Anytime you or any others would like to come up, please let me know. There is no reason to get a hotel unless you really want to. There are plenty of members that would open their homes to give you a place to stay. I also look forward to meeing you and the others at the DFS swap!
Don't want to step on any toes...
- Thread starter specsirl
- Start date
Anytime you or any others would like to come up, please let me know. There is no reason to get a hotel unless you really want to. There are plenty of members that would open their homes to give you a place to stay. I also look forward to meeing you and the others at the DFS swap!
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
Gosh thats kind... I know Bill Davis and I need to book a place for the Frag/Conference at the end of the month... any suggestions on where to stay up there? I heard maybe the holiday had a special rate for conference goers?
I think that most of the hotels are booked around here. With 400 plus attendees at the last count or so..it doesn't take long to fill up the town.
We already have a full house with some other out of towner's that weekend, but let me check with others in the club. There's also hotels in Tomahawk which is like 20 min south. Proab got a decent rate as well. That's where I live. Otherwise bring a tent and you can crash at the shack.
shred5
Premium Member
Best western has rooms.
http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/productInfo.do?propertyCode=50053
Dave
http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/productInfo.do?propertyCode=50053
Dave
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
Okay, just got off the phone with Bill, we are booked at the Western. $89 a night... but hey, its got a hot-tub!!! Nothing like soaking the feet after a day of walking around a conference.
Alright, now to find where all the local bar-wenches are at...
Alright, now to find where all the local bar-wenches are at...
I'll be at the comfort inn friday and saturday night with the wife and possibly the daughter too.
I don't have any uber corals, but if you know of anyone who wants to trade for a frag of what I have, some pics are up.
http://www.tankprofiler.com/displayNewGallery.php?tankID=1
I look forward to meeting some new faces
weee!!!
I don't have any uber corals, but if you know of anyone who wants to trade for a frag of what I have, some pics are up.
http://www.tankprofiler.com/displayNewGallery.php?tankID=1
I look forward to meeting some new faces
weee!!!
Chads29
Premium Member
Jon the last I heard from Bill a few minutes ago you are staying in my room on the floor so bring a sleeping bag we will have 5 people in the room including Josh from Seatle WA. Dave and I where making plans for this way in advance so we will get the beds... I will also be the DD so get ready to party!!!
Chad
shred5
Premium Member
I do not know how we can fit 5 people in a singles room with a roll away. Carlos was thinking of going too possibly. I tried to get a second room there but they are booked. Only thing is two separate hotels or two rooms some where else. hotels are close together but reservations can still be canceled if need be so we can be in the same hotel. i know joy is staying in that hotel too but she maybe busy if she is going as a pfo vendor anyway, she was at imac.
horkn
New member
I think I will be able to attend this year finally.
I have a cottage in Tomahawk as well.
what I gather is that I only need a 15 dollar pass to hear speakers, and attend the swap, and enter raffles, correct?
I would rather go home and make my own food anyway
but reagrding WRS and its group buys, we do far too few of them, and when you have enough people to get a small order (enough for free shipping) nothing happens.
I have a cottage in Tomahawk as well.
what I gather is that I only need a 15 dollar pass to hear speakers, and attend the swap, and enter raffles, correct?
I would rather go home and make my own food anyway
but reagrding WRS and its group buys, we do far too few of them, and when you have enough people to get a small order (enough for free shipping) nothing happens.
Great thread! I finally had a chance to read/comment on it and have to agree with a lot of the things discussed.
A couple things I thought were funny, a couple things completely wrong, but on the whole, most of it I feel is right on the mark. I’ll throw my 2 cents in on a few of the comments (in the order they came up in the thread)…
Since Frank and has spent all his personal time rebuilding the website, the number of new faces/members has greatly increased. Attendance has more than doubled at the meetings with the best part being that WRS (SEWERS???) is actually HAVING meetings again. Some new members joining with a lot of knowledge/experience has brought new life to the group!
