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You sheeple are being poisoned from above, wake up! Just look up on a clear day and you’ll see it.Justin Franco, teacher, in his answer already set out some rules about what can qualify as a “vaccines cause autism” for the industry:wrongbased on false and cherry-picked databelieved by a small number of uneducated people who don’t understand the industrydebunked by professionals who work in the industryTo those I’d like to add:5. often seen as a conspiracy by government or big industry against the innocent little peopleAnd possibly:6. can cause harmNow I don’t know if this one from the aviation industry would abide by my own rule number 6, but it sure obeys all the other points: the chemtrail conspiracy theory (Chemtrail conspiracy theory - Wikipedia). If harm is a requirement here, then I propose the luckily less commonly believed conspiracy that I’ll add at the very end of this answer - stay tuned. The Bermuda triangle, on the other hand, doesn’t qualify for this answer, in my opinion.Outline: You sheeple are being poisoned, wake up!For those of you who may be unaware, the “theory” is that we innocent and helpless little people are constantly being sprayed with chemicals or organisms by the airplanes that are always overflying us. Governments and big industry (in the form of the airlines and, of course, the big oil companies) put their hands together in all secrecy for a variety of reasons, depending on the “skeptic”: population control, an electromagnetic missile defense shield that consists of Barium, greedy oil companies don’t want sunlight to reach your solar panels, big pharma wants you sick so they can sell more, geoengineering to prevent global warming… even malicious atheists trying to poison the angels in heaven (though this last one is a satirical take on it, I’d rather hope: Are Militant Atheists Using Chemtrails to Poison the Angels in Heaven?).(A good picture is always great “proof”: notice how there are apparently special nozzles installed on airliners to spray all kind of nastiness over your heads. This picture comes from http://www.globalresearch.ca/chemtrails-a-planetary-catastrophe-created-by-geo-engineering/5355299, which has many more pictures that “prove” it all.)First: It’s wrongObviously it’s wrong. Thousands, nay perhaps millions, of people worldwide must be in on this well kept secret, and then able to keep it confidential even after many years in retirement or losing their job in aviation/government; if that alone doesn’t already make you frown and question the conspiracy, I’ll try and explain.Fuel consists of long hydrocarbon chains. When you burn that, inside a jet engine, you add [math]O_{2}[/math], or oxygen, from the air. The hydrocarbon chains break their internal bonds, releasing energy - which is why you do it - and recombine with the oxygen. The result is that you end up with [math]CO_{2}[/math], a greenhouse gas, and “burned hydrogen” also known as [math]H_{2}O[/math], and also known as water or, in its solid form, ice.(The exact combination of carbon with hydrogen and other atoms doesn’t really matter here, but kerosene will look something like that. You extract energy when you recombine these carbon- and hydrogen-atoms with oxygen (= burning). The result is [math]CO_{2} [/math][math][/math][math][/math]and [math]H_{2}O[/math], blown out at the back of the aircraft’s engine.)Sure, kerosene is not purely carbon and hydrogen. There’s is some nastiness in there too: sulfur and nitrogen for example. Therefore, there are indeed some undesirable chemicals that end up in the sky too: nitrogen oxides ([math]NO_{x}[/math]), sulfur compounds, and soot for example.The water that comes out of the back of the engine then enters the atmospheric conditions of the air at altitude. Depending on the temperature and humidity there, it condenses or deposits as ice crystals. Cold air can contain less water than warm air before it’s saturated, a condition you see yourself when you breathe out clouds in freezing cold winter weather, or when you take that box of yummy chocolate ice cream out of the freezer and see the water in the air deposit and form ice crystals on the outside.Tiny ice crystals that formed this way then float around in the air for awhile, after the aircraft passed. The time these contrails linger depends on the temperature and humidity of the air, and the temperature of the engine exhaust.(A picture often used by the “skeptics”. But it’s just the water in the engine’s exhaust that sublimates in the humid atmosphere.)“Ah… but what about those airplanes where pilots forgot to switch off their spray on landing?” One of my friends asked me in some form one day on Facebook, because of a picture similar to this:(Caught in the act? The “spray” doesn’t come from the engines here, so there must be nozzles and the forgetful pilots omitted to switch off their chemical spray. Well… no. Read on.)Cold air and lower air pressure can contain less water without that [math]H_{2}O[/math] condensing into a cloud. When a passing airfoil lowers the pressure, which it has to to be able to fly, the water already present in the air, condenses. If you don’t believe me, then take your deodorant and start spraying while keeping it pressed to try and empty the contents. Feel how lowering the air pressure inside the container makes it cold. Get it cold enough and note how it gets wet on the outside, as the water present in the air condenses on its chilly surface. When you’ll get the condensation, depends again on temperature and humidity.Instead of a conspiracy, pilots see a magnificently beautiful visualization of flight in this phenomenon, like in this wonderful video for example:(Waw, just waaw. Pure beauty. A perfect visualization of lift and why airplanes fly.)You’ll see the zones of lowered pressure: over the wings and the vortexes that form at the tip of the wings or the edges of the high lift surfaces (the flaps). Air wants to flow from a higher pressure zone, underneath those surfaces, to the low pressure zone above, which causes the vortex at the edges.As an Airbus pilot, I don’t know of any nozzle and/or tank that the airlines secretly installed in collaboration with the government. I have never flicked a switch to poison anyone, nor to purposely take sunlight away from their precious solar panels.The only nozzle there may be, on big jets, is the one for the fuel jettison. That’s only used to dump fuel (not dangerous chemicals or biological substances) in case an overweight aircraft has to do an emergency landing and needs to reduce its weight.(This is a nozzle that is only found on big airliners and it’s there to give them the ability to dump fuel if they need to land lighter. It’s not there to secretly pour nanoparticles into your body, as this Dutch website seems to suggest: Op zoek naar de ware agenda achter de chemtrails. In this picture there’s a fuel jettison going on, in the interest of safety; not a conspiracy to generate money for big pharma.)Second: The false and cherry-picked dataThere is probably a flame that started this smoke. Governments indeed tried - and still try, with some success sometimes - to influence rainfall by spraying particles into the air in certain locations (Cloud seeding - Wikipedia). The idea there is to give the water in the air some kind of seed to start building on, and then hoping the buildup of water or ice on that chemical nucleus gets heavy enough to fall as rain, letting the crops below enjoy a much needed drink.From a little flame like that, it’s not hard to imagine how false and cherry-picked data can exacerbate the myth.Last year, a research team contacted scientists who could serve as experts on the matter, as you can read in this interesting link: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/8/084011.77 scientists participated, but - as is not uncommon in science - one of them expressed uncertainty about one thing: “… high levels of atm(ospheric) barium in a remote area with standard ‘low’ soil barium”In a schoolbook case of cherry-picking, not unlike the vaccines-cause-autism bovine feces, believers concentrate on the one scientist reporting that he/she can’t explain why there was more barium than there should have been in one sample. If this scientist can’t explain it… well for sure it must be chemtrails then.Further cherry-picking is rife. For example in connecting epidemics, like the flu, with the appearance of more contrails in the sky. (Chemtrails; CHEMTRAIL FLU: Doctor’s shock claim planes make us sick so medical firms can cash in)Third: Believed by a minority who don’t understand the industryI have yet to meet the first pilot or aeronautical engineer who takes chemtrails seriously. When someone in the profession looks at the presented pictures, they straight away know it’s a normal phenomenon and that there’s no hidden switches and containers on their planes.The people who don’t understand the industry, of course, cannot be expected to just know that.Yet in the face of proof to the contrary, a minority of believers then hold on to that story they’ve told