East and West collaborate for annual expo

Barely 45 minutes into the 10th annual East Meets West Business Expo and the goody bags were gone.

The disappearance of the bags, which were given to the first 300 attendees, shows the anticipation the annual networking expo brings.

Tom Cofer, of Grow Financial Federal Credit Union, said the company has attended the event for the past 12 or 13 years. He called it fantastic.

“It’s public, it’s business,” he said. “It’s everyone having fun.”

Heather Kasten, president and CEO of the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance said the vendor spots, all 90 of them, sold out a month before the event.

Those who didn’t have booths wandered around Robarts Arena networking with other businesses and sharing the ins and outs of their own businesses. Attendees were each given a passport that entered them into a drawing for two round-trip tickets on Southwest Airlines if they got a stamp from 15 booths.

While networking, attendees enjoyed a cash bar and appetizers from more than 10 restaurants, including California Pizza Kitchen and Chart House.

Expo founder Annette Gueli has watched the event, which she said is one of the premier events to bring people together from two different areas, grow since its inception 10 years ago. She said the first year there were 40 exhibitors and only a couple hundred people attended. Last year’s event drew a crowd of 750. The same amount was expected this year.