Looking for club info

[smpolyp]

Brad and others
I am looking for info on how to improve an expanding club. Our club meets at a members house each month,but we are getting 40-50 people each month and the houses just can't handle them all. Meeting at a house with a different reef each month is very important to our members. How can we keep the fire going if we meet in a room without a different tank each month?

[Brad Ward]

smpolyp,

We had the same "problem":D It was getting harder to get folks to volunteer when they would see 40+ folks show up.

At this point, I felt that getting aquarium related venues was best for us. I have lined up Oceanic Systems for quarterly meetings. I am also working with the curator at the Dallas Aquarium to do the same. We are spread out just like your members probably are and I needed another venue on the Fort Worth side of town so that the drive was equal for everyone. I had a large LFS agree to host meetings over there quarterly. That would take care of the year just about. And if a memeber wanted to hold it at their home, we could just transfer the place whenever.

As for keeping the momentum going, you will have to get more organized(work)and plan out programs and activities that will take the place of oohing and ahhing at the tank. Field trips are great, and you have the obvious benefit of being close to the Ocean and Intercoastal. A neat little collecting trip would be cool. Get behind the scenes tours at the water parks like Seaworld, Epcot and the rest of them in the region. Also because of your location, get ORA and Harbor Branch guys up for presentations. Man, I wish I had the resources to work with that you all have within a few hours drive.

We are going to have a frag swap and a Field Trip to Larry Jackson's house in March. It seems that We are going to have to do the same thing.

Good Luck,

Brad