Re: [AGA-sc] North American Discus Association inaugural convention, Irv

From: aga-sc-bounces@thekrib.com [mailto:aga-sc-bounces@thekrib.com] On Behalf Of Phil Edwards
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 6:03 PM
To: AGA BOD
Subject: Re: [AGA-sc] North American Discus Association inaugural convention, Irving, TX June 2010

Thanks for the insight Karen, that's exactly what I was wanting to know. I know I've still got a lot to learn about the logistics and typical practices between organizations at this level. Any experience shared is valued. For what it's worth, this is the first conference this group's held.

Wasn’t there a Discus group that did conventions before? I thought I remembered one… The “cichlid people” don’t consider them “real” cichlids.<g>

It seems like a neat opportunity for us to get in on the ground floor so to speak. More and more discus keepers are starting to accept that aquatic plants and their prized dinner plate fish can thrive together.

Yup, although many always have. It doesn’t work for breeders, though, and once people get caught by the “Discus bug” they often spend so much on livestock that they feel compelled to reproduce them.

As far as donations, I agree, let's keep things status quo. If anything, I'd rather tip the scales in favor of groups such as NEC who've been so good to us in the past.

I don’t think we have to do MORE for NEC than “we” currently are… they get a great big piece’o ME. When I retire (or drop dead, which ever comes first) someone else will have to pick up the reins here in the Northeast. As it is, we have a good 25-30 people who take Friday off before the convention and come from as much as 8 hours away just to attend the AGA meeting on Friday afternoon. (news flash… we’re most likely moving to an early evening slot this year, YAY!!!) While NEC is REALLY good to us, I am sure we are also “value added” for the convention. It’s programming that all attendees can access, and they don’t have to pay for it, organize it, or worry about it. We’ve developed a win-win situation.

One thing to keep in mind though is that establishing and maintaining a relationship like this is WORK. And it’s not easily passed on. I start working with Janine in the fall for the NEC the following spring. I don’t know exactly how long I’ve done it, but I believe it started at least 5 years before we started our “official” AGA conventions. Do we have other people who are willing to take on that kind of commitment with other organizations? I know I can’t do another one.

This brings up a thought...have y'all talked about building some sort of regular reciprocal speaker arrangement with other clubs like ACA and AKA? I have no idea of the big fish groups have focus groups like we did in Dallas.

Well, if you had a regular reciprocal arrangement with ACA and AKA (and you’d better add in ALA…they have more plant keepers than either of the other groups) you’re talking about making time in an already packed schedule for 3 speakers with programs not directly related to the specialty of OUR organization. It starts to sound a lot like a general aquarium convention. …Not to knock those; I attend several each year, and they are great fun. But when people go to the specialty conventions, my feeling, and I’d love to hear from others if they disagree, is that they go to learn more about their specialty. They have typically come a LONG way to soak up all they can in a short while.

Of course, if the convention is big enough/ wealthy enough to get a bunch of break-out rooms in their hotel package, they have more flexibility with their speaker line-up as they can run talks side-by-side. Or if there is no field trip on Friday, you can do what NEC does, and have break-out specialty club sessions on Friday afternoon. (ALA has one too) But everything is a trade-off.

I’m also not sure what a “reciprocal speaker arrangement” would look like. It’s one thing for me, as an aquatic gardener, to be willing to pay for my own flight to the AGA convention and speak. I would NOT be willing to pay my own way to a Discus convention and speak. We don’t pay travel expenses for North American speakers. It wouldn’t be fair for us to say that we wouldn’t pay the airfare for their speaker, but our speaker won’t go to them unless they do pay airfare. Times 3 other organizations (ALA, AKA and the Discus group) that would be a boat load of airfare too. Even if “reciprocal” meant just paying an honorarium of some kind, those are all over the place too. I sometimes get an honorarium as high as $150, but more often get a T-shirt and a “thank you”.<g> I don’t speak for the honorarium, I speak to give back to the hobby, so I don’t really care which it is.

Having specialists come in and give presentations focusing on specific types of fish might enhance our conferences and it would give us a good opportunity to get one of our speakers into a "fish show" on a regular basis. Just a thought.

I think that it’s FANTASTIC that you and Ghazanfar and a few other people are getting out there and starting to speak. I think you will find that if you develop a good program, your name will start to get around on the circuit, and you will get more and more invitations. The fact is, MANY of the general aquarium conventions (as well as clubs looking to bring someone in for their monthly meetings) are anxious to get good plant speakers. I have more invitations each year than I can accept.

Incidentally, if you find that you need some specific slide(s) I’d be happy to lend them to you if I have anything appropriate!

Karen