Can going to lunch be an economic indicator?
Ed Vielmetti believes the weekly A2B3 lunches are a strong sign of where Michigan is headed. Lots of people in the house mean a weak economy. Fewer people signals a recovery in progress, he says. Recently, attendance has declined.
Vielmetti founded and heads up
A2B3, aka Ann Arbor Bi Bim Bop, five years ago. It meets every Thursday (except when it doesn't) at Eastern Accents, the Fourth Avenue Asian bakery and light-lunch cafe downtown. It's a techie networking group, albeit one without an agenda. Like a similar after-hours informal networking group, YP Underground, it brings together members of a highly desirable subculture to create a long-lasting scene where none existed before. No dues, no mandatory activities or attendance, no speeches, no minutes, no muss, no fuss. Just like-minded people having lunch together.
YP Underground's Facebook page proclaims it to be an informal networking group for young(ish) professionals who live or work in the Ann Arbor area. "We are not fighting for a cause, but are always looking for an excuse to get together for conversation," the blurb concludes.
Despite a lack of structure, such groups play an important social and professional role for those people who attend regularly. They help similar professionals find each other, indirectly (or in some cases, directly) helping to build the local economy and talent base.
"At every stage of looking for work, you need to talk to people. (A2B3) is a group I'm convinced should exist everywhere," Vielmetti says. "Technology makes networking much harder. Our attention is absorbed in maintaining not-so-close relationships with people who have left (the area.) I'm really glad I remember what it was like not to have that stuff."
Regular A2B3-er John Hritz comes for both food and conversation. "I think of it as the Rotary Club for the New Economy," he says.
These days the A2B3 table is set for a dozen people or so. That's great, according to Vielmetti: "It becomes chaotic if too many people come to lunch. You have to recruit newcomers so it isn't the same people every week. It's good when it's a smaller group."
Tech geeks and assorted freelancers start rolling in at 11:30. Many of them order bi bim bop, although it isn't required. The conversation starts then, too, and doesn't stop until 1 o'clock or so. The topics are wide-ranging.
A couple of weeks ago, the group included 16 people. Occupationally, they were a mixed bag: technical writer, programmers, journalists, general contractor, academic librarian, holistic health practitioner, entrepreneurs, job seekers and researchers. As usual, at the end of lunch, everyone introduced themselves and answered a question posed by moderator pro-tem Linda Diane Feldt. Her question: What do you think is A2B3's goal?
Replies ranged from cosmic to practical. Patricia Anderson says, "It's the pulse of the community, a model of how to do social media and social networking, crowd-sourcing in the best, most useful way."
A2B3 is an all-ages group, err, make that all adult ages. The crowd has topped over twenty in the past.
YP Underground aims at a young audience – up to 40 years old. Although over-40s aren't excluded, the majority of people who attend are in their twenties and thirties. Like A2B3, YPU has no agenda. A non-membership group, it communicates with potential attendees via Facebook, offering after-work drinks and networking every four-to-six weeks. On a busy night 40 to 75 people may attend, limited only by the capacity of the host establishment.
"We have at least a third new people every time. The day that there was a YP Underground when I didn't know anyone was really exciting. For me, that was the point. I wanted to find new people to hang out with," says YPU co-founder Rebecca Lopez Kriss, a master's degree candidate at
U-M's Ford School of Public Policy.
"We don't have a fee. We don't take attendance. People just show up and pay for what they consume. It is not a dinner club, not a movie club. It's more about work and professional endeavor."
Recently, Megan Crosbie took over the YPU reins from Kriss and co-founder Angela Kujava. She plans to hold the status quo. "People can come or they don't have to – they don't have to RSVP. We have more than 500 members of our group online," Crosbie says.
The conversations are all over the place, Crosbie says. Ditto the occupations. In her own professional life, Crosbie is marketing coordinator for Charles Reinhart Company. "A small percentage is new to the area, looking for work. We have nurses, marketers, researchers, bankers, financial planners, people who work for the U. This group prides itself on being an open forum for anyone – no specific niche," she says. "There's no opportunity for giving presentations, not a time for anything but networking, never a speaker. We never interrupt anyone's networking to thank people for coming, or to say 'Next month, we'll be doing this.' "
The informality is appealing to YPU attenders. Christina Kim, a financial advisor with
Edward Jones, likes the diversity of industry and origin. YPU has fewer townies than other local networking groups, she observes.
"Professionally, it's a good opportunity to connect with other young people, people who are like me. It's low key, low pressure - which I like. Rotary (International) is much more organized. YP is much more casual, with a fun feel," Kim says.
David Robertson attends many networking groups in Ann Arbor – and YPU is his favorite. "I like that there isn't an agenda, not a business focus. Lots of pressure can come with business contacts. It's nice to take that off the table. Natural conversation builds a better foundation for networking," he says. Robertson works in the Ann Arbor office of Saginaw-based
Rehmann Group, which merged with Ann Arbor accounting firm, Wright Griffin and Davis, a few years ago.
Will this kind of informal face-to-face networking become a social media category like Facebook and Twitter? Making lasting contacts is a long-term process, Robertson says. It isn't something that will happen from attending one event.
"Don't bank on that being the objective. The relaxed atmosphere [at YPU] really helps – the happy hour setting. Everybody's just a little more laid back. Conversations don't have anything to do with what we do for a living."
"This is not a fad. Technology has a role to play with that, but getting together after work for a drink will never go away. The Chamber of Commerce has a lot of programming – Morning Edition, receptions. I've attended all of them on multiple occasions over the years. Still, YPU is a can't miss – I look at it that way."
Constance Crump is Concentrate's senior writer. She's also an Ann Arbor-based writer whose
work has
appeared in Crain's
Detroit Business, The Ann Arbor News, The Detroit Free Press, and Billboard Magazine. Her previous article was Keeping Business Close To Home.
All photos by Doug Coombe
Photos:
Ed Vialmetti at Eastern Accents
Megan Crosbie and Rebecca Lopez Kriss of YP Underground at Grizzly Peak
Ed Vialmetti at an A2B3 meeting at Eastern Accents
Megan Crosbie and Rebecca Lopez Kriss of YP Underground
Christina Kim