Re: charlene again, and next year's convention (fwd)

["Karen Randall" <krandall@world.std.com>]

Hi all,

Erik wrote:

> I'm a little disturbed by this message below.  Charlene is saying that if
> we don't have a certain response (she doesn't say how many) by October 8,
> she may c*ncel the convention.  Kathy and I were about to make our
> non-refundable reservations for the conference.  The idea that Charlene
> could just up & canc*l it one month before the event is quite annoying.

I've already made my reservations, so I'm feeling a little nervous about it
too.  I can't think of anything else I'd go to Houston for, and I'm booked
to arrive there on Tues. to help get ready... What fun - 5 days in Houston
and no convention! :-/

> I would like a decision by the board on whether it is OK to let this
> happen.

I just cc'd Erik with a note I sent to Charlene asking for more details on
exactly how many people we need, and what happens if the convention doesn't
fill.  I know that at the Marriott in Hartford, it's not an all-or-nothing
arrangement.  You pay a penalty if you don't meet your expected numbers, but
it's not exhorbitant.  It might be that the amount we have to pay is still
worth doing, for continuity sake.

> I haven't written back to Charlene on the matter yet.  I sort of doubt an
> APD posting is going to cause massive signups, but I also have no idea how
> many we need to have sign up.

I doubt it will bring in massive sign-ups either, but it's not time to panic
yet.  Registrations came in mostly at the end last year too.

> I should also add that there is no incentive to sign up early.  There is
> no discount for pre-October 8th.  Most of the people I've talked to are
> really annoyed about the high price, late timing, etc, which you've all
> heard from me already.

It is on the expensive side, but since I didn't want to/couldn't put more
effort into the whole thing than I have, I didn't think I had a right to
kibitz too much.  I think this is always going to be a problem when trying
to manage events held in far-flung locations.  I think we are largely at the
mercy of the local folks.  In this case, even Charlene is working long
distance, which hasn't improved her communication skills at all.<g>

> Kathy keeps saying we need to confront Charlene on all this.  I'm on the
> fence for doing it now, because I'm not sure what good it will do at this
> phase, but strongly in favor of doing so right after the conference.

I think we need to decide exactly what we want to do before we confront her
anyway.

> On a related subject, I noticed the big response to my post of the CAOAC
> note last week (sarcasm).  I had a similar offer made to us last weekend
> by Kevin Plazak of the Sacramento Aquarium Society.  They are hosting an
> annual convention called "FINDIG".  It was 2 weekends ago.  It was kind of
> like 3 conventions in one; they had circuits for Cichlids, Livebearers,
> and Rainbowfish.  The venue was shared, so the overhead was lower.  He has
> offered to have the annual AGA convention as part of FINDIG next year, and
> I offered to present it to the board.
>
> Kevin also mentioned a few things that I don't think we are really
> utilizing in our current convention, i.e. Marineland speaker program.

I don't think the Marineland program has anyone who speaks on plants other
than Dorothy.  (Are you still part of that program Dorothy?)

> What I'm looking for with THIS issue is some input: does it make sense to
> partner with one of these "meta-conventions"?  Do we lose anything by not
> going on our own?  Do we gain anything?

Well, The Findig thing sounds like it might have potential.  Were you
talking about the NY/Penn Council thing?  I don't remember seeing anything
about CAOAC.  The one I remember being forwarded to the list talked about me
having been a speaker, and I've never spoken at CAOAC.  I think for any of
these regional conventions, the question is more whther there are enough
local AGA members to make it work, and make it worth while spending AGA
funds on it.

NEC gives us space and publicity gratis, and we just find a way to use the
time.  We have helped with the cost of bringing Claus in, but that
benefitted a lot of our members.  AND, we have a large contingent of local
AGA people willing to organize it.  I'm willing to do that for NEC, because
it's my home organization, and I'd be going anyway.  I'm not going to
organize something out in Erie that I wouldn't otherwise attend.  The _only_
fish oriented convention I attend if I'm not speaking is NEC.

I would not go even to Erie, let alone Sacramento for a single plant
speaker.  It just wouldn't be worth the expense.  The only way I'd go to a
joint convention outside of my local area would be if there were several
plant speakers.  I don't know what Sacramento is planning... If they are
running a bunch of concurrent programs where people can pick and choose it
could work.  But then how does the auction work?  Who gets the money, or how
is it divided?

I guess what I'm saying is that I can certainly see the advantages a joint
convention could have in terms of economy of scale, but if it ends up that
we get a "token" plant speaker at a predominantly fish convention, I don't
see any advantage over going back to our old thing of just giving grants to
local organizations who want to feature a plant speaker.

Karen

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