MobileMonday Tokyo looks to international dimension — MobileMonday Global: Industry News

^{An email interview with Lars Cosh-ishii} MobileMonday Tokyo looks to international dimension

Lars Cosh-ishii

12 Sep 2008 at 15:16 GMT Timo Poropudas

Tokyo was the first MobileMonday operation launched outside of Helsinki. We asked co-founder Lars Cosh-ishii to give us a view into the chapter’s activities and future plans.

How did MobileMonday Tokyo get started? We were originally contacted through our Wireless Watch Japan website by Peter Vesterbacka from HP Bazaar in summer of 2004 and helped put together the first event in September that year.

How many people attend meeting?

We average 150 – mobile industry only - delegates per event. The year-end party, which is open to all, has attracted upwards of 400 attendees

We have a good cross selection of operators, handset makers along with content, application and service providers attending of course. We also get many people coming from the sales & marketing, media and academic side as well.

How many events in a year? What are they topics?

We’ve held at least 8 events per year since launch in 2004

Recent presentations include; next-generation networks and mobile digital tv to browsers, standards, user interfaces, social networking, smartphones and venture capital.

The Peer Awards event in March this year had 12 company presentations and was very well attended. Generally speaking different topics draw different groups but overall the average size crowd runs about the same.

What have been the highlights of your organization?

We’ve had really great feedback from the community and held several events at the Canadian embassy which is a fantastic facility. It has obviously raised our profile as organizers and resulted in a much greater network in both Japan and abroad.

Who have been the best known or most influential speakers/visitors?

We’ve several high profile speakers – MTV, NEC, RIM, HTC and Google for example – and of course many visiting execs from overseas make sure to swing by when they’re in Tokyo as well.

What language is used in the events?

Usually English although we have had a few presentations in Japanese. While most attendees are bi-lingual we understand that many visitors to our online presentations archive section from other locations are not.

How many people are involved in organizing the event?

Depending on the event venue we have perhaps 4-7 people involved. As of this year Ryo Umezawa, director of Mobikyo, has taken the lead in pulling together MoMo Tokyo events.

Where does the Tokyo Momo meet?

We have held about 30 events now at 8 different venues. From small live clubs like the Pink Cow, where we launched, or Sam & Daves most recently, to major telco operator facility at KDDI Designing Studio.

Are the events interactive?

Certainly we have the usual Q&A opportunity after presentations and have had demo night and panel events as well. Overall I would suggest the major interaction comes during the networking session afterwards.

Is Tokyo Momo helping anybody’s business? Whose?

No doubt there is demonstrated value in attending MoMo events. Building contact networks, finding customers or partners and keeping pace with new innovations is a critical process for this industry. I would suggest anyone who makes a serious effort to build their business opportunities and develop relationships have direct benefit from participating in this community.

How do you finance your activities?

We have annual sponsorship revenue and charge a small door fee for attendees.

Do you have sponsors? What kinds of organizations sponsor you?

We have had Jonkers Translation & Engineering as a charter sponsor since 2005 and Robert Leonard as an annual sponsor since 2006. We have also had several supporters for single special events and are also very thankful to ten companies, designated as Friends of MoMo Tokyo, who have contributed in some meaningful way to the growth of this platform.

What plans you have the next couple of years?

We have had several interesting conversations around this topic. One of the projects that seems to be a natural evolution is to begin driving some exchange missions between MoMo chapters. Increasingly we note a growing demand from our local members and companies based overseas to connect and explore opportunities to work together.

How did you become involved and when?

I have been involved since that very first email sent suggesting we consider organizing mobile industry related events in Tokyo.. 8-)

Where are you from originally? Do you speak and read Japanese?

I’m a Canadian boy who married a beautiful Japanese girl and moved to Tokyo in 2001. While I can speak some (and read even less), it’s been a great adventure following the growth of mobile, in the most dynamic market, from the early days and that’s yet another language altogether!

**What brought you to Finland now? **

I’m here for the advisory board meeting focused on development of our planned global research project and look forward to making a presentation at Molly Malones - the storied home of Momo Helsinki - on 15 September.