A Few Ideas for the next meeting

[Aquariust]

Hey guys, I have some ideas I'd like to run by ya's for the club. If I new how to post a poll I'd do that.

Idea #1)

Collect a dollar or two (no more than $3) from every reefer (who wants to play), at the meeting we will draw a ticket number. Whoever wins get's the money to spend at the store. We could also do this next time the meeting is at Atlantis Aquatics too. Wouldn't it be nice to leave with a magnificent 15 head frogspawn you paid $3 for:)

Idea #2)

Kind of similar but maybe $1 of each members 2 or 3 dollars would go to the club's tresuary. This money won't sit around and collect dust. It will be used in the way of buying equipment, NJ Reefers Club T Shirts, etc... to be given out to a member each month. (another raffle:))

Idea #3)

Some of the money from treasury could be used to make NJ reefers Club business cards. You could give them out to people you meet in the fish stores. Or, for posters to have the pet shops hang in their store in your area.

Open to new ideas, or comments, questions. If I could post a poll I could get an idea.

If anyone wants to participate email me. It is not mandatory. But, cmon, whats $3 to a reefer? :rolleyes:

-John

[katspaw]

Personally I think a raffle would be great idea. :) I am always game when a new coral is the prize.

Tracey

[volk23]

making some t-shirts or mugs with club logo(btw is there a logo?) would be a great idea.

[katspaw]

Well if anyone is interested, I have a guy who makes the t-shirts for my business. he charges a one time screen fee of $50.00 with one ink print and the shirts are like 6.50 each, they don't have pockets and the largers sizes, such as 2 and 3X are a little more. If we can come up with a logo that everyone likes and a color for the ink and shirt then this would be doiable. But we would all have to wnat to do this. I know that shirts can be done cheaper another way, the computer generated image transfers, but I don't know how good it would look. I do have a nice printer set up here at work that can reproduce pictures as good as a photograph. It's the Photo EX by epson. If anyone is interested. Where there is a will there is a way. :D

Tracey

[Rovert]

Hey, guys... are we sure this isn't getting away from us a little bit? I hate to be the cynic in the group, but what's wrong with the way it's been working 'till now?

If we go down this path, I see a lot of complications, possibly disproportional to the added benefit. Maybe we can talk about it at the December gathering? Sorry we didn't get a chance to touch on it last time you were all here, but we were all so busy kibbitzing, it slipped my mind to bring it up.

Maybe we should start another thread to ask all past, and potential, attendees what they would like to see out of a reef club?

[katspaw]

Tryed that Rovert, besides you, uri and myself, it seems John is the only other person in trying to find out what to do with this club. I will now direct you attention to this post.NJ reefer's post (http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=44150)

Tracey

[ATLANTIS]

Originally posted by Aquariust
Hey guys, I have some ideas I'd like to run by ya's for the club. If I new how to post a poll I'd do that.

Idea #1)

Collect a dollar or two (no more than $3) from every reefer (who wants to play), at the meeting we will draw a ticket number.

Idea #2)

Kind of similar but maybe $1 of each members 2 or 3 dollars would go to the club's tresuary.

Idea #3)

Some of the money from treasury could be used to make NJ reefers Club business cards.
leyes:

-John

Some Comments and ideas.....

Idea #1 is a neat idea.... not mandatory and simple.... works for me.

Idea #2... again a neat idea, but I have another to compliment it. This is not original... so no applause please ;)
Instead of money, have each reefer donate a frag (anything, any size, even sand) and then have an auction. details of the auctions idea at a later date.... ( or a raffle )

Idea #3.... biz cards are easy to make on your local computer and printer.... costs a couple of bucks tops.... easy stuff.... flyers are sometimes helpful and can also be standardized for distributions...


T-Shirt Idea.... A neat idea, but start up costs are prohibitive.... I will look into Cafe Press, the way reef central sells shirts... I think startup is much cheaper there...


This does go back to the question... "What direction do you want this club to take"

Perhaps a poll as was suggested elsewhere....

