Getting A Hold of The Chinese New Year Sponsors

There are a couple of problems that I’ve run into while interviewing people researching information for my next article. I’m currently working on the Chinese New Year that will take place in February 2009. There is a lot of material to cover so the quantity shouldn’t be a problem. However, the problems can be arranged in three different categories. First, there is always a language barrier since a couple of my sources live in Chinatown and don’t speak English very well. Second, the sponsors for the event are not all located in Chinatown, and I need to contact a lot of people that are not easily accessible. Third, the event is still pretty far off and information is still missing.

Some people in Chinatown speak English perfectly, some others don’t. I’ve noticed that most of the very knowledgeable people speak Chinese. They are the ones that have lived in the neighborhood the longest and that know all the anecdotes. However, this story is a little bit easier than the others because the people who organize the parade and the fairs are not in Chinatown (although very close) and speak English fluently.

The second difficulty that I’ve run into is the locations. Since the story will be about how much the sponsors will contribute to the event compared to last year, I need to talk to them. However, the sponsors are not all located in Chinatown; they are all around the city. Also, most of the sponsors don’t deal with sponsorship at the retail level. Most of them try to contact the right department, but everything takes a lot of time to process.

The third and last problem that I’ve run into is the fact that the Chinese New Year is in almost two months, and the organizers don’t know all the information yet. They are able to provide me with the big numbers but don’t have details about the event yet. Also, not all the sponsors have made up their mind on the amount they will put in for the event. Some of them seem to be willing to do the same as previous years, but others are trying to cut back. However, a lot of them are still undecided.

I just need to spend enough time going to the different parts of the city to gather the information. I also need to get estimates from the sponsors as most of them already have an idea of what they are going to spend. As far as the language, there isn’t much I can do, but –like I said– it’s been a lot better for this particular story.