Was invited to the annual luncheon as a guest at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and was very…read moredisappointed with the organization of the event.
It was bad enough that there was a lot of construction and congestion at the HHV because of the chosen time and day (Friday lunchtime) and all the tourists.
Then it went downhill from there.
Here are some of the lowlights:
- no signs setup for finding your way in parking,
- no signs along the concourse to find your walking route to the Tapa Tower ballroom,
- no guide hosts (like Douglas Trade Shows always has at their events),
- you register, and they don't give you a name tag (until people ask you where your name tag is, and then you have to go back to the registration desk and ask for it, while they flip thru pages of lists trying to find you, and then point you to someone else at another table, and then they send you back to the other table you were at).
- when the luncheon starts, and there is like 100 tables, and you try and sit down and then people tell you that it is assigned tables, and you have to go back to the registration desk, and then they give you a card with your table number on it. All they had to do was print your table number on your name tag, or give you the table card when you first showed up, instead of going back to the registration desk line 3 different times?!
- Food was horrible, Hawaiian food that wasn't really...
Hard lumpy white rice. Served in microwaved ceramic bowls too hot to hold, and the server doesn't say anything and just puts it down on the lazy susan and leaves. But I guess that is more the HHV hotel's issue?! So I'll review that on their page.
- parking for just a few hours is $24! I thought downtown was bad.
- Later in the day I found out that the registration desk had parking validation. Nobody said anything or asked me if I needed validation but then again, I never got my name tag and pretty much everything else. Who knows what else I'm missing?
- Blaring music during the President's talk, I swear that it was a mistake, but then it kept playing, and they kept doing it for other awards, so I guess that is how they do it. They should have faded in and out to be more professional, and so we can hear what the people on the stage are saying.
- To top it all off, after paying 1/4th of a century bill for parking, the departure traffic jam in the structure, just to leave, was over 25 minutes of exhaust fumes, and wasted time and gas. But again, that is the hotel, so I will review that there.
Highlight:
The only good part, was the networking, but that happens at any event, anywhere.
Probably gave out 20 business cards. We'll see if any of that pans out.
I even called and left voicemail, and even emailed them at their cochawaii.org web site to try and give them feedback, no response so far.
They need to hire someone really good, like Douglas Trade Shows, who knows how to organize and put on a event. I have been impressed by their events 100% so far. Reminds me of all the conventions and shows I attend in Vegas, San Jose, San Francisco, San Diego, Philadelphia, New York. Very professional.
