash sales and how a young couple of French entrepreneurs, Delphine Lefay and Diego Dultzin Lacoste, are shaking up the luxury retail industry in Asia.



Launched in Hong Kong in 2016, OnTheList has grown from a few pop-up shops to over 150 flash sales and partnerships with over 250 premium brands including Armani, Clarins, Diane Von Furstenberg, Ferragamo, Havaianas and Ted Baker. They have cleared over a million items of previously unsold inventory and have recently launched in Singapore, another shopping haven!

Topics will include:

• best practices for enticing new members and keeping them coming back 
• how to use content and social media to built a loyal community of active shoppers
• the value and challenges of online-to-offline commerce
• how to expand into new markets without putting your business at risk
• how to work with global brands that aren't as nimble as startups
• effective ways to engage millennials
• the role of blockchain in omni-channel retail

OnTheList will also be making a special offer to our members so make sure you bring a friend or two along in the spirit of Christmas!

Hosted at The Hive Sheung Wan, 3/F Hillier Building, 33-35 Hillier Street, Sheung Wan.

Doors open at 6:30pm, with the fireside chat starting at 7:15pm. The entrance fee of HK$100 gives you one complimentary drink and access to top quality networking. We will be donating 10% of the ticket sales to Operation Santa Claus.

Pre-book your tickets on Pelago.

See who else is coming from our diverse communities across social media: Facebook Group, Facebook Page, MeetUp Group and LinkedIn Group.

Twilio at Web Wednesday HK (V115)

Calling all multi-tasking, multi-channel messengers!

For our 115th Web Wednesday social mixer in Hong Kong, we have the pleasure of interviewing Angie Bell, Head of Asia Pacific & Japan for Twilio, the $7.4 billion company that helps apps and websites send texts and make calls.

Known for its simplicity of use and facilitating customer communication across voice, text, chat, and video, Twilio has recently boosted its unified offering by acquiring email marketing platform, SendGrid, for a handsome US$2bn.

We will be talking about the appeal of plug & play customer engagement tools in a world growingly dominated by chatbots, virtual assistants and voice recognition software and how rapidly growing startups are expanding their operations using their cloud-based offerings, such as Flex, Autopilot and Pay.

There is more to Twilio than meets the eye as they provide the "intelligent omni-channel plumbing" to the likes of Uber, Zendesk, Didi, Grab, Gojek, Bytedance, Dominos and Marks & Spencers.

Hosted at The Hive Sheung Wan, 3/F Hillier Building, 33-35 Hillier Street, Sheung Wan.

Doors open at 6:30pm with the hot seat interview kicking off at 7:15pm. An entrance fee of HK$100 gives you one complimentary drink, a captivating talk and high quality networking.

Open your APIs and share the invite!

See who else is coming from our diverse communities across social media:
- Facebook Group (4,907 members)
- Facebook Page (1,498 members)
- MeetUp Group (872 members)
- LinkedIn Group (1,586 members)

A visual sampling of the Twilio offering:

The Fight Nation at Web Wednesday (V114)

Feeling physical? Enjoy a good punch up?

Mark your diaries for our next social mixer on 29th August. Our special guest speaker will be Matt Eaton, Group Publisher and CEO of Tap Media. We'll be talking about how to build and monetise a cross-media sports empire under his new mixed martial arts (MMA) brand, The Fight Nation. (find them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram).

Topics include tapping into the passion and excitement of live MMA fights, embracing streaming video, launching new pay per view models, addressing mobile viewing habits, cracking ecommerce opportunities and building fully engaged fan bases in an omni-channel world.

Doors open at 6:30pm with the hot seat interview kicking off at 7:15pm. An entrance fee of HK$100 gives you one complimentary drink, a captivating talk and high quality networking.

Save time and pre-book your tickets online (thanks to Pelago).

See who else is coming from our diverse communities across social media:
- Facebook Group (4,916 members)
- Facebook Page (1,492 members)
- MeetUp Group (860 members)
- LinkedIn Group (1,586 members)

Venue is the Hive Sheung Wan, 3/F, Hillier Building, 33-35 Hillier Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.



Matt is kindly offering our members a HK$200 discount for the inaugural Asia MMA Awards, to be held on 14th September at the Qube at PMQ 元創方. Use the code "webwednesday" when you register via the event website.

Tap Media was also selected as one of the promising startups in the Betatron Startup Accelerator Programme (Cohort 3):

NexChange talks Blockchain at Web Wednesday (V113)

"To ICO or not to ICO?", that is the question!  But was is the answer? (Watch the video at the end of this post for one possible answer).

There's so much buzz (and froth) around blockchain, crypto-currencies and initial coin offerings that we decided to debunk some of the myths by inviting Juwan Lee, the co-founder and Director of the Blockchain Centre of Hong Kong to the Web Wednesday hot seat.

Mark your diaries for our 113th social mixer at a cool new venue, the Hive Sheung Wan, 33 Hillier Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. (Find on Google Maps).

After 30 years in the finance world, Juwan's primary enterprise is now NexChange, a  innovation platform that builds ecosystems around fintech, insurtech, blockchain, AI, healthtech and smart cities.

Here's a short video about his network of finance professionals...



In just two years, his organisation has launched influential communities for "Fintech O2O", "Block O2O" and "Healthtech O2O".

Come join us at the Hive, 33 Hillier Street, Sheung Wan on Wednesday 25th July, 2018. Doors open at 6:30pm, with the talk kicking off around 7:15pm. Entrance fee of HK$100 includes one standard drink. Happy hour drinks until 9pm.

Sign up and see who else is coming via our communities on Facebook (4,913 members), MeetUp (850 members) and LinkedIn (1,581 members).

 Pre-book your tickets and the first drink on the event page on Pelago.

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ICO Explained (nothing to do with Juwan Lee or NexChange, just useful).