themselves, with the ability to mold and adjust the “theory” because facts can get in the way only this much: “Okay, the science proves it’s just water, BUT water doesn’t stay so long in icy clouds normally; there are normal contrails - we’ll concede - but also chemtrails.”Of course the odd gullible politician hunting for votes by taking this seriously has to get involved too. Granted, evil Russia or China may, after all, secretly stash their airlines full of seedy chemicals to suppress the population growth of another God’s given country, or even chemically try to dumb down the civilians there. (For example: http://www.globalresearch.ca/chemtrails-politician-ignites-controversial-debate-in-swedish-media/5308948; http://www.naturalnews.com/037451_chemtrails_conspiracy_theory_geoengineering.html#; and The United Nations Admits Chemtrails Are Real)And so by an outnumbered group of people who don’t understand the industry, this myth propagates.Fourth: Debunked by professionals and scientistsThe more opposition the “skeptics” get, the more it strengthens their conviction and the more it justifies their effort. Anyone in the know can easily deny the myth, but don’t let a detail like that get in the way of a good juicy conspiracy.When professionals and scientists time after time debunk the myth, the believers, rather than admitting they must have interpreted the data wrong, now shift their reasoning to strengthen their conviction. Instead of giving up their deeply held belief which came to define them somehow, they prefer a cognitive bias, in a case of effort justification. More than just plainly throw the towel in the ring by truthfully admitting they just didn’t know enough to explain it before, they entrench the myth into who they really are. It becomes even more their raison d'être.Professionals and experts can debunk, but it’s futile. They must be in on it too, or at the very least blinded by their knowledge.Fifth: It’s massive conspiracy on an incredible scaleThe real aim of the conspiracy is a matter of guesswork, of course. And if the idiocy of an aim is debunked, or starts to become obvious to a true believer, then there’s always the possibility to shift: “well I just know they spray chemicals so they must do it for another reason then.”The scale of the evil scheme is massive, but can also vary, depending on the convincing power of the debunker: “well if the airlines aren’t all in on it, then most are, or at least it’s the military doing it.”Hopes that Wikileaks or Snowden would present government documents were futile, but maybe the next whistle-blower will prove more useful to the cause.Sixth: It causes harmThis is where I’ll have to admit that apart from making some folks look like the fools they are, I don’t really see an immediate way that it causes harm, at least for now (unless you take this article serious: Jet pilots fear 'chemtrail' attacks). Sure, it wastes peoples time and resources by having to investigate the nonsense, but compared to the vaccines-cause-autism myth, it’s rather benign.There’s another one, less known, “theory” that could fit this bill though: that oxygen masks are there only to keep you calm.This one can be traced back to the movie “Fight Club”, where Brad Pitt’s character said:“You know why they put oxygen masks on planes? Oxygen gets you high. In a catastrophic emergency, you're taking giant panicked breaths. Suddenly you become euphoric, docile. You accept your fate. It's all right here [points at an emergency instruction manual on a plane]. Emergency water landing – 600 miles an hour. Blank faces, calm as Hindu cows.Wait, what? Luckily, that last one hasn’t caught on as much as the chemtrail one, which is why I didn’t use this one first in this answer. Hopefully this one dies the quiet death of silence it deserves. I’d rather think that every passenger on my flights knows better and puts on his/her mask when the day comes, rather than feeling special, unique and smarter than everyone else who dons theirs. But you never know, right?

I can’t compare to all states of India with Kerala and its not fair too at this stage to make any comparisons. We are in the middle of a crisis and this is not just applicable to Kerala or South India or India as whole… Rather it's applicable to the entire world.Every government in this world is trying their level best to serve their citizens in the crisis. We can’t claim, ONLY we are doing the best. Everywhere, govts are trying to do best for their people. Maybe in some areas, we might be standing slightly better, some areas we may be lacking too.So I am not into any comparison at all. But since I write about Kerala in Quora, I feel I will write what all Kerala State has done in its fight against Corona Virus. I am talking only in specific to Kerala, not in comparison with any others.And please note, this is an evolving crisis and every day something new is being added to the fight. So sticking to things as of yesterday- 28/03/2020Contact trackingFor me personally, I consider this job done by Kerala’s DHS (Directorate of Health Services) as something the best they could do for us. Learning from Nipah outbreak experience, Kerala has used its resources to track contacts and people who been associated with the index patient (first patient in a cluster) to identify a cluster and isolate from the community. This includes detailed tracking of patient’s route from the moment he/she landed in Kerala until the moment he/she been quarantined into the hospital. Most of the tracking is done thro’ inputs made by the patient which are cross verified by officials of Public Health Inspectorate and Community Medicine Department, apart from using Police’s intelligence sources like Cyber cell to track down the mobile tower locations of the patient, special branch reports, phone records, CCTV camera recordings etc. By this manner, DHS able to identify a cluster comprising of potential secondary and tertiary contacts made by the index patient who will be either home or hospital quarantined and if any symptoms are shown, their blood samples will be tested.The DHS frequently makes regular route maps of patients and publishes in public to let people know about the time and place where the patient was and ask the public to declare to DHS, if they were in at that place at the specified time, to be declared as part of a cluster.Route Map of Patient 1 of Pathanamthitta which resulted in the start of second wave since March 2020This kind of tracking helped Kerala as of now to contain the disease to cluster level, though some have jumped out of quarantine and their actions created more clusters and patients.How Kerala's flowchart model is helping effective coronavirus contact tracingKerala launches contact-tracing programme to neutralise coronavirus threat2. TestingI have written answers before. Kerala’s strategy in combating this disease is by constant testing of samples. Kerala so far is the state that has done the highest number of testing among Indian states and its testing ratio is somewhat at par with many major affected countries like Japan or similar.Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to Why are no COVID-19 deaths reported in Kerala even though the state has the highest number of cases?States That Are Testing More Are Detecting More Cases, Data Show |If Kerala has done anything good in this sector, its solely because of regular testing and able to identify people quickly.As of yesterday (28/02/2020),Kerala tested 6,067 samples5,270 samples were negative165 are currently on treatment (Confirmed cases)1,34,370 are in isolation/surveillance (not yet confirmed)8 have recovered and still kept in observationand 1 death has been reported (the very first death in the state)This massive Pro-testing approach has helped Kerala to have nearly 10 Testing Virology labs in the state, including an NIV unit that helps faster and regular testing. As of now, Kerala has the highest number of blood sample testing facility in IndiaAs yesterday Kerala announced massive rapid testing after getting in-principle approval from ICMR. Kerala is the first state to announce so and was pressing ICMR for rapid testing permission for every single one in isolation/quarantine for last few days.3. Medical preparednessKerala was expecting to have Corona right soon after China declared its condition way back in Jan 2020. Kerala due to its very high non-resident Malayalee population living in many countries of the world was sure, they will soon get this new disease thro’ them and it was so right its judgement when the first Covid Case of India was reported in Kerala way back in Feb 2020. And it fully contained the first wave of Covid entry in Feb when it could isolate all cases and avoid spread etc.In the second wave, which happened thro’ an irresponsible family’s actions that created multiple clusters and later thro’ various foreign imports (some again were of irresponsible actions), the medical teams were so prepared to deal with emergencyDHS by March mid has already completed setting up various contingency plans, which were titled as PLAN A, PLAN B AND PLAN C. These