BNI News

A Brief History Of The Hoos Hoo Chapter In Charlottesville, VA

The first meetings of the Hoos Hoo chapter were held at the Golden Coral on Seminole Trail (US 29 North) in the spring of 2001 with Jim Roman and about three to four people each week. Mark Deutsch, the executive director of BNI in central Virginia, subsequently purchased the franchise from Jim.

We moved away from eating during the meeting because it was too distracting. After all, BNI is not "net-sit" nor "net-eat" but rather, network.

In 2001, we actually met on 9/11, but spent most of the meeting talking about the events that day and adjourned early.

We experimented with having members host at their business but that proved difficult for inviting guests. Previous meeting places included a conference room at Berkmar, the Doubletree Hotel and the Hampton Inn.

In 2004, the Hoos Hoo chapter began meeting in the upstairs gathering rooms of the West Main Resturant on West Main Street in downtown Charlottesville, VA. We have continued to meet there ever since.

Lee McAllister, two term president of the Hoos Hoo Chapter, says "A week never goes by that I do not speak with someone that has been involved in BNI. We once had a member who wanted to sell a product to the University of Virginia. BNI got him in and he became too successful to remain a member."

We have hosted several social-networking events through the years. Our chapter always has the most successful years when we have groups that are committed to BNI and doing all of things we all know we need to do.

Today, the Hoos Hoo Chapter of BNI is in "growth-mode" but then, every BNI chapter - no matter what its size - should always be in "growth-mode". The more members we accumulate, the more valuable everyone's membership becomes. Our goal for the future is to make membership in the Hoos Hoo Chapter of Charlottesville, VA absolutely priceless.