Voting on officers. ( WE HAVE NOT DONE THIS YET)

[Reistroffer]

Hey Guys,


I was wondering who is our president,vice...etc


we have not yet voted on this...some of us are starting to create websites,posters ...etc ..while others are not doing anything.

I'm personally interested in driving this club straight to the top and doing the work to spread its name. But i want to know all the information as to who is in charge, who is not ...etc


I think we should have some type of meeting...were we can discuss this because without a leader/leaders we really cant start this club up to get more than 8 people to show up.


Thanks guys

~Chris

[Dakota Reef]

We talked about this a bit at one of the meetings as I recall. I think with the expertise we've got with Travis and Lunch, they'd be great, if they're willing to do it (I think they're doing most of the work anyhow with some help from Grant). We could let them arm wrestle for Pres/vice pres.

Personally, I'd like to be the minority whip and would appreciate your votes.

[Travis]

This was discussed a while back at one of the meetings. Our decision was to wait a while and see how things went and see if we could get a larger member based first before we discussed it again. Our member base does seem to being growing, albeit slowly but surely. At this point, I'm not really sure how the club would benefit from having leadership positions. But I'm not really familiar with how other clubs run so maybe I'm overlooking something. One thing I would like is for our meetings to be a little more structured instead of breaking off into half the people on one side of the room engaged in their own discussion while the other half of the people on the other side of the room are engaged in another discussion. I would like to see the meetings as a time when everyone is participating together in the same discussion. And maybe it would take leadership roles to bring this type of structure to the meetings.

As far as the leadership postions, I think the major prerequisite is that the leaders should have long-term experience in the hobby. After that, they should have a strong passion for the hobby and the club itself. Lastly, they should be dedicated to making as many meetings as possible and be willing to accept phone calls from other members or people who are interested in the club.

I would feel honored to run for a leadership position. I think Lunchbucket would also make a good candidate. Grant would also make a good candidate but he can't be in a leadership position of the club for legal reasons.

This is certainly something that can be discussed at the next meeting but I don't see any reason to rush into it.

[Reistroffer]

I would like to get it figured out so we can get more flyers out to the public do fund raisers so we can get notes in the paper...etc

as of right now its sorta by ear, which is good...but it can grow alot faster if focused right,...but again this is a club i have to remind myself its not a business. (which i run) ..lol but again thats the driven businessman in me speaking ...anyways I think travis and eric sound like good canidates for leadership roles, lets just figure out how were going to get more people to the meets, what kind of roles people are going to have, what kind of papers people are going to write...etc

Because if people actully come to the meetings and were just talking about random things...they're not going to be to excited in coming back...we have to make it educational and fun!..
~Chris

[Travis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6632045#post6632045 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reistroffer

Because if people actully come to the meetings and were just talking about random things...they're not going to be to excited in coming back...we have to make it educational and fun!..


I agree with this. Anyone have any suggestions on incorporating some education into the meetings? Maybe each meeting could have a single topic and everyone shares what they know on that topic or something similar.

[Dakafall]

but i like being random :strooper: :bum:
also, we need more FW Talk :p

I'll do whatever is really asked of me

[Lunchbucket]

we did talk about this in one of the first meetings and i am glad that you brought it up Chris. we are getting bigger but we are not very big still. we have how many attending regularly? at this time i feel that officers are not needed yet. but i do think that we need to be more orginized as a couple of you have said.

i agree w/ Travis about the guidelines for being an officer. our officers should be the "go to guys" that have the experience and drive. they should not be someone quite new to the hobby that isn't "seasoned" yet or haven't experienced much that this great hobby has. with this we are ALL newbies. heck i try to learn something everyday and try to improve all the time...but that is what we should all strive for is constant knowledge. i consider myself NO expert and wouldnt' feel right saying i was. i do have decent experience w/ SPS, nano reefs, etc. i know what has an hasn't worked for me...but does this mean it is all that is known? NO. i try to practice quality reefkeeping habbits and try not to get sucked into all the hype, $$, and gimicks that this hobby has. this is responsible IMO.

i feel flattered to be mentioned and more flattered to be mentioned w/ Travis. Travis is someone w/ great tallents and skills in reefing especially SPS...so i feel fortunate to be listed w/ him. i have no problem w/ being an officer...but like i said i don't feel they are needed quite yet

we do need structure though. we need structured meetings and structured promotions and recuruting. we should have this be the topic of main focus at the meeting on Feb 18th

if we want this to be productive we should probably put in some more time though (thanks for bringing this up Chris).

anyone think about having a weekend where we could camp out a the LFS's and talk to people? maybe have them advertise it for us? like meet the local club. a way for people to come to us in a common place like a LFS? any thoughts? might get some people that haven't heard from us yet.

great discussion lets keep it going! we'll only get better by talking. now that we have more people here at RC this will help "bridge the gaps"

Lunchbucket

[snowyangel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6637204#post6637204 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dakafall

also, we need more FW Talk :p


I very much aggree on that comment. :D

[CHUCKSD]

Do we have anyone in the club that works or owns one of the LFS?
In San Antonio we used to teach a " welcome to the hobby 101" class at the LFS and also had a bulletin board (at the LFS) that the public could make topic suggestions. We tried to have a class once a month or as need required.

[Travis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6645757#post6645757 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket
i feel flattered to be mentioned and more flattered to be mentioned w/ Travis. Travis is someone w/ great tallents and skills in reefing especially SPS...so i feel fortunate to be listed w/ him.

