Thursday May 19, 2016 we enhanced our weekly social club at NOVA 535 for business owners and Entrepreneurs, the Entrepreneur Social Club (the ESC), by inviting in our pal Ryan Tarrant, owner of Cinema Squatch, for a movie night and tech smash. See Ryan’s company provides huge screens and the big-boy projectors to give your home, office or in this case, a world-class wedding and event venue, a real deal movie experience. So we all teamed up with superstar DJ FRESH, the Sunscreen Film Festival and several other local businesses to make this a truly Smashing Event!

Above the gentleman wears the look of someone, like most of us, often frustrated by technology. Below were the tastier partners tonight, Sweet Divas (formerly Sweet Divas Chocolates, now with much more than ‘just” chocolate) offering their yummy popcorn and cookies, both regular and some gluten free (which I tried and were delicious!). Plus Kings Street Food selling their amazing grilled cheese and tomato soups – I cheated on my GF diet and enjoyed a hot, crispy, perfectly toasted 1/2 grilled cheese – OMG delicious!

Tonight our Cinema Office Party and Tech Smash was the showing of the cult classic film “Office Space”. Tickets were free but we asked everyone to please RSVP. Seating was first come first served. Our other sponsors were Cerulean Blu, who “is team of experienced stylists and designers with a passion for bringing paradise to you every day.  We design and make collections inspired by the voices of our clients.” Wove Print Co (really cool t-shirts) and Being – the Art of Living,  who provided the lovely and comfy lounge pits – all out tonight in support of our favorite charity Little Light of Mine. “LLOM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization offering professional photography services, free of charge, to families with children fighting life-threatening illness or injury.” Thanks everyone, you rock!

5:30 pm   HAPPY HOUR was enjoyed with our full liquor cash/credit bar.
6:00 pm   Technology Smash. Safety Glasses Provided, Liability and TPS Forms were Required. Duh!
7:00pm   OFFICE SPACE screening inside Tampa Bay’s #1 Event Space!        Below Ryan Tarrant of Cinema Squatch, provides the final instructions, safety glasses, TPS report and the proper bat size for our lovely next “contestant”. She certainly enjoyed herself!

The movie itself is a classic, if you haven’t seen Office Space yet, do yourself the favor and watch it…and enjoy the tech smash scene! Below is some of our ESC members enjoying the film. Red head there is the delightful Marina Williams, owner of ArtPool. She’s here pimping her upcoming Bowie Fest  – love ya Marina! And of course all us “Cool” kids were sitting upstairs in NOVA’s vip lounge.   Below is the view from NOVA’s floating DJ booth, where my pal and Tampa / St. Pete’s favorite DJ resides tonight, Doug Hensel aka DJ Fresh. You might know him from when he’s spinning the TB Rays games, or maybe seen his sexy mug on HSN. Doug! Seems that the Tech Smash was, haha, a “hit”. A special thanks to longtime friend and brother from another mother, Ed Pugliese, owner of Omni Copy, for bringing in those massive, virtually indestructible (they really took a beating, bravo!) copy machines. Thanks BIG ED! Below are some seriously big hitters..thanks guys and gals for the tech beat-down. Join us every Thursday Night (since 2009!) for the Entrepreneur Social Club, most always here at venue NOVA 535, occasionally off-site. Check schedule here. We meet at NOVA from 6pm to 8:30 pm then go enjoy a delicious dinner and more drinks, laughter and so much more immediately afterwards here in Downtown St. Pete aka DTSP. It’s productive, great for networking and growing your business, plus it’s always a “smashing” good time! Join us!