OK... just my 2 cents.... :idea:

[katspaw]

So glad you have joined our ranks, Brian :) I guess we are going to do this one at a time. I like the suggestion of the auction. But this too would have to be at a big turn out. More fun that way. :D

Tracey

[bahrhoops]

I suppose I'm on the fence with club "politics", I imagine we are all a little hesitant on the formalities of the club as we have all enjoyed each others company and we would rather not step on eachothers toes.
I am a firm believer of the slogans : "If it aint broke - dont try to fix it" .. and "just keep it simple"
However I am aware and thankful of the hard work that Kats and Aquariust have done to the website and organizational duties.John you really have a gift when it comes to website design!

But the idea of a cool t-shirt with a kick-*** logo is an idea I would not turn down .I love reef related t-shirts and I wear them all the time.
If we could design a modern looking attractive NJ Reefers logo , I would proudly wear that t-shirt. And I would not blink at the fee included in making the shirt. - but hat's just my opinion
The key is developing a logo we are all proud of.Ive seen so many cool logos on different websites - take a look at the new MACO 3 logo or even Reefs.org or PARC.I just saw NERC's logo check it out half way down this thread :http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42800&perpage=30&pagenumber=3
Am I babbeling yet ? If so - sorry

:strange:
I could try to submit a logo , I'm very artistic but I'm not computer savy at all .Maybe someone else could give it a shot too, we could try to use Katspaw's image in it as well .If we get a few idea we could vote for a keeper.
:D
what do you guys think ?
- steve

[katspaw]

I am in agreement that we do need something that is a little more snappy for the logo. You guys have to remember I drew that up in one night while doodling with an idea>> the forming of this club. Now I am not trying to make ya'll feel guilty. I know pastel colors don't draw attention and are more female than male colors. With the amount of male members it is only right that it should be more masculine And therefore anyone who would like to change it can do so and we will vote as a club to a new logo.

Tracey

[bahrhoops]

ps.
even if we don't make the t-shirts , I'd like to take a crack at improving our logo. - my 3 cents

[Rovert]

Well, since the can of worms has been opened, we might as well go fishing. :)

I agree with Steve. KISS principle. But I also think it's putting the cart before the horse to make up a logo for a club that isn't 'really' a club to begin with. When we're more stable, and have more 'regular' members, then I'm into it. But I think it's a bit premature right now.

We're probably getting ahead of ourselves until we have more members. We don't have a regular meeting place, we don't have a formalized structure, we don't have any club resources and truth be told, I'm not sure we really even need it if we stay the size we are. The requirement for dues, a treasury, and 'officeers' suggests that we're going to be applying for a formal charter for a Not-For-Profit status. And that also creates politics. Ugh. :rolleyes:

Ok, so let's say we go through all the motions. What does that get us that we don't already have?

My two cents? I like John's idea, but with a bit of a twist. Collect a nominal 'attendance fee' from each attendee to show at a meeting that would help offset the cost of hosting (chips, soda, etc.), and also buy a few frags to raffle off, with one going to the host. (fine time for me to come up with this idea now! :D ) If we were to also do a mini-50/50 auction (1/2 to the donor, 1/2 to the club), then it will help contribute to other 'club goodies'.

I'll do a little homework, and also contact the president of MASNA to ask her about the resources for reef clubs, and tips/ideas for how to get a club rolling. In the meantime, maybe we can all come up with our individual 'wish lists' for what we'd like to get out of a club, for instance:

Guest Speakers (Dr. Ron?)
Library of videos and books
Central meeting location?
Raffles/Giveaways
Group cooperative purchases ('frag of the month club')

[katspaw]

