I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM ACTUALLY GOING TO POST THIS RIGHT
NOW BUT HERE GOES.........
As usual I am really ready for a post-fish-conference
rest but I think I need to post this sooner rather
than later........
What if we had a conference but it wasn't an AGA?
What if it did not cost anything but still had a nice
venue?
What if it still had several quality speakers but no
speaker costs?
What if we had no formal banquet, no fancy schedules,
no external audio video needs?
What if we did not even have to deal with registration
at all?
What if we could actually hang out with the members
instead of working and just saying hello as we run
from one place to the other?
I am not proposing an AGA but rather a less-than-AGA
event to stand in it's place for continuity purposes.
It would be more organized than a Plantfest but
nothing near an AGA.
Jeff Senske and I are toying with the idea of having
an event at his gallery. The venue could hold 75
people maybe more. Jeff, Mike and possibly Luis could
speak. Jeff is going to ask them first so please do
not say anything to anyone.
The proposed schedule would be a Friday tour of the
top five AGA mainteained tanks in Houston. Everyone
would be responsible for their own rides. Saturday, we
would have three talks in the gallery and a little AGA
auction or just a plant swap. We would recommned a
couple of hotels but no contracts.
Jeff has a little PA system and I can get a projector.
He can get some food catered in cheap and I think I
can get him to eat (pardon the pun) the costs anyway.
After all suckers like me will be buying the ADA
goodies while we are there ;-).
I am not ready to jump on this yet but I wanted to see
what you guys think b4 doing anything else. Jeff and I
talked for an hour or so about this and a few other
things. I think it is doable as long as we present it
as what it is and what it's not (an AGA).
Think about it and let me know. If there is interest
on our part I will get the ball rolling if not I will
let Jeff know now before we go an further.
--- Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com> wrote:
Hi folks,
Got off the phone with Jim from SFBAAPS just now.
Confirmed that they are
still shooting for November 2006 date for
convention, so any contact with
vendors about Feb 2006 is going on entirely in said
person's mind.
They visited four hotels back in March, at least two
of them in the
$100/night range. DG didn't like any of the four
because they weren't
classy enough, and instead concentrated on Officer's
Club. When Officer's
Club deal fell through, he bailed on the process and
didn't pick up any of
the other hotels.
No progress in last two months (Jim blames himself),
but there is a
monthly open house/meeting next Sunday where he'll
bring it up. Members
are geographically separate, and e-mail
communication doesn't work well.
Jim had written up a proposed agenda, but then
someone posted it on
public APC forms. He's a little leery about that
now, but is going to
send the document to me.
Based on last couple of meetings, members are
enthusiastic about the
convention, and volunteering. Grassroot support is
there. Club is
healthy, about 30-40 paid members and another 20
hangers-on. Club has
little organization because they don't need it for
their own operation,
and has been detrimental when organization has been
"imposed" on it by an
individual. No new info here.
Recognizes need for organization in regards to
convention. I suggested
they concentrate on hotel, noted AGA is in a pickle
because AGA *needs* to
have a convention in 2006. We can't just let
deadlines expire like we did
in 2005. We need to communicate and see progress on
a regular basis or
have to seriously investigate other clubs. I
mentioned that hotel is
lynchpin. He's going to start the hotel work back
up.
I hope I am not stepping on any toes here, but with
what's at risk, I've
decided to take a bigger stake in making sure this
works. I am going to
start calling Jim on a semi-regular basis. I think
that until some
progress has occurred, it will be best to do phone
communication.
Hopefully we'll get things to the point where
planning can move back to
the conheads list.
- Erik
--
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com
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