plans were effectively communicated to entire medical and administrative officials of the states and everything has been well defined. This even includes thresh-holds for initiating each plan. Medical infra audits were carried out as part of this medical contingency plansThe Plan A which is currently ongoing has seen mobilization of resources associated with 50 Govt hospitals and 2 private hospitals on standby with total of 974 isolation beds and 22 ICUs readied for Corona carePlan B which has been initiated last day has mobilized resources for an additional 71 govt hospitals and 55 private hospitals for combating this disease which will add another 1408 beds.Plan C is the next stage (once the diseases spread comes to 3rd stage) which will mobilize 81 govt hospitals and 41 private hospitals with another addition of 3028 beds and 218 ICU bedsThese plans were drawn in March 1st week, which shows the extend of planning of Kerala Govt.The new set of plans (unofficially codenamed as PLAN D) will feature nationalization or semi-nationalization of entire Private hospitals of Kerala featuring a total bed of 69,434 beds and 5507 ICU beds. As of the latest decision, the govt decided to take over unused private hospitals and those medical colleges whose operations were suspended by MCI. 3 hospitals facilities and one Hostel complex were taken over in last 48 hours (PVS Hospital in Kochi, Anjarakady Medical College in Kannur, Shanti Jamaath Islami Hospital in Kozhikode and Sree Sankaracharya University Hostel Complex in Kochi)Collector Ernakulam (Kochi) taking over an unused hospital in Kochi city to be converted into a Covid Care Hospital facility.The Plan D features taking over hotels, hostels, lodges and other commercial units to develop into Isolation centres and Temporary Isolation centres, which shall be more than 2 Million rooms.As of now, Kerala Govt has announced opening Exclusive Covid Hospitals in every district of Kerala (14 Covid Hospitals in the level of tertiary care facility) and the first one is opened in Kochi- CMC (Cochin Medical College) which is a government Medical college and others are expected to open by this weekKerala’s first dedicated Covid Care Hospital centre in Kochi with 500 isolation beds and 70 plus ICU bedsGovt has been in talks with various community organizations and they all pledged their support for the fight. The Catholic Hospitals Association which is the second-largest Medical group after Government hospital network has decided to give all their hospitals to DHS along with their medical Staff (2660 Doctors, 10,300 Nurses, 5,500+ Paramedics and 6800 Admin staff). The Nair Service Society has assured Govt to provide its 2 hospitals and 100 plus educational institutions which they can convert into field hospitals if required. The SNDP Trust also assured Govt to provide its 1000 plus schools to be converted as field medical hospitals or treatment centres. It also assured to give its medical college to the state upon demand. So as Muslim Educational Society and Jammat e Hind Islami also assured to provide all its hospitals, madrasas, schools and colleges to the government for its better use.4. Upgrading Covid Hospital facilitiesOne key factor Kerala Govt focused on improving the facilities at all Covid care hospitals to ensure the public do not hide their medical cases to avoid visiting or isolating themselves.All Govt Covid Isolation rooms and treatment rooms are modernized and sanitized as per WHO protocols. Patients were brought to such isolation wards in dedicated Covid care ambulances and the isolation rooms were all modern and neatThe govt took extra care to ensure the food patients get at these hospitals should be as inviting as possible to shed all bias and prejudices against Govt hospitalsCovid patients gets inviting meals with options like Soups, fruits, eggs, Dosa, Appams, Rice-fish curries, chappatis, curd etc while foreign patients gets continental meals like Toasted breads, cheeses, omelettes/scrambled eggs, roasted chicken, biscuits etc. Patients do get daily milk, tea, coffee, fresh fruit juices, packed mineral water and daily newspapers (courtesy from Hindu).Dosa, eggs, oranges, fish fry: Here's the menu at COVID-19 isolation wards in KeralaThe hospital authorities have taken every wish of patients as much as possible, for example an covid affected Kid from Italy in treatment at Kochi were treated with Italian pasta, Ravoli and pizzas as the kid likes only Italian food which were ordered from an Italian restaurant nearby.5. Medical Industrial PreparednessKerala Govt has taken extra note in preparing itself for a major medical emergency. The state’s Medicine production has gone into full swing. The state-run Kerala State Drugs and Pharmaceutical Corporation has been entrusted with bulk mass production of Hand sanitizers which produced more than 1 Lakh bottles of Sanitizers and increased production targets to 1 million (10 lakh) by end of this week.1 lakh bottles of hand sanitizers in a day: Kerala goes all guns blazing against Covid-19KSDP also entrusted with mass production of 8 critical generic drugs and 2 drugs for which it holds patents to ensure no shortage.The state’s Electricity board has ordered to procure 500 new medical ventilators exclusively for Covid operations (Kerala state holds 5000 ventilators in total which is approx 12% of total available ventilators in the country). The state is going to enter talks with various manufactures for portable ventilatorsIn addition, the industry department has been asked to explore the possibility to produce 1 lakh N95 masks with any tech partnership with companies using facilities available to the department. In the meantime, the state will continue the mass production of cloth and surgical masks.As of today’s (28/03/2020) cabinet decision, Kerala Govt decided to form a medical industry cluster to manufacture indigenous medical equipment supplies at the earliest using existing facilities.The Kochi Superfab Lab, India’s only such facility were given the charge to design equipment required for such a major medical emergency. The state will produce its own Respirators, Ventilators, N95 Masks, Oxygen cylinders, Bio-Medical equipment preparing itself for the worst medical emergency.ISRO’s VSSC facility in Trivandrum and Kochi’s Technology Innovation Zone along with Kerala Start Up Mission will be fully utilized to design and develop newer and practical technologies and existing factories in Palakkad’s Kanjikode Industrial Cluster will be fully converted to produce equipment required for the medical sector. For this, a meeting of industrialists will be called tomorrow and setting the plan in motionThe state has opened a new challenge to all its technocrats and tech student entrepreneurs and start up promoters to come up with ideas for effective tech solutions to deal with a major emergency.A website- http://WWW.BREAKCORONA.IN has been started by Kerala Govt to invite newer ideas that can easily be put into action for which Kerala Govt will support financially and these projects will also generate employment and opportunities in the economy.6. Technology Usage and War RoomOne main feature which Kerala’s DHS used to control Covid spread was its Control Room set up at Kerala State Disaster Management Authority complex in Trivandrum and district headquarters. This was something which I feel, gave real-time updates to DHS on the spread and ways to control and contain it.These multiple data recording and analysis units helped to track patient history, procure data from multiple sources, feed in data and help control room unit officials to analyze patterns of travels and contact detailsIn a way, it was a full-fledged health surveillance facility. Patients route maps were made, their contacts were identified and their movements were tracked from this Hitech facility. These 24 hours of data control rooms, helped to give a clearer picture and understand the extent of spread thro’ interactive maps etc.This also includes geo-surveillance, monitoring those in quarantine with geo-fencing, GPS enabled trackers, electronic anklet monitoring systems etcScreenshot of portal that highlights patients under GPS enabled Geo-fencing to track their movements as used by District Administration- PathanamthittaCoronavirus | GPS-based tracking of all those quarantined in PathanamthittaIn addition, Kerala is using multiple data collection methods to track vulnerable people and develop maps to identify potential hot spots and nearest medical facilities. The disease mapping helps to have a strong information flow for various strategic decision making to control community transmission.Kerala uses open source public utility to fight COVID-19 - Geospatial WorldKerala govt to use ration card data for digital map on COVID-19Disease mapping to stem community transmissionApart from this, the centralized health support centre- DISHA (Direct Intervention System for Health Awareness) played a crucial role in tracking and supporting patients and other suspect cases. DISHA is a centralized call centre of DHS with a toll-free number- 1056 which was started to support patients for telemedicine and tele-support like counselling etc. But during this COVID time, it was fully converted into COVID Support and call centre facility. They notified the patient records, their queries and supported back with real-time updates of their medical conditions, moving ambulance support for them and mental counselling etc to alleviate stress.Disha 1056 call center, the nerve point of Anti-Corona operationsCoronavirus: This team at Kerala helpline desk works round the clock in fight against the pandemicNow, the state is coming up with a sophisticated Hitech War Room in the State Secretariat that has senior Bureaucrats as members to control and coordinate entire Covid operations including logistics movements during lockdown etc. A new secured line has been established- 0471-2517225 for the public to call at War Room directly.War room to coordinate effortsWar room in Kerala to supervise COVID-19 containment activities8. Lockdown SupportThe Lockdown as announced by Central Govt has affected every Indians. Kerala is no exception to this grave situation.During lockdown time, the state has focused on maximizing deliveries of essential supplies at home.The state has partnered with Zomato in Kochi, Trivandrum and Kozhikode to supply essentials from state-run Supermarket chain- Supplyco to public. 