Okay robert, on my list for our membership, we have 31 members. I know that not everyone can make every meeting, we all have other lives and responsiblities to up hold. At every meeting I have attended there as been somebody new and one of the other members wasn't there. okay I haven't gotten everyone to one meeting as of yet, I think that would be near to impossible to do. I have met with a number of our members outside of the meetings, some I have traveled to their homes and some others have come to my place. we have had 4 new members this month alone. I think a lot of it is from having something in my signature that is letting people know we are out here. A few of them have said I saw your post and didn't even know there was a club in NJ. So as you can see, maybe a logo that we can put into our signatures will only help in growing the club. I don't like the idea of having only one place to meet at. this is boring, by going to other reefers homes, it gives us a chance to meet their families and to see what they have done with their tanks. Tell me you didn't get a kick out of watching all of us scramble over each other when you fed the stand alone refugium, and when everyone ooh and ahhh over the blue carpet anemone. We each take pride in our tanks, and we feel really specal, when someone on the same level is impressed with our work. And not only that but, look at were we all live, it wouldn't be fair for John to have to travel all the way up to northern NJ every meeting nor me traveling to south jersey either, and if it is in central jersey, Brian and steve wouldn't have to ever travel. By having it at different reefer's homes then each month one person doesn't have to travel except when we go to someplace special like next months meeting. I would like to keep the club as free as possible. If we want to do shirts later that is another thing that will be address when we get to that point. We do need to organize this club somewhat. Macna does have a very good post on how to go about making a club, I have already read it and tryed to get some responses from people. that didn't pan out as well as I wanted. Macna says you will have doers, regulars, and the occassional member. I think we can see witch ones are the doers. and we know which are the regulars. It is the doers responsiblity to make this club work. But as in any situtation where there will be politics there has to be rules and order, this way we know what each one is suppose to do and not "oh I thought you were going to do that." See my point.

Tracey

[volk23]

nevermind :)

[Aquariust]

Okay, there's alot of info here, so I will answer as much as I can on my lunch break. I will get to the rest tonight.

Number 1, Rovert, your making this harder than it was intended to sound. I wasn't insinuating we have to have a president, officers, treasurer, secretary, etc... Your right, the club isn't at that level yet. I am in no rush, so we can take it slow.

I am simply trying to introduce aliitle more fun to the meetings. As for a treasurer, we just need someone to hold the money. Brian has been at every meeting. I think we can trust him to hold the money. Tracey is also another member who attends them all. She could hold the money. My intentions are to come to every meeting. But, if I hold the money I'm documenting it ALL on the website. Now, of course we aren't always going to be at every meeting. That's life.

For 3 dollars I thought it would be a neat idea to raffle off money to spend at the LFS we're in. Who's gonna miss $3? I spend more than that on ciggs every day.

I also know people in the T shirt business. I will see what I can come up with. I will also attempt to make a new image for the site. As said we can vote which one looks the best. BTW, anyone who makes one will have it displayed somewhere on the site, so it's not going to waste.

I'll post more later...

[katspaw]

Better yet, why not have a thread for the logo's that everyone makes. I know that steve also want to try his hand at it. And if I sat down with a couple of shots of cognac, I could do a more manly job of it :D , Then we have a poll to see which one wins. Plain and simple. the logo should be voted on by everyone, well at least the ones involved anyway. T-shirts and that stuff are a long ways away. but promoting the club isn't

Agreed.
Tracey

[bahrhoops]

Kats I agree on your point of having different meeting sites and hosts.
Hosting a meeting is very rewarding and I think everyone should have that chance !
Heck at this point I might have to wait a year .I also agree on holding off the t-shirt idea but getting different logos to decide on.
- my 4 cents
-steve

[katspaw]

Everybody keeps adding their cents to the post it's going to be rich :D

Tracey

[Rovert]

John:
Agree on $3, I was proposing even more - up to $10, or so. :eek:
Agree someone needs to hold onto the money.
Fun = Good :D
Politics = Bad :(
I'm not trying to complicate, I'm trying to simplify, which is why I asked why we'd need to change anything - my thoughts regarding 'structure' weren't directed to you, but were observations in general.

Tracey:
75% of your message focused in on what took up only one sentence in my reply regarding meeting place. Personally, I'm with you - I like a different place, and agree that a 'roving meeting' is nice, but that has downsides, too, since there's no centrality. I'm not thinking for myself, but for others who don't like to drive, and might prefer something consistent. Just throwing out the pros/cons of each. We need to consider everyone's needs here, whenever possible.

Bottom line, from what I'm reading in all of our posts, we all want to maximize fun and learning, and minimize complications.

