suggestions for PBMAS

[j's55]

Hey I just thaught it would be fun to start a thread on this for our club. I came from a pretty big group in utah and we use to do fraging meetings where they would do auctions of live corals, then since it was a large group almost 127 they would open into a room and there was a big rush to buy coral frags. then the money went to the clubs funds.

I just thaught it would be fun to do something like this like a frag swap or a way for the members to meet and get to know each other. I think the main reason the club was so fun is because the memmbers all new each other and were all really good friends.

Josh :idea:


If you want to check it out go to www.utahreefs.com

[dgasmd]

Josh:

That is a great suggestion. I also came from a pretty active and big club (300+). We actually did what you are saying about 4 times per year in addition to the regularly scheduled monthly meetings. We used to do it in a store and they would order a tons of corals to arrive the day before. We would go in and one of the guys in the club would pick out the best 4-5 colonies and frag the heck out of it. Then, the frags were sold right there for $10-15. It would more than pay for the corals and made some money for the club. The store would also make some money from all the sales that night. Can't remember a single time they didn't sell at least 50 corals and a ton of fish. I was planning on incorporating the same concept in the future, but the thing about that type of activity is that you need enough members to support it financially and otherwise. We are not there yet. As a matter of fact, only one member has paid dues (guess who). I presume most people are waiting for the January meeting to pay their dues though LOL...............................I hope LOL..............................

[KING OF THE REEF]

Hey I would join if there was common meeting place. Not like going to every one's home and hosting one there. I mean any city hall's convetion center would work. LOL. I mean the Jupiter one is always open to any club that wishes to hold meetings (THat was the last I heard fro man inside source). Please try to get a common meeting place. It would be easier for me to join if I knew that I wouldnt have to run all over PBC. I want to join but I cant yet so when I can I will. Hey j's55 you got pm

[dgasmd]

Getting a meeting place that is not a member's home has never been an issue. As a matter of fact, our fist meeting was not at a member's home. We are still a small enough club that we couldn't afford to bring in speakers and pay for all the associated costs. However, we are open to any member funding it or donating the resources to bring in speakers. I already ahve a list of speakers, so if you poney up the moolah, we can make it happen. Otherwise, I see no point really for 10 of us to meet in a "common place" just to chit chat. The point of doing this at member's homes is that we can check out other people's tanks and maybe learn a little from how they are doing things and from what has worked for them. Swapping frags has never been prohibited. We are also trying to add a small talk to the meetings, but so far I have been the only one volunteering to speak. I don't want to be the "guest speaker" every time either.

[j's55]

I know I am for sure paying but I am waiting until the meeting. I really don't mind if there is no one and only place I think it is cool you get to see every ones tank plus a 20,000 gallon coral farm.

I know in utah we had a lot of speakers like Julian sprung and a few others they sold his books then we all got them signed. I also know a couple big companys donated to us like hamilton, DTs, custom sealife, and pet stores would offer 20% off every thing.

At my old club they would also have a room where they would have people seling frags and trading and they rented a rec center to.

[dgasmd]

J's55:

The company donation is a good idea. I had though about contacting a few of these companies too in the future to see what, if anything, they donate. I know they do it fairly often as our old club had raffles and donations all the time. This is something we can definately work on and it should be fairly easy to do. MACNA coming up this year is a great place to meet all these vendors and manufacturers and it is the place to get contacts for things like these. I would contact them before and then wil meet them in person as I plan to attend this year too. I have lots of reef friends in the areaand will meet up with a bunch more. I hope lots of people from out club decide to go too.

[KING OF THE REEF]

hey i am willing to help with the funding for a common meeting place. also where is the next meeting and what time is it? i hope i may be able to attend lol. Thanks

[dgasmd]

Funding for a meeting place is not necessary as we have about 3-4 places we could use for free. Funding for speakers is a whole different story. For now, we'll stick to the member's homes though.

The next meeting is January 22nd at 1 PM.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=501293

[j's55]

hey I would definetly go to this meeting it sounds very interesting.

umm well what is MACNA???????

[dgasmd]

Originally posted by j's55
umm well what is MACNA???????

It is like the yearly woodstock for reefers. A yearly convention where the big names in the hobby go to give lectures/talks and where every other vendor, manufacturer, distribuitor and online seller goes to show their stuff.

MACNA (http://www.macnaxvii.com/)

[j's55]

Ohh it is in washington DC. I geuss it is worth a try to ask my mom. How should I say it " umm mom can we go to washington DC for a fish meeting?"

[Bocaswim]

Hey I have a suggestion for one of the upcoming meetings-What about a yard sale. You know how all of us have a bunch of used reef equipment laying around (come on I know it is not just me) I must have at least 5 MH bulbs with some good life left on em. They would be cheap too like $5 or something. We could have a big swap shop type event and maybe also tie it into a frag swap. Anybody else?

[dgasmd]

That is a great auggestion. Although I have done my best over time not to accumulate crap, I know I have some very usable stuff just collecting dust. We could certainly tie this into ta frag swap later in the year.

Very good suggestion!!!!!!!

[Bocaswim]

It is amazing what piles up in my garage :)

[j's55]

Hey I could use one of those bulbs and a ballast if any one has one.

[Bocaswim]

It is a 400 watt 20k I think-like I said packed away somewhere in the garage.

[j's55]

We should that sounds like a good/fun Idea. A reef yard sell.

Hey alberto why don't you try to get some donations from companys like lights, Retro kits, test kits, Stuff like that and then at the next meeting you could have a raffel or silent auction.

I know Some companys like DTs will donate. At my last meeting in Utah before christmas we did that and we got to try a couple new products that had not been put on shelfs yet like some epoxy putty, some new test kits, one guy won the raffel for a 400 dollar wavemaker that the company donated to us.