Part 2, Re: Showcase and Conference (fwd)

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

Here are some more comments from James.  Hey, I gave him the opportunity
to edit it before it went to the committee, but he took the opportunity to
add MORE instead. :)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2000 10:54:34 -0500
From: James Purchase <jpurch@interlog.com>
To: Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>
Subject: Re: Showcase and Conference

Erik,

If you wish to share this with the other members of the Management
Committee, be my guest. I have not edited the original but have added a bit
at the end.

> Proper protocol dictates that this should be sent to the Management
> Committee if you want your points to really be heard.  Given this in mind,
> would you like to re-edit it?  Otherwise, I can send it as is.
>
>   - Erik

[double-quoted version of last message deleted]

Further to the possibilitiy of "sharing resources" between the
Showcase/Contest and the Conference (and for that matter, any other project
approved by the AGA MC), I have absolutely no objection to the sharing of
the Vendor's spreadsheet that I used this year for keeping track of the
companies I asked for donations. I readily provided Erik with copies of this
on a regular basis to both keep him aware of what I was up to and to ensure
that should anything happen to my copy (or to me personally), there would be
an archive copy which could be "picked up" and used by any authorized third
party. I would ask however, that you consider the spreadsheet as it
currently stands as really only a work in progress and a working document
that I have used to help keep track of things.

I think that the secret to obtaining vendor support is to convince them of
the value (and potential sales) thay can obtain from such a minimal
investment. For example, when I contacted Air Products Inc. (compressed gas
equipment manufacturer), they had absolutely no idea that we were a
potential market. I pointed their PR person to the event web site and to the
KRIB and the AGA web site and explained that we were a ready market for
their equipment. I was initially thinking that they would say "no thanks",
but after they saw the material on the web (and convinced themselves of our
"reality") it was their suggestion that a CO2 regulator might be an
appropriate donation. And we were _all_ floored by All Glass Aquarium's
donation.

That being said, I don't see the Conference as "competition" with the
Showcase/Contest and I think that Charlene and I should have no difficulty
in doing a "group approach" for vendor contact in future itterations of our
respective events, using the contact list that I have developed. I would
stress the idea of a "group" approach - I don't want to see any other
project try to hijack the vendor contacts I have developed to the detriment
of the Showcase/Contest without my knowledge, and I don't want to see (or
cause) damage to any other project because the Showcase/Contest has gotten
there first. We are all members of the same organization and working towards
the same goals.

James Purchase
Toronto