That's why I tend to think that getting into all kinds of formalized processes, like the Brooklyn club, or the JSAS will diminish the fun, and increase the frustration. Now, if there's something good to be had by being a recognized NFP club, let's go for it - otherwise, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[katspaw]

I am a woman>> I talk(write) too much >>And I am blonde>>So sue me :D
Would you expect less?

Tracey

[Rovert]

Hey... you went there... not me. :rolleyes:

Just making sure nobody misunderstood me. I seem to be having one of those phases in the past few weeks, where things don't always come out right. :eek:

[katspaw]

Only for the past few weeks, I have known you longer than that.:D

Tracey

[Aquariust]

Originally posted by katspaw
Well if anyone is interested, I have a guy who makes the t-shirts for my business. he charges a one time screen fee of $50.00 with one ink print and the shirts are like 6.50 each, they don't have pockets and the largers sizes, such as 2 and 3X are a little more. If we can come up with a logo that everyone likes and a color for the ink and shirt then this would be doiable. But we would all have to wnat to do this. I know that shirts can be done cheaper another way, the computer generated image transfers, but I don't know how good it would look. I do have a nice printer set up here at work that can reproduce pictures as good as a photograph. It's the Photo EX by epson. If anyone is interested. Where there is a will there is a way. :D

Tracey

That's actually not that bad price wise. What kind of detail are we talking Tracey? Front and back, or just one? How big in the back can we go? Any details, like color? Brians T Shirts are really cool. I think if we're gonna do it, we should spend the money and do it right. Printer transfers just don't look the same.

There's a good article on starting a club here:

http://www.masna.org/archives/start.htm

I know some have read it, but here it is again for everyone else. At reef splendor, if we have a raffle ( not an admission charge and not mandatory, but I'd be sad if anyone didn't participate) we can collect 2-3 dollars from everyone. You can buy more than 1 ticket if you choose. It will better your odds to win. I have already purchased tikets online, and I'm planning on making a little spinner out of a 2 liter bottle:) Anyways, if we have 30 people attend reef splendor, times $3 = $90. $60 would either be a jackpot to the winner (in the form of a gift certificate only to be used at reef splendor). The other $30 would go to the club's treasury. Now, assuming Tracey's price of $50 for the first T Shirt, and $6.50 for each additional one (I may be able to get it cheaper?) Now $30 into $50 is a difference of $20. Then if we could sell 20 of them, they would only cost $7.50 per shirt, or $8.50 if we only sold 10.

We can make this money work for the club. When we have another meeting, the proceeds can again go to the club to buy T shirts to be given out to members as a raffle. For what else the money can do go back to my first post.

But at the same time I don't want to make everyone uncomfortable giving money. That's why it's alittle on the iffy side. You never know how some people are gonna react to new information.

I know I have only been at 2 meetings, but I must say this is a swell group:) I have no plans of going anywhere, so, get used to seeing my face:cool: But at the same token, I don't want to step on any toes, so if you think this puts the club in an uncomfortable situation let me know.

Remember this is an idea, not written in stone.

[Aquariust]

Originally posted by bahrhoops
I suppose I'm on the fence with club "politics", I imagine we are all a little hesitant on the formalities of the club as we have all enjoyed each others company and we would rather not step on eachothers toes.
I am a firm believer of the slogans : "If it aint broke - dont try to fix it" .. and "just keep it simple"
However I am aware and thankful of the hard work that Kats and Aquariust have done to the website and organizational duties.John you really have a gift when it comes to website design!
- steve

TY Steve:)

Originally posted by Rovert
Hey, guys... are we sure this isn't getting away from us a little bit? I hate to be the cynic in the group, but what's wrong with the way it's been working 'till now?

Maybe we should start another thread to ask all past, and potential, attendees what they would like to see out of a reef club?

No one thinks your the cynic;) Your just expressing your opinions and concerns. Everyone needs to voice their opinion. I will start the thread.

