If everyone is reborn, who will work for capital?

Chapter 41, First Operation Meeting

The Social Association at Shanghai Jiao Tong University is a semi-official, active organization under the student union. They organize gatherings and social events every two weeks.

The "Matchmaking" masquerade dating event is one of their signature projects this semester, and it's quite popular in the BBS matchmaking section.

According to the event post, the event is open to all students of Jiaotong University, with each session having 60 to 80 participants, regardless of gender, and only requires a fee of 22 Dragon Coins for tea and snacks.

Students can bring their own masks to the event, or they can purchase a uniform mask provided by the association for 10 Dragon Coins.

Geng Zhi signed up for the "Matchmaking" event, of course not because he really wanted to find his soulmate.

He was eyeing the QQ number that was mandatory to fill in during the registration process.

He plans to wait until the organizers add the participants to the event's QQ group, then quietly send a small message to help "Jiaotong University Matchmaker" gather a wave of targeted seed users.

Right after submitting his registration information, Hao Pengxiang sat down next to him, carrying his laptop bag.

Geng Zhi glanced at him with a hint of surprise, because he had only ever appeared at night before.

"Don't worry, senior, I won't disturb your studying during the day," Hao Pengxiang quickly explained, grinning. "The dorm is too noisy, I came here to draw in peace and quiet for a while."

Geng Zhi didn't ask any more questions and got straight to the point with a smile: "Pengxiang, the 'Jiaotong University Matchmaker' team is short-handed right now. Could you come and help out temporarily? It's on a paid basis."

"Huh?" Hao Pengxiang blinked. "Your project is about to start? Don't you and Senior Ma both have to take the postgraduate entrance exam?"

"Parallelism is not contradictory." A straightforward and concise statement.

"Oh, but the school hasn't approved the 50,000 yuan yet? You're going to pay for it yourselves?"

"Yes, so the team is currently facing some financial difficulties," Geng frankly admitted. "We probably can't provide much in subsidies."

"Senior Brother Geng, I don't want the money." Hao Pengxiang's smile faded, and his expression became serious. "I have a natural affinity for this project. Just tell me what you need me to do. Anyway, I basically don't have any classes now, so I have a lot of free time."

Seeing his sincere and straightforward attitude, I stopped being polite.

He immediately created a new QQ group and named it "Instant Fame".

Then they brought in Li Haipeng, Sun Xiaowen, Ma Chunmei who was far away in Lanzhou, and Hao Pengxiang who was standing in front of them.

Ma Chunmei's role was clearly defined as a diving observer, only watching the action and not participating in any specific discussions.

Geng Zhi first introduced himself briefly in the group chat, and then called Li Haipeng over with a phone call.

The four-person team was now complete, and Geng Zhi prepared to hold the first formal operational meeting for "Jiaotong University Matchmaker".

He had hoped to find a small, empty classroom in the library where he could write and draw, but unfortunately he couldn't find one.

After going around in circles, he had no choice but to lead the three of them, with a slight sense of apology, to a small pavilion in the botanical garden north of the library.

As autumn deepens, the pavilion is entwined with withered vines, and the stone tables and benches are cold.

The four sat around a table. Li Haipeng, Hao Pengxiang, and Sun Xiaowen exchanged glances and looked around the "naturally unadorned" meeting room. Their expressions were somewhat subtle.

After a few seconds of silence, Li Haipeng, the co-founder, looked at the open-air conference room and couldn't help but tentatively suggest:

"Mr. Geng, our company will be registered soon... Shouldn't we rent a proper office? Even just a small room with a desk, chair, and whiteboard would be better than this... uh, being close to nature?"

Geng Zhi touched his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed, and nodded awkwardly.

He glanced in the direction of the campus entrepreneurship park and thought to himself that it was indeed time to put the office matter on the agenda.

Although the venue was simple, it did not diminish Geng Zhi's passion for assigning tasks.