Don’t know where that came from, but it isn’t much of an empire… LOL
For the record, for probably a year the old leadership begged and pleaded for someone to take over so they could just enjoy the hobby without the responsibility/hassle for a change. After a while of nothing happening (besides arguing about how a new leadership should come about), a final statement saying “that was it†for them caused a few people to finally step up and see what they could do since members were dropping out like flies. High expectations were put on the group and while WRS remained solvent, lack of time kept a lot of things from happening that we wanted to do. It took over a year and a few different attempts before Frank (who unfortunately asked to do it a year previous) was given the task to “make it happenâ€Â. So far, the website, a presentation by All-Glass/O.R.A and a Pier Wisconsin tour seems to be about all that has happened…
Unless it is for something very special, people have a hard time driving a couple hours from Green Bay or Madison just to see someone’s tank. Other clubs didn’t want the formality of collecting dues to bring in speakers. WRS was kind of unique in Wisconsin for that.
The original group was a lot different from the group of the last couple years. In the beginning people had no problem paying $25/yr ($35 family) for dues to support the club. Donations from vendors to the only reef club in Wisconsin were huge! The old leadership had the time to take care of everything themselves and spent a lot of their time setting all kinds of things up.
Over the years, many people got busy at work as the economy picked up and you’d only have 10 people show up to a speaker the club spent hundreds of $$$ on. Many small reef groups were formed, vendor donations dwindled to nothing, and WRS membership turned into a group that wanted no dues and I still hear complaining that they don’t get anything for the $10 they would have to pay to join, they have to pay extra for this or that, etc. $300-$400/yr dues does not get the club a whole lot... The current leadership also doesn’t have the time available to do the things that members would like, and not too many people volunteer to set up events for the club.
The good thing I see though is that the energy level has gone up the last 6 months. We have people taking PAR readings of tanks for the group, people having good meetings at their homes, a couple road trips, a behind the scenes tour, etc. People are helping new members out. Stuff that was lacking in the not too distant past. Things DO look more promising for the future of the club at this point. (At least in my opinion)
All I can say here is I’m sorry people feel this way. Numerous NUMEROUS emails were sent out 2-3 months before dues were restarting. (Dues hadn’t been collected for awhile since the club wasn’t even sure it would stay solvent.) Deadlines were given (and extended) on when and where to send in dues. Some people thought $10 was a small price to pay, others didn’t. At some point, after a lot of people paid their dues, and the deadline was extended a couple times, we had to assume the rest of the people just did not want to join again and cut the ties. Even after all the warnings/reminders, there were actually a few people who rejoined (some sheepishly) a few weeks later once they found they had actually got “booted†from the WRS email distribution system.
Dues are coming up again at the end of summer. May as well start the discussions now about dues so the “leadership†knows what to expect from the current members…
WRS has enough money to bring in a speaker. Please, someone step up and help work out the details on bringing someone in. The club would appreciate it! I’ve read that a possible visit to a new LARGE tank in someone’s house in Illinois might be an option for the future. We have enough money to bring in a speaker and one of our members has volunteered to have the speaker stay at their house.
It sounds like there will be some good discussions on the future of the club at the Summer BBQ on July 21. Please show up and make your viewpoints heard.
Steve
A couple things I thought were funny, a couple things completely wrong, but on the whole, most of it I feel is right on the mark. I’ll throw my 2 cents in on a few of the comments (in the order they came up in the thread)…
Since Frank and has spent all his personal time rebuilding the website, the number of new faces/members has greatly increased. Attendance has more than doubled at the meetings with the best part being that WRS (SEWERS???) is actually HAVING meetings again. Some new members joining with a lot of knowledge/experience has brought new life to the group!
Don’t know where that came from, but it isn’t much of an empire… LOL
For the record, for probably a year the old leadership begged and pleaded for someone to take over so they could just enjoy the hobby without the responsibility/hassle for a change. After a while of nothing happening (besides arguing about how a new leadership should come about), a final statement saying “that was it†for them caused a few people to finally step up and see what they could do since members were dropping out like flies. High expectations were put on the group and while WRS remained solvent, lack of time kept a lot of things from happening that we wanted to do. It took over a year and a few different attempts before Frank (who unfortunately asked to do it a year previous) was given the task to “make it happenâ€Â. So far, the website, a presentation by All-Glass/O.R.A and a Pier Wisconsin tour seems to be about all that has happened…
Unless it is for something very special, people have a hard time driving a couple hours from Green Bay or Madison just to see someone’s tank. Other clubs didn’t want the formality of collecting dues to bring in speakers. WRS was kind of unique in Wisconsin for that.
