Founder of OK DEAL

We interviewed Josie Chen, Founder of OK Deal, a very successful (and modest) Speeddate Event Organizer in Shanghai to share her views about her experience:

1. When did you start and what inspired you launch OK Deal?

I started OK,Deal! Club October 2007.  Prior to that I tried to start an English classifieds website and then an English Training business, but both of them failed. My initial idea to organize OK Deal! events was for the local Chinese young professionals to have a platform to practice their English and to get to know Western people.  Now 2 years later, we are much more focused on social networking instead of English language learning.

2. How many events have you organized so far?

Well we have organized way too many events for me to remember.  However, in 2008 we organized around 60+ events and in 2009 many more.  We have at least one weekly event and sometime as many as 3-4 events in a week.

3. What is the most unique / creative event you have organized?

We work hard to organize creative events for our members such our “Beauty Auction” Event, “Crazy High School Uniform” party, “Pole Dancing” contest and we plan to have more of these fun events into 2010.

4. How is your group different from the others?

We are different from other group in several ways:

1. We are an international English speaking organization in Shanghai.

2. Our goal is to help Chinese and Western people get to know each other.

3. There are lots of groups focused on business social networking in shanghai while we are more focusing on helping people to socialize in a casual and fun environment.

4. We are the only one group in Shanghai that organizes the most variety of events for our members (ie: Speed Dating, Business mixers, outdoor trips, nightclub party, workshop/seminars, Charity fundraisers, Salsa Dancing Party etc.)

5. Do you expect much competition moving forward?

Of course we do!  However, we have become quite well-known in Shanghai in these last 2 years and hope we could also build up another branch in a different international city such as Beijing and Hong Kong in the near future!

6. How many registered members do you currently have?

We have more than 5,000 members registered on the Chinese version website and more than 2,000 people have attended OK Deal! Events.

7. What is the key to your success?

Actually, I can’t really say we are very successful just yet. I just can say the reason OK,Deal! Club is becoming popular is:

• China is opening to the world and there are lots of expats living and working in Shanghai. At the same time, Chinese professionals are beginning to attend social events to build up their networking which is good for us.

• We have a hard working and creative team that always comes up with different ideas to attract more members.

8. Besides Speeddating Events, what other activities do you organize?

We organize different events with different purposes such as business mixers for people exchange their business resources, outdoor trips for people to relax during the weekend from their hectic work lives, and Bilingual & Salsa Dancing party for people looking for language exchange partners etc..

9. What is your advice to someone who is too shy or nervous to go Speeddating?

Don’t have too high of an expectation or treat the party as if it’s only a place for people to go hunting candidates for bf or gf. Just take it easy, it might also be a good place for you to look for good friends or business partners.

10. What can your guests expect at your events?

Well, for speeddating, there are cultural differences; local Chinese girls are expecting to find a serious boyfriend while Westerners are just looking to know more people.

11. How would you describe the people who join your events?  More expats or locals?

Most of the people join OK Deal events are young professionals age from 24-40, the ratio of expats and locals is different from the type of the events. There are more locals in language exchange event and more expats in outdoor trip.  For Speed dating parties, most of the girls are locals and there are both Chinese and Western guys.

12. Do more men or women sign up for your events and why?

For the speed dating party there are always more girls than guys; maybe guys feel stressed coming to the speed dating party. One guy told me he felt like he was being interviewed and he’d rather get know some girls in a relaxing environment.

13. Are there seasons or special days (ie: Valentines day) that are generally more popular for speeddating?

Before or on Valentine’s Day or Singles Day(11^th Nov.) we will have many more people come to the singles event;  people tend to feel more stressed on these kind of Days

14. Do your events benefit and social or charitable causes?  If so, which ones?

We are happy to do joint singles and charity events together, but so far we haven’t found a consistent way to plan it.  In the past, we had charity events for immigrant children and we will have more charity events in the future.

15. With all the events you organize, how do you find a balance with your personal life?

That’s a good question, I find that there is a misunderstanding that event organizers are very popular people. That she/he must have lots of friends in personal life and easy to get boyfriend/girlfriend from the event guests;  but, in fact I and other staff are really busy and focus on event organizing and hardly have time talking to the party guests, and after a stressing and tiring event organizing day, I would rather stay at home by myself, be social for the work and non-social for the personal life, that’s how I balance it.

16. What is your vision for the future of OK Deal?

Well, I hope OK,Deal! Club will become the largest international social networking platform in China.  This is what we are working hard for.

17. If there is one message you would like to share with our readers, what would it be?

For all of our future friends, I hope you could come to Shanghai China to have a look, at this most energetic and creative city. OK,Deal! Club will help you to get know many cool people here!

To contact Josie with questions or comments:
Email: Josiechen2006@gmail.com
+86 138 1812 0752

More information about OK Deal! Club can be found at:
http://www.okdealclub.com/