Taking a Canton Fair Trip

Taking a Canton Fair Trip

Let’s check out one of the biggest product trade shows in the world.

Mike’s blog 177

Right after the Cross border Summit – we took a few people for an additional (ie upsell!) trip to the Canton Fair. It was the first time we have tried adding a trip after the summit, and while we were tired it was well worth thatt extra time talking to these participants who wanted to get that extra China experience and visit at the Canton fair.

So the next day after the Cross Border Summit, we had a workshop in the morning – Marcin from Amazing Work System shared about systems and automation – and then after a quick lunch we loaded up those who wanted to go to Canton fair into a deluxe van and drove from Shenzhen to Guangzhou.

I enjoy seeing what “first timers” say about China. I was the only person in the car (besides the driver of course) who had been to China and seeing the photos that they chose to take and the questions / comments they had about different things was intriguing. My ten years in China I have become “numb” or let’s be more politically correct and say accustomed to what surrounds me each day.

So we came to the fair the day before, so that we could prepare a bit, and we met Rico from Source Find Asia – where we partnered up on this trip. We saw his office, and had a big dinner after. Noticing that Guangzhou taxis are much more sneaky than ones in Shenzhen – it was a bit of an adventure finding and negotiating with the taxis back to the hotel that night.

On Monday April 23 we spent the entire day at the fair. Lots of walking (my wearable device is through the roof) and I got to re-experience the fair. I have to admit here-  I lost my pass and had to buy a new one.

Everyone had a great time – we split into different groups, re-connecting for lunch and the end of the day for a debrief.

I enjoyed helping get this crew to the Canton Fair – as I do know it is a big challenge to figure all of this stuff out on your own if it is your first time to China. Collecting more data, more feedback, and continuing to find out what people like so we can apply all of that to the Global From Asia list of offerings.