NACE Hawaii chapter News/Blog

Michael Rabe, NACE Hawaii member and President of Creations in Catering, a full-service catering company, invites you a “Retro Rock Hawaiian Style Event” next Friday, July 31, at the Dole Ballrooms. Mike’s old band Natural High will headline a night of fun and excitement. Also appearing on stage will be Shining Star with Annette Oasay and the electrifying Hard 2 Oppose (H2O).

This will be Natural High’s first public appearance together on stage in over 30 years!

Doors open at 5:30pm, dinner begins at 6pm. Tickets are $55 presale, $65 at the door, and includes admission and a great local style buffet. You can also pre-purchase a table of ten for your friends, coworkers, employees, or favorite clients for $500.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Janell Araki Medical Fund. Click here to read about Janell’s struggle with a very rare form of cancer.

Call 521-7101 for more information or to buy tickets. See you this Friday!

written by NACE Hawaii Webmaster \\ tags: band, dole ballrooms, janell araki, mike rabe, natural high, special

If you or your clients are free this weekend, come on down the the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall for the Hawaii Bridal Expo, July 24-26, for a weekend of fun!

Your clients will find many photographers, videographers, DJs, Masters of Ceremonies, caterers, coordinators, and other wedding professionals for their Hawaii wedding, including many from NACE Hawaii.

And if you’re free with no events this weekend, come on down to network, hang out, and show support for your fellow NACE Hawaii members!

See you at the Hawaii Bridal Expo!

written by NACE Hawaii Webmaster \\ tags: blaisdell, expo, july

If you want a good reason as to why you should be a NACE Hawaii member, here’s one very good reason. This story was shared at Tuesday night’s NACE Hawaii meeting:

Sometime last week, Brian Wada with Kamaaina Catering had a HUGE dilemma.

Brian was hired to cater an outdoor function at Kapiolani Park for about 200 guests. These guests had flown in from the mainland and were expecting this buffet to be the centerpiece of a week of activities in Hawaii. Normally, this would not be a problem for Brian on an ordinary day. But this was no ordinary day…this was the day that Oahu was drenched with rain. LOTS of rain. Non-stop rain. And if you’ve ever catered a function at Kapiolani Park, you will know two things:

• There’s very little covering. Tents might have helped a little, but the torrential downpour would have made the tents almost useless for a professional caterer.
• The grass at Kapiolani Park can turn to mud quickly if it’s raining and a lot of people (and catering equipment) move on it…like at a party.

It was several hours before the party, and the dark skies were showing no sign of slowing. What’s Brian to do?

Fortunately, Brian had met NACE Hawaii President Herb Yamamoto at the Catersource Conference in Vegas in February. Herb told Brian about NACE Hawaii and even invited Brian to the March meeting at The Pacific Club.

Because of this connection, Brian called Herb to see if Herb could help. Fortunately, the guests of the party that Brian was catering for…were guests at the Pacific Beach Hotel…which conveniently Herb was the Catering Sales Manager.

Herb pulled some strings and spoke to his general manager…and Brian instantly had a solution to his dilemma.

The party was moved to an unused restaurant space at the hotel. Brian was able to use the restaurant’s kitchen, and the guests had a great time.

So what’s the lesson in this?

When the unexpected arises, it’s great to have a network of people you trust and can turn to to help you out.

Brian joined NACE Hawaii at last Tuesday’s NACE Hawaii general meeting. Welcome, Brian Wada with Kamaaina Catering!

written by NACE Hawaii Webmaster

If you missed last night’s NACE Hawaii meeting at the Hilton Prince Kuhio Hotel, you missed out on some great educational and networking opportunities!

While doors opened to the ballroom at 6pm, most people hung out in the foyer and networked. It was great to see a large crowd eager to learn something new that could help their business, and guest speaker Judy Ng Christensen didn’t disappoint. Her very informative talk on Doing Business with China was well-received and full of facts and entertaining anecdotes.

Did you know that Chinese people LOVE coming to America? They love spending money here, yet our marketing dollars go towards promoting ourselves to other areas where there is less eagerness to travel. The truly smart service provider/caterer/hotelier, according to Ms. Christensen, should seriously consider the Chinese market. Her insights and experience in dealing with this unique market made her presentation very worthwhile; the audience was very attentive.

After Ms. Christensen’s presentation, everyone moved to the ballroom next door and shared in a good pupu (appetizer) buffet. NACE Hawaii President Herb Yamamoto talked about the upcoming NACE Hawaii fundraiser.

Herb also recognized Brian Wada with Kamaaina Catering, our newest NACE Hawaii member.

Welcome, Brian!

After the formal meeting ended, the networking continued informally. Some went to Ryan’s Grill to support NACE Hawaii member Ryan Pierce with Lift Your Spiritz Mobile Bartending Service as he competed in the Iron Bartender competition, ultimately placing a very respectable fourth place. Congratulations!

Others went downstairs to MAC 24/7, where they helped James Chun (Crane Media Productions) celebrate his birthday. Instead of a cake, we shared a MAC Daddy Pancake. That monster is HUGE!

Happy Birthday!

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, May 12, at Formaggio Grill in Kailua. Networking & registration starts at 6pm. Our guest speakers will be Mike Miller of Tiki’s Grill & Bar and Wes Zane of Formaggio Grill, and they are covering a very practical topic: “Gorilla Marketing”. Want to learn how to get more bang for your marketing buck? Want to learn how to get your name out without spending a ton of money? Wes and Mike will show you some tricks and tips on how to do it.

NACE Hawaii would LOVE to have you there! Email us at nacehawaii [at] gmail.com to receive an invitation!

Special thanks to Matt Muccio with Techniques Hawaii for providing audiovisual support for tonight’s meeting; Mike Rabe with Creations in Catering for getting Ms. Christensen as our guest speaker last night; and Frank Robinson and Kathy Arakaki with the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio Hotel for the great food and for graciously hosting us!

See you at next month’s NACE Hawaii meeting!

written by NACE Hawaii Webmaster

Read about the latest NACE Hawaii Board meeting on April 7 by visiting Marino/Ninja Entertainment’s blog.

The next general meeting will be on Tuesday, April 14, 2009, at the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio Hotel, where our keynote speaker will be Judy Ng Christensen, Assistant Director of Executive Programs for the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She will give a very informative presentation on How to Do Business with China. China is a hot market to be involved in; Ms. Christensen will share her insights.

Click here to reserve your seat, or call NACE Hawaii Secretary Kelly Sugano at 808-497-3339.

written by NACE Hawaii Webmaster