At half past eight o'clock in the evening on December 31, 2023, Luo Zhenyu's 2024 "Friends of Time" New Year's Eve speech produced by Get App will be held at the Shenzhen Spring Cocoon Gymnasium, and Shenzhen Satellite TV, Douyin, and Get App will be broadcast live throughout the whole process.
This is Luo Zhenyu's 9th New Year's Eve speech since 2015, and it is still a "feast of knowledge" belonging to lifelong Xi. In the 4-hour sharing, Luo Zhenyu focused on the theme of "What makes my eyes shine", and brought nearly 10,000 lifelong Xi students on the scene and tens of millions of lifelong learners in front of the screen to innovatively solve problems in all corners of society in the past year. In addition, Luo Zhenyu debuted two new books at the event: "Variable 6: Adventures in the Macro World" by economist He Fan and "Where Does Money Come From 5: A Low-Profit Society" by financial scholar Xiang Shuai, and also brought a product that serves small and medium-sized enterprise entrepreneurs: "Get New Business".
In the face of difficulties, find new answers in the ways of others
Every year, the "Friends of Time" New Year's Eve speech is the crystallization of the wisdom of the team, and a group of people have spent nearly a year researching and thinking, which is condensed into a few hours of speech. Luo Zhenyu not only has a content planning team behind him, but also a "think tank" composed of experts and scholars in various fields to provide content support for the speech.
This year is no exception. In the preparation stage of the New Year's Eve speech, Luo Zhenyu and his team consulted professionals from all walks of life such as Wu Zhou, director of Wuxi Institute of Applied Technology of Tsinghua University, and just a few other professionals from Taoxichuan Cultural and Creative Block, in addition to surveying 11 industries and 27 entrepreneurs, and collecting real cases from the front line of innovation and entrepreneurship. In his view, this group of doers not only has "knowledge of what's happening", innovative experience and methods to learn from, but also confidence that is more valuable than gold in the face of changes and difficulties.
With the inspiration gained from a large number of research and consultation in the early stage, Luo Zhenyu stood on the stage of the New Year's Eve speech. He said: Looking back at 2023, what makes my eyes shine and move me deeply is not the truth, but some specific actions. In fact, all kinds of problems and confusions we face can find new answers in other people's methods.
Luo Zhenyu shared 20 "other people's methods" that inspired him. For example, when the entire catering industry is facing the problem of "business is difficult to do and money is difficult to make", entrepreneur Chen Ouwei saved 300,000 yuan a year by replacing disposable tableware with a sterilized chopstick machine in the restaurant. He also replaced the kitchen knives used in the kitchen cutting process with scissors, and a small change led to a saving of about 5% of fresh ingredients every day.
In the face of the surging and rapidly changing AI revolution, Luo Zhenyu found that many doers from all walks of life have explored effective "dry methods". For example, Dr. Cao Kai of Shanghai Changhai Hospital used an AI model to diagnose early pancreatic cancer, and the screening accuracy was significantly improved. In addition, some people calibrated the direction of AI entrepreneurship in practice - Sui Shaolong, the founder of Frontier Intelligent Technology, found that when promoting intelligent robots for mine excavators, mine bosses did not want to destroy the original social collaboration network and replace human excavator operators with AI technology, so he also realized a hard truth: "Instead of thinking about how to replace people with technology, it is better to think about how to use technology to support people." ”
The above eye-catching "other people's methods" made Luo Zhenyu feel the value of "concrete" and the power of "action". He said: "In the past year, whenever I feel a little depressed and a little lost, I know that there is only one thing that is right, and that is to put on shoes, go out, find someone, and ask for advice. Find people who have come over, find people who understand, and talk to people who do specific things. ”
In the new year, in the face of change, confusion, lack of money, involution, and a new technological revolution...... What should we do? Luo Zhenyu once again emphasized the meaning of "concrete" and "action", "If you want to change, then try to return to yourself, return to the neighborhood, return to the real life scene, start with specific actions, let's start day by day." ”
Released a number of knowledge products to replenish confidence and strength for the new year
As in previous years, in this New Year's Eve speech, Luo Zhenyu still brought two high-quality new books.
Written by the famous economist He Fan, "Variable 6: Adventures in the Macro World", relying on solid field visits and research, outlines the picture of China's macroeconomy, discovers the "small trends" that are breaking ground, and helps readers grasp the direction of future economic development. Behind the book is a research project spanning 30 years - He Fan started a knowledge project in 2018, planning to spend 30 years traveling all over the country, researching and documenting China's economic changes, thus creating the "Variables" series of works.
"Where Does Money Come From 5: A Low-Profit Society" comes from the famous financial scholar Xiang Shuai. Five years ago, Xiang Shuai launched a research project, planning to write a wealth report every year to record the wealth logic of Chinese people this year and create a "wealth guide" for ordinary Chinese families. In 2023, based on fieldwork and enterprise visits across more than 30 cities, Xiangshuai's team will write "Where Does Money Come From 5: A Low-Profit Society" to help people re-understand the direction of wealth in a new round of changes.
These two books are called "books of answers" by Luo Zhenyu, and they are the methods found by the two scholars in their own fields to break the "involution", that is, "not to be defined by other people's answers, but only to make their own papers and answer their own questions".
