THE OFFICIAL REEF-A-PALOOZA FEEDBACK FORUM!

[ReefMeister2]

Its seems everyone had a great time at RAP, despite the large crowds, the fire (well, just smoldering smoke actually), and a few other minor glitches.
Overall, I'm really happy with the way it all turned out.

I knew Southern California would support such a large event!
I guess there was a bit of "if you build it, they will come" strategy in there somewhere

PLEASE, let us know what you liked and disliked about Reef-A-Palooza in this thread so we can learn from it and make future events even better.

PLEASE, provide as much detail as you can as this information can be incredibly useful if conveyed properly.
In other words, "not enough chicks" doesn't help much, LOL

THANK YOU to everyone that partcipated. YOU are what made this event such an incredible success!

[wishntoboutside]

the need for bags for corals or coolers was commonly asked.
it would have been nice to have Raffle in the middle of biulding.
those on the other end/away from the fire really had no idea what was going on all day.

directions to the event.. easy to get to the fair groungs but some signs pointing where to go from there would have been very nice. a dancing fish sign spinner for the first 2 hours would have worked great.

how many calls did one get from freinds that could not find gate 5?

I think the SCMAS club did a great job on evacutaing and setting up/teardown. very impressed.

[ReefMeister2]

Originally posted by wishntoboutside
a dancing fish sign spinner for the first 2 hours would have worked great.

Richard, are you volunteering for next year?
Can I design the costume? I'm kinda thinkin' of the red lobster suit (ie Vonage commercial) for next year. I'd pay good money

Seriously though, that's actually an awesome "out-of-the-box" idea! If OCFEC would allow such a thing, that would be FAR more effective that a simple sign. I like it!

[Warner Marine]

The next logical growth level for RAP is to elevate to a MACNA level event.

Things at RAP that you'd never see at MACNA

1) The pipe and drapes were crude looking. They were mostly dirty white vinyl. The pipes extended on all four sides, they were in reality tent frames. Drapes are supposed to match table cloths.

2) The PA system was hard to hear.

3) Raffles/Speakers/Events should have been in center of event.

4) Someone should have brought a megaphone

5) No signs on booths for vendors

6) Various vendors bringing their own music, attendees have different tastes and it's not professional.

The GOOD:

1) The people. SCMAS members were TOP NOTCH. Helpful, nice and informative...

2) The location. It's a pro AND con. Lots of food, easy parking and set up for a lot of people.

3) VALUE. It was an incredible value for both hobbyists and vendors. It was our single best promotional VALUE we will see this year.



I'm amazed at the draw of local hobbyists. I don't know the final numbers yet (Kevin?) but the turnout was amazing.

I would suggest that SCMAS send a representative to MACNA this year to take notes as it's being held in a dedicated convention facility. Take some of their characteristics and translate to a RAP.

[sps_addict]

I thought it went well other than what is listed below.

- An issue we really had was finding Gate 5 off of Arlington. Since we do not live in that area we ended up getting a little lost after exiting the freeway. We ended up circling the fairgrounds and found the street. Lol, well I guess this is not really an issue, more like my lack of direction.

- Other issue is more on a personal basis. I should have brought bags for people to carry their stuff in. Styrofoam cups weren't all that "carry me friendly" and had several people asks for a bag in which sadly I had none.

- Could hardly understand what the person (Bruce/Kevin) were saying on the PA system at times. Lol, then again it could be my hearing.

Edit: Oh another personal thing is I wanted to talk to the Captive Ocean guy in regards to purchasing a BK, but sadly didn't see him when I made my rounds several times during entire event, it was an empty booth with just pictures laying around. Only really saw him when I let him borrow my box cutter to put up his sign.

hmmm....I guess there wasn't really any issues then, more of a personal thing, lol. It was a great event, everyone was helpful. Even Bill Bergovoy

Oh, by the way Kevin, thanks for quickly making a vendor badge for my wife, even though I offered to pay for the ticket for her.

[All Delight]

Compared to last year, I think you made great leaps!

[gtrestoration]

Everyone from SCMAS or involved in the "day of the event" happenings were more helpful than I'm used to seeing with "trade shows". I'm a car show/swap vendor and some shows cost me up to $1,500 to particapate and those shows they check my pass at the gate and that's the only interaction we see.

No complaints or suggestions that would be worth the added investment/cost.

SteveU

[zeuss zoso]

I thought that the people who ran the event were extremely helpful and worked with everyone to solve their problems. It is hard for me to imagine a group of regular people making the event any better than it was.

