Events

5 Sep 2015

5:30pm – 7:00pm

Lecture Theatre 1, Cheng Yu Tung Building, CUHK

Mr. Michael Nelson, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, Asia-Pacific, Google

Mike Nelson leads communications and public affairs for Google in Asia-Pacific, based in Tokyo. Previously, Mike was at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., where he managed communications for consumer and business products, the Android mobile operating systems, as well as Google’s largest event each year, Google I/O. Before Google, Mike was an independent consultant, who advised tech companies, startups, and investment firms in Silicon Valley on product launches, company branding, and communications strategies. One of his clients was Google. Other clients included Cisco, Deloitte & Touche, Cardinal Venture Capital, IDG Publishing, Logitech, and business division of Apple, among others. Mike has also held senior positions at Novell, Pretty Good Privacy, as well as at advertising and public relations firms in Northern California. Mike began his business career at Bellcore (Bell Laboratories) in New Jersey, after being a daily newspaper reporter in New York and Massachusetts. He started out wanting to be an engineer. Mike holds both a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. He now lives in Tokyo with his wife, two daughters, and a dog.

Registration: http://www.com.cuhk.edu.hk/cwc

Email: com@cuhk.edu.hk
Tel: 39438710

Mr. Nelson will discuss his vision for public relations in the face of changing technologies, and how it is possible to stay authentic, relevant, and local in a world that is globally connected.

Somewhere along the way, public relations became less and less about the public and more and more about the media. Meanwhile, the smartphone-wielding people of Asia pay as much attention to each other’s musings and photos online as the news and images created by professional journalists. The truth is: It has always been this way. History teaches us that all markets are built on conversations. As far back as Renaissance Italy, financial transactions between people took place on benches, or “bancas” — now known as banks. Today, these benches sit on the Internet and conversations about Google can span anything from technology to economics to society and culture. A communication person in this world still needs to promote a company, but should do so in a way that enriches these conversations among journalists and the public with extra context, empathy, and wit — whether it’s a topic that might seem unrelated to the company or an issue that strikes at the company’s core. And while the tools have never been better, expectations have never been higher. How do you stay authentic, relevant, and local in a world that is globally connected?