Members’ Choice Award

2018 Winners:

Jitka McKee and Fernando Davila in Prague

2018 Honorable Mention:

Chris Drum Berkaya, Dina Street, and Susan Marechal in Bodrum

The Members’ Choice Award reflects the Ambassadors’ strong connection to our members and how they meet a wide variety of unique expectations and needs based on their particular community. In order to determine this year’s Members’ Choice, we listened to the members!

Research began with the InterNations feedback feature, where members can anonymously rate and provide comments after each event. After discovering the communities who receive consistently high feedback from members, we narrowed our search down to those communities who have positive public feedback throughout our platform.

We studied event photos for smiling faces and read about members who are outspokenly happy about their experience. We found communities that provide an excellent setup on event nights with their welcome desk and InterNations materials. We also learned about Ambassadors who take extra special care to recognize their members, sometimes hosting birthday or farewell parties, and making an effort to provide a genuine atmosphere of fun through engaging, diverse event themes and locations.

Why They Won

Our search led us to Prague, and one of our jury members describes their win best: “Jitka and Fernando impress us every month! They are not only well-organized and communicative; they also host events at diverse and interesting locations and offer members a wide variety of benefits. After each event, they receive rave reviews — satisfaction is at the top of their list and they really listen to and value the feedback from members in their community.”

Interview with the Winners

In your opinion, what do members seem to appreciate most about your team and your events?

Jitka and Fernando: They appreciate the fact that we usually get the exclusive use of very cool, centrally located venues with special drinks and food offers for our members. Some of the venues we use are also usually not open to the public. Our guests also like when we organize raffles.

How has using the feedback feature (where members rate events) helped you with designing and planning future events?

Jitka and Fernando: It is a great tool! Although not many people are using it, it's certainly helpful to hear what our members liked and disliked, so we know how to adjust our future events. We just wish that some of the comments were more constructive, so we could actually work towards a goal.

What is some of the best feedback you’ve received from members?

Jitka and Fernando: We get all types of good feedback from members, from “great venue!” to “awesome party”, but our favorite is an email Jitka received from one our members and the Consul of three Groups, Ben Geddy.

 “Hey Jitka,

I know you are busy with all these events and your “real” life, but I just wanted to send you a quick thank you note. Thank you for such a lovely event! You have clearly put a lot of thought and effort into these events and the last two I attended, Napa & Cerna Labut are examples of top-quality mixers. Both were excellent venues. I usually talk to a lot of people during the course of the evening and I heard nothing but compliments about that rooftop event. So, congrats and thank you!”

Congratulations to our Prague Team for being 2018’s winners for the Members’ Choice Awards.

We would also like to recognize our honorable mentions in Bodrum, Chris Drum Berkaya, Dina Street, and Susan Marechal. The greatest compliment you can get is appreciative and happy members and your community is bursting with them!

About the Winners:

Jitka McKee, from Italy and Fernando Davila, from Peru, have been successfully hosting monthly official events in Prague since 2016.

Fernando moved to Prague in 2003, where he founded his own company. Through his company, Fernando has put together a long list of international clients, especially since he enjoys networking and meeting new people. He’s always happy to help others adapt and make connections due to his own experiences as an expat.

Jitka is half-Italian, half-Czech, married to an American and has resided in Prague since 2005, having spent three years in London in between. She’s a passionate networker, able to easily connect with people and create new friendships. InterNations has been a valuable platform for her not only to meet new people, but also to practice the seven languages she speaks!