Re: Fish, auction donations, and other stuff

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

On Wed, 8 Mar 2000, Cichlidqueen wrote:

> 
> Hello Eric, well here is the scoop, Art has over 20 different tetras
> from South America.  The black neons are really nice at the moment so
> I thought I would get some of those. They are .85 ea.  Or I could get
> 4 different types of five each.  If there is something that you really
> like let me know by Monday night.  I am picking up the fish Tuesday
> afternoon.

That sounds great.  After my last reply to you, Dave and Bob suggested
just getting fewer cardinals, but I'm tired of being a relay guy, so just
pick up something good within the budget; black neons sound great.  We'll
do cardinals in June or something once we've sorted it out at a board
meeting.

> My coversation with Art turned out to be very interesting.  He was
> quite bemused that I was actually getting fish for the club.  He told
> me that awhile ago he used to sell to the club for fish of the month
> all the time. Then the club started going to Africans Northwest all of
> a sudden. Which made him feel rather put out since he had been
> supporting the club for quite some time.

Here's the deal: depending on who's in the club, things come and go.  For
the longest time, nobody dealt with The Fish Store.  But now I go to them
every year for the auction.  When Linda Morin (who lived in Auburn) was in
the club, she dealt with Art all the time and dealt with Art a lot. I
think Linda brought in most of the stores who are on the back of the
newsletter.  When Lenny Long was in the club, we got a lot of things
through Amazon Pets in Woodinville.  It's the nature of the volunteer
organization.  So that's great that you're able to be a contact for Puget
Sound Fisheries again.

By the way, I checked the records, and last year Puget Sound Fisheries
*DID* donate to our auction. 

>  I told him that no one in
> the club now deals with Africans Northwest. 

Actually, that's not true.  Sam Beavin, who was at our last two meetings,
deals with them all the time.  That's where we got all our plant auction
material.  There's nothing wrong with having relationships with multiple
wholesalers.  

> So
> I told him I would get back to him with the cover letter and later
> pick up his donation.  He told me about 4 dry goods warehouses in the
> area that would probably like to donate to the auction also.  Do you
> want me to ask them or is someone else already doing that?

>From my notes, nobody volunteered to do Puget Sound Fisheries, so that
would be great if you got a donation from them.  I will try to have a
cover letter at next week's meeting, or on the website.

> I am speaking my mind here because everytime I mention it at a board
> meeting I get shot down before I finish what I am saying, so I just
> shut up. 

Sandy, frankly speaking, I think the reason everyone reacts to you
negatively when they do is because your attitude is very much "YOU people
need to do this.  YOU people need to advertise.  Here's why YOU aren't
getting more members."  Many of the people who are on the board now have
seen the club rise from far worse shape than it's in right now.  I'm
pretty sure that everyone heard your suggestions; every time you've said
something along those lines, someone has always responded.  For instance:

> The club has around $4,000 and you all sit around and
> joke about what are you going to spend the money on.  And now the
> auction is coming after which you will have even more money.  Well to
> place an ad in the Seattle Times is 12.00 a line.  If you placed one
> ad a week before each meeting using 4 lines that would be 48.00.  
> Times that by 8 (no need to anounce the christmas party) that would be
> 384.00 a year.  Now tell me again you can't afford it! 

Understand that we've done this in the past, and it doesn't bring
in more people.  The only time we've ever gotten people to show up from a
newspaper ad has been at the general auction.  In many cases, it's not
necessarily an aversion to trying something new, so much as trying
something that has been tried several times before and failed.

Just because we have a large amount of money does not mean we should spend
it indescriminantly.  I know Kathy has been trying to line up some great
speakers for next year who will end up costing us $500-700 each. 

The whole thing about spending the treasury on a trip to Hawaii is a JOKE.

> You say you
> want new people on the board yet you all are a cliche and don't accept
> new ideas very easily.   All of you are very nice people and I like you
> all.  Yet I feel very frustrated in being able to help out, no one
> wants to do anything different then what you have been doing.  So
> things are stagnating and soon, maybe not this year or next, but
> eventually there won't be a club.  

And you need to understand that the club is in a local minimum this year.
It's had local minimums in the past, and high points.  In 1995, the
average attendance at meetings was 10-20.  Sound familiar?  By 1997, we
were doing 30-50 per meeting, and were doing bowl shows for many months,
and had big participation in the newsletter.

The other point is this: Who is going to do all this work to bring in all
the new people?  The burned-out board?  Me? I realize it's a catch-22, but
this is a tough year for the club management.  I'm personally very happy
that the current board is even still holding the club together enough to
hold the monthly meetings and get a newsletter or two out until next
year's elections.

> And that would be a shame.  I have
> been told by lots of different people in the industry that the fish
> hobby is in decline.  So I feel fish clubs have some responsiblity to
> keep that hobby active and interesting and alive.  We are not alone
> there are fish clubs all across the country, what do they do to get
> new members?

Not surprisingly, they are also in decline on the national level.
Regionally, Portland has had record low attendance at their last show,
Kitsap Aquarium Society is basically a joke (Kathy and I went to a recent
meeting, and the three of us were 30% of the room).

> Thank you for listening.  Get back to me about what kind
> of fish you want and the auction donations.  And please think about
> what I've said without getting defensive.  I only mentioned because I
> do care.  Sandy

It's actually very easy:

The best thing you can do is to help out and keep a positive attitude. For
instance, when you volunteered to put the ad in the neighborhood papers
(whatever happened with that anyway?).  Put up one of our new posters in
the stores you frequent.  Walk over and talk to someone new at a meeting.
Write an article for the newsletter about a cool fish you spawned.  Let
others know about the club.  Enter one of the contests.  Encourage others
to participate.  When one starts, others may follow suit.

  - Erik


-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com