40 stores of Supplyco will start services of Zomato for home delivering of essentials including the essential kit of basic food items priced at Rs 500 (5 Kg rice, 1 litre coconut oil, 1 kg sugar, half kg of 2 kinds of pulsesSupplyco ties up with Zomato for online delivery of essential items in KochiThe state’s Consumerfed also entered into Online delivery starting from 1st of April and will extend to all districts of Kerala at the earliest. In addition, the state’s milk brand- Milma has aggressively pushed its online delivery- AM Needs more in 2 main cities which shall supply Milk, Milk products and breakfast items like bread, eggs etc. Efforts are made to extend this to other main cities too.Consumerfed’s online delivery from April 1Kerala Govt along with Police Cyberdome and a private company has launched a new Online app- ShopsApp and now asking all shops selling essential goods to mandatorily register in the ShopsApp portal. Once all the shops register, the newly formed volunteer army will be used for home delivery which will be spread across the state, not just cities alone.Shopping from local stores with home deliveryഅവശ്യ സാധനങ്ങളുടെ ലഭ്യത ഉറപ്പാക്കാൻ പൊലീസ് ആപ്The state has assured home-delivery of its essentials kits and ration supplies to the houses of poor (BPL cardholders) across the state, even in rural areas thro’ services of postal personnel as well as its own staff. Right from the day when schools where closed, personnel from Angawadi (kindergarten) and other educational departments were home delivering essentials for kids and children enrolled under each school directly.The state announced ambitious schemes to ensure HUNGER FREE Kerala. The govt clarified, not a single person in the state will starve due to the lockdownEvery family who is currently home quarantined will get Rs 1000 worth Essentials Kit of Food items from the govt for free which shall be home deliveredBPL card holders will get 35 Kg of Rice and APL cardholders will get 15 KG of Rice from Ration shops for free.Covid-19 lockdown: In a first, Kerala to home deliver food kits to the poorIn addition, a mechanism for home-delivering items from nearby shops by volunteers is plannedPolice delivering essentials to houses of elderly people who can’t go out9. Community KitchenThe govt directive is for Hunger-Free Kerala. No one will starve in KeralaFor this, the state has directed every Local Govt bodies to start Community Kitchens to cook food in bulk and provide packed food kits to people who don’t have access to cooked food. This includes homeless people, elderly people, sick people, migrant labour community and those got trapped in hostels or similar facilities overnight. All these shall be delivered to homes for a free or nominal token amount of Rs 20Meals shall be also delivered any needy just thro’ phone calls. The whole scheme has been worked out by Kudumbashree workers and packed meals costs Rs 20 only for veg and extra Rs 30 for a Chicken/Beef/Fish dishhttps://www.thenewsminute.com/article/inside-kerala-community-kitchen-during-coronavirus-lockdown-121325As of now, 748 Community Kitchens have been opened and an additional 300 will be set up soon. This service is available for lunch and dinner.So my parents who are in Kerala tried the community kitchen meal which was home delivered for Rs. 25. Rs. 30 extra if you want fish/beef/chicken. #Kerala #Alappuza @vijayanpinarayi @drthomasisaac @CMOKerala @shailajateacher pic.twitter.com/Ws2snAq5EQ— JF (@Potatodrink) March 27, 2020Kerala's Solution For Food Needs Amid Lockdown: 1,000 Community KitchensAgriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar inspecting the facilities at Kochi’s Community kitchenKerala’s 43 lakh-strong women self-help network power community kitchens during coronavirus lockdown10. State Volunteer ArmyThe state announced an ambitious idea of forming an army of 2.45 Lakh volunteers to support various volunteering activity under a single command. Ever since the lock-down, multiple organizations are into volunteering activity causing many law & order issues and unauthorized movements. Also, there is a lack of coordination in these activities.To deal with it, the state formed a new directorate- Directorate of Social Service Force under State Youth Commission. The Directorate is to raise an army of trained volunteers to support various activities classified as 18 categories.https://www.quora.com/share/Arun-Mohan-520The key part of Volunteers is to develop emergency Isolation centres as required as movers as well as technicians. Apart from that, they are heavily required for logistics operations across the state, to supply deliveries to home, to work as care-takers and home-sitters for elderly and Covid affected patients etc.The govt announced this day before yesterday and invited online registrations thro’ its new portal- https://sannadham.kerala.gov.in/ (Sannadham in Malayalam means Volunteering) and despite of a technical glitch in registration, by now 30,000 youngsters registered for volunteering. This also includes Kerala Youth Volunteer Action Force- KYVAF (Red Shirts as known locally) designed after 2019 floods to have trained volunteer guards (5000 such trained red shirts are now available). So far only Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have formed such volunteer army.News in Asianet News about huge number of applications and responses to forming Kerala Volunteer ArmyRed Shirts in public sterilization programsKerala to set up Community Volunteer Force to support better deliveryKerala govt to form volunteer army of 2 lakh youngsters for the COVID-19 fightTechies turn volunteers to assist Kerala to contain Covid-1911. Transparency Flow of InformationThe biggest positive thing which Kerala is doing (which some proactive CMs of other states also doing) is effective and transparent flow of information.One of the important lessons learnt after Oockhi crisis of 2017 which Kerala changed since then and effectively used during floods time of 2018 and 2019 and Nipah time, was holding regular press meets and effective passing of all information available and cutting the spread of fake news.The government for the last 56 days were constantly holding daily press briefing both at State Level and district level to pass all information of the day. On the day 1 of first reporting of Covid case, a press conference was held even at an unusual hour of 1:30 AM late night to pass all information to media. Ever since that, media briefing became a mandatory thing at State level which was initially at 8 PM by Health Minister and as the state entered into Stage 2 and probably gearing for Stage 3 where multiple departments need to be involved, the baton moved to CM’s daily press meetings at 6 PM sharp.The daily press meetings of Kerala CM along with Health Minister and Chief Secretary has attracted huge public response, as a clear source of information on Covid situation.Today most of these press meetings are widely watched by entire Malayalee community, where all information of the day, all policies taken by Cabinet, all the government orders and action plan for next day are discussed with mediaPerhaps, one key tool to combat fake news is Transparency. The state issues health bulletins at every 6 hours for all affected people, all collectors are required to hold press meets or press releases on daily basis, district information officers are required to open lines to quell all public queries as well as organize programs to dispel public doubts and help the public in knowing the updates etc.Transparency Has Been Kerala’s Biggest Weapon Against the Coronavirus12. Campaign programs and quick responsesKerala government has realized the importance of massive Public Campaigns and Public relations to be used to the highest level to ensure its desired objectives reach to the public. The most successful campaign done was BREAK-THE-CHAIN campaign which has been adopted by Central Govt too and listed as a National agenda laterArun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to How many people participate in the campaign "break the chain" in Kerala?Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to What impact will this bring on the public as the introductory video of Kerala Police doing handwashing dance gone viral?Break The Chain Campaign was to have massive ground level sanitization and handwashing program to ensure the virus don’t spread quickly and break the chain of spread. This campaign helped the public to realize the importance of washing hands frequently and using sanitizers. Public washing kiosks came up and hand-sanitizers at the entrance of any facility became a regular thing. Videos of effective hand washes became common and the handwashing awareness video of Kerala Police became viralThe much viral Handwashing Video awareness dance by Kerala PoliceApart from campaigns, the government ensured, they are into heavy public relations. They are listening to every complaint, every grievance and standing with the public. For this govt machinery are focused on addressing public needs based on complaints reporting.For example, initially, the government didn’t give much thought about migrant labours and workers as the entire attention was over the local population. But when reports started coming in that migrant population have started fleeing to their homes and travelling on foot to their places when the lockdown came, the government machinery immediately set its attention to their problem. The govt started opening migrant workers camps across the state where they can stay and the entire cost of their food and other essentials were taken care of by the state Labour department and local MLAs. Kerala Govt even announced, they won’t use the term- Migrant Workers, rather will address them as GUEST WORKERS (Adithi Thozhilali) to honour their contributions to the state and will care themWhen Bihar’s Opposition leader Tejaswani Yadav highlighted the plight of some Bihari workers in Trivandrum over Twitter, the government quickly addressed to it and even reverted to him personally with an action taken reportI have visited the guest workers' labour camp today and spoke with workers and company representatives. The camp operates with all necessities including food and medicine.Kerala government is paying special attention to guest workers in this #COVID19 crisis. pic.twitter.com/uMsdq2NJQS— Kadakampally Surendran (@kadakampalli) March 27, 2020As of now, Kerala opened 4603 Relief camps to accommodate 1 Lakh migrant workers across the state who lost their work and got stuck in the state with no place to go. More numbers are to be expected as no one actually knows an exact number of workers. Many have fled Kerala before the lockdown came in and some haven’t turned up to government facilities too. The facilities do have all the essentials to survive until an alternative mechanism to help these people reach back to their homes is decided upon. This includes free food and sanitary requirements.Kerala opens 4603 relief camps for over one lakh migrant 'guest' workersAround 35 plus camps are opened for destitute and street dwellers across the state to be accommodated during this period.This decision has prevented a massive exodus as seen in many other North Indian states.13. Welfare schemes and supportThe state has announced a huge economic package of Rs 20,000 Crore to support people during this Covid crisis.One key feature announced was providing 2 Month social security pension (March and April) together by yesterday and today to all registered people, by delivering to their homes and via their coop bank accounts.The Govt kept its word by distributing all pensions by nowMore Photos. pic.twitter.com/H5sckkiCrL— Kadakampally Surendran (@kadakampalli) March 26, 2020How the Kerala government is shaping and implementing its Covid-19 responseKerala to disburse welfare pension for two months from next weekIn addition, the government has decided to support Tribal population by asking all tribal promoters and other officials to supply essential kits at their settlements inside the forest and educate them about the deadly virus spreadThe government announced One Month-long supplies kit per family to be supplied directly to their settlement and instructed forest guards and tribal department officials to ensure they remain insulated.Konni MLA comrade Jenish Kumar & District Collector P. B. Nooh IAS along with volunteers taking food materials to a tribal colony.It is important to work in sync during a crisis, as #Kerala has done in the past.With such common goals, we shall overcome. #KeralaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/3uJLUW3qVR— Kadakampally Surendran (@kadakampalli) March 28, 2020Collector Pathanamthitta himself taking a load to remote forest interior as part of his personal interaction and awareness campaign among tribals of PathanamthittaThis includes conducting radio shows and public awareness videos/audios in tribal languages etc and holding tribal settlement meetings etc to ensure they listen and understand the implication of the diease.Radio shows, videos in tribal languages: How Kerala is spreading COVID-19 awarenessKerala fighting COVID-19: Awareness videos are made in various tribal languages. Local officials and health workers show these videos going to each tribal colonies.This one here is Oorali language. pic.twitter.com/VuilFvJcm5— Neethu Joseph (@neethujoseph_15) March 23, 2020How these Kerala youngsters are ensuring that the Attappadi's tribal folk are safe from COVID-19These are some measures which Kerala is doing at the moment to ensure the disease doesn’t spread much and prevent Kerala from going into a havoc situation.I am not saying, everything is perfect in Kerala. There are any shortcomings here too. But so far, Kerala is trying the best possible within its strengths, some inherent and some developed, for the betterment of community welfare.I don’t know how much of these are exclusive to Kerala. I don’t think, none of them remains and should remain exclusive to any place as we humans always try various ideas to save our fellow folks in times of mass disasters.The reason I highlighted all these, is to make a larger people aware of what we are doing to combat this virus spread and hopefully, these measures can be a guiding model for others to emulate if required, just like we too adopted many gestures from othersIn times of distress, these kind of positive stories are more of beacon of hope that humanity exists and something must be spread to all…..Let's all work together and may our humanity prevail over every disaster!!!

This post is by Danny McMillan, a London-based Amazon Seller who sells in Europe and the US. Danny has previously worked in the music industry and with tech start-ups. He is now a public speaker and regularly co-presents at the UK’s largest Meetup group for Amazon sellers on subjects including PPC and conversion optimization.The Canton Fair is a great place to choose for your first product sourcing mission. But to get the most out of the experience, you have to properly prepare for your visit. That can take a lot time when you are learning everything from scratch. I hope that this article will slash your prep time and save you some of the pain my business partner and I went through on our first visit.During my first Canton Fair, I actually over-planned and as a result, most of my plans did not pan out as expected. However, it was still an amazing experience and we learned some valuable lessons along the way.Here are just a few of the things I wish I had been told pre-Canton. I’ve also included some great tips from six Amazon experts I met along the way: Will Tjernlund, Michael Michelini, Chris Davey, Manuel Becvar, Ashley Thompson, Ashish Monga and Greg Mercer.View Product Sourcing Tools NowPlanning your schedule: it’s not just about the Fair!First off, you will need to determine the length of your trip and which phases you wish to attend. The Canton Fair packs down for a few days between phases so it pays to plan in other sourcing options to make the most of your time.When speaking to Amazon Sellers on the ground the general consensus was to visit either two or three phases, using the gaps between to visit trade fairs in Hong Kong, or niche events within China in places such as Shenzhen. Don’t think that the Canton Fair is the be-all and end-all – Hong Kong offers a lot of opportunity and the quality can be very high. Allow yourself time to take it all in.We managed to cram in Phase 1, then zip over to Hong Kong before making it back for Phase 2. On the last day we slipped in a visit to a factory in Shenzhen.On the last day of a phase, most exhibitions in China start to shut down early. Expect to see them closing from 11am with most being closed by 2pm. Once they start closing it’s like an avalanche, the only reason to go on the last day is to try and get