The original group was a lot different from the group of the last couple years. In the beginning people had no problem paying $25/yr ($35 family) for dues to support the club. Donations from vendors to the only reef club in Wisconsin were huge! The old leadership had the time to take care of everything themselves and spent a lot of their time setting all kinds of things up.
Over the years, many people got busy at work as the economy picked up and you’d only have 10 people show up to a speaker the club spent hundreds of $$$ on. Many small reef groups were formed, vendor donations dwindled to nothing, and WRS membership turned into a group that wanted no dues and I still hear complaining that they don’t get anything for the $10 they would have to pay to join, they have to pay extra for this or that, etc. $300-$400/yr dues does not get the club a whole lot... The current leadership also doesn’t have the time available to do the things that members would like, and not too many people volunteer to set up events for the club.
The good thing I see though is that the energy level has gone up the last 6 months. We have people taking PAR readings of tanks for the group, people having good meetings at their homes, a couple road trips, a behind the scenes tour, etc. People are helping new members out. Stuff that was lacking in the not too distant past. Things DO look more promising for the future of the club at this point. (At least in my opinion)
All I can say here is I’m sorry people feel this way. Numerous NUMEROUS emails were sent out 2-3 months before dues were restarting. (Dues hadn’t been collected for awhile since the club wasn’t even sure it would stay solvent.) Deadlines were given (and extended) on when and where to send in dues. Some people thought $10 was a small price to pay, others didn’t. At some point, after a lot of people paid their dues, and the deadline was extended a couple times, we had to assume the rest of the people just did not want to join again and cut the ties. Even after all the warnings/reminders, there were actually a few people who rejoined (some sheepishly) a few weeks later once they found they had actually got “booted†from the WRS email distribution system.
Dues are coming up again at the end of summer. May as well start the discussions now about dues so the “leadership†knows what to expect from the current members…
WRS has enough money to bring in a speaker. Please, someone step up and help work out the details on bringing someone in. The club would appreciate it! I’ve read that a possible visit to a new LARGE tank in someone’s house in Illinois might be an option for the future. We have enough money to bring in a speaker and one of our members has volunteered to have the speaker stay at their house.
It sounds like there will be some good discussions on the future of the club at the Summer BBQ on July 21. Please show up and make your viewpoints heard.
Steve
Chads29
Premium Member
Steve,
I am not going to cut up all of your responses so I will just respond with this.
If the WRS leadership doesn't have time to take care of any of the things you mentioned you didn't have time to do why don't they step down and let others who have more ambition step up to the plate and do what the leadership should be doing?
People have brought up road trips and speakers in the past we even gave up a chance to have Borneman here a couple of years ago but the leadership didn't follow through with some of these. Not every meeting has to be at someones house they could be at a Bar, LFS, in a Park as long as it is a place where everyone can go and get to know each other and have a good time.
From what I recall it wasn't a year that Eric was asking for people to step up it was more like a couple of months, no vote or election was done for the current leadership that was put in place, it was Eric who appointed the new leaders into the positions.
Thanks,
Chad
I am not going to cut up all of your responses so I will just respond with this.
If the WRS leadership doesn't have time to take care of any of the things you mentioned you didn't have time to do why don't they step down and let others who have more ambition step up to the plate and do what the leadership should be doing?
People have brought up road trips and speakers in the past we even gave up a chance to have Borneman here a couple of years ago but the leadership didn't follow through with some of these. Not every meeting has to be at someones house they could be at a Bar, LFS, in a Park as long as it is a place where everyone can go and get to know each other and have a good time.
From what I recall it wasn't a year that Eric was asking for people to step up it was more like a couple of months, no vote or election was done for the current leadership that was put in place, it was Eric who appointed the new leaders into the positions.
Thanks,
Chad
shred5
Premium Member
This thread got way off track.. specsgirl was just trying to be nice but it shows that WRS is way off coarse but it also shows there are still some people who care about it...
And specsirl it was a nice offer and it was nice to finally meet you after all this time in chat. By the way, why is there no g in your RC name.
Dave
And specsirl it was a nice offer and it was nice to finally meet you after all this time in chat. By the way, why is there no g in your RC name.
Dave
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