Shanghai Expo and social media

There's a very interesting piece on Marketing's daily e-newsletter from Hong Kong.Titled, Shanghai Expo spurs social media buzz, it's a piece by writer Adaline Lau's on Ogilvy's Thomas Crampton's thoughts about social media and the Shanghai World Expo (follow him on Twitter @thomascrampton). It's fascinating to see how the organisers of what will undoubtedly be the world's biggest event of this type in our life times have latched onto virtual experience and social networking as ways to extend its reach. They're now expecting up to 100 million people to attend in person but I noticed just this week on Monday when CCPIT Vice Chairman Wang Jinzhen spoke to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, that he finished his presentation by talking about the virtual version of the Expo. It will, he said, be very necessary as it could take up to a month for a physical visitor to actually get around all 3.8 square km of exhibit space.

I'll be heading to the Expo in September but, in the meantime, will be moderating a panel discussion on social media and the events industry at the UFI CEO Forum this week in Geneva (springlike and sunny yesterday as you can see from the picture from my room at the Intercontinental). Follow us on Twitter with the #uficeoforum hashtag or by keeping an eye on my tweets at @pwoodwardhk or on the @ufilive page. See you online!