[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Index by Month]
[AGA-mcm] [AGA Convention Feedback] (fwd)
Here is the first of two feedbacks that were very detailed (much of which
were lost in the summarizer).
Note that Shawn is a friend of mine, and very well versed in running
shows, as she & her husband have run conventions for the Greater Portland
Aquarium Society for the last few years. As such they have some
particular ideas as to how things "should be", whether it's true or not.
:)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 19:23:24 -0800
From: Shawn Van Doren <shawnuf@comcast.net>
To: erik@thekrib.com
Subject: [AGA Convention Feedback]
Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
Shawn Van Doren (shawnuf@comcast.net) on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at
19:23:24
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
registration: good
agatable: good
vendor: poor
hospitality: poor
field: poor
diana: good
mike: very-good
paul: missed
oliver: missed
janf: missed
jan: very-good
amanot: very-good
amanod: very-good
wall: good
awards: good
banquet: good
auction: missed
hotel: good
cost: good
heard: am AGA member
favorite: Amano after the banquet
least: Field trip. I question traveling 1 hour by bus to visit aaquarium
in Baltimore when there is a National Aquarium in DC. Then I further
question traveling another 40 minutes to a local store when that put us
trying to get back to the hotel for evening events in rush hour traffic
(even without the accidents). For me visiting the scenes that are
peculiar to the area (in this case the government buildings, National
Gallery, museums) would have been more meaningful than the store visit and
much closer to the convention site. It might also have been beneficial to
query the AGA board as to what previous attendees have noted as
good/bad/indifferent. Another source is the Chamber of Commerce. Remember
that most attendees either have never been to your locale or have not
frequently been there.
overall: Having 9 years in-depth experience with putting on a
show/convention in Portland I could see alot of things that to most people
were behind the scenes and not obvious. I chalk that up to inexperience.
I am glad to know GWAPA used Dallas/Ft Worth as a resource. The vendor
participation was quite limited. Knowing this it would have been better
to have a much smaller space that would give the appearance of fullness.
I was unimpressed with the hospitality room. I tried two nights to visit
but the ambience was not welcoming, to say the least. Try to focus less
on the 'in crowd' for the hospitality room and save the other stuff for
private party (like the one at Ghazanfar's house on Thursday night). [I
was not invited as I'm not part of the board or of GWAPA, but this comment
is not sour grapes. The people who have worked so hard to bring this kind
of event off really need and deserve some special time with the AGA board
and the speakers, so I was glad to hear about the Thursday night party.]
Regarding the travel options. I don't remember seeing anything that would
have warned me away from flights landing at Dulles but it would have been
helpful to know that there are no shuttles from Dulles to the hotel, that
it is an hour away, and the taxi/bus option costs about $50.
The program guide(the little black & white number) needed better layout
and less white space. It also needed to more prominently acknowledge Ray
'Kingfish' Lucas as he has lots of influence and should have had at least
the same space as was given to the other vendors. All of Ray's display
goes directly to the auction, not to mention the raffle tank. I saw
nothing except the mention on the list of major vendors and donors. Though
Ray Lucas has not been part of each of our shows he has done so much for
the hobby and for local clubs that he has earned a permanent membership in
our club plus a full color spot on the inside front cover of our
newsletter and a prominent link on our website (www.gpas.org). I have
intimate knowledge of this since my husband and I are joint editors of the
monthly newsletter and were the ground crew on the building of the
website.
The raffle tank should have been positioned near the registration table
with tickets being sold from Friday night on. Having it parked in the
vendor room does not give enough visibility. Selling tickets on Saturday,
then having the raffle at the Saturday banquet loses lots of opportunity
for pure profit. We (GPAS, Portland OR) have the raffle item set up Friday
night at registration and sell tickets through mid-day Sunday and hold the
drawing at the half-way point in the auction. It tends to keep people at
the auction and sells many more tickets.
One thing I thought was a great idea...putting a capsule version of the
program on the back of the name tag. That was great!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
AGA-mcm mailing list
AGA-mcm@thekrib.com
http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/aga-mcm