I'm Baaaaack...........

["James Purchase" <jppurchase@rogers.com>]

Hi Everyone,

Nice to be back. Hopefully, my lungs and this old body will hold together
long enough to get us through this coming year.

I would like to thank Erik for inviting me to come back to oversee the third
iteration of the Contest - while I was too ill to do anything last year, I
did watch it with intense interest.

Erik has suggested that anyone not interested or able to help out this year
bail now - I sincerely hope that nobody leaves on my account - we are going
to need all the help we can get to make this the best Aquascaping Contest so
far. It is very gratifying to see that what started as an almost off the
cuff remark on the APD a few years ago has grown and lasted this long. It
wouldn't have happened unless there was wide interest and lots of willing
helpers.

Its going to take me a few days to "get up to speed" and to figure out just
how best to handle things this year but I want everyone to know that I
welcome ALL input - pro and con, on ALL the issues we will face while
planning and implementing this year's event. Much of the basic work was done
long ago, during the 18 months of pre-planning that happened before we held
the first Showcase/Contest. When we set out that groundwork we knew that
some things could only be planned in a preliminary fashion at that time and
some things would have to change based on real world experience gained thru
actually pulling it off. It nice to see that so much of what we originally
discussed seems to have worked out, and that the changes needed have been
minor in nature.

Right off the bat, there are a few things I'd like to see "new" in this
year's event - chief among them is MORE PARTICIPATION, both on the
organizing end and on the entrant's end of things.

It won't take much individual time or effort to pull this off if there are
enough willing hands to help out - I see my role as both a cheerleader (just
don't expect me to shake any "pom-poms") and a traffic coordinator.
Hopefully, everyone here will have a real contribution to make to help out.
There are a number of things that have to come together and happen in a
certain fashion if this is to be a success and everyone will get the
opportunity to help out where their talents and abilities would do the most
good.

I would also like to see us get MORE ENTRIES this year - I definitely want
to go over 100 and to increase our visibility at all levels - thru contact
with hobbyist clubs both in North America and in Europe, as well as making a
major push to get some attention in the hobby press both at home and abroad.
I think that if we contine to stress the fact that this event is more about
sharing our love of the hobby in general and aquatic gardening in paticular
than it is about big prizes we should be able to reach this goal.

I understand from Erik that there is a real possibility that Amano will
consent to act as a Judge this year. This could do a lot to attract
attention and gain potential entrants. Lets make sure that we are up to the
task.

If anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to ask them, now
or whenever they occur to you. As I said, you input is welcome.

James Purchase
Toronto




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