Brown Noser.:lol: Just kidding of course.:D I am flattered that anyone would say that about me. I too do not consider myself to be an expert in this hobby. I devote a lot of time keeping up with new technologies and biological breakthroughs in the hobby and try to weed out what is "hype"/"trendy" and what is a true breakthrough. I like to learn as much as I can about each different aspect such as biological filtration, protein skimming, water testing, salt mixes, bulbs, ballasts, pumps, wavemaking devices, etc., etc. I think the only way someone could be called an "expert" in this hobby is if they have gone to grad school for one of the subcategories of the hobby such as marine biology or lighting. For example, I would cosider Sanjay Joshi an expert in this hobby, he is an expert in lighting. I don't think someone could really be an expert in everything as there are too many things in this hobby to know everything about all of them. Ok, Travis rant mode off...:rolleyes:

anyone think about having a weekend where we could camp out a the LFS's and talk to people? maybe have them advertise it for us? like meet the local club. a way for people to come to us in a common place like a LFS? any thoughts? might get some people that haven't heard from us yet.

Now we're talking! That is a great idea. We could setup a Saturday to do it. Set up a little table at each LFS and have 1 or 2 people be at the table for 2 hour shifts during the busier time of the day. Good thinking Lunch.;)

[Travis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6650323#post6650323 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snowyangel
I very much aggree on that comment. :D

I also agree. The original "vision" of the club was that it would encompass all types of aquarium keeping. Maybe once the meetings become more structured we can devote a part of the meeting to freshwater discussion. I would like for any type of aquarium keeper to feel welcome and feel like they would benefit from attending our meetings.

[Travis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6651120#post6651120 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CHUCKSD
Do we have anyone in the club that works or owns one of the LFS?
In San Antonio we used to teach a " welcome to the hobby 101" class at the LFS and also had a bulletin board (at the LFS) that the public could make topic suggestions. We tried to have a class once a month or as need required.

Ben, whom runs the FW department at Petco is a member of our club. However, he is in the Guards and is overseas for a while.

Then we also have Grant, whom has his own LFS setup in his garage.

But we don't have any employees of Safari Land or Mini Critters attending meetings yet, although I have encouraged them to do so.

Were you a member in a reef club down in San Antonio? If so, we could learn something from you about how a reef club meeting goes. This club was kind of started from scratch and we are learning as we go.

[Lunchbucket]

so i do come up w/ a good idea once in a while :D i'm up for setting up a table. do we call partners or get assigned? can i camp out at Grants :D

i too hope we have enough fresh talk for everyone. the whole idea is once we get enough is to hopefully split to a fresh and a salt group....at least i think.

Lunchbucket

[Dakafall]

i'd be willing to take the lead of the FW department, if no one else wants to claim it

*fiddles around w/ new 5.5g LPS reef*

[tangdiver]

Man oh man, we are on the right track. It all starts from a spark... we have a flame. Sorry been out of the loop for a while... been in a tank this weekend for 4 hours...whimp and cry...76 degrees w/o a wet suit scapeing coraline algae...not fun. Got hypothema (spelling), went to doctor and had heat packs under arm pits...(also Dakotafall, I need to apologize and talk to ya tommarrow about skipping your appointment today)

Going back to meetings, basically I cannot be any officer except maybe treas or sec. due to the conflict of interest...= club is its own enity...best for growth and no compete with other LFS. We can still kinda do the best for the club until maybe after the two trips this month and see first hand how others are doing and mirror as best as we can.

The club will prosper and last for a veryvery long time. We have tons of tallent, Ben and Dakafall topping the freshwater side, and saltwater, well all are doing great in there own parts of expertise... Travis and Eric w/sps, Dakota Reef w/ propagating and reproducing bulbs, Chris the Mud man, and well on and on...

We have all great talent here and need to share it. I might have an in @ homeshow, if we do not interfer to much with there booth...possibility. The behind scenes @ Henry Doorly is do not quote me but fragging demo...Mitch told me he has to be busy with that...as for this weekend should be great but early on Sat.


Long winded like normal

Grant

[Dakota Reef]

Grant - dude, you need a good algae magnet!! Actually I'm guessing you must have been working on that acrylic tank with the major coralline growth. Guess no one had any good suggestions for ya. Hope you went scratch free!

As for the question about meetings and structure. My two cents is that even if we haven't done anything more yet than get to know each other, thats a great and important step.

Back in my Reef Central lurking only days I'd check on this board and see three posts a year. Its a pleasure to need to check it every day.

Sorry I won't be at this month's meeting but one thought I had was why not start a post with some questions/topics that we'd like to see discussed at the next meeting. Obviously some questions are better answered immediately here on the board but there are certainly topics that would make for great discussion at our meetings.

Like "where the heck can I find Southdown Sand for this new aquarium thats coming early next week?" I'm sure you all want to talk about that at a meeting. Right?

Phil

[Lunchbucket]

yeah i about bag or so of southdown if you want it :D

Lunchbucket

[Travis]

Dakota Reef, I agree, it is nice to actually have to check this forum every day. I used to check once a month or once every other month. I'm glad to see a bunch of locals participating in this forum.

That is also a good idea to start a thread about topics for discussions at meetings. I will start one now.:)

As for the Southdown, all I can say is "wish ya luck bud". I converted my 75 to a DSB about 3-4 years ago. I called all the Home Depot's in every neighboring state and had no luck. I talked to the Sioux Falls Home Depot to see if they could get some in on a special order and they said no. I ended up going with ESV sand, which is actually a tad finer, IIRC. But now that there is Southdown sand relabled as White Castle or something like that it may be worth looking around. You could also check with club forums in Minneapolis or Omaha to see what they were able to come up with.

[Lunchbucket]

yeah this is cool...checking our own SFAS forum quite often. loving that we ahve some chatting

southdown is about extinct i think. i think there might be some people in teh cities or around the country that have some southdown. but like Travis said it is White Castle now (i remember that name so i think we have the name right). i remember Yard Right or something also.

maybe do a search and see...there have been quite a few that people have foudn that work.

Lunchbucket

[Dakota Reef]

Hey Lunch,

Did you mean that you have a bag of southdown you'd sell me? I couldn't quite make out that post. If so I'd be happy to work something out with ya!!