samples.Chris Davey, MD and Sourcing Consultant, Source From AsiaOther showsIf you are planning to head to Hong Kong between Canton phases, you should sign up for both the Global Sources and HKTDC shows. Both of these shows were perfect for our portfolio and we came away with a lot of new connections and leads for new products. In fact, I found that the level of product quality and innovation of vendors from outside China was higher than in Canton, but this may not be true for everyone.Take a look and see if any of these shows and events might be a good fit for you:Smart China Sourcing Summit: A popular networking event with lots of knowledgeable Amazon presenters. I did a presentation on PPC and have been asked back again for the October event. This was the pilot event attached to the fair and it was completely focused around Amazon sellers.Yiwu Markets: Alternatively, you could catch a flight out of Guangzhou and head to Yiwu to visit the markets. The Yiwu markets operate all year around with five districts that cover various product verticals. It is advisable to hire a translator or take your sourcing agent with you to communicate. Though you need to dig deep for high quality products, it’s a great place to pick up bargains at low MOQs. It is also only a two-hour journey from Guangzhou, so could be a worthwhile option between pack-downs of Canton Phases.Shenzhen Fair: If you have managed to cover a lot of ground in Phase 2 at Canton you could always take a train or car and head to the Shenzhen Fair. This year it’s their 24th event and it’s most suitable for those looking for gifts, handcrafts and houseware items.Meeting with your suppliersDon’t forget to meet with your existing suppliers!We made arrangements to meet ours at their booth in Canton Phase 1. Then we had dinner with them during Phase 2, and discussed new products and some manufacturing processes on our current products.They were amazing all the way through the process, and they helped a lot with translations, hotel bookings and those tricky train tickets to Hong Kong. Our rep took a 30-hour train journey to help with communications during Phase 2, which was an enormous help.NetworkingI cannot stress enough the value you gain from hanging out with like-minded people, and 99% of the people we met were very open and helpful. I think if we kept it strict and returned to our apartment each night, the trip would have been a lot less fun and educational.Organize meetups for every night. You have nothing to do at night anyways so you might as well use that time to network and learn from other Amazon sellers. There are always a ton of meet ups going on during the Canton Fair so it should not be too hard to find one.Will Tjernlund, Amazon Expert, AMZ HelpAmazon Canton Fair Meetup: Each year Chris Davey hosts a series of Amazon Meetup Events, and this year he put on one for Phase 1 and 2 of Canton with over 100 delegates in attendance. It is held at McCawley’s Bar & Grill. Keep an eye on the Amazon FBA Facebook groups leading up to the event for more details.Startup Bros / Seller Labs Party: This was a glamorous private party and you had to be invited; we got in via one of the WeChat groups. The event was held on the 42nd floor of the Westin Hotel and was short in duration, but the layout and view were pretty impressive. There were lots of friendly faces and established players from Amazon FBA, all rubbing shoulders with new sellers.Global Sources Meetup: This was put on by Peter Zapf, the CIO from Global Sources. It was a held next to the Smart China Sourcing Summit on the 2nd floor at the AsiaWorld-Expo. It was a great event with a mixture of delegates and speakers in attendance.Other events: Lots of little impromptu dinners and gatherings took place over the duration, and we made it along to most of them!Travel logistics: flights, visas and accommodationFlightsNow that you have worked out your schedule, it is time to get your flights, accommodation and visas arranged.We flew with China Southern Airlines, but I wouldn’t exactly recommend them. I wasn’t able to check in online, and when I called them I was left on hold for nearly four hours. When I finally got through, the lady said she was the only rep working and handling all calls. We booked via Travel Trolley and they could not help with any support with regards to China Southern. If you can find another airline, use them.If you are working on a tight budget, then book night flights and try flying on Wednesdays, which is considered the cheapest day to fly. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is the main airport for Guangzhou.VisasBefore getting your visa you will need to register for a badge and apply for an invitation letter – you need the letter and flight details in order to get the visa processed. I will warn you now, the website is not great and can be extremely confusing to novice users.First go to the Buyer E-Service Tool then click English at the top right to change the language. This is where you apply for an invitation letter. Make sure you have some recent passport photos with a white background as you will need them for your buyer badge and visa application.We then used Chinese Visa Direct as we had a tight timeline and it was our first time completing the paperwork. Each visa cost £195.00 using the standard service, which is £45.00 more than doing it yourself. Even if you use this service, you still have to do some legwork to complete the paperwork.Be aware that if you manage the visa process yourself, you have to book way in advance. I know some people who had to travel hundreds of miles to Manchester to get theirs. Allow at least 4-5 weeks lead time to be safe.AccommodationWe used Airbnb for our accommodation in both China and Hong Kong. This was not without difficulty – every time I mentioned Canton the rates doubled or tripled. In the end I pulled up Google Maps and searched within 5-10 miles of the Canton Fair Complex, but slightly off the beaten track.We stayed near Jiangnanxi MTR (metro station) and had a real struggle the first day. It took us two hours to get a cab as no one (and I really mean no one) spoke English. In the end I managed to get our Airbnb host to WhatsApp me the directions to show the taxi driver.Whilst we saved about $1,000 by using Airbnb, we had a hard time getting around. As a precaution we booked into The Pullman Hotel at Guangzhou Airport for the last day so we did not miss our flight home if the cab failed to show up.In Hong Kong we stayed on the Canton Rd in Kowloon. This was a little easier to navigate. Some people we met made the mistake of staying at the airport near the Global Sources Fair, however the airport is cut off from all the action. One delegate we spoke to even checked out and headed into central Hong Kong after a couple of days.While in China I put out a message to the various WeChat groups people had set up, asking for their opinion on the best hotels near the Canton Fair. The Westin on the Canton Complex appeared to be a popular choice. A quick check for October showed that they charge roughly $500 per night, but if you are on a budget then take a look at Leedon Hotel (GZ) and Yuwa Hotel (GZ) as alternative options.If you are already working with Chinese factories you can ask them to source hotels and negotiate on your behalf. The chances are you will get a better rate and you will be safe in the knowledge you are located near the venue.Register for the Fair at the hotel, this avoids long queues at the Canton Fair itself. Check the website for the nearest hotel that can provide the exhibition badge. Also check for which hotels have a free bus. These leave often and you don’t need to be a guest at the hotel to use the bus.Chris Davey, MD and Sourcing Consultant, Source From AsiaOther considerations before you leave homeVisiting China and the Canton Fair is not like a typical family vacation where you can book your flights and accommodation, then figure the rest out when you arrive in the country. There are a number of things that will make your life a lot easier if you can arrange them before you travel.Canton pre-researchDue to the sheer scale of the exhibition venue, it is important to do some research pre-show and shortlist the products and suppliers you are most interested in meeting and then map out your movement among the different halls. This will allow you to ensure you can achieve your key objectives before you get distracted by the myriad products at the show.Ashish Monga, Founder, IMEX Sourcing ServicesI took on a VA (virtual assistant) from the Philippines in advance, and spent a considerable amount of time training him to find potential products so I could maximise my time at the Fair. It is very easy to get bogged down in a sea of data. Sourcing and researching can be tedious at best, so paying someone $3.20 per hour made sense, freeing me up to take on more high-level tasks.But finding manufacturers exhibiting at the Fair for the selected products proved really difficult. We used software tools to find keyword variations but still got zero results for many of the niche products we