Re: [AGA-mcm] AGA 2005

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

Hi Phil,

Obviously, I am just giving you my personal view of AGA "central"
involvement, so take it with that in mind.  I think, however, that a big
part of the problem this year is that we did not want it to appear to the
GWAPA folks that we were in any way "taking over" or trying to be
heavy-handed in their convention planning.  I have also heard that way back
in the late spring, GWAPA had some problems with a few people bagging out on
them, and I, at least, was not aware of that until shortly before the
convention.

I think things started to work MUCH better once we had the e-mail list
running, and there was a more effective and immediate flow of information.
But that happened too late in the game.  There was much more we could have
helped the GWAPA folk with if we'd known early enough that they needed help.
I'm sure we will have a mailing list working from the get-go this year, and
I'm sure the GWAPA folks who continue on the convention committee will
strongly encourage the new team to ask for help when they need it.

We are all still, even after 5 years, in the learning stage as far as
conventions are concerned.  The first 3 conventions were pulled off by just
a handful of people on the ground, but there were some mighty scary moments
along the way.<g>  In Dallas, we had a great ground crew, many of whom had a
lot of organized hobby experience coming into the convention.  So the AGA
didn't NEED to have as much day-to day involvement in decision making and
planning.  GWAPA managed to pull off a fantastic convention despite some
bumps in the road, but at a personal cost to a few of the GWAPA "ground crew
that was, I think, too high.  We want to avoid burning people out.

Karen

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Edwards" <biotypical@hotmail.com>
To: <aga-mcm@thekrib.com>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 11:33 AM
Subject: [AGA-mcm] AGA 2005


> Hey folks,
>
> The Charlotte Area Aquarists Society (hopefully with help from Carolina
> Aquatic Plant Enthusiasts) is interested in hosting the '05 convention.
> We're going to be discussing the possibility at our Dec. 4th meeting and
I'd
> like some feedback from everyone here.  We've got a lot of folks between
the
> two groups, with a core of about 4-6 really dedicated folks in CLT.  My
> question to y'all is how involved in the organization is the AGA willing
to
> get?  Ideally I would love to see an AGA representative involved
> hand-in-hand with the committee chairs/members here in town.  This is
still
> in the "seriously considering it" phase, but if the AGA were to get
strongly
> involved in the organization from the start it would go a long way towards
> getting to the "we're willing to do it" stage.
>
> Ideas for things so far.
>
> Theme: Gone Native, a look at things around you.
> Speakers: Native aquatic  and wetland plant and fish specialists from area
> universities
> Field Trip: Local botanical gardens, visits to local urban wetlands,
> possibly state park wetland
>
> Thoughts, comments, concerns, offers? :)
>
> Best,
> Phil
>
>
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