Phil

[Lunchbucket]

Dakota - i think i have at least 3/4 of a bag. i think. if i have some you can have it :D

Lunchbucket

[Dakafall]

After quite a bit of lack of communication down in Omaha, this needs to be our 1st priority at the next meeting, we need to get someone in charge that can organize everything and get us actual time frames on these events (more than a day or 2 ahead of time)

[Reistroffer]

I completely agree with Joe. Our current path in leadership is on a quick course to destruction. There is in no shape or form any professionalism in the way things are being processed. The past few meetings have been proving this. I enjoy talking about fish, husbandry, filters, and lights as much as the next guy but there has to be STRUCTURE. Humans as a whole need structure to survive. Our groups lacks it highly, not only are current members noticing this but our newer members will notice this for sure, and not return. Hence our group not growing, which is our GOAL!!! I think either in this forum or in the next meeting there MUST be a vote on things. I don’t care who it is, but it NEEDS to be someone with STRONG leadership skills and organization skills. NOT someone who knows about fish. That is a HUGE bonus but that does not make you qualified to run an aquarium society. You have to be willing to go the extra mile and do things above and beyond having a title and knowing about fish. There is more than involved. If you consider yourself a candidate on knowledge on fish alone you are NOT qualified in my opinion.

I’m truly sorry if I stepped on anyone’s toes or offended anyone, but I believe in what I said so strongly that if what I’m talking about hasn’t been completely by the next meeting I will no longer consider myself apart of the Sioux Falls aquarium society.

This week I asked for detailed time frames from our “leaders� and I received NO response. No returned phone calls, no comments, no answers. This is completely unacceptable. No excuses! As “Leaders� in this group volunteer or not you are taking on a role to answer peoples questions and quite frankly hold there hands. Our group of 5 people left early to make it to see Calfo, the zoo had NO idea what we were talking about and who we were. We wasted a day, extra money, and frustration that could have been handled with simple communication.

Any questions or concerns email me or call me

chrisreistroffer@gmail.com
1-605-929-3730

[tom obrecht]

I noticed a couple comments on lack of communication in Omaha. As the new president of the Omaha Society I would be glad to hear what ways we could have communicated more clearly? I did appreciate the people that made the road trip down. We had alot of people at Anthony's talk and we tried to handle things the best we could. Any feedback would be helpful to help clearify for future events to our out of state guests.
Tom

[Reistroffer]

Tom,

It had nothing to do with your group. Your meeting went perfect. IMO I believe our group should have a president/vice president (which we dont) who are gathering info from you/anyone for any meeting, and passing it along in a professional manner..aka emails that are written in stone, phone calls...etc...and if anything is changed making a call pattern so everyone gets a message personally to know what is going on.

nothing you did wrong.

amazing meeting

~Chris

[tom obrecht]

If I can help in anyway please let me know. I really want to work with other clubs in the area so we can all share with speakers ect in the future. Once again thanks for joining us this weekend and I look foward to seeing you all again.
Tom

[Travis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6831682#post6831682 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dakafall
After quite a bit of lack of communication down in Omaha, this needs to be our 1st priority at the next meeting, we need to get someone in charge that can organize everything and get us actual time frames on these events (more than a day or 2 ahead of time)

I think I may have missed something. Where was there a lack of communication? Everything was organized at the meeting last weekend and also in the Anthony Calfo thread in this forum. I guess I don't see what more could have been done. Also, the date, time, and cost of this event was posted over a week ago. I never recieved a pm, email, or phone call from anyone that had any questions so I'm not sure what went wrong.

[Travis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6832406#post6832406 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reistroffer
I completely agree with Joe. Our current path in leadership is on a quick course to destruction. There is in no shape or form any professionalism in the way things are being processed. The past few meetings have been proving this. I enjoy talking about fish, husbandry, filters, and lights as much as the next guy but there has to be STRUCTURE. Humans as a whole need structure to survive. Our groups lacks it highly, not only are current members noticing this but our newer members will notice this for sure, and not return. Hence our group not growing, which is our GOAL!!! I think either in this forum or in the next meeting there MUST be a vote on things.

Chris, maybe you should start attending the meetings then. The last couple meetings you were only there for a short amount of time. We discussed whether or not we need to have officers at the last couple meetings and it was a unanimous decision that we would not benefit from them at this time.

I don’t care who it is, but it NEEDS to be someone with STRONG leadership skills and organization skills. NOT someone who knows about fish. That is a HUGE bonus but that does not make you qualified to run an aquarium society. You have to be willing to go the extra mile and do things above and beyond having a title and knowing about fish. There is more than involved. If you consider yourself a candidate on knowledge on fish alone you are NOT qualified in my opinion.

I agree, when the time comes that we do select a leader, it should be someone with strong leadership skills. But I'm not sure why you think the leader should be someone that doesn't know anything about keeping aquariums.:confused: I think that strong leadership skills and a lot of knowledge and experience in this hobby are both equally important in leading the club. I think you are way off base saying that the leader of a club does not need to know anything about what the club is about.

This week I asked for detailed time frames from our “leaders� and I received NO response. No returned phone calls, no comments, no answers. This is completely unacceptable. No excuses! As “Leaders� in this group volunteer or not you are taking on a role to answer peoples questions and quite frankly hold there hands.

Who are you talking about Chris? As you already mentioned, our club does not have any leaders. I know you can't be talking about me because I never recieved an email, pm, phone call or anything from you asking about the trip to Omaha. Everything was thoroughly discussed in other threads in this forum about who was riding with who, what time the meeting started, and where it would be located. So I'm kind of confused about what you are talking about.

Our group of 5 people left early to make it to see Calfo, the zoo had NO idea what we were talking about and who we were. We wasted a day, extra money, and frustration that could have been handled with simple communication.

