Tonight: Lucky draw prizes from Zhuhai

Our guest speaker for tonight's Web Wednesday Social Mixer, JJ Verdun, is generously donating some hyperlocal prizes for the lucky draw. So come along to Volar (6:30pm - (9:30pm) and drop your namecard in the bowl at the door (sorry, we gave up on the SMS contest a while back!) and you could be the lucky winner of one of the following:

3rd Prize: 2 tickets for the Beishan World Music Festival, held in a little village within Zhuhai on Saturday 23rd April.

2nd Prize: Dinner voucher for new Mediterranean Restaurant, Azur, in Zhuhai. See photos on Deltabridges.com or watch the background video below:



1st Prize: Room for two people at the Holiday Inn Zhuhai, the only international chain hotel in the city.

Bridge the Pearl River Delta on April 13

珠三角的同胞们！ Calling all fellow Pearl River Deltoids!

For our gathering this month, we are joined by Jean-Jacques Verdun, Founder of Delta Bridges Media who publish deltabridges.com. JJ will share with us how he has built a successful business community in the Pearl River Delta and how he plans to take over the networking scene in Macau!

JJ is also the organiser of Macau After Work (join the Facebook Group) and in 2010 launched the Beishan International Jazz Festival which has now morphed into the Beishan World Music Festival.

This month's Web Wednesday HK Social Mixer is on 13th April and will start at 6:30pm and wind up around 9:30pm, with the talk/interview starting at 7:15pm. Venue is Volar 38-44 D'Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong. Let us know you're coming by signing up on Facebook or this blog.

As per usual, there's a HK$100 entrance fee, including one complimentary drink and the chance to win lucky draw prizes. Our lovely assistant, Vivian, will issue receipts if you need one. (For students, you can get in for HK$50 without free booze). Thereafter, all standard drinks will be charged at special happy hour prices.

This month we are donating 10% of entrance fees to the Japanese Red Cross (read the previous post about donation options).

Looking forward to meeting many new faces and welcoming old friends from across the delta!

Next gathering on April 13

Due to a tight travel schedule, I've had to postponed this month's social mixer until Wednesday 13th April. Once the speaker is confirmed, I'll set up an invite on Facebook (Group and Page), and share it via Twitter (@webwednesday) and LinkedIn.

In the meantime, see if you can spot yourself at the March event (see previous blog post) where our guest speaker was the CEO of Groupon Hong Kong, the company formerly (or still?) known as "uBuyiBuy" (their Twitter handle remains as @uBuyiBuy_HK):

Japan Earthquake - Donation Options

Today, CASBAA (the Cable and Satellite Association of Asia) sent me an email (with the heart above), pointing to a list of charities helping people recover from the Japanese earthquake (東北関東大震災).

Here's a selection of those charities: Habitat for Humanity, Oxfam, Red Cross, Save the Children, Unicef and World Vision. The Associated Press has a full list here.

Japan's national broadcaster, NHK, recommends making bank transfers to the Japan Red Cross (日本赤十字社) or the Central Community Chest (中央共同募金会). NHK also provides a list of links other useful resources.

Groupon Japan - Earthquake fundraiser

To support survivors of the recent earthquake and tsunami, Groupon Japan is tapping into it's user base to raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross. For every purchase of 200 yen via their website, they will donate 400 yen. According to Asiajin, they've already raised 3.8 million yen (US$46,000 or so).



Asiajin also has a post with extracts of coverage from the Japanese web.

Japan Earthquake - Ustream coverage

Japanese broadcaster, NHK, has turned to Ustream to further spread it's live coverage of the aftermath of the recent earthquake off the coast of Sendai. I managed to catch the Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, talking to the nation just now on this channel.
Watch the live video feed on uStream (in Japanese) or the embed below:



The fiercely independent journalist, Iwakami Yasumi (Twitter: @iwakamiyasumi), is also in the area finding out more about the repercussions of the explosion at Fukushima 1 nuclear plant. Watch his ustream channel below:



Google has set up a crisis response website linking to all kinds of useful information and promoting it's "person finder" service by spreading the widget below. Notice the choice of languages: Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.



Google is also offering maps of safe shelters around different cities in Japan. This one is for Tokyo:


より大きな地図で 東京都内避難場所 を表示

An alternative version of the news coverage is also available on Global Voices.

Tonight: Lucky draw prizes from Groupon and Adobe

We've got some fun and educational prizes lined up for the lucky draw at tonight's Web Wednesday networking event (6:30pm - 9:30pm at Volar in LKF).

So don't forget to drop your namecard in the bowl at the door (sorry, we gave up on the SMS contest a while back!) and you could be the lucky winner of one of the following:

1st Prize: 7 days of Groupon HK coupons (the main deal as they have three per day). Blog about your experiences and you get another 3 days of coupons free.

2nd Prize: Art Jamming session for 10 people (I've done this, a great laugh!)

3rd Prize: Lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel with Danny Yeung, CEO and founder of Hong Kong's hottest internet start-up!

4th Prize: Adobe Acrobat X Pro software (approx. HK$4,000)

Adobe is also generously offering each winner a set of tickets to their upcoming event, "Refresh Roadshow" on 9th March at Cliftons in Central. You can also sign up here.