Christine Lu

Christine lived and worked in China for a number of years as Marketing Director for Home Shopping Shanghai Limited, a joint-venture of HSN International’s TV shopping business.

Upon moving back to the US, she launched a podcast show in 2007 for Entrepreneur Magazine called The China Business Show which led to the founding of The China Business Network. Christine devotes much of her time and projects on the bridge between East and West. She is founder of Cilantro Media, a boutique firm focused on slightly disruptive business models and ideas that bring about effective change.

Christine has been involved in the social media strategy for Hawaii Tourism Authority, Fatburger, pur~lisse skincare, M1NT Shanghai, Cause Media Group and The China Business Network.

Based on her belief that knowledge should be shared in an open free thinking environment that allows new ideas to thrive, Christine is involved in several cross border initiatives including co-founding [RE]Think, curator of TEDxShanghai, Geeks On A Plane, China 2.0 Tour and The China Business Show.

Christine is also an active TED member. She curated the first TEDxShanghai event in June 2009 and is on the organizing team for TEDxHonolulu. Following this year’s TEDGlobal, she is now in the midst of organizing a TEDx group from China to TEDActive / TED2010.

Christine is currently involved in several social good projects for Cause Media Group, Project Rebirth and Go Green Initiative. She is the editor-in-chief of WhatGives?! a new platform focused on sharing stories and updates on social good and non-profits. She is also partnering with photographer Kris Krug on a Creative Commons licensed book about Shanghai launching next year during the World Expo.

Follow Christine on Twitter: @christinelu

Why [Re]Think : Hawaii?

I spent an amazing 10 days in Hawaii back in June that gave me a chance to go beyond the beautiful brochure version of the islands and see it from a perspective that only those who live there could share.

I flew back to LA and was still in love with Hawaii 3 days later when I set off on a whirlwind 10 day sleep deprived Geeks On A Plane tour of Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai with a group of amazing tech investors and entrepreneurs that Dave McClure had invited. By the time we got to our last city, Shanghai, we all were friends thanks to conversations in a Tokyo subway, on buses stuck in Beijing traffic to and from Startonomics Beijing, in an afterparty following Startup2Startup and a geek trek to the Great Wall of China, Barcamp Shanghai, TEDxShanghai and a lot of shared meals, conferences and meetups in between.

A month later, I attended my first TED conference and they’re not kidding when they say it’s a life changing event.  TED takes that a step further by bringing together people from different countries, sectors and areas of expertise …the conversations and connections I made during those 4 days in Oxford were amazing. So much so, I spent 10 hours on a flight back to Los Angeles …rethinking everything.

I don’t think experiences like this should be reserved for chance conversations in the hallway of conferences already scheduled. Nor do I think we can sustain our need for sharing stories and a connection with other via tweets or comments in a blog post.

As we go into the final stretch of 2009 with 2010 around the corner, a group of good people are inviting their friends to take themselves out of their day to day and connect in Hawaii.  The investors, entrepreneurs and companies who are invited will be sharing ideas that intersect technology, sustainability and entrepreneurship. Conversations will be sparked. Partnerships will form. Projects will develop.

When good people get together, great things happen.

Nearly three years ago, a casual conversation on Twitter led to her sitting in the audience at a conference listening to a speech by Founding Partner of Garage Technology Ventures, co-Founder of Nononina, author, and speaker Guy Kawasaki. A week later, Neenz was employed by Nononina as a Truemorist for citizen journalism site, Truemors and today is the Chief Evangelist for leading news aggregation site, Alltop. As part of the Nononina team, Neenz reports to and works directly with Kawasaki.

Her experience as a Property Manager combined with her knowledge of social media, networking, marketing, and innovation gained from her years at Nononina inspired her to launch her media marketing company, Pono Media.

As the Founder of Pono Media, Neenz aims to empower business owners and entrepreneurs to build communities and form partnerships using social media marketing.

Neenz is also the curator of TEDxHonolulu.

Follow Neenz on Twitter: @NEENZ

Dave currently runs a seed-stage investment program for Founders Fund.  His passion is helping startups with marketing, product strategy, and startup metrics, and he is an advisor or investor for several companies including: Eventvue, KissMetrics, Mashery, Mint, RichRelevance, 750 Industries, Simply Hired, SlideShare, TeachStreet, Twilio.

Dave is the founder of Startup2Startup and the founder of GeeksOnAPlane, a tech tour that connects global tech entrepreneurs. He has been a conference organizer for many tech & startup events including STARTonomics, Graphing Social Patterns, and Web 2.0 Expo (SF).