What was discussed at the last meeting and also in this forum was that if people were going just for the meeting they would get into the zoo for free. If they wanted to go early to look around at the zoo before the meeting they would have to pay the entrance fee. This was posted in the Anthony Calfo thread so I don't see how anyone could have missed this. It was clearly stated that it started at 4:30. Nobody ever said or posted anything about it starting at 10:00. If you had a question about when the meeting started you could have:
1)Called me or another club member. I don't know if you called anyone else but I know you never tried to contact me.
2)Checked the Anthony Calfo thread in this forum.
If you choose not to do either of those to seek an answer to your question then I'm not sure what you possibly expect anyone else to do for you.

[Travis]

As long as we are discussing the Calfo presentation, I would like to chime in and say it was great and I had a great time. Props to Tom, Mitch, and the rest of the Omaha club for putting it together. And props to Anthony for such a great presentation.

However, I would also like to point out a couple things that upset me. I don't know if this is true or not but I "heard" that there was a member of our club that was not acting very mature at the meeting. I heard reports that this person pushed other people aside during the fragging demo telling them that he was a "professional photographer" and was taking pictures to post on all of the clubs websites. I also heard that this same person was calling another club member an "intern" and making them do his dirty work like get his lenses for him. I am not aware of any people in our club that were at the presentation to take pictures for professional reasons but I did hear that this was a member of our club. If there was a professional agenda going on, then I have no idea what it was. This is a complete embarassment to me and our reef club as a whole. When our club goes somewhere, I would think that it would be common sense that we need to act like mature adults and represent our club in a positive manner.

It was also discussed at the last meeting and also here on this forum that if you went early, you would be expected to pay the zoo entry fee. However, I heard from Cathy and Mitch who work at the Zoo that one of our club members was trying to get people in for free way before the meeting. One of our club members (Grant) who used to work at the aquarium got talked to about this. I know Grant was very embarassed to have to get "talked to" about this. Grant wants to keep a positive relationship with the zoo he used to work at but another club member could have possibly ruined that for him. I also felt ebarassed myself because I don't want the Omaha people to think of our club as people that just want to come down and expect everything for free. Like I said, it was discussed at the last meeting and also here in our forum that the presentation started at 4:30. If anyone was going early they would need to pay. So I'm not sure why anyone was trying to get in for free way before the presentation. There were 3 other groups of people from our club that were there. Every one of us knew what time the meeting started. In fact, one of our members that was there just got back from an out of country vacation and he was well aware of the start time. So I'm not sure why there was anyone that didn't know what time it started.

If anything like this comes up again and people are confused about something please feel free to pm, email, or call me. I check my email and pm's several times a day. I may not answer my phone right away but I have voice mail and I will get back to you. Everyone should have my phone number as it is listed on our society contact page that was emailed to all of our members.

[Dakafall]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6833769#post6833769 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis
I heard reports that this person pushed other people aside during the fragging demo telling them that he was a "professional photographer" and was taking pictures to post on all of the clubs websites. I also heard that this same person was calling another club member an "intern" and making them do his dirty work like get his lenses for him.

No offense, but you HEARD things like that, meanwhile i SAW him politelly ask the people if he could stand there, and the people he asked were 2 little kids who ended up being able to sit down in the front row rather than standing off to the side, and (he IS a prof photographer, so the quotes arn't needed ;))

and also, the "intern" thing was a joke we had going the entire day, if i had had a problem with it, i think i coulda handled it. there wasn't any "dirty work" ivovled, i was also keeping some of my stuff in the camera bag, so i wasn't just carrying it just for the hell of it. keep in mind i like workin' w/ photographic equipment so i wouldn't mind being "intern" again :P

[Dakota Reef]

What did I miss?

I thought this was a great event. The only thing I'm upset about is Anthony Calfo turned out to be this young guy. After reading stuff in his forum I had him pictured as this grizzled, gray haired salty dog with decades of experience.

The Nebraska club put together a great event and managed to cope quite gracefully with a bigger than expected turnout and a last minute scheduling conflict for the meeting room.

Tom, if you're still reading this thread I'd like to add my thanks for an excellent and worthwhile workshop.

Chris, I don't understand why you're upset at anyone else. I wasn't even in this country for the last week and it was obvious the event started at 4:30 from a number of threads. Every thread with Anthony Calfo in the heading gave the start time. Travis answered at least one of the threads where you asked for timeframes with a reply that mentioned the correct start time. You even replied after he gave the info out.

I mean I love ya man but who would take a carload of people for a three hour drive going to a meeting if you had no idea what the start time was? Thats just crazy!!

Hope we can stay constructive.

Phil

[Lunchbucket]

as far as confusion on when the event was, where, and how much it has been addressed MANY times.

1) multiple times at the mettings
2) a mass email that i send out to to ALL the members on Feb 18 which stated our website (which has ALL the info), states the forum (which contained all the info), has our email, has travis's phone all for contact purposes.
3) it is stated on our website
4) there are multiple threads (in which one of you both posted more then once) thread 1 (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=746980&perpage=25&pagenumber=1)

thread 2 in which the times, date, cost of speaker, and cost of zoo were listed AND which you BOTH posted in AND

(http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=780207) thread three which Chris started asking about ride info etc. (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=780207)

well i'm not sure if Chris means me? i never received any pm (on RC), phone calls, emails. i did find a couple requests (TODAY) from Chris on my other computer (which had MSN running in the other room on a coputer i dont' use). he messaged me the night before and the day of and was "wondering when we were leaving"...it said NOTHING about needing details on the time, cost, anything! sorry i missed you pm's but like i said that the computer was in the other room and one i dont' use often.

there was MORE THEN AMPLE ways to recieve the information (many of which you WERE aware of as you posted in those threads). also i why would did you not try to contact someone earlier then the DAY OF??? it was posted long before two days ago!

i'm not sure what else could have been done?? i'm at a loss.

what i am not at a loss for why people might not join...if they see the attacks why would they join? there was nothing out of the ordinary that justified attacks on members and new or old people could be shy of being involved for fear of being attacked for no reason.

i agree that when we do decide on officers that they need to be organized and have strong leadership skill BUT they MUST have the background in aquariums. if they don't they will have no clue about who we are or what we do. people will look to the leaders for guidance...and if the leaders have no idea how will that look?

