Where we are.....

["James Purchase" <jpurch@interlog.com>]

Perhaps it is a good time to take stock, so to speak, and see where we are
in this project, and deterimine what yet needs to be done.

1. Web site, English version - pretty much finished as far as I can see. The
only additions I'd like to see are the PDF files which Dave VanderWall and I
put together placed somewhere, with a link to Adobe for the reader program
for those poor unfortunates like me using the MS Windows platform.

2. Web site, alternate language versions - I've handed this to Erik and
posted the names of the volunteers who came forward. I have no idea of when
this material might become available, but I'd love to see it ASAP. I'd also
like the base documents which the PDF docs are made of translated, if
possible,

3. Announcements - Magazines - as I posted earlier, I've got a handle on the
American and UK magazines as they are readily available locally at news
agents. I have contacted them all and requested their support. So far, the
response I have been getting back has been very positive. The truth of the
tale will arrive on news stands in early summer.

I still have to contact Suikei, the Japanese language magazine from ADA. I
don't suppose that anyone here knows how to write in Japanese?

There must be magazines in other countries. I know of several German
publications and have asked Michael Eckardt to translate the notices I'd
like to send to them into German for us. Does anyone know if there are any
aquarium magazines published in Australia or New Zeland?

Jose, if you're still reading these messages, do you know of any Spanish
language magazines?

Soren "Disky" Reinke , what about magazines published in Danish?

The issue of contacting magazines NOW is important due to the long lead time
they require to get something into print.

4. Announcements - Clubs - I think that Ken Guin and Dave VanderWall have a
handle on this. Did anyone else come forward with offers of help? The PDF
files are ready, as is "the blurb".

Contacting Clubs can continue for quite some time, as their time to print
(for their club newsletters) is shorter than big print magazines.

The feedback I have been getting so far from other people has ALL been
positive. I received an email from a chap in Norway last night telling me
that Robert Paul H. has been talking the event up big time and that there
are several people in Norway planning on entering (judging by the photos on
this chap's web site, he stands a good chance of carrying off a prize).

5. Confirmation of Judges - nothing much we can do about this until we hear
back from the people we have asked.

6. Obtaining Prizes - this is something I can probably start doing soon. I
have no idea how easy or hard this is going to be. David A. Youngker is
still on board to act as a "repository and shipper" of physical prizes.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to style/form of approach for this? My
initial thinking is to go to companies such as:

Manufacturers - i.e. Eheim, LaMotte, Hach, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, etc. -
I would expect that companies like this, whose products are sold to the
public through intermediary parties (distributors and/or wholesalers and/or
retailers) might be the source of actual "hard goods" that we worried so
much about earlier - how to store and how expensive they could be to ship
halfway around the world. But they are potentially the source of the "big
ticket" items that could cause some attention getting.

Magazines - here I think I'd ask for gift subscriptions. We'd only have to
let the magazine know who the winner was and then send a congratulatory
notice to the winner (along with their ribbon, of course). One possible
exception to this would be TFH Publications, as they have a whole raft of
books - the three volume Amano set might make a nice prize.

On-line dealers - places like Pet Warehouse, That Fish Place, Monolith
Marine Monsters, etc. From these sorts of places I'd expect to ask for Gift
Certificates, which would allow the winners to order whatever they liked.

On-line plant nurseries - these could be similar to the above, with the
exception that we would not be able to give them to anyone living outside of
the United States (due to Import restrictions on plant material in most
countries).

Does anyone have any comments/thoughts/suggestions/ on any of this?

James Purchase
Toronto



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