Doing Business In China Director's Conference. Beijing And Shanghai, March 28 Through April 3.

Global Navigation, a peer to peer resource for boards of directors of multinational corporations and an affiliate of Corporate Board Member magazine, is putting on a seminar on board-related issues involving China. Its agenda and the speakers are absolutely first rate and I plan to attend. China Law Blog's own Steve Dickinson will be speaking in Shanghai on China employment law issues on April 2.

The speaking portion begins in Beijing, on Saturday March 28th, with Washington SyCip, Founder of the Asian Institute of Management and Founder of SVG & Co. (now part of Ernst & Young), speaking on "economic freedom versus political freedom in Asia."

The next day, also in Beijing, will consist of the following:

-- James (Jimmy) Hexter, Senior Partner of McKinsey & Company, on "Strategy to Operations: How to Create a Long-term Business in China."

-- Allen Ge, President of Otis Elevator (China), on "How to Sell to China."

-- Matthew Estes, CEO & Founder of Baoying BabyCare, Inc., on "Going to the Lesser Known Cities: Where Are the Markets Opening?"

-- Steve Vickers, CEO of International Risk Ltd.will host a panel of legal experts on "Protecting Your Brand and Your Intellectual Property: So you decided to manufacture and sell in China, but how do you protect your intellectual property?"

-- James McGregor, author of "One Billion Customers," and William McCahill, former charge d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, will hold an informal question and answer session with directors.

March 30, still in Beijing, has the following on tap:

-- Sarah Kemp, Commercial Officer & First Secretary of Embassy of the United States, on China's "business landscape and how it is changing."

-- Steven M. Chapman, Group Vice President & President - Emerging Markets & Businesses, Cummins, Inc., on "Joint Ventures and Wholly-Owned Foreign Enterprises."

-- Cai Jinyong, CEO of Goldman Sachs' Chinese securities joint venture and head of its China investment banking business, on "In-Bound and Out-Bound Mergers & Acquisitions."

-- Steve Vickers on "Knowing Your [China] Partner

-- Christian Murck, CEO Asia Region, APCO Worldwide, on "Introduction to Industry Considerations in China."

-- Industry Breakout Lunch Sessions on highly regulated industries in China. Delegates will discuss the energy, financial services, food & beverages, technology/telecom, media and healthcare industries.

March 31 in Beijing will consist of the following:

-- CFO breakfast.

-- Edward Tian, Director for the Asian board of the New York Stock Exchange, on "how to attract worldwide investors."

Participants then go to Shanghai on April 1, where James Liu, Executive Vice President of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, will give an overview of the exchange.

On April 2, in Shanghai, the following will take place:

-- Sam Su, CEO, Yum! China, will discuss human resource and operations.

-- Walter Hungerbuhler and Dennis Ku, from Egon Zehnder International, will discuss "Human Resources and Compensation Issues."

-- Steve Dickinson of Harris & Moure and China Law Blog, will discuss "the current laws that affect employers."

The next day, April 3, will include the following:

-- Kenneth Jarrett, Vice Chairman of APCO Worldwide's greater China region, on "What is the Shanghai World Expo and why does it matter?"

-- Tina Ju, Managing Partner, KPCB (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers) China, on China venture capital, private equity, and IPOs.

The above describes only individual speaking sessions. This is a multi-day program that will involve all sorts of panels, lunches and dinners, tourist trips, and peer to peer networking among both Multinational companies and leading Chinese companies. I strongly urge anyone interested in finding out more about this program click here for more information.