On Wednesday morning, The Orlando Life launched a fresh take on how people network in Orlando at the Bellhop, in collaboration with Soweo and The VIP Co. The event focused on differentiating itself from traditional networking events that are often focused on simply passing out business cards and telling people what you do for work.

“While I enjoy going out to different professional events, most of the time the location or experience is different but the conversations are the same. We wanted to try something different,” said Dave Vanz

Vanz and Caleb Paull, from The VIP Co, have been hosting networking events together around town since 2024, drawing on average 50-100 people out per event. With each one centered around happy hours and designed for growth-minded professionals, the events have been held at places like Ivanhoe Park Lager House, American Social and the Great Southern Box Co.

The event on Wednesday, named “The Morning Lab,” was designed to break up the attendees into smaller groups and provide them with an activation to unlock the value each individual in the group brings to a professional engagement. The activations were presented as challenge cards and featured fictional businesses facing real world problems. Each team was given certain information about a business, the problems it was facing, and a short timeline to rapid-fire solutions.

Held at the Bellhop in downtown Orlando, The Morning Lab was praised by all who attended.