[Lunchbucket]

i also would like to thank the Omaha club for a great event. i'm w/ you Phil...Calfo turned out to be young...i thought he would be grayed too. man he is intertaining, a great speaker, and a very curtious and knowledgable man...i hope to see him more soon!

Tom - i am sorry for this. i do appoligize for all of us. you did a great job of hosting the event and all the things went smoothly for being such a big (unexpected) group. i hope that none of the acts, events, or posts ruin any future relations with Omaha or anyone else.

a group of us did hear some negative things about some of our members from high people at the zoo, omaha club members, peopl that were there, etc.

it looks bad on our club and most importantly Grant if the zoo people look at us w/ a bad attitude. that ruins our image as a club and Grants image which he has worked VERY VERY hard for.

i understand "inside jokes" and all but some people don't see them that way. we need to represent our club in a professional manner.

as for the pics. hey that was a great idea to get some pics. but it DID offend some people (not in our club). i saw a few people at the demonstration that you could see were upset (by thier body language).

i hope that we can get this all figured out and get our club back on track. this is a major derailment that makes our club look retarded to everyone on this board and anyone following this thread.

Lunchbucket

[Reistroffer]

I didn't push any kids out of the way Travis, i gave them a front row seat...so i think it was sorta nice on my part. they weren't seeing ANYTHING and i gave them a PERFECT few...so i think thats rather odd thing to accuse me of, also the intern thing was a joke between us and you assumed it. Secondly i did get professional grade photos for the website i WAS designing for our club. Because i want it to be something people can look at and go “holy cow " ...but whatever man. I didn't make any negative comments to anyone while i was at the event..nor did push anyone out of the way nor did i make a child do my " dirty work " i was at the last 2 meetings...first one for the whole time and the second one i was there for little more than half. Because I had a job to attend since im not a leader you think the leader would have sent out an email covering what the whole meeting was over for those who were not able to attend considering a amazing thing like calfo was coming and people may have wanted to know.

But anyways ...I'm not going to play the role of the guy who’s a jerk to anyone or everyone. Honestly i think leaders need to be put in place and VOTED in. not just take the role. Grant is an amazing human being doing everything and everything for this group, but he MUST stay out of it. It is the Sioux Falls aquarium club.

as for a leadership role i personally don’t want it. nor do i care who’s in it. I do think the leader should have double check everything; I’ve spoken with several people who were confused about the time. One person besides myself heard 10am next person heard 12pm and everyone else heard 4pm ..Sounds like a lack of communication.

I'm not upset and im far from irate maybe its coming off that way because its in a thread...but I do know that im going to humbly bow out and relieve myself from the SFAS.

Good Luck to everyone,

May your group grow and prosper

[Lunchbucket]

Reistroffer - ok you didn't push them out of the way but it looked bad to some people at the meeting. that make our club look bad. that is not what we need. you didn't intend it to look that way but people took it that way.

we do have a website up and running so why redo it? why not speak to me about it for some updates...hey i'm no web designer and i could use input..i never heard anything.

WE POLLED THE PEPOLE AT THE MEETINGS AND IT WAS A UNANIMOUS DECISION THAT WE WOULD NOT VOTE FOR THEM AT THIS TIME.....THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN!

all the info was listed (see my posts above). if you had questions emial people or call the contact numbers.

not sure why you are leaving the group....but to each your own.

good luck and happy reefing
Lunchbucket

[Lunchbucket]

Grant is an amazing human being doing everything and everything for this group, but he MUST stay out of it. It is the Sioux Falls aquarium club.

Grant is NOT THE LEADER (there are none). he is just a member of the club like everyone else! i don't know why you assume or put him in a high position as he is FAR from it. he has stated on multiple occations at meetings (which many peopl will vouch for) that is DOESN"T WANT A POSITION AND HE ISN'T IN A POSITION. he is just a guy in the club.

Lunchbucket

[Reistroffer]

Inreguards to grant, he is NOT our leader and i do not even hold him near that status. thats why im stating leave him out.

I just want to make sure Grants name is in the clear and everyone knows that I hold him in no concern with any of this.

So no one is to take it as that.

[Travis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6834242#post6834242 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dakafall
No offense, but you HEARD things like that, meanwhile i SAW him politelly ask the people if he could stand there, and the people he asked were 2 little kids who ended up being able to sit down in the front row rather than standing off to the side, and (he IS a prof photographer, so the quotes arn't needed ;))

and also, the "intern" thing was a joke we had going the entire day, if i had had a problem with it, i think i coulda handled it. there wasn't any "dirty work" ivovled, i was also keeping some of my stuff in the camera bag, so i wasn't just carrying it just for the hell of it. keep in mind i like workin' w/ photographic equipment so i wouldn't mind being "intern" again :P

That is why I posted it was what I "heard". I wasn't saying that is what happened. It is kind of like the game "telephone" that kids play. One person says something and by the time it gets to the last person, the message is completely misconstrued. So I wasn't sure what the facts were but thought it should be mentioned.

I know he is a professional photographer but I wasn't aware that he was on business time at the presentation.

[Travis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6834830#post6834830 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reistroffer
I didn't push any kids out of the way Travis, i gave them a front row seat...so i think it was sorta nice on my part. they weren't seeing ANYTHING and i gave them a PERFECT few...so i think thats rather odd thing to accuse me of, also the intern thing was a joke between us and you assumed it. Secondly i did get professional grade photos for the website i WAS designing for our club. Because i want it to be something people can look at and go “holy cow " ...but whatever man.