Currently, Li Haipeng is the only one in the team who is truly committed full-time, so Geng Zhi skipped the lengthy motivational speeches and got straight to the point, setting the tone:

"Everyone, just like our group name 'One Battle to Fame,' the first major goal of 'Jiaotong University Matchmakers' is to make a resounding debut on the Jiaotong University campus. Therefore, the first battle is the decisive battle; success is the only option, and there can be no ambiguity."

"The first event is scheduled for November 11th, Singles' Day. Before the meeting officially begins, I'd like to confirm: from today until November 11th, how much time can each of you fully dedicate to this project? I need specific, available time."

After speaking frankly, he glanced at the three people one by one.

Li Haipeng was the first to express his opinion:

"Mr. Geng, my resignation process at New Oriental has been initiated, and I will no longer accept new sales assignments. My main job is to provide excellent service to students who have already enrolled, accompanying them through their postgraduate entrance exam preparation courses. This part of the time is relatively flexible. Therefore, I can dedicate more than 80% of my time to this project."

Geng Zhi nodded, turning his gaze to Sun Xiaowen: "Okay, what about Senior Xiaowen?"

Sun Xiaowen continued, "The 'Jiaotong University Matchmaker' project itself can be part of my research project, so I can basically devote my time to it."

She paused, then added, "However, I mainly need to focus my energy on psychology-related work; I don't have time to participate in other things like organizing events."

"Understood, I'll definitely let my senior do the part you're best at." Geng Zhi agreed, then turned his gaze to Hao Pengxiang, who looked slightly conflicted.

Hao Pengxiang's situation is somewhat complicated.

After all, he was still receiving a salary from Red Palm Studio, and he was afraid that doing too many things at once would delay the delivery of art materials.

Geng Zhi saw his concerns and took the initiative to pave the way for him, saying, "Pengxiang, I know you have important work to do. You don't need to spend a lot of time on it; just help me gather a few key pieces of information."

Hao Pengxiang was overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately nodded emphatically: "No problem!"

"Okay, I have a general idea of ​​the three of you's schedules." Geng Zhi clapped his hands and got down to business, "Now, I'll introduce the overall framework of the event."

He instinctively wanted to turn around and find the whiteboard, but after glancing at the bare pavilion pillars, he had to give up.

"To achieve instant success in the Double Eleven event, you must excel in all three phases: before, during, and after the event. In short, there are three key points:"

"First, before the event, the key is to generate buzz. Use the lowest cost to leverage the highest traffic and popularity, so that as many target users as possible know about us, are interested, and rush to sign up."

"Secondly, the core of the event is the experience. We want users to have an experience that exceeds their expectations. What does exceeding expectations mean? It would be best if they could meet the right people on-site. If they don't meet them right away, we should still give them enough hope and goodwill, making them feel that 'this event is reliable, and it will definitely work if we come a few more times,' thereby improving user retention."

"Third, after the event, the key is to generate buzz. Do a good job of promoting the event and spreading positive word-of-mouth, so that those who participated feel proud and that they got their money's worth; and make those who didn't participate eager to sign up for the next one."

After speaking frankly, he looked at the three of them and said, "I don't know if I've explained the logic clearly?"

The three nodded in agreement.

"Okay, then, based on these three goals, I'll assign the tasks." Geng Zhi cleared his throat.

"Let's start with the pre-event information. Our target users are very clear: single college students at Jiaotong University, including undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students, and those who are actively looking to find a partner, the stronger their desire, the better."

"To find these target users, you have to go to the places where they congregate."

"Online, the main battleground is the 'Drinking Water, Remember the Source' BBS, followed by Renren.com, Tieba's dating sections, and relevant campus dating QQ groups. Offline, it's all the existing dating gatherings."

Geng Zhi looked at Hao Pengxiang and said, "Pengxiang, I hope you can help me find the contact information for the moderators of the main BBS section and the Magpie Bridge section, or other people with administrative privileges. We need to contact them to get permission to pin the post."

