Ceded Lands Informational Forum

Aside from a few issues that arose throughout the event, the "ceded" informational forum was a success. Despite the quality of the online live stream, statistics from our live-stream host shows that we had 48 visitors of our live-streaming event today. Forty-eight doesn't seem like a big number, but I don't know how many people can get roughly 48 strangers to sit and listen/watch in front of a computer for over 2 hours.

Dee Jay Mailer, CEO of Kamehameha Schools, was in attendance (in her personal (Not professional) capacity along with Ann Botticelli, Vice President for Community Relations & Communications of Kamehameha Schools. Immediately after the end of our event, these two women approached me and thanked the Kupu'aina Coalition for hosting the event. Ms. Mailer described it as a "gift" that she was able to learn so much from. They both expressed appreciation for the format, the content and the speaking panelists, one of which was an unexpected, yet pleasant surprise.

A good number of notable people were in attendance. We were able to identify three Hawai'i legislators in the audience.
- Former Governor John Waihe'e also made an appearance and also became a panelist.
- Senator Russell Kokubun
- Representative Mele Carroll
- Representative Chris Lee
- Colin Kippen
- Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Oswald Stender (or someone who looks exactly like him), and
- Dr. Lilikala Kameeleihiwa.

Hopefully, we'll be able to fix the video so that it comes out much better. We did live-stream the event, but when I play it back at ustream, it doesn't play back very well and freezes up often. If you watched the live-stream event online, I'm interested in knowing how well it worked out for you. I realize that in the beginning the audio wasn't very good, but any other feedback you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

A big Mahalo nui goes out to Na'alehu Anthony and Paliku Documentary Films who brought all their video recording equipment to the law school to film this event. We're looking forward to the finished product.

I'll be sure to post some pictures up later.