Sorry bud. That is why I stated it was what I heard. I was not trying to accuse anyone of anything and I didn't mention any names either. Sorry if I came off the wrong way, I can see how it would be percieved that way.

i was at the last 2 meetings...first one for the whole time and the second one i was there for little more than half

I know this is just trivial stuff but the first one you came late and left early and the last one you were there for less than half. But really, nobody's keeping track.:lol:

Honestly i think leaders need to be put in place and VOTED in.

I agree, when we do decide to have membership roles, it should be a vote. However, I still don't see any benefit in having any leadership postitions at this time. As was stated, this was talked about at the last couple meetings and both times it was unanimously determined that it wasn't necessary. But we can certainly discuss it again.

I do know that im going to humbly bow out and relieve myself from the SFAS.

Hey bud, no need to leave the club over something so small and trivial. I think I speak for all of us when I say we are glad to have you as a member of the club. I would hate to see you leave us over something like this. I know that sometimes things are misinterpreted when posting and reading in a thread so please don't think that I was trying to attack you or anything. It is just a discussion.

[creslin2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6832999#post6832999 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reistroffer
emails that are written in stone

Don't know if the internet would handle petroglyphs, but I get the point (and the spirit it was delivered in). I've been to one meeting thus far, and it was more of a "get to know you" type interaction. I have no problem with this. We DID hit on some topics of discussion which were of interest, but I"m not sure what the agenda would be compiled of, unless it was just the whim of our new director. Meetings with "written in stone" agendas feel similar to meetings I have at work. "These items will be talked about, and if you have any questions, we can answer those at the end" Not my cup of tea. Also, I do appreciate the laid back approach (not to be confused with indirection).

Do we NEED a leader? Not from what I've seen thus far. And for my bit, I wasn't attending and saw all the info for thr trip. This forum is currently our best tool for communicating, and I think it's doing a wonderful job. If there is a concern for someone to look to, we can also handle the "leadership" question on a case-by-case basis.
As in, Who would like to coordinate this trip? XYZ wants to do it? Ok, for any questions, concerns, etc, talk to XYZ.

This may seem a bit random to start with, but it will also give an idea of how different people handle themselves and the group. Call it a leadership trial period, if you will. And if no one wants to step up and handle a particular situation, then it's potluck. Forcing someone to choose a leader at this point seems a bit premature given our knowledge of each other (little to none). Also, the first person to pick up the yoke of leadership is gonna have one hell of a burden (figuring out format for meetings, contact lists, and just generally being available for SFAS).

And now, on Chris' behalf, I would say a few words.
He did NOT say that our leader shouldn't know anything about aquaria. He said that this knowledge was secondary to their organizational skills. On this, I have mixed feelings. I have too many managers/supervisors who don't know anything about what goes on out on the floor, but they can tell you who to go to for an answer. Those who know what's going on out on the floor are generally too busy trying to fix things/make them run better to be horribly efficient in the organization. There has to be some balance for it to work, IMO.
Also, if there are any questions, all we need to do is either check the forum, or have some members who are willing to be "town criers" and share the missing info (if they have it) or find the missing info in order to share it. This is also something people can volunteer for, rather than have ONE set person to carry the burden. As far as I know, we ALL have jobs, so it would be difficult on that person to have to manage a club on to of the rest of their personal life unless they volunteer to do it.
So. There are a few suggestions for filling the information gap. Make of them what you will.


I could go on and on. But I won't. ;)


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[creslin2]

I've seen quite a few rather angry posts here (at least that's what I viewed them as) and I think we should all take a deep breath. *breathe* Maybe we can have a few words from people as to what their chief concerns are within the club? Maybe have a discussion of what we hope to get out of the club? Objective views of what we view to be wrong or right in the club?

And so, to take my own advice:

Problems:
-infighting
-communication (it's a 2 way street, ya know)

Hopes:
-cultivate a knowledge source for the hobby that is not just a website
-make friends (or at least not enemies) with similar interests
-find out what other people are doing right when I'm doing it wrong

Objective views:
-This is not Chris vs. Everyone. (unless that's what Chris wants...*shrug* :lol: no offense, man.)
-leadership? well, maybe we can have someone as a town crier? (personally, I don't see the need yet, but then, I'm checking the board twice a day. Some people are not on the RC forum, and the town crier option may be of great use to them)
-find out what other people are looking for in this club.

Ok, who's next?

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[Reistroffer]

Hey everyone,

Let me set the record straight, Our group does not have leaders so when I’m speaking about leaders.. I’m stating we don’t have any (If you read closely you’ll see it). I'm not blaming anyone. I'm upset that our group doesn’t have any. If the group doesn't want any that’s fine. The group’s opinion is what matters, not my personal…but my personal opinion is we need someone in a role, or 2 people or 3 people. Because if we want to grow no matter how small we are it should be there. If for anything just to people know exactly who to contact over issues, wants, trips, ideas... Etc sometimes things are not best said in a forum or in a group setting. (This is a perfect example) When things go to a group instead of a leader in any case you cause a mob. (Read the physiology/history on it) But let me explain what kind of person I am so you can truly not thing I’m a whacked out loon from 4th floor McKennan I'm the kind of person that lives for organization and I freak out when there is none. I'm the kind of compulsive person that literally will fix every rug in my house so that it looks perfect before I go to sleep, the kind of guy who struggles with massive paranoia if something isn't absolutely perfect. I was raised in a military home; a strict one, so in life if something isn't perfect I make it that way. Which is wrong to an extent because not everyone views life as a straight road, for some people it’s a curvy road. But again as a said before.

But regardless as stated before I will no longer be attending meetings and such.
Good Luck to you all again as this will be my last post.

~Chris

[CHUCKSD]

All,
I obviously did not attend the trip and I have only attended one meeting but this thread rant needs to stop.
Those of you who are involved or have a vested interest in the outcome should make it private. Meet up for a burger or PM each other as the very thing that you are trying to avoid (creating a negative image of the group) is being read by all.