[JVJordan]

Pros

Overall, great event. The variety and volume of goods for sale was nice, and meeting other reefers was enjoyable.


Cons

Communication from the event staff about the fire and the likely waiting time could have been better.

As a newbie, I was looking for deals on lower end common corals, not a chance to spend several hundred dollars per rare piece. I felt like the selection of low end goods was not as great as it could have been.

The initial rush of people after the fire issue and resulting gridlock was irritating, but no fault of anyone in particular.

Vendors need to learn to put prices on their goods, imo. I was much more inclined to buy from people who posted what a category of pieces cost on the front of the tank.

[Nick A]

What I liked:

Many vendors, lots of corals that I can't get up here. The free salt giveouts were also helpful since I used it to replace water during acclimation.

Disliked:

Pretty crowded, not much equipment, and not many stores having cheap frags. In some aisles it was like the 405. I was expecting to buy a bulb at Ushio's booth but it turned out it was more of a informational booth. Everyone had the Koralias, but not the #4, which I really needed. I think OC Aquatic and Coral Oasis were the only ones with a $5 section. Originally I planned to buy a lot of $5-20 frags, but ended up getting some unplanned nice large pieces, lol. I also have to agree about vendors posting prices in front of theirs booths as it would have really sped up things.

[wishntoboutside]

kevin..

if i can get everyone that participated to bring the frags from the sps challange dead or alive i would do this no problem. i could even throw my pug out there in a shark suit.

what were ticket sales? how many new members signed up?

[Scissorhand]

I thought it was great and a success given the setback that organizers/vendors had to overcome, the magnitude of the event which they hadn't done before. And I'm really glad that it turned out well. Hopefully all the vendors/hobbyists who came made a good amount of $$$$, because we'll have an even bigger R.A.P for next year.

My main complaint was that it was wayYyy too hot though. Is there any chance that we could have the event not in the peak of the summer? I would think it'd be better for everybody.

[coast2coast7390]

directions would have been nice...i had to ask one of the employees near the swap meat where building 14 was

i agree with the raffle in the middle because it kinda created a fire hazard by the entrance

overall a GREAT event
i really liked that captive bred booth...that was pretty cool...

[WETFISH]

Some sort of flow pattern for people, at least in front of frag tanks.Some tanks had sooo many people crowding in from both sides it was hard to get a look.If everybody was going in one direction at least you would know where the end of the line was!!!
Overall it was fantastic !!!

[diddye]

Positives:

Cheap entry fee
Wide variety of corals
Good location
Free parking
Large step forward from backyard get togethers

Negatives:

Few products for sale outside of live goods
Crowded(but can be a good thing meaning many people came)
A little disorganized

[stace11]

Too cramped, more space would have definitely made it more enjoyable. Otherwise, fantastic job!!

[invisibleman]

I agree with Stace11. too many people in too small a space. It felt like being at disneyland after the fireworks show. Probably a larger venue next year would be great. Possibly more dry goods as well.
But overall, it was a great event. I had lots of fun.

[Warner Marine]

In addition, try spreading out the livestock dealers booths. This will benefit the dry goods people by drawing more foot traffic AND will be less crowded for those who want to buy frags.

Like:

Reef Nutrition-frags-USHIO-frags-Deltec-frags-marine depot-frags

[RHagemann]

I live in Vegas where the coral selection is pretty vanilla (at best) and prices are WELL above west coast LFS's to put it nicely.

After experiencing the sardine can experience at Coral Farmers Market in Feb, and reading RAP was going to be held in a 12K Sq Ft, A/C indoor facilty, we thought it would be worth the drive.

Overall great experience! A great job and thank you to those who undoubtedly put in lots of hours to pull this off! I know it's a pretty thankless task...alot like our reefs. More of a labor of love then a labor for pay but thank you for your time and effort!

My pro's and con's are from a "Was it worth driving in from out of state" perspective.

Pros
- Selection
- Pricing (compared to Vegas)
- Map ( I guess I'm in the minority here but I used the map on the RAP
web page and found the parking lot without any problems.
- Ticket Price (At $5 a person, this was WELL worth the cost just to get in
so huge Kudo's for that. This event, if held in Vegas would EASILY cost
$20+ per ticket. I guess that's why it's not held here huh?)

Cons
- Space (understand it's hit & miss and if the organizers were to reserve
say a 20K Sq Ft facility and booth reservations & attendence aren't
maxed it's lost revenue. I was speaking with one vendor and with this
type of venue, hobbyists fall into one of two categories. They either
know exactly what they're looking for and what they want to pay so
time spent at the vendors booth is primarily price negotiaions....or, the
hobbyist sees something they weren't necessarily looking for but are
interested and want to talk about the coral. At these types of venue's it
appears anyway, that most hobbyists fall into the later of the two. What
this means is, the vendors booth and view of their tanks, equipment, or
supplies remains blocked (for the most part) from other hobbyists. Take
that shopping hobbyist and add a spouse, friend(s), etc and you have
the whole booth blocked for 10+ minutes. Not too many people want
to sit in a crowded aisle for that long. I encountered this situation
countless times and even tried to re-visit several booths trying to wedge
my way in to see/buy corals. Bottom line - I ended up spending about
1/4 of what I brought and planned to spend just because I couldn't get
access to a few vendors booths. Wider aisles and/or more viewing
space for vendors tanks/tables would be a nice improvement but also
understand there's a cost per sq ft that would have to be absorbed
somewhere. I'd pay $10 a ticket if I could walk down an aisle without
getting rammed or blocked out with a stroller or having to stop every
10 ft because a few people decided the middle of the aisle was a good
place to catch up on old times. More of a personal consideration issue
but more space would help.

- Packaging - Might be a good idea next year to have an option (for those
who want it) and charge a "couple" extra bucks a ticket and give
everyone a styrofoam container to carry corals. I ended up paying $10
for a container that probably cost the vendor about a buck. It shouldn't
be jacked up because you need one, and they're the only one's that
have them for sale. I guess the other option is to bring you own (which I
saw many did) but for firs timers, it could be a decision maker for them
on whether or not to buy something).

Thanks again for putting on a great event!

[clown2be]

Well, if you missed out on anything you wanted, give me a call. I'm having a garage sale today. I did not know about the meeting on saturday.

See posthttp://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1188115

[dchan928]

I agree with the general census that everything went pretty well. There were a lot of SPS frags, which were really cool, but I was looking for more softies...

It was a nice turnout and can't wait for one next year!

[badbones]

I have nothing but praise for the event, especially Kevin and those that helped him. I was lucky enough to be a hobbyist vendor so I was there at set-up and take-down. I have worked in other expos, not fish, and things happen that can not be predicted or expected. It happens and I believe Kevin did a GREAT job as to my understanding this was his first event, or even if it was his 10th.

I believe that things can only be improved in the future. The venue was great and the AC in my opinion made it a comfortable event for all even with all the people. I believe the crowd issue was due to the fire scare and everyone coming back in at one time. It did thin out about an hour or so later.

For the future.....

I think that the admission price should be increased a few dollars and with the increase give a "Gift Pack" which could justify the increase and include maybe some of the following.

1) a nice carry bag or some sort of box to hold the corals. I was asked time and time again for bags and I too did not have them.

2) Have a grand prize raffle at the end which was done, but put a ticket in the entry "gift Pack" which the customer can fill out, drop in a box and not need to be present to win. This would also be a good tracking item if needed.

3) the medium booths were fine, but maybe a little more depth as I was rubbing butts with my neighbor a bit. I think he enjoyed it though..

4) Have some goodies that the major vendors may donate. Just basic promotion items like pens or something.

5) I never saw one so it there was one I apologize. A nice brochure that has the layout of everyone, what they plan to sell, contact info and such. Again the major vendors could pay for advertising in this to support the cost. The attendees then could use their free pen in the packet to mark where that want to go or come back to.

These are just some suggestions to improve an already spectacular event.

I again thank Kevin and all the others behind the scene for the spectacular event and for allowing me to participate.

[nanomang]

aside from the fire it was fine.

[ttomkat1]

I think overall it was a fantastic event. This is the first SCMAS event my wife and I have attended and we love it. I think we are going to try to attend a meeting soon.

SCMAS doesn't really have a lot of control over vendor pricing, stock, etc. that didn't bother me.

My only concerns were:

1.)Raffle was un-organized
-3pm raffle was a disaster
-I put in my tickets then later in the day more items were added
-Raffle was loooooong 45 minutes

2.)When we went to get food, the food vendor was out of everything and rude.

3.)Need to have booth numbers or something. No way of remember which tables I wanted to re-visit.

4.)I thought the SCMAS booth was very lackluster. I thought there should have been better info about the organization. I said I was thinking of joining and the person at the booth could have cared less.

Any how, very very fun. All that is pretty minor in my book.

Thanks for all!!!

---ttomkat1

[Morgman]

In addition to a printed carry around map(programs) how about a poster size directory like the ones at malls. They can be located at specific ends with a little star saying you are here. This way people can locate stuff when their hands are full.