Guerrilla Marketing with Dinosaurs

Just because I make my living as a freelance writer does not mean that I am bound to my computer desk all year long. I am called upon to attend various trade shows and other events, providing coverage for my clients in the form of written articles, as well as photos and videos. And so here I am back in Taiwan for Computex Taipei 2011.

This isn’t my first time here. I’ve been here twice before, covering the exact same trade show. As a quick refresher, Computex is one of the world’s largest technology and computer expo. It focuses largely on procurement, but there is a good deal of consumer electronics to consider here as well. It was here that we saw the unveiling of several new Eee PC netbooks from Asus, for example.

The language barrier is still an issue for me when I visit Taipei, as I don’t speak Taiwanese, but I can usually get by with some well-intentioned gesturing, charades, and some form of Chinglish. The good news is that most of the bigger companies have at least one English-speaking rep, so that’s usually who shows me around. Managing life outside of the trade show floor, however, can be a bit more challenging. More charades. More broken Chinglish (on both sides of the conversation).

While the first week in Taipei certainly won’t be a vacation, since I have lots of work to do while here, the second week will hopefully be a little more laid back. The trade show will have come and gone, and I can try to partake in more tourist-y activities. If you have any recommendations in that regard, I’m all ears. I’ve already been to Shilin Night Market before, as well as Taipei 101, but I do want to visit the Taipei Zoo this time.

On the downside, I won’t be in Vancouver for the Stanley Cup Finals, so I’ll have to rely on some online streaming to get my hockey fix. Go Canucks Go!