In addition to the two new books, Luo Zhenyu also debuted a knowledge service product in this New Year's Eve speech: Get a New Business App.
Luo Zhenyu said: "All entrepreneurs face the same problem in their hearts, that is, loneliness. Aiming at this point, the new business school has built a community of "entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs", so that entrepreneurs can "have superior staff when they are entangled, seniors to guide them when they are confused, reliable friends to accompany them when they are lonely, and rich resources to connect with them when they take off". It has been provided with 100 practical case courses, 40 classic business courses, 52 private board meetings and 50+ study tours a year, in addition to more than 100 expert consultants and 1-to-1 special services to help entrepreneurs solve business problems.
Luo Zhenyu said that getting a new business degree is actually "fighting two battles" with entrepreneurs, "one is to defeat psychological loneliness, and the other is to win business success." ”
Luo Zhenyu set up a "super long flag" again: the "Civilization" program will be updated for 913 episodes
In addition to "other people's dry methods", Luo Zhenyu also disclosed "his own dry methods".
He said that he said many times in his speech that he would "be specific" and "take action", and his next specific action was to restart the long video of "Luo Ji Thinking" that year. However, the "reboot" is not to completely repeat the dry method of the year, but to follow the form of the long video of "Luo Ji Thinking", that is, one issue per week, 1 hour per episode, and the content of the program is completely new.
The new program, titled "Civilization", is positioned as "Experienced, Solved", and tells how Chinese civilization has continuously solved problems in thousands of years of continuous history through video, and explores the inspiration that people can get from it. There are 913 episodes of the program, each focusing on a year in history, and is planned to start in 1000 A.D. and continue to talk about it in 1912 A.D.
Luo Zhenyu said that "Civilization" will be a "big project with a long way to go". The first episode of this new program will start broadcasting on February 28, 2024, and will be broadcast for 48 episodes throughout the year. This means that Luo Zhenyu will be 70 years old at the end of the show.
In fact, this kind of "flag" with an ultra-long span is no stranger to long-termist Luo Zhenyu. In 2012, Luo Zhenyu's "Luo Ji Thinking" long video talk show was launched, with a total of 205 episodes broadcast; since December 21, 2012, the "Luo Fat 60 Seconds" audio program, Luo Zhenyu has been doing it for 10 years, and has been changing every day for 3652 days; "Friend of Time" New Year's Eve speech, Luo Zhenyu promised to hold 20 consecutive sessions, and has held 9 sessions so far. In his own words, "make a big wish, take small steps, walk a long way, kowtow, and don't stop", this is exactly what Luo Zhenyu is good at.
After nine years of companionship, the "Knowledge New Year" has changed from a niche choice to a mass trend
At the end of 2015, the first "Friends of Time" was held at the Water Cube, creating a new type of original knowledge and cultural product called "New Year's Eve Speech". In addition to the entertainment party, the New Year's Eve speech provided another New Year's Eve program with different forms and connotations to a group of audiences who love to learn Xi and think. The most distinctive features of this new species are individual presentations spanning two years, high-density knowledge output up to 4 hours, and real-time live broadcasts that break through space constraints.
However, Luo Zhenyu and the producer of the show got the expectation of the New Year's Eve speech, which was far more than a subversive innovation. Luo Zhenyu once made a grand wish: the New Year's Eve speech will be held for 20 consecutive years. According to his vision, the New Year's Eve speech will become a regular New Year's Eve event, forming a sustainable "knowledge New Year's Eve tradition".
In the following years, the "friends of time" arrived at the end of each year as promised, accompanying thousands of lifelong Xi to "knowledge New Year". During the period, he experienced special circumstances such as Luo Zhenyu's cold and fever, empty venues, and temporary changes of venues, but the "friend of time" never missed the appointment.
Along the way, there are more and more of the same kind of this former alternative. According to statistics, in 2023, there will be dozens of large and small "New Year's Eve speeches" and other forms of "knowledge New Year's Eve" programs, which can be called a hundred flowers. In December alone, there were the third New Year's Eve Speech of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Science New Year's Eve Night held by the Beijing Association for Science and Technology, as well as the "Fun Knowledge Jiangsu" 2024 Knowledge Conference, the 2024 Chengdu City New Year's Eve Speech and many other knowledge New Year's Eve activities led by local governments. In addition, there are many personal New Year's Eve speeches staged in turn. Obviously, the "Knowledge New Year's Eve", pioneered by "Friends of Time", has grown from a niche option to today's mass trend. Its development has also witnessed the continuous rise of the public's enthusiasm for knowledge, and promoted the shaping of the social atmosphere of lifelong learning Xi.
In the past nine years, "Friends of Time" has not only continued, but also evolved. From the theme keywords of the previous New Year's Eve speeches, we can get a glimpse of its evolution: from the first three sessions of "New Species, New Entrance, New Soil", "5 Black Swans", and "Chinese-style Opportunities", to the last three sessions of "It turns out, can you still do this!", "This idea is inspiring" and "What makes my eyes shine", Luo Zhenyu's perspective has shifted from the distance and the overall situation to the surroundings and individuals; Gain insight into macro trends and turn to unearth and analyze the innovations that are happening and solutions that are outside the horizon of most people. This also means that "Friends of Time" is closer to the audience and goes to every doer in the land of China.