Re: [AGA-mcm] [AGA Convention Feedback] (fwd)

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

Nomination for AGA spokesmodel, Alesia.

Best foot forward, 1st impressions, and all that.

On the serious side, some good stuff here and some whacky
stuff, which is to be expected, I guess. 

I was at Oliver's talk and the language thing wasn't a
problem for me. (Heck, I know plenty of folks in business
suits that can't speak/write English as well.) But I fear
that many Americans have a problem with accents, broken
English, and unfamiliar names -- don't like the extra work
involved in hearing, understanding, learning. I think it's
sort of similar to having, say, Roger Miller, give a talk
with lots of chem equations. I think it means, sadly, we
have to aim towards a lower denominator. Otoh, some folks
probably give high credit to the talk just for the info on
the snail.

sh
--- Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com> wrote:

> Here is the other detailed feedback, from Alesia
> Benedict.
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 14:03:54 -0800
> From: Alesia Benedict <ThePlantedTank@aol.com>
> To: erik@thekrib.com
> Subject: [AGA Convention Feedback]
> 
> Below is the result of your feedback form.  It was
> submitted by
> Alesia Benedict (ThePlantedTank@aol.com) on Thursday,
> November 18, 2004 at 14:03:54
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> registration: poor
> 
> agatable: good
> 
> vendor: very-good
> 
> hospitality: very-good
> 
> field: very-good
> 
> diana: very-good
> 
> mike: excellent
> 
> paul: missed
> 
> oliver: poor
> 
> janf: good
> 
> jan: poor
> 
> amanot: excellent
> 
> amanod: poor
> 
> wall: excellent
> 
> awards: excellent
> 
> banquet: poor
> 
> auction: good
> 
> hotel: good
> 
> cost: good
> 
> heard: Have attended prior, actually promote it in FAMA
> column
> 
> favorite: Seeing Amano in person, networking with other
> attendees, the auction
> 
> least: Very disappointed in the banquet. All it was this
> year was a dinner.  No awards, no speaker, nothing that
> would make it worth attending.  What's the point of
> having a "banquet" if it is JUST eating?
> 
> overall: I know everyone worked very hard to put this
> convention on. My club holds big shows regularly, and
> it's A LOT of work. I applaud all the efforts.  I'm only
> going to point out the weaknesses, as I see them.
> 
> Registration:  Was not ready Thurs night until very late
> (more like 11 pm 
> than 9).  Schedule on back of name tags was brilliant!
> 
> Oliver Knott is very knowledgeable and likeable (and
> cute!), but he barely 
> speaks English!  We had to try and "fill in" his
> sentences, during his 
> talk, thus, he could only speak about the very basics.
> His talk was also 
> geared more to the retailer than to a hobbyist. Did
> anyone actually HEAR 
> him speak before he was booked???
> 
> Jan Bastmeijer:  An expert, but again, VERY difficult to
> understand him. 
> His talk on growing emersed was better than his general
> crypt, whereby he 
> just showed many plants that looked VERY similar.  VERY
> hard to stay 
> focused on his speech.
> 
> I was VERY disappointed in Mr. Amano's live demo, because
> it started SO 
> late, thus he had to rush it.  If the awards had been in
> with the banquet, 
> that would have solved both problems.  To make the
> keynote speaker rush 
> any part of his presentation is an error.  I also was
> HIGHLY disappointed 
> that his tank was taken down that evening!!!  No one got
> really clear 
> pictures of it, plus, I am sure it was insulting to him
> that his work 
> would not be displayed on Sunday! I have spent alot of
> time with the 
> Japanese people, (my ex was an exec. for Panasonic so we
> were embedded in 
> the culture and traveled to Japan regular) and they are
> very much about 
> honor -- to have him create one of his masterpieces, only
> to rip it down 
> that night .... jeez!!!! I would strongy suggest that a
> letter of apology 
> of sorts be sent to him (or incorporated in his thank you
> letter) on 
> behalf of the AGA for that error -- but that's just my 2
> cents.
> 
> Auction:  Larry is great as an auctioneer. And tell him
> to keep the 
> "scuff" -- looks good on him!
> 
> A revenue stream that was sorely missed is what is called
> a "push."  This 
> is when someone pays extra (usually $2) to move a lot up
> right away. 
> This is often done when people have to leave to catch a
> plane, want to bid 
> on something before having lunch, etc. etc.  During a big
> event, our club 
> can make $40 - $100 just on pushes!  It's easy, and just
> involves a bit of 
> coordiation.  Someone should be in charge of collecting
> the "push" money 
> and getting the lot to the auctioneer immediately.
> 
> 
> On a separate note, I would love to see someone from AGA
> be more active 
> with first time attendees. These folks are usually timid,
> don't know 
> anyone, feel like an outsider, and feel others are
> cliquish.  This is 
> probaby because they are newbies to us all.  In the
> future, if you need 
> assistance with a "welcome committee" or a "newbie
> liaision" let me know 
> and I would be glad to help out.  It's one thing for
> someone to attend a 
> conference, but it's quite another thing for him/her to
> attend subsequent 
> ones. Attrition is always a problem with clubs, and to be
> honest, I 
> expected a much bigger turn out with Amano headlining.
> 
> Lastly, I had planned on writing about the AGA for my
> Fama column, but the 
> editor (David) from TFH has contacted me and I will most
> likely write it 
> for TFH instead. I know David well and have worked with
> TFH prior.
> 
> I will need to work with the AGA in obtaining convention
> pictures.  Jay 
> Luto is in my fish club and I'll be speaking with him
> tonight about his 
> shots. I would also like to have a copy of Oliver's
> winning photo, as I 
> think that would be a great shot to include.
> 
> Feel free to have someone contact me.  Thanks; Alesia
> Benedict
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> _______________________________________________
> AGA-mcm mailing list
> AGA-mcm@thekrib.com
> http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/aga-mcm
> 

_______________________________________________
AGA-mcm mailing list
AGA-mcm@thekrib.com
http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/aga-mcm