Cooperation between AGA Convention & AGA Contest

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

Hi Charlene,

I'm James Purchase, the guy who is overseeing the AGA International
Aquascaping Contest 2002. I'm getting in touch with you to see where the
needs of both events might overlap and where we can cooperate on common
goals - making both events better to the benefit of the AGA and the planted
tank hobby.

I wasn't able to attend either of the earlier Conventions, but do hope to be
able to be at this year's event in person. As a "non-attendee", I really
have no idea of exactly what you might need, or where we might find common
ground, but I do have some ideas.

During 2000, I believe that you found it difficult to obtain vendor
donations for the various parts of the convention because I had gotten there
ahead of you in a lot of cases. Since we are both doing our respective
events for the same organization, we can probably pool our resources and do
this cooperatively. The Contest was never, at least in my mind, merely about
lush prizes - it was and is a way for hobbyists who are proud of their
aquascaping efforts to share their tanks with others in a forum which is
readily available in most developed countries (the Internet). I was actually
rather embarrassed at the sheer volume of items we ended up with in 2000 and
it was a nightmare to coordinate the receipt, storage and final distribution
of them to the various winners.

The Contest _will_ need prizes, to be sure - but there is definitely no need
for this to be a competition between the two events to see who can get the
attention of the various vendors first and who can walk away with the
plumper packages.

For the Contest, I am mainly looking for companies to act as donors of items
we can use as Prizes. In 2000, the first year the event was held, we
received this support in a variety of different formats - i.e. gift
certificates which could be easily mailed to winners in far-flung locations,
actual products which had to be received, stored, re-packaged and then
shipped to individual winners, as well as one item which we had to sell
privately because it was impossible to ship to the winner.

I can see nothing difficult about making one contact with vendors seeking
support for BOTH events as "Corporate Prize Sponsors", where in return for a
product (or service) donation, the company gets a mention on our web
site(s). I have discussed this with Erik Olson and we both feel that a
common plan of attack would benefit both events. I would be more than
willing to handle the solicitation of prize donations from the various
companies in the trade for BOTH the Contest and the Convention. Having one
person coordinate and oversee the actual contacting of companies for this
aspect of both event would prevent duplication of effort and lessen any
potential confusion in the minds of the donors. I would need a trustworthy
and willing individual who lives close to the Convention's location to
volunteer to receive, store and ultimately ship those items which we decide
to award as Contest Prizes. I assume that the local folks in Houston would
be the most likely pool of potential volunteers for this task.

I suspect that some of your needs for the Convention are probably different
from mine for the Contest, in what you might want from some of the vendors -
i.e. I expect that you need/want Booth Sponsors and companies to actually
send representatives to the Convention. This is an area beyond my competence
to deal with but I'm sure that we can arrive at a solution which will meet
your requirements.

Event promotion is probably another area where we can effectively combine
our efforts to the benefit of both events. In this area, we both want to
"get the word out" to our respective audiences in the most effective and
timely manner possible. The scope of the Contest's needs might be different
in scale to those of the Convention - my plan this year is to get in touch
with as many hobby related magazines as possible (on a world wide basis)
with press releases and promotional material in sufficient time to at least
hope that some of them will give us editorial coverage in their pages. I am
also going to make a concerted effort to organize a group of volunteers to
contact and liaise with as many hobby related clubs and organizations
(again, on a world wide basis) to publicize the Contest (since it is on the
Internet, its prospective audience is not limited by physical distance from
the U.S.). Finally, I want to try and mobilize the entire AGA membership
into acting as "local ambassadors" for the Contest. To this end, brochures
and posters will be prepared and placed on the web site for local
downloading and printing by members for posting in local pet stores. I see
nothing wrong or impossible with including the Convention in any of that
promotional push, and would be willing to discuss the needs of the
Convention for such cooperation to be a success.

My first priority right now, is to review the policies and procedures we
have developed over the past several years regarding the Contest, and make
any necessary changes and adjustments to them for this year's event. I then
intend to prepare the press releases and promotional material I want to send
out to the hobby press in plenty of time for them to hopefully get something
into print several months in advance of the Contest Closing Deadline of
September 15, 2002.

Once these two aspects are underway, I hope to turn my attention to
contacting potential Prize Donors. This is a process which takes a
considerable amount of time on an on-going basis (based upon my experience
in 2000).

The final major push will be to mobalize the AGA membership and others to
contact local clubs and societies regarding the Contest. Given the
difference in dates for both events - I will need to be banging the drum for
the Contest well in advance of September 15th (the Closing Date for
submission of entries), the same "volunteer core" can be free later to put
on a second push to publicize the November Convention.

I think that about covers things for right now - I would like to know what
you think and how we can work together in all of these areas. Should there
be any other areas you can see where cooperation between us might be
helpful, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

Regards,

James Purchase
Toronto
AGA International Aquascaping Contest 2002


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