To that end:
--Chris,
I am sending you a PM in reference to this reply.
Please read it in context with the above.
Thank you--


In regards to the Club,
With most organizations you typically have a mission statement/charter.
It should include the desires of all involved and the individual who either volunteers for the post or is elected should actively pursue those desires. I believe we should decide the structure after a "President" is elected or volunteers to fill the post until such a time as an election can be held. The President can then take charge of organizing the structure of the club and make recommendations as to the officers needed and the election methodology.

I will step up and nominate Travis.

I assume I have overstepped my bounds here and truly do not want to offend anyone but if so...cut me some slack. I'm the new guy who doesn't know any better.
Chuck

[creslin2]

*waiting for others to catch up on posts before I chime in*

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[Lunchbucket]

well...i'm gonna have to agree w/ Chuck. the thread is DEAD IMO. i am gonna ask a mod to close and delete this thread if at all possible. nothing more to say on this topic. if you want to discuss voting, the club format or anything else...lets start a new thread!

sound good??

Lunchbucket

[creslin2]

works for me, but I doubt that the mod will delete it. we can only hope.

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[Lunchbucket]

am i out of line or should we leave it?

Lunchbucket

[creslin2]

well, free speech and all, I don't think the mod will delete it. Especially since there are other things here. But people are free to express themselves, both positively and negatively, on a forum. It might seem harmful to us (to have this infighting displayed) but we just have to resolve the issue at hand and post other things that are of interest once that is done. Personally, I'd hate to post something and have it removed because someone else thought I was out of line. (unless it was damaging/slanderous/vulgar in nature) My 2 cents.

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[Lunchbucket]

true. good points

Lunchbucket

[Travis]

I would like to apologize for my behavior in this thread. I agree, the appropriate thing to do would have been to handle something like this through phone calls, pm's or emails, not openly in the public. From the negativity, there has risen a good discussion about what leadership roles could do for the club. I think this thread should stay open and we should continue to discuss these. I've been thinking to myself and maybe it is time we get a leadership position(s) in place. It seems that the club was making progress for a while but we seem to have plateaued and are at a bit of a standstill. We are still getting new members at every meeting, which is awesome, but the meeting format has not changed despite several people commenting that some changes might be beneficial.

It also would be nice to have a person or some people that are in a leadership postion to take phone calls, pm's, or emails and answer questions. This would eliminate some of the confusion such as what happened with the Omaha trip. If someone has a last minute question or concern there should be someone they can contact and expect that the phone call, email, or pm will be answered in a timely fashion.

I think it would also be nice to have someone that is kind of in charge at the meetings. That way if the discussions start to stray too far off topic the in charge person can redirect the discussion back to the topic at hand.

I know I was one of the people that was dead set on us not needing a leader at this time. But now that I have given it some serious thought, I think the club may benefit from a leader. If anything, I don't think it will hurt anything. My only concern is if someone gets into a leadership postion for the wrong reasons and ends up trying to exert too much power. That is one of the reasons I thought it might be good to wait a while and get to know each other, as someone else mentioned above.

I think we should continue to discuss this here as we seem to be on the right path now. But I don't think we should make any decisions on anything until we sit down at a meeting and talk about it. Not all of our members spend time here in this forum and there is nothing wrong with that. I want every person in the club to be able to have input on decisons like this. But I think it is beneficial to continue the discussion so we have more thoughts to bring with us to the meeting when it comes time to discuss it between everyone.

[creslin2]

Not sure how many people are going to post on this, but in terms of leadership positions and candidates, I would currently suggest Travis, Lunchbucket, or Ben (FW guy at Petco). (I would have recommended Grant also, but he has mentioned that it would be a conflict of interest for him). Not to say that there are no other candidates, but these are the people I have interacted with so far to any great degree. If anyone else is interested in trying to help get this club going in the right direction, I'd be willing to listen to suggestions.

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[Lunchbucket]

i agree w/ Travis that the club has sort of slowed and it hasn't gotten as much "action" as we all wanted to. now does this mean we should have officers/leaders...i don't know. we all voted and people said no..but if i we took a new vote would this change maybe..maybe not. this is for all of us to decided. will it benefit i'm sure it will but is it needed...not sure.

at the ver least let's brainstorm on duties and have people volunteer for them. such as logo, flyers, website, etc. this way there will be more liability in it. this is all if people don't want leadership positions yet. if they do...then those duties would be performed by them or assigned to people by them.

we'll have to see how many people chime it...this is the hard part not too many people are here or will read this. might have to discuss it know and rediscuss it at the meeting.

guess we will see what happens.
Lunchbucket

[Travis]

How about we brainstorm what we need or could benefit from....

-someone to run the meetings and organize some sort of structure to the meetings
-someone to be in charge of flyers/public relations
-someone to be in charge of holding onto the money when we start having dues and doing fundraisers, etc.
-someone to be in charge of a club library. My vision is that the club will have a library of presentations/notes from previous meetings, books that have been donated or purchased, testing equipment, videos from past events (I have already ordered a video of the Calfo presentation for the club), etc.
-someone that can be expected to take phone calls from members that have questions and return those calls in a timely fashion
-someone to organize upcoming events

Those are just some things that came to mind quickly. Let me know if anyone else has any other suggestions or if anyone disagrees with any of the suggestions I listed.

[creslin2]

Sounds like we're basically looking for a

president
treasurer
librarian
secretary?
chaplain? (to pray for our dearly beloved) :D


sound about right?

[Travis]

Sounds about right. Possibly also a vice president to take charge when the president cannot make a meeting or is out of town or whatever.

[tangdiver]

I think all is going down the right path, it may have hurt but all clubs have growing pains and go through tough times. I cannot do much for the club, my hands are tied... granted I tied them myself, but for the clubs bene I have done so. I believe we have a great group of people here and will get better and better. I do not know how it all started but am glad all has been put into the open. I am bableing again and still no spell checker... So better go but I will be any help where the club wants me. Just let me know where, what, and well you know...