About politics and organization:

Hmmm... I don't think we need officers, etc... All the governing affairs are more low key. All we need, is the founder, and it's members. I am the webmaster. But it is low key, it isn't like I'm gonna tell ya to drop and give me 20 bc I'm the webmaster:) Tracey is the founder. But she doesn't voice her opinion like she owns the club. She's more low key. Heck, I didn't even know she was the founder until recently! Behind the scenes, we are trying to organize the club, in the way of promotion, more fun, and to grow and be well known. In time of course, but you can't sit and wait for good things to come your way. Tracey has spent alot of her "behind the scenes" time getting us set up at Reef Splendor. Rovert, last week you hosted a meeting. We're all working behind the scenes here. If anyone has anything behind the scenes thay think they can do for the club email me or Tracey.

We rule on important ideas, decisions, etc... Together. Either at the meeting or on the boards.

Just my quarter!

[katspaw]

Did I tell you guys about the door prize ??? The guys at RS are donating a coral as a give away. and the guest list is at 31 right now :D and growing, I have 5 maybes also.

Tracey

[Aquariust]

Originally posted by Rovert


I agree with Steve. KISS principle. But I also think it's putting the cart before the horse to make up a logo for a club that isn't 'really' a club to begin with. When we're more stable, and have more 'regular' members, then I'm into it. But I think it's a bit premature right now.

Why isn't it a club "really"? Well it sounds like the club has had lots of different members before me who now don't come? Well, we have to add some more fun into the meetings (can that be possible?) to get them back. And we want them to bring their reefing friends. And the guy you gave a NJ reefers club business card too in the lfs the other day. Holy cow we're attracting new members by putting posters into the window of the LFS.

We're probably getting ahead of ourselves until we have more members. We don't have a regular meeting place, we don't have a formalized structure, we don't have any club resources and truth be told, I'm not sure we really even need it if we stay the size we are. The requirement for dues, a treasury, and 'officeers' suggests that we're going to be applying for a formal charter for a Not-For-Profit status. And that also creates politics. Ugh.

As said, I'd really hate to have a standard meeting place. Perhaps a standard place if we plan to have guest speakers, like Dr Ron, Andy from Icecap, etc... Maybe a library? How big is your place Brian? Haven't been there yet. I know we don't have a formalized structure, that's what we're trying to do:p, and we would have club resources if did a raffle idea.

"The requirement for dues, a treasury, and 'officeers' suggests that we're going to be applying for a formal charter for a Not-For-Profit status. And that also creates politics."

Since it's small, I don't think all that's necessary. Maybe if the club grows tremendously, then we'll talk about it. There will be no dues. The raffle is not madatory

My two cents? I like John's idea, but with a bit of a twist. Collect a nominal 'attendance fee' from each attendee to show at a meeting that would help offset the cost of hosting (chips, soda, etc.), and also buy a few frags to raffle off, with one going to the host. (fine time for me to come up with this idea now! :D ) If we were to also do a mini-50/50 auction (1/2 to the donor, 1/2 to the club), then it will help contribute to other 'club goodies'.

The problems I see with this:

"Don't charge admission for your members, it will only give them a reason to skip a meeting. One plan is to charge only non-members who want to come and see a popular speaker. (One club charges non-members admission only when they have speakers like Julian Sprung or Martin Moe).

Remember why you have the money: To spend it! It doesn't do any good to have a huge treasury unless you spend it on things that interest the members. Some of the best clubs rarely have more than a couple of months expenses in the bank, they spend money, which attracts members, which makes more money, and so on."

-From the link above

A few dollars could easily be used to buy soda and snacks for the group. No Beer with this money though:) Or it could go to the person who bought the food for the meeting. Where are we going to buy a few frags to raffle off? Whoever goes to get them is working low key;) behind the scenes. Plus, it would be lending money to the club, which you'd probaly never get back (read the link). If your thinking of buying frags for this meeting, from Reef Splendor, then you'd either have to give the frag to Tracey, or back to Reef Slendor. See what I'm getting to? Maybe you can reword it so I understand.

I'll do a little homework, and also contact the president of MASNA to ask her about the resources for reef clubs, and tips/ideas for how to get a club rolling.

ck the thread above for the link



Not directed to you Rovert, just voicing my opinions on issues.

[katspaw]

OKay I am totally confused now :confused:

Tracey

[Aquariust]

sorry, I fixed it, I had started my sayings with a < sign (shift + , )

And apparently, RC doesn't like it, so everything written in between them, was invisible.