Update re GWAPA AGA2K4 Proposal

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

This is just some "this and that" info that you might find
interesting.

As we discussed, I had written to Ghazanfar asking for some
prliminary info before we decided to contact Amano. I
hadn't heard back from Ghazanfar but independently got a
message from Rick Dotson (VP GWAPA). Turns out Ghazanfar
has been having some trouble with his email since moving to
a new server. That's being taken care of. Meanwhile, I
ended up speaking with Rick and then Ghazanfar by phone.

They will provide us with some preliminary material
possibly as early as next week. The proposal might be ready
as soon as the end of the month -- possibly a draft will
arrive first but it might not be necessary, imo, based on
the prelim info.

I they are runing numbers with and without Amano and I
think they intend to present an attractive proposal even if
Amano is not available. But they stressed that Amano makes
a terrific diff in breath of audience, turnout, revenue.

They suggested having someone speak on paludariums. Any
suggestions or is Senske the only name that comes to mind?

Ghazanfar had some ideas that related directly and only to
the Aquascaping contest and I invited him to contact Erik
directly on that. I know you're busy, Erik, but it seemed
to me no one else could address some of his thoughts and
the last thing you needed there was a middleman.

GWAPA is thinking of increasing the attention on
aquascaping and along that line are considering having pics
of the contest entries on display at the convention.

Otoh, it sounded like AGA might be able to have them take
over the contest as part of the convention. Not arguing for
or ag'in it -- just saying it sounded that way.

I don't think they were happy about having to put up the
prizes for the Aquascaping Contest. I explained the reason
for the requirement and that seemed to take care of it. But
I'm glad we put something in writing and up front.

They are thinking of pre-convention events to boost the
number of roomnight credits -- e.g., field trip(s) --
they've been talking to Larry :-) .

They are stepping back a bit from the original focus on
beginner gardeners that Ghazanfar spoke of in Dallas. The
reasoning being beginners are unlikely to pay the costs of
attending a convention.

They might have some free GWAPA workshops in the weeks 
prior to the convention to attract beginners and (my choice
of words) prime their interest for the convention.

They are looking at a number of hotels and considering,
among others, Sheraton -- I only bring that up because I
like Sheraton about as much as ich on a $100 fish and
whenever I think of them I have to say something. But
that's personal view. Anyway, I udnerstand that Larry has
offered to help them with hotel negotiations.

They are looking at the weekend of Nov 12,13 & 14. I told
them those dates weren't a requirement, nor a real
tradition. I think they thought the 2nd weekend was a rule.

They are planning to have a financial breakeven point well
below a conservative estimate of attendees. We'll see what
those numbers are when they send some over to us.

They are planning to have more time for folks to visit
vendor rooms, shmooze, etc. than this year. Yippee!

We tossed some ideas back and forth about the long term
value to AGA of attracting a broader audience than current
AGA members. 

***********************
Ghazanfar asked if I'd be willing to serve on a committee.
Unless you folks object, I guess I will -- probably along
the same lines as I did for AGA2K3, maybe just in an
assisting role.


***********************
Totally seperate matter. Did anyone take home the banner
from AGA2K3? If not, then I guess Larry has it in storage.




=====
S. Hieber

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
http://photos.yahoo.com/
  ------------------
  To unsubscribe from this list, e-mail majordomo@thekrib.com
  with "unsubscribe aga-sc" in the body of the message.
  Old messages are available at http://lists.thekrib.com/aga-sc
  When asked, log in as username is "aga-sc", and password "incorp".