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

["Karen Randall" <krandall@rdrcpa.biz>]

I personally enjoyed Oliver's talk, and not only because he's cute. ;-)  I
think he had some important things to say about how we NEED to work with
retailers and vendors more.  If Alesia missed that, well, it's important
that we don't.

I think it is also VERY important that we DON'T try to target the lowest
common denominator with our conventions.  That is what AFM, TFH and FAMA are
for.<g>  I think it is important to have at least one or two talks that are
accessible even to beginners, but we most certainly did that.  But if we
don't offer cutting edge, high level talks and information, there is no
reason for many of us to go back year after year.

I go to NEC because it is close, (and therefore much less expensive) it's
fun to socialize, and there are always at least a few talks I'm interested
in.  But if that was all I got out of AGA conferences, I really couldn't
justify the cost.

As far as Amano being insulted by the tank being taken down, I'm sure she's
off-base on that one.  He and the Senskes had that all arranged ahead of
time. AGA or the convention committee had NOTHING to do with that!

As far as the banquet and talk re-arranement is concerned, well, all of us
would have preferred not to have to do that, but we didn't have a lot of
choices, and some of the changes were caused by Amano's wishes.

Karen

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>
To: "AGA Advisory Committee" <aga-mcm@thekrib.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2004 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: [AGA-mcm] [AGA Convention Feedback] (fwd)


> 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
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