chose. Right up to the moment I boarded my plane, I had my VA contacting relevant suppliers on Alibaba and asking them if they would be attending the Fair, and if they could provide booth details for us to see them.As you can imagine, this was quite stressful but we wanted to be prepared and maximise our trip.The biggest mistake that I see is people going without an agenda. These people hope to stumble across a great product idea at the fair. In reality, it is so large, it is physically impossible to browse and see everything. So instead, if you go there with a list of say 20 products, map out the vendors before you step into the hall, you will save yourself a lot of time, energy, and potentially money.Greg Mercer, Founder, Jungle ScoutYou will likely be looking for a category of a product so you should prepare yourself with some basic prices that you have received from suppliers beforehand. Knowing your prices is essential before going to an exhibition. If you are looking at new products and are not aware of prices try my “rule of thumb” calculation of 30%. Add this and your margin to calculate your selling price. You will quickly figure out if the price the supplier gave you at the booth is realistic or not.Manuel Becvar, Founder & CEO, ImportDojoPhone appsThe are a number of useful smartphone apps that I recommend:Uber: This is a great option, but in China the drivers mainly only speak Chinese so you do need to have someone to translate, but it’s still better than the old-style taxi services.Hong Kong App: There are a few out there, but we used one called Hong Kong Metro. It is very basic but does a fine job of pulling up Metro Stations to help you get from A to B.Guangzhou Metro: We used the Mapway version and it was an absolute life saver as we could show it to the MTR staff each time we travelled. They would then punch in all the info to sell us the right tickets.Jet Lag App: We used Jet Lag Rooster; it is a simple app that allows you to put in your flight details and timings so it can provide a calculation for when to take in daylight and when to sleep.Evernote: This is great for capturing notes. Take an extra battery pack as you might be using it for hours each day.WhatsApp and WeChat (the Chinese equivalent to WhatsApp): Lots of people create chat groups on these apps during the Fair. These are great resources for arranging meetings as well as staying in touch with home. If you have a VPN setup you can use Facebook as an additional option for calls (direct Facebook access is blocked in China) but the other two more than have you covered.VPNGet a decent VPN and set it up on all your devices prior to leaving. The paid ones work best – we used ExpressVPN and it was consistent. You can set it up with a month’s free trial period and decide whether to keep it on your return.Best hack is to get a good internet connection and a good VPN. It is very frustrating to do business over in China due to the internet restrictions. I stayed at the Ritz Carlton my last trip and the entire hotel has a built in VPN. It made conducting business while in China a breeze and is worth the extra price.Will Tjernlund, Amazon Expert, AMZ HelpBusiness cardsThere are different schools of thought when it comes to creating your business cards for the Fair. Some put down their position as “Director”, while others insist on downgrading their role to the position of “Buyer” for their company. This is because some feel the Chinese may not take you seriously if you are visiting as a director, and they may think you run a small company. It is entirely up to you, but my take is that if you are out there and your money is good, any business card or title will be fine.Avoid the big suppliers if you’re a small fish. They won’t be interested in your 500pcs order unless it’s high-value items. Don’t pretend you’re a big guy if you’re not, they will soon figure out you are bluffing.Chris Davey, MD and Sourcing Consultant, Source From AsiaDue to the hyper levels of spamming, consider taking two sets of cards. One Chinese seller told me that some salespeople hang around outside and are paid a commission for every business card they collect – so be ready for an inbox firehose if you give your card away freely. If you have a little less budget to play with but want to get a second set done for the spammers, you could use Vista Print.Have special name cards ready for mass spam after the fair. Bring a couple hundred specifically for the fair with your WeChat and QQ handles on them.Michael Michelini, Host, Global From Asia PodcastAlternatively, take pictures with the vendors, capture the booth number and pin the business card onto their catalog page or flyer. This helps humanize the experience and you can send an email on your return when you want to start negotiations.FootwearI cannot emphasis enough the importance of good footwear. This is such an important factor due to the sheer size of the fair – I ended up with blisters to the point where I could barely walk. Make sure you pack some Band-Aids and rotate your shoes each day.MoneyWe stumbled here time and time again, as we were under the impression that we could simply use our credit cards to exchange cash.But no matter where we went in China and Hong Kong, the currency desks would only accept cash for currency exchange. You may find this less of an issue if you are staying in one of the major hotels, but I would advise that you get some cash exchanged prior to leaving home. Take enough to cover the taxi to your accommodation after you land, then use the ATMs in the city or hotels. There are plenty of these dotted around but you need to check if they accept your card type.Taxis are a nightmare to get. You can take a taxi to the exhibition in the morning from your hotel, but in the late afternoon you can sometimes wait up to 2 hours to get a taxi back. There are illegal taxis everywhere but they charge 10 times the price. I recommend you take the hotel bus or the subway instead. There are two subway stations at the exhibition grounds.Manuel Becvar, Founder & CEO, ImportDojoSIM cardsWe use iPhones so we took two additional unlocked handsets and were planning to use local SIM cards in them. However, on the Hong Kong leg we were able to buy an unlimited data SIM card, and inserted it into our mobile Wifi device to we could access the internet from all our phones and laptops.This made things much more economical, and because we carried chargers with us everywhere we went, we had access day and night. A data add-on on my phone network would have cost around £40.00 for only 100MB, so it pays to be organised here.During the Canton FairDue to the sheer size of the place we marked out which zones and areas we wanted to attend and applied a rough time frame. For instance, walking from Zone A to Zone C could take you 30 minutes. Bearing in mind that you have roughly eight hours to play with each day and only one pair of legs to take you around, it makes sense to mark out your planner to fit with:Your arrival location (by gate or metro station)The product category (by zone)Where you plan to eatWhere you will exitBy day’s end you will be exhausted so it makes sense to spend five minutes pre-planning your day.Speaking to suppliersMy business partner and I played as a tag-team. While I spoke with the vendor, he took pictures of the booth, the main product, the brochures and business cards, and finally a picture of me and the rep. The images and card shots were a way for us to track the products we liked after our return.Take selfies with the sales reps, seriously! They see so many people over the course of the fair, they aren’t going to remember their own dog’s name by the end. I like to take a selfie, send it to them in the follow up email, and mention something from the conversation we had, so that I can continue the personal rapport we built in-person. That makes the trip to Asia worthwhile, otherwise you might as well just use Alibaba like everyone else!Greg Mercer, Founder, Jungle ScoutWhen meeting new suppliers, the key thing is to quickly establish rapport and find out if we could work with them. The most common questions we asked were:Do you deal with any other Amazon sellers in the US or Europe?How long has this particular product been on the market?What are your lead times on manufacturing?Where is your factory located?If I was satisfied with the answers, we would exchange cards and I would request an e-catalog to be sent to my inbox. Sometimes they would give me a memory stick or a flyer on the product, but I would never accept a full catalog – who wants to be carrying a heavy stack of magazines around all day?That evening or the next morning, I would log the stand-out products from memory into a spreadsheet and apply notes for reference.Screen new suppliers by asking if they have certificates to sell in your target market, and move on if they don’t. Ask about their latest products or innovations – slight variations on current bestsellers can be a gold mine. Ask where their factory is based and if you can visit, to suss out whether they are a factory or a trading company. And ask if they