Thanks for all the great people that have come together to be called SFAAS.

Grant

[Lunchbucket]

i guess it all sounds good. wonder what everyone else seems to think?

grant - hands aren't tied. as far as i'm concerned you are the ONLY place that most of us in the club will be going for stuff...that is your job buddy! congrats :D

more to come
Lunchbucket

[creslin2]

I wonder what other things we're missing, like legal stuff? Do we need some sort of charter if we start taking dues? Legal documents providing for the property of the club? things like this? Not a big concern now, since as a club, we have nothing....but soon, we hope, this may need to be adressed.

[tangdiver]

Got that part taken care of when time comes...my best friend from school is a lawyer...he drew up my Inc. so this is done if so wanted by members when time is ready...

non-profit probably best...

grant

[Lunchbucket]

tang - you talking about my buddy to :D great guy!

creslin2 - great ideas!

one thing that was brought up in a PM some a club member is legal issues w/ minors and traveling and such. i guess if something was to happen someone could get in trouble if a parent pushed it prolly. we need to draw up somehting or discuss minors and our club.

Lunchbucket

[Dakota Reef]

I know that the MASNA site had a sample constitution and by-laws listed under the members section of their website. Think you can download it and alter it to suit our needs.

MASNA Website (http://www.masna.org/index.php)

One other task that I can think of that probably falls under the titles Travis already mentioned would be to work with local and or online businesses regarding sponsorship and maybe member discounts for club members.

I know whenever I visit some aquarium stores they offer either a list of specials for members of their local aquarium club or a flat percentage discount.

And finally will there be a position for a highly opinionated guy that points out what everyone else is doing wrong without really doing any work? Cuz I'm really good at that!!

Phil

[Lunchbucket]

:lol: you'll be a Quality Control Officer Phil :D we need people (everyone) to give suggestions and voice oppinions along the way

Lunchbucket

[creslin2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6858158#post6858158 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dakota Reef
will there be a position for a highly opinionated guy that points out what everyone else is doing wrong without really doing any work?

Hm, that sounds like my boss.....are you sure we haven't met? :lol2:

[tangdiver]

Dang creslin2 really wants a new icon...he passed me in a heartbeat...well here is one more for me

[Lunchbucket]

:lol: he is a posting machine! glad to see i have another candidate for my club :D

Lunchbucket

[creslin2]

Well, I know I'll never be quite THAT cool, Lunch, but I can apply for membership, can't I? :D:D

[tangdiver]

Dang I am so far behind olny 10197 left to come up to lunch

hahahaha never happen to far behind... unless I posted non stop for 842 hours and well

never mind

[creslin2]

You'd have to reply to every little thing on a whole bunch of forums, even if your reply is just to agree with something someone wrote. And then you'd have to do it for a few years running so that you could occasionally eat, and maybe even get an hour of sleep or so....every few days. Dedication. That's all it takes. Dedication, and a heap of time in front of your monitor, developing amazing X-men powers from the radiation given off by your monitor (or my socks. Not sure which is a more powerful mutagen.)

[Lunchbucket]

for some reason i feel you guy are poking fun at me :sad1:

Lunchbucket

[Travis]

I don't think they are poking fun. Maybe just a little jealous.:D

[creslin2]

jealous, oh not at all. Half the world knows who lunch is. In comparison, my picture got left out of the yearbook in college one year. Not that I wasn't there to get my picture taken. I was "the best kept secret on campus". :rolleye1:

[creslin2]

(I still get a giggle thinking about it);)

[Lunchbucket]

Travis - :lol: i think it is more poking fun...all in good fun

creslin - :lol: umm...prolly not that many people know me. well ok quite a few prolly know me as a PITA.

best kept secret :lol: too funny! i got a good laugh

Lunchbucket

[creslin2]

so, it's official. We have a formal (semi-formal....) leadership for the club now.

We have a "council" or committee of joint leaders. There's 4 of em.

We've got Eric (Lunchbucket)
Chuck (ChuckSD)
Travis (Travis)

hm. and one other guy....heh. Me.
Matt (Creslin2)


We did talk about individual offices for president/chairman, secretary, treasurer, etc, but for now we've decided to just have a general leadership that shares club functions. We can divide up positions at a later date if we find it necessary. And of course, although we are leaders, that doesn't mean that we can't be impeached. :D

As for me and my role as a leader....
My work schedule is very unforgiving (12 hour shifts overnight, 2 days on, 2 days off and every other weekend) so I WILL be unavailable for some of the meetings and/or club functions. Never the less, someone nominated me (probably because I talk too much here on the board) and I, for reasons I can't myself understand, accepted. :wildone: So there you have it.

If anyone has any suggestions, questions or problems, I think we're all pretty open/available to talk about it, and if we just don't know, we'll do our best to find someone who can find the answer you're looking for. (and if I'm speaking for someone here that doesn't agree, feel free to chastise me. :) )

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[Lunchbucket]

thanks for posting Creslin2. so we have 4 chairs in the ranks of the fish geeks :D

Lunchbucket

[CHUCKSD]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6993424#post6993424 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket
thanks for posting Creslin2. so we have 4 chairs in the ranks of the fish geeks :D

Lunchbucket

And the final bonus...
We can finally close this thread :)

[Lunchbucket]

THANK GOD!

Lunchbucket

[tangdiver]

Amen>>>>>

[Travis]

True that! I get weird uncomfortable tingly sensations every time I see a new post to this thread. Let's all do our part and let it die for good.:)

[Lunchbucket]

Travis - i hear you. wehen i got an email notification i got htat sinking pit of your stomach feeling.

DIE DIE DIE THREAD

Lunchbucket

oops guess i brought it up again :(

[creslin2]

*being perverse* BOO! :lol:

[Travis]

That was just plain sick.:lol: