President's Message

 As a Chapter, within just over a year's time, we have put together two incredible Awards Gala Events.  The first, to recognize our Founding Chapter President, Ms. Cheryl Williams and the most recent Gala on May 20, 2009, we honored Mr. Tom Moffatt as a "Pioneer of Events in Hawaii".  The importance of this year's event carried so much weight in the community that our Mayor, Mufi Hannemann declared with an official proclamation, May 20, 2009 as "Uncle Tom Moffatt Day" in the City and County of Honolulu.  These Gala events would not have been nearly the success that they were without the creative genius of our incoming President, Mr. Philip Richardson and the President Elect, Mr. Frank Robinson.  This year's gala is one that will be talked about for years.  There are many reasons that each board member works very hard to make the Aloha Chapter Events a success.  It is our goal to always strive to elevate the member experience, but we also want to give back to our community.  One person who stands out in both of these areas is Ms. Theresa Tilley.  As a result of her work on the silent auctions and Community Outreach, we have surpassed our goals.

When we think MPI, we think Education.  Our Education team, led by Ms. Joy Tomita and her committee members, Ms. Sandy Narvaez and Ms. Michelle Shihara have brought our members innovative and relevant educational seminars which can be easily measured by the attendance at these luncheons reaching all time highs in Chapter history.  It is no wonder that Joy was voted this year's "Supplier of the Year" and both of her committee members being nominated for the Chapter's "Rising Star".  Congratulations to Sandy for being voted our "Rising Star", you and Michelle are truly the future of our Chapter.

Speaking of History in the Chapter, Ms. Ava Matchen a past President and this year's "President's Award" winner has been an invaluable resource for MPI knowledge and for offering guidance to the board.  Ava has been a member of the board every year since the Aloha Chapter was formed.  Thank you for your many years of dedication to the Aloha Chapter.  With our Chapter's member retention being near the top in the World, many thanks go out to the combined efforts of Mary Hall, Stacie Ayers and Cherryl Cunannan for their dedication to reaching out to potential new members and our current membership.

If you are seeing more about the MPI - Aloha Chapter on television, we owe it to our media experts, Ms. Merrissa Uchimura and Ms. Lisa Mock.  Your knowledge has taken us to a new level of exposure locally and internationally.  Special thanks to Mr. Joel Cantor this year's "Planner of the Year" for his efforts to create a new and exciting web page and newsletter.  We are seeing a significantly larger amount of viewers to our web page.  Pease visit /Default.asp.

While all of this news is very positive, it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Ms. Candace Yuen who has kept us up to date and has been always willing to be responsible in collecting money at the events while the other board members catch up with everyone inside....Candace, you will be missed!  My sincere thanks go out to the person who has had so much faith and support for me to lead the team, Ms. Edie Hafdahl.  As Past President, Edie is leaving the board but will have an active role in guiding the efforts of future Presidents of the Aloha Chapter.  Edie, thank you for your encouragement and belief in me to help shape the future of the Chapter.

Randy Clark
President, MPI Aloha Chapter

If you haven't already done so, register for the Meeting Professionals International World Education Congress (WEC) in Salt Lake City, Utah, July 11-14, 2009. 

MPI states it best.  It's time to set the record straight:  Meetings are not junkets, and they are more than coffee cups, conference rooms, and talking points.  Meetings are the birthplaces of ideas, the drivers of business results, the sparks of innovation, and the connections between people. 

It's time to be bold, take a stand, and write our own destiny.  Join MPI in Salt Lake as we rally our global industry and put the focus back on the true nature of meetings - and change the world once again.  Don't miss out on the revolution.  ...more

MPI Aloha Chapter's June 6th Educational Meeting not only brought us a "Green" theme in our excellent speaker- Tamara Kennedy-Hill, the Executive Director of Green Meetings Industry Council, who spoke on how to have Green Meetings here in Hawaii but also presented us the opportunity to showcase during a pre-speaker tradeshow some of Hawaii's "Green Vendors" and local community outreach efforts.  One community outreach organization featured at the show was a "Blue minded" (as in our blue ocean) organization by the name of B.E.A.C.H. - Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii. ...more