Two ShareRing staff went on an adventure called the Crypto-VIP Asia Tour to introduce ShareRing to potential investors and users. Rohan Le Page, COO and Helen Palmer, Global Community Director covered five countries in five days with the support of the organisers Coinstreet Partners.
Coinstreet invited and selected groups of serious investors, and brought them together to meet other selected blockchain-based/crypto business opportunities. All businesses gave 10 min pitches in a presentation format, then had informal chats to answer any questions individuals had.
Day one started in Singapore on Monday 14 May, the weather was very humid and it rained. So they borrowed umbrellas from the hotel, no buying for them! When it stopped raining, they grabbed a photo of Helen out and about wearing the new ShareRing t-shirt, holding the umbrellas.
The first session of the tour was held in a bar, Nutmeg and Clove, in a quaint street in Ann Siang Hill filled with old style architecture. It created an intimate friendly vibe for the event.
Helen did her first public presentation for ShareRing, and impressed those present, with the ShareRing project and presentation being voted the best on the night. Rohan and Helen then mixed with about 30 curious Singaporeans who took away more facts, ideas, the new brochure and business cards.
Day two was a journey to Shenzhen, China and a presentation in a place called Dollshouse. Not at a doll factory as they first thought with great bemusement, but a retail store/cafe space.
This was the first time for ShareRing slides to be presented in Chinese script. Helen once again did the ShareRing pitch for an audience of 50. While tired from travelling all day, she got some audience participation to help prompt her when she couldn’t recognise one of the points on her slides. It created a fresh moment of engagement with those present.
The reward for a job well done in Shenzhen was a late dinner of Huan Chinese food, full of chillies. It helped cool them in the hot weather.
Day three was Hong Kong. With 8 pitches at this stop, Helen had to get through our pitch in a lightning 7 min. She was in fine form, and one of our Telegram Community Members was in the audience and posted that the organiser highlighted Helen was the only female presenter on the tour — and the only one to keep to the short time limit set on this night!
The Hong Kong stop, with about 70 people in the audience, also included a Q&A session from a selected panel. This time, Rohan joined Helen on stage to share a co-founder’s perspective.
The presentation at each stop was live streamed and captured on YouTube. Check out the Hong Kong recording here.
Day four was Seoul, Korea. The duo were only in the country for a total of 17 hours and were disappointed to be met with rain and overcast conditions, and saw very little on the ride from airport to the event. It was the first time for both of them to visit Korea.
They were very bemused to learn the Korean session was being held in a wedding chapel room — actually a large room at a convention centre usually setup for weddings. When they shared their bemusement with the organiser, he quipped, “If you like it and you want it, you should put a ShareRing on it”. They couldn’t wait to get a photo of what the event space looked like.
Under the glamorous lighting, this night’s presentation was translated live into Korean. A new presenting challenge for Helen: to keep the sentences short, and maintain an engaging flow with the constant ‘interruption’.
They had a challenge with getting a ride after the event to their hotel, late at night in the rain. They couldn’t get through to some of the sharing economy services they could find, and for the ones that were found, these services wouldn’t take them on a relatively short journey. After 40 minutes and the actions of five people using different technology interfaces, success! Helen and Rohan then celebrated with a whiskey and pizza in the hotel bar just before midnight. Unfortunately there wasn’t time to try out genuine Korean food.
Day five was travelling to Tokyo. Before departure at Seoul’s Incheon Airport, Helen enjoyed the delightful surprise of a fruit salad for breakfast that included cherry tomatoes — they are a fruit after all!
Helen and Rohan were both excited to visit Japan, a place where they had both lived many years ago. It was the last leg, so the duo had fun thinking about the finish line with the race track decor at Narita Airport.
In Tokyo, Helen decided to open her presentation speaking in Japanese, which endeared her to the audience.
The passion they both feel for the ShareRing idea was so evident to those present that some potential investors got quite emotional when talking with Helen about what was shared.
Throughout the trip, the Coinstreet team were capturing b-roll and direct camera footage for making promotional videos on ShareRing. Filming took place on the streets of the quaint suburb of Singapore, on the plane ride, at the events and in a lively Japanese street with Friday night revellers. Helen said she started to feel like a rock star with her own camera crew!
They both got to know the other business representatives they were on tour with and got familiar with their business pitches. There were moments of hilarity as the two navigated many of the travel and presentation challenges together. It felt like they went on a camp trip together and bonded.
While this was an adventure requiring some physical endurance, both Helen and Rohan had a fantastic time and met lovely people. They hope they enticed others to join them on the ShareRing journey as investors, or introducing them to potential business service providers for the ShareRing digital marketplace.
