Kodensha Exhibition Report: Overseas & Inbound Marketing 2018

Hello everyone!
This is Satake from Kodensha.

The theme of this blog is "Kodensha's Exhibition Report"!
This will be the exhibition report of
"Overseas & Inbound Marketing 2018" held at Tokyo Big Sight for three days from July 18 (Wed.) to July 20 (Fri.), 2018!

What is "Overseas & Inbound Marketing 2018?"

It is an exhibition that renewed "Inbound Japan" held since 2016 as "Overseas & Inbound Marketing 2018" to create a place to gather information and exchange information to promote Japanese products and culture to overseas in addition to inbound!

The first day of the event! To Tokyo Big Sight!

I arrived at Shin-Osaka Station a little past 6:00 a.m. on the morning of the 18th!
When I went to the Shinkansen boarding platform, I found that the Shinkansen I was going to take had already arrived at the platform, so I boarded the train impatiently.
I have been falling asleep in less than 10 minutes after boarding a train since childhood ... .
I have never seen Mt. Fuji between Shin-Osaka and Tokyo in my life! (Crying).
I woke up in Shin-Yokohama, thinking "I hope I can see Mt. Fuji this time because the weather was nice..." ...

And so we arrived at Shinagawa station!
I was a little overwhelmed by the crowded train in Tokyo, but I changed from the crowded Yamanote Line to the Rinkai Line at Osaki Station (I was lucky to be able to sit down...*^_^*).
From Kokusai-Tenjijo Station, we followed behind people who probably had the same destination, and arrived at our destination without incident!

It is the famous Tokyo Big Sight. ！！！！ (`・ω・´)
I'm trying to take a picture with full of spirit!

Tokyo Big Sight, the venue (it's huge!)

(Surprisingly, I was the only one taking pictures...)
(Surprisingly, I was the only one taking pictures ...) While looking around the spacious facility, I walked toward the West Hall, the venue for this year's exhibition.
And then .... There it was! Our booth.

Kodensha Booth

When I arrived at the booth, I saw the senior staff of the Tokyo branch and the president already there! I ran up to them and greeted them at
"Mr. Satake~ you came so early! and the president with a dazzling morning smile.
At this point, it was 9:40 before the doors opened.

！！！！！ ∑Holy shit! !

Me: "Yes!"
President: "Aren't you tired?"
The president speaks kindly to me as I have ridden the bullet train to Tokyo early in the morning.
Me: "I'm fine!
President: "Well, then, go ahead and do your MC rehearsal!"
Me: "Ha, yes..."

I can't not do my best.

Let the rehearsal begin! The time is 10 minutes before the opening.
I said, "Today we are going to have a mini-seminar at Kodensha..."
I was bitten from the very beginning.
Good thing I was practicing ... .

This time, we had two booths (length: 3 meters, width: 6 meters), and in addition to product demonstrations, we decided to hold a mini-seminar, our first attempt, with a microphone and amplifier in the booth.

Once the members gather, they hold a meeting to share information and goals for the exhibition to boost morale!

The doors open at 10:00!
Visitors enter the exhibition hall one after another!

Mini seminars will be held five times a day, with each seminar focusing on a different theme.
We have tried to introduce our solutions in a way that is easy to understand even for those who are not familiar with the translation industry.

The titles of each mini-seminar are as shown below!

I want to make a simultaneous broadcast in multiple languages to foreign visitors to Japan.
I want to make my website multilingual.
I want to know which translation solution best suits my company's needs.
The seminar was packed with useful information condensed into 15 minutes for those who have such concerns!

MCing a mini-seminar! I'm so excited ><

Day 2] Hear directly from customers who are considering inbound support!

On the morning of the second day, we headed to the venue from our hotel in Shiomi.
From Kokusai Tenjijo Station, the closest station to the venue, to the Big Sight, there were many people walking with parasols and the chirping of cicadas could be heard from everywhere.

It is now opening time!
I think there are more people than on the first day.
During the exhibition, the average daytime temperature exceeded 35 degrees Celsius, so we were a little worried about whether we would be able to attract visitors, but we were very happy and grateful that more people than expected showed up!

We are very sorry that there were some participants who had to attend the mini-seminars and "My Site Translation," the automatic translation of websites, which were not available on the previous day, and that there were some who had to stand and watch.

We also gave away Imabari towels on a first-come, first-served basis to those who participated in the mini-seminars throughout the three days of the event!
It was so hot that sweat was pouring down our faces, so everyone seemed to be pleased with the towels.
I'm so glad!

My Site Translation Mini Seminar

With the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan increasing and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics less than two years away, we felt that many customers were looking for a service that can provide not only normal information broadcasts, but also multilingual broadcasts and information that can be used in case of emergency.
There were also many questions about the languages that can be used.

We would like to start providing multilingual support as an inbound measure.
We have been getting a lot of Thai inquiries lately.
Is there a translation tool that can be completed in-house?
We would like to combine human translation and automatic translation to reduce costs!
And so on...

We were able to hear directly from the clients about their needs for multilingual support in various situations.
Kodensha will propose the best translation tools to meet your specific needs!
(Some of our clients are very knowledgeable about translation. (Some of our customers are very knowledgeable about translation, and I was even asked to tell them about it myself!)

For your information, at Kodensha...
Automatic website translation "My Site Translation" is now available in 32 languages!
Human-powered (manual) translation" is available in 100 languages!

At the booth, we had a lot of fun with customers from Shikoku (I'm from Kochi Prefecture) and talked about Shikoku's history.
(I am from Kochi Prefecture.) We also had a great time chatting with customers from Shikoku and receiving sweets from those who attended the "Bakery & Cafe Japan" exhibition held in the East Hall at the same venue.

Day 3] Here are the themes of the Solution Sessions!

At last, it is the last day!
On the third and final day, in addition to the booth information and mini-seminars, a special theater was set up for the event.
The third and final day of the event, in addition to the booth information and a mini seminar, we held a solution session on the theme of "Introduction of multilingual broadcasting solutions for use in times of peace and disaster in the era of 40 million visitors to Japan".
The session was entitled "Introducing Multilingual Broadcasting Solutions for Use in Times of Peace and Disaster in the Era of 40 Million Visitors to Japan".

Final day Solution Session

In this session, we introduced our "Multilingual Broadcasting Solution," which can customize broadcast scripts according to usage scenarios and meet all kinds of needs, including actual introduction examples and demonstrations, in response to the urgent need to address the "language barrier" for the increasing number of foreign visitors to Japan by 2020. The presentation included actual case studies and demonstrations.

Solution Sessions

The service has been particularly well received for its ability to provide instant translation and synthetic voice guidance on the spot in preparation for unforeseen situations.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns about the services we have introduced.

Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit our booth and attend our seminars.
This is the Kodensha exhibition report "Overseas & Inbound Marketing 2018".

Day 3: Themes of the Solution Sessions are here!

As I stood for a long time, which I was not accustomed to doing, each day, as the exhibition was drawing to a close, I found myself saying, "My feet are killing me! My feet! as the end of the exhibition approached.
Perhaps it was the lack of daily exercise, but on the first day, the president and senior staff told me to apply compresses and massage my feet.
I would like to sneak in a pair of flats next time (+_+)