Synergy 2021: A Collective Social

By Michael Choe

Imagine around 40-50 people from multiple organizations getting together for a collaborative networking event. This is what the annually co-hosted Synergy event used to be. But because of the massive social blockade brought by COVID-19, large physical gatherings have been made impossible for a full year. But organizers from AAF Hawaii, Ad 2 Hawaii, AIGA Honolulu, AMA Hawaii, PRSA Hawaii, and SME Honolulu collaborated to adapt and bring back the event this year to create a safe and social atmosphere in accordance with state safety guidelines.

The event started with a quick cocktail-making lesson taught by Thomas Ray of Square Barrels. Drinks were ordered to-go before the event and the bartender presented a quick demonstration on how the drink was made, followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Following the lesson was the introduction of all the organizations involved. It was neat to see how each club was unique but also shared similar missions, even though they all fell under marketing and advertising. Some of these clubs I had never heard of before.

Then we broke into preassigned groups of four or five participants where we had fifteen minutes to chat. There’s something about being behind a screen vs meeting in person that makes things a lot less intimidating, and I think that was very evident in my breakout room. Everyone seemed very comfortable despite meeting each other for the first time. In fact, there was hardly a pause in our entire dialogue and fifteen minutes felt like five!

The second breakout session gave each organization their own room and we were free to join any room we wanted. This gave us a chance to take a deeper dive into an organization we were interested in and learn more about it from a representative. Like the first breakout session, everyone seemed like social butterflies and conversation kicked off immediately. Again, fifteen minutes felt too short (in a good way).

The last part of the event was a simple trivia game. And what’s a game without any prizes? Various gift cards were awarded to those who could get the answer right AND be the first person to type it in chat. Even though I didn’t win any prizes, I learned a lot of interesting facts, like the most viewed YouTube video is Baby Shark.

It had been a while since I attended a networking event, and Synergy helped me remember how enjoyable they could be. It felt good to meet new people who shared the same professional interests yet had different skills. And despite being completely virtual and lacking the handshakes and body language, it still felt like a wholesome networking event. So, when’s the next one?