Joint OKAA and COMAS Meeting

[herpchat]

Would there be any interest in having a joint meeting of our two locally based clubs?

The topic would be marine in nature since the OKAA is a generalized club with all topics from FW to SW.

Every third meeting is a night for the OKAA so it could fit into our schedule.

If this does happen I am thinking something like 3-6 months down the road from now.

I do want honest opinions from Great Idea to Hell No.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

At one point in time, there were some plans being made from OMAS, COMAS, and SOMAS to have a joint meeting. If we could get this all worked out and include OKAA, then there would be a huge meeting. Heck, we would need a HUGE place. I would venture to guess that about 200 people would easily attend. Heck, COMAS alone has over 90 members; most of which are very active.

 

[herpchat]

So is your idea that you only want it if all 4 clubs were in on it?

What is the geographical basis for OMAS and SOMAS?

What type of programs do they run at their meetings?

 

[Russ Braaten]

I would think this querstion should be asked privately to Paul Whitby, the president of the club.

 

[herpchat]

You might be right there. I often jump out there and have grandious visions that I try to make true. Some have, some have flopped like a carp.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7758140#post7758140 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by herpchat
So is your idea that you only want it if all 4 clubs were in on it?

What is the geographical basis for OMAS and SOMAS?

What type of programs do they run at their meetings?

Paul is definitely the go to guy on this. This was just something that was being worked on in the past. I would suspect that it would be easier to just send invitations out because of where these clubs are located. SOMAS is located in the Ardmore area in Southern Oklahoma and OMAS is located in Tulsa in Northeastern Oklahoma. I can't speak for SOMAS, but OMAS is generally the same as COMAS. We usually hold meetings at people's homes, discuss their tank, have introductions, have a small presentation/discussion, enjoy everyone's company, and head home.

 

[Gwalker]

I can't speak for Paul W. but I think he would welcome any new ideas of incorporating events or doing a joint meeting with other clubs. I belive the main problem is it seems difficult to coordinate all these things together. Perhaps several people could be in charge of different aspects to help in the coordination. My idea on such a combination meeting would be molded somewhat after the MACNA events. We could have numerous talks on differing subjects and have booths set up for vendors/lfs, much like a home and garden show. I think this would need to be a day long event since it encompases so many people and subjects. This would also allow for people to come and go as they please and the talks would have scheduled times so people could show up when they want to see a certain talk. I think you would also get more people to drive the distances to the meeting/show if it was of greater size and was more than a few hours long. As far as locations maybe a hotel convention area. This type of meeting might pull in some "big" name speakers and also pull in some people from surrounding states. All you would have to do is post the meeting on the other club sites.

Anyone else have any ideas on this....

Gary

 

[herpchat]

We have played with the idea of some sort of fish fare thing but it never got off the ground. We have had joint meetings with the TCA (Texas Cichlid Association) and that went well. Basically it was just a major home meeting that started with a behind the scenes tour of the OKC Zoo's Aquaticus center. Now that the zoo has gone commericial and cares not for conservation we no longer do business with them but the Tulsa Zoo is totally open to anything we want to do and will give us tours of any exhibit we wish.

 

[MyMonkey]

I like the idea of joining forces.

 

[herpchat]

Now for another Gradios Idea, what if we could pull off a behind the scenes tour of the OK Aquarium in Jenks? Would that be worth a joint meeting?

We had a member that was working on the behind the scenes tour but have not heard from him in a while.

Gary what contacts do you have there?

If we got this pulled off maybe would could talk them into using one of their conference rooms for the formal part of the meeting.

Just a radical idea right now.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7759775#post7759775 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by herpchat
Now for another Gradios Idea, what if we could pull off a behind the scenes tour of the OK Aquarium in Jenks? Would that be worth a joint meeting?

We had a member that was working on the behind the scenes tour but have not heard from him in a while.

Gary what contacts do you have there?

If we got this pulled off maybe would could talk them into using one of their conference rooms for the formal part of the meeting.

Just a radical idea right now.

We already had one Though, I'ld be more than happy to go back to see how the seaturtles are doing.

Here are just a few that I have on my photobucket account. I have more burned on a CD at home. http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Personal/OK Aquarium/

 

[pwhitby]

Gerald, as a club we did that tour late last year. However there was a cost involved with that. I think we had a few dollars per ticket discounted.

As far as a joint meeting goes, as Travis has said, it has been discussed between the various club presidents of local clubs. It takes a great deal more input abd effort than you may imagine. For example, who is going to finance it? to bring speakers in costs money and they need to be paid irrespective of whether or not anyone shows up. Right now the available club funds are being directed into developing the club and providing value. I dont want to pour the club funds into something like a major meeting at this time.

I have also been mulling ideas regarding frag swaps and such.

 

[herpchat]

Well I missed a good one then.

So can the person that pulled this off give me the contact info so OKAA can do this?

However if you all game to do this again I am as well.

 

[herpchat]

Our Joint OKAA and TCA meetings involved no real cost.

I do understand about money, its tight for a lot of people right now and I would never commit your club to something that cost.

Just a few dollars off admission hardly seems worth it. Shame there was not more going on at the Tulsa Zoo as it is free to us. They do have the space to accomidate us however so that is a possibilty.

So of what interest for reefers would there be at the Tulsa Zoo? What speakers could we get, some sort of day workshop thing. My head is pondering possibilities.

 

[pwhitby]

im unsure why you would favour Tulsa, The zoo here in OKC has meeting rooms and the club itself has its own meeting room, which is quite large, at UCO.

 

[herpchat]