Hao Pengxiang pondered for a few seconds: "Okay, senior, I'll take care of this. Is this the only task? It seems a bit small, could you give me some more?"

"In addition, it would be best to find a few editors or operations staff who are good at posting and have a good understanding of online trends, and bring them into our team."

Hao Pengxiang nodded again: "Okay, understood!"

Geng turned directly to Li Haipeng: "President Li, once Pengxiang gets the contact information, your first task is to 'win over' these moderators. You can exchange a small amount of company sponsorship for resources."

Li Haipeng: "Received!"

"Secondly, you'll be responsible for securing sponsorships from nearby businesses, such as cafes and bubble tea shops. We can integrate their promotional activities; we'll discuss the specifics later."

Li Haipeng: "Okay, no problem!"

"Thirdly, regarding the publicity, I will plan a somewhat 'mysterious' marketing event, and I'll share it with you later. You'll need to coordinate the procurement of the relevant materials."

Li Haipeng: "Okay!"

"Fourth, Mr. Li, you can make better use of your talent for infiltration in those social groups at school and bring in more potential seed users."

Li Haipeng: "...Okay."

Immediately afterwards, Geng Zhi turned his gaze to Sun Xiaowen, who was listening in a daze.

"Xiaowen, we will collect users' pre-registration information before the event. In addition to basic information such as name and college, we will also ask them to fill in their personality, hobbies, zodiac sign, and criteria for choosing a partner."

"We need your help to create a preliminary, relatively reasonable match between the male and female users who have registered, based on this information. We will try to refer to this when grouping them."

"Yes, that's achievable." Sun Xiaowen nodded.

"In the future, we will gradually improve this matching system into a 'soul matching model,' continuously refining and iterating it, and eventually even outputting our own 'Jiaotong University Matchmaker's' marriage and love theory. Therefore, this is a long-term and arduous task." Geng Zhi looked at Sun Xiaowen with a serious tone.

Sun Xiaowen's eyes lit up as she listened, and her doubts about it being just "playing house" completely disappeared.

Geng Zhi's plan was clear, solid, and perfectly aligned with her research needs.

"Junior Geng," she spoke first, her tone much more enthusiastic than before, "I've thought about it carefully, and I can not only do psychology-related work, but I can also participate in other aspects if needed."

Geng Zhi smiled and said, "Okay, thank you for your hard work, senior. I'll arrange it according to the situation."

After assigning tasks, Geng Zhi continued, "During and after the event, we will need various roles such as host, event planner, marketing planner, and copywriter. I will figure out how to handle this part, and in principle, it will not require any extra time from you."

"However," he changed the subject, revealing a slightly sly smile, "to avoid our first event ending up with no couples, which would be too embarrassing... we need some reasonable packaging. For example, we could prepare one or two successful examples internally as promotional material."

Upon hearing this, the three looked at each other in bewilderment.

The most interesting expression came from Sun Xiaowen, who almost instinctively shook her head.

Matching up from within?

She's the only woman around right now, so who can she team up with?

Hao Pengxiang? Just a pretty boy, impossible.

Li Haipeng? He doesn't seem like the same kind of person.

He's straightforward... his appearance and abilities are impeccable, but something just feels off about him, and he doesn't seem quite right for the role.

Seeing her embarrassment, Geng Zhi smiled and comforted her, "Don't worry, senior, I'll try my best not to make you sacrifice yourself. If it really comes to the worst and you need to step in, I guarantee I'll match you with a high-IQ, high-EQ, high-quality PhD man."

Sun Xiaowen smiled awkwardly and didn't reply.

Just then, Geng Zhi's phone vibrated.

It was a text message from the organizer of "Fate Match" informing him that he had successfully registered and that he could go directly to the event location on time—there was no step of creating a QQ group in advance.

After a moment's thought, Geng Zhi looked at Li Haipeng and a smirk appeared on his lips:

"Mr. Li, come with me to a social event on Saturday. Let's go undercover for a bit."

===

Happy New Year to all my fellow book lovers! May everything go smoothly for you!