He has been a guest lecturer on social network platforms & applications at Stanford University.  Dave is a board member for microfinance accelerator Unitus, advisor to microfinance lender Kiva.org, and co-founder of the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network.

Follow Dave on Twitter: @davemcclure

He has been active the trade show industry since 1996 serving as Sales Manager / Director of Sales for three Tradeshow Week 200 events including the SEMA Show (#4), AWFS®Vegas (#39) and the DEMA Show #(97), as well as one of the nation’s largest consumer shows, Comicon.
He has been a voracious new media consumer since 2001 and launched his own blog in 2005.
BlogWorld & New Media Expo is the first and only industry-wide tradeshow, conference and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of blogging and new media.

Designed to give participants the strategies, tools and technologies they need to leverage new media communication in business, editorial and entertainment environments, the conference features dozens of seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from iconic personalities on the leading-edge of online technology and Internet-savvy business.

Follow Rick on Twitter: @blogworld

Her credits include the James Beard award winning series, The Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter, Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi, which has been distributed in 66 countries, New American Cuisine featuring star chefs from around the US, and GetHealthyNowHawaii.com an online based educational product.

FDM has produced over 500 hours of cooking and lifestyle programming for national and international distribution.

SHARE YOUR TABLE is an intimate gathering place for food aficionados of all levels – an open “table” that’s as much about celebrating the rich diversity of traditions as it is about pleasing the palate.

Guided by the culinary lens of people who are passionate about food, SYT endeavors to be a delicious place of inspiration for both the enthusiastic home cook and for those who just love to eat.

Follow Melanie on Twitter: @shareyourtable

Enthusing in the real-time fast-paced web environment & understanding the mindset shift that digital social marketing is bringing, he specializes in digital influence, social web strategies and their implications in traditional business development. He is passionate about advising startups that reside outside of the ring of the traditional VC territories, for which he also acts as an angel investor.

By landing one day almost coincidentally in the Land of the Rising Sun, not knowing a single soul nor speaking the language, yet building up a network and a company from scratch in a matter of a few short months, Paul has gained confidence that social media can be an agent of change over cultural boundaries. As part of his desire to share, he became the co-organizer of Tokyo 2.0, the founder of the Mobile in Japan community and started dedicating part of his time & work to non-profit organizations, such as Beers For Books and TEDx Tokyo.

Paul has been working in the business advisory and digital/analog lobby & advocacy field for over ten years. He lives across continents, commuting between Tokyo, Manila and Geneva.

Paul holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, speaks several languages, loves the Helvetica font type, his iPhone and photography.

Follow Paul on Twitter: @papadimitriou

This became a reality when he started One By One Media, after companies began to ask him how they, too, could enter the blogosphere and be successful. Jim began to consult with these companies on how social media could impact their businesses and change the way they looked at marketing, advertising and public relations.

Jim is now the Social Media Director and Conference Director of Blog World and New Media Expo, on the Executive Board of The International Blogging and New Media Association and is on the advisory boards of a few startup companies all of which has made Jim “One of the people to watch in Social Media in 2009″.

Follow Jim on Twitter: @genuine

Combined with a calculating eye (and a penchant for cross-processing), the result is a capture of their truest essence – a story of their life in tableau as unabashed artistic documentation whether the subject is out front his downtown Eastside apartment, a fashion model, or a farmer in the back hills of China.

Kris is a fervent evangelist for open culture and creative commons licensing and frequently speaks at conferences and the media about the blurring lines between pro and amateur, shifting copyright standards and using technology to promote and share artistic work.

Kris realizes art isn’t created in a vacuum and a vibrant community is key for culture to flourish – with this in mind, he organizes photowalks and workshops for newbies and veterans alike to encourage knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Follow Kris on Twitter: @kk

In 1997 Chris was tapped to become General manager at an Ecommerce start-up know as TechWave, which he helped to take public in 1999 as ShopNow. For the few years prior to Kompolt, Chris has been CEO of Singlestep Technologies, a networking software company based in Seattle. While at Singlestep, Chris oversaw the release of 2 versions of their award winning software and forged a critical strategic partnership with IBM.

Having led successful teams all the way from startup to IPO, Chris has gained broad experience in creating and launching new businesses, marketing campaigns, and products – including the ability to take existing products and chart new directions, or to start it all from scratch.

Follow Chris on Twitter: @cfnoble