The event is called “South Maui Business Owners & Entrepreneurs Networking Mixer on the Green“. It was a great idea that Jen Tempchin, James Jacobson, and Molly Jacobson conceived and made happen. Simon Vojdani of Five Palms Beach Grill graciously offered to host the event at Five Palms.
Jen Tempchin (Realtor), and Simon Vojdani of Five Palms Restaurant; co-organizers of this event
(photos of James and Molly (co-organizers) to follow – my shots were not clear but I know some another photographer took a nice pic of them so I’d add them here)
It was a fabulous venue for a social networking event. (Check out these sunset photos I took during the event!) In fact it’s a fabulous venue for many events you can think of because of it’s great location, good food and good service. More about that later – for now let’s go back talking story about the “mixer”.
The “mixer” was a success! Hundreds of entrepreneurs showed up to meet and get to know other entrepreneurs. The name of the event has “South Maui” on it but it actually was open to all entrepreneurs on Maui. And indeed, people from all over Maui participated, from Kula to Wailea, Napili to Makena, etc.
Business cards, brochures and flyers were laid out on two tables, for us to take to get to know each other. Name tags were given to avoid that awkward line of “what’s you name again?”
You know what I found interesting on this kind of social networking event? People have different ways of connecting. I was observing how the attendees mingle and each one is different. Some are extroverts just meeting everyone they have not met and chatting away with them. Some are more reserved, just standing there and observing what is going on. For me, I am in the middle ground. I found myself connecting to people that I have already “met” online and the icing on the cake is meeting them IRL. It is good to connect live in person. I guess that is my style. Connect and engage online, and then meet and develop the relationship further in real life. I was so pleased that @silversharkjay came up to me and said “Hello @amauiblog!”. He recognized me from my prfile pic on Twitter. I like that! We talked story and we connected. When I came home I went to his website to get to know him more, and holy smoke – this dude is a big time TV producer! And that’s what I think is great about this mixer. Once you meet a co-entrepreneur in person, you get that connection and you wanted to get to know them more, and then later on do business with them.
Here are some more friends online that I met there IRL:
with Chief Palota & Polynesian Village Luau
with Erik Blair, the "accidental consultant"
There are so much to tell about this fantastic “South Maui Business Owners & Entrepreneurs Networking Mixer on the Green” event. Jen, James, Molly and Simon said this is just the beginning. They plan to do this regularly and that is a wonderful news!
I want to mention some more friends I met there and link to their websites. I will do that later, but for now I want to hit “publish” before this news get old 🙂 Aloha!
*More photos of the event are posted at A Maui Blog Facebook Page
