James will be helming the contest again

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

Hiya folks,

After long and thoughtful deliberation, I decided to offer the helm of the
Aquascaping contest back to James this year, just as it was in 2000.  He
was unable to work last year because of his health, but he has improved
greatly since the summer and has been back in fighting spirit again
(especially if you've read some of his enflamed responses to people in the
aquascaping threads).  Initial responses are positive, so I expect he is
going to accept the job.

James did a superb job of getting the word out to clubs and magazines and
soliciting donations for prizes (he estimated $3000 worth) in the 2000 
contest.  With him once again in this position, I can concentrate my 
efforts on the areas where I think I work best: website, entries, and 
judges.

Anyway, I have gotten James up-to-speed on what we did last year.  I have
asked him to contact Charlene to find out what the plans are for 
convention PR and solicitation.

I feel pretty strongly that he did a great job with the donations in 2000,
and I really don't want him to be strapped into a lot of regulations from
upper management as to who he can't ask because of conflicts with the
convention.  So I ask that we give him some room in this.  On the flip
side, in talking with him, we both think that the donations he solicits
should be "to the AGA" and not restricted to the contest.  We both believe
that the fewer prize model used for the 2001 contest works better than the
prize-for-all approach used in 2000; so in all likelihood most of the
donations would end up in the auction.  So perhaps one thing to do is to
let him handle the donations for BOTH events as he wants.  This is all 
dependent on Charlene and the Houston folks, as well as what James wants 
to do... and this is where I butt out and let the appropriate folks talk 
it through.

  - Erik

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com