supply to any big brands – the probability that you will get high quality products increases when the supplier is already dealing with well-known brands.Ashley Thompson, multi-brand Amazon powersellerNever place orders right away. You should negotiate prices, ask questions and maybe tell the supplier that you want to order when you are back home. But don’t tell them too enthusiastically that you want to order right away. Why? The prices you get at the fairs are usually not the best prices. You will want to clarify your terms first via email or phone calls before you place an order. Have them sign a purchase order agreement if you need to show commitment.Manuel Becvar, Founder & CEO, ImportDojoCatalogs and flyersYou will be offered a lot of marketing material at the Fair. The best thing to do is choose what you want wisely and use DHL (situated in the halls) to ship it back home. This will be much cheaper and easier than paying for extra luggage at the airport. Alternatively (as mentioned earlier) just take images of the products you want and request a thumb drive or e-catalog to be sent.Adapting on the groundAll the prep work we painstakingly put together before we left was not used in any shape or form. This was due to the following reasons:Product selection strategyBefore the Fair we had only sourced using online tools and had a set method that was purely data driven, on Amazon and in certain categories. This is both focused and limiting at the same time.Online vs offlineWhen you are sourcing online you have a huge amount of work to do after finding a product. Our process would be to find 20 or so suppliers and then whittle them down to a handful. This could take a week and you still have no idea how good the samples will be.On the ground it is the reverse, you see a product that catches your eye and then engage. It’s all done in a matter of minutes before moving on to the next booth.Real-time changesWe made changes to our selection strategy while we were there. Because of the type of products we were interested in, we offered suppliers a partnership deal, giving us exclusivity to sell on Amazon to avoid a race to the bottom.On the last day prior to coming home, one of the factories sent an Uber car to take us to Shenzhen, look around and agree terms (subject to pricing). Getting insights like this was invaluable. We spotted lots of manufacturing issues which could be improved to reduce wastage.We went into the trip expecting to pursue private labels, but now we will diversify and do exclusive deals to build out our product line faster.Advantages over the competitionThe list here is endless. For example:You get to see all the new products prior to full release (most companies do not keep their Alibaba page up to date).You get validation and more respect because you got on a plane and met them face-to-face.You find vendors that are not even in China, let alone on Alibaba.You get to handle the product prior to the sample stage.You can get eye contact, body language and understanding if you are dealing with a factory or trading company.99% of Amazon FBA sellers will not attend fairs.The follow-up processAfter returning from the Fair, the first thing I did was digitise everything from business cards to product information. On reflection what we should have done is use Evernote to group and log product details after each booth visit – this would have only taken a couple of minutes at the time, and would have cut out the indexing each day on the trip as well as prep work at the office.We had nearly 600 images to filter through and label. After various attempts to download them we settled on using the WeTransfer iPhone app.All in all we walked away with roughly 50 products that we chose to put through the validation process. From here we carved out the winners by sending out emails to the suppliers asking the following:Do you sell this product to Amazon sellers?What is your MOQ?What is your unit price?Please can you provide shipping info so we can get our freight forwarder to provide a shipping quote?Yes, we asked the Amazon question again; this was to check if they were being honest. The remaining questions establish the quickest route to the numbers. We have an automated spreadsheet to plug the numbers into, allowing us to find out quickly if we can make it work profitably. I would then search Amazon to check that the product wasn’t already being sold, and do a reverse image look up on Google to double check.Once we were confident that we had kicked out the losers and reduced our list considerably, it was time to go into deeper negotiations.Summary: Ten Tips for Your VisitHere is a quick round-up of some of the things we will do differently next time. We learned these lessons the hard way, so you don’t have to:Accommodation: Stay in good hotels with access to English-speaking staff, shuttle buses and close proximity to the complex. If like me, you have special dietary requirements, make sure you check out the hotel menu prior to booking.Comfort: Take an extra pair of comfortable shoes and rotate. We did an incredible amount of walking and my legs were in constant pain, not to mention all the blisters. I had to load up on Band-Aids each day just so I could walk.Flexibility: Avoid over-planning and try to go with the flow. I spent a lot of energy figuring out all possible outcomes for the trip, none of which went to plan. By being flexible we gained much more for our business.Planning: However, it is important to have an idea of what products you are interested in and work out a schedule ahead of time. For example, the pets section (which is a large market on Amazon) was very limited at the Canton Fair (25% of one hall which took less than an hour), and was almost entirely overlooked at both Hong Kong shows. If this is your area, it may not be worth the trip. Home and kitchen on the other hand, is a huge category, and you have plenty to choose from. Pick your Phases wisely.Networking: Do network and join all the groups on WeChat etc. This will add to your experience. If you want to optimize your time, are lost, need a translation, or have a product question, just ask the groups and they will fire back answers.Chris Davey’s Phase Two Canton Fair meetup at McCrawley’s BarAirlines: We did not have a good experience with China Southern, but some of the other delegates spoke highly of Turkish Air. I am not a fan of connecting flights (Istanbul) but on the flip side it will break up the journey and at roughly £350.00 per flight it is worth considering.
 Next time around we will cut out the zig-zagging with a flight into Hong Kong, and train tickets pre-booked from HK to Guangzhou. We would then spend a couple of days at Canton Phase 2, followed by two days at the Yiwu markets with a sourcing agent, then fly out from the nearest airport – this will shave 2-3 days off the trip.Sourcing methods: As we had been sourcing in just one way, it put incredible limitations on us to find products. With everyone using the same tools, platforms and product filters, it made it very difficult to find low-competition products that stood out. Most Amazon sellers will never attend the Canton Fair, less so the events in Hong Kong and the markets in Yiwu. I estimate that the trip will put you about 6-12 months ahead of the competition before the new products turn up on Alibaba.Speed and tactility: The ability to reverse the process and skip the tedious process of contacting 20-30 vendors, boiling them down to the chosen few, then finding that the quality is poor and you cannot make the numbers work. By spotting the product first, you cut out the guesswork as you get to handle the sample and learn about the company.Indexing: While we had a good system in place, we still managed to spend a tremendous amount of time collating and digitising both on the trip (1.5 hours per day) and on our return (two full days). Next time we will apply the same methods from earlier but use Evernote over Wifi – it should take less than five minutes at each booth.Scale: We have built a great network of people including translators, consolidators and sourcing agents. Added to the benefit of face-to-face time with suppliers, this means we can get scaling up fast and have a support network on hand to make sure everything runs smoothly in the future.In ClosingDanny McMillanWe went to the Fair aiming to widen our product pipeline. We had been having a lot of different problems with finding the right balance of product selection and sales velocity, plus we had issues with the supplier negotiation process and sample quality. This caused us to abort a few times late into the process, which left us both frustrated at the lost opportunity.For our business, the trip to China and Hong Kong was a revelation. It was a fantastic experience, to the point where I was already making notes on the flight home about our return visit in October.I hope that sharing our experiences will help you make the most of your own trip. Let me know if you have any questions by posting a comment below.Found on: https://www.webretailer.com/lean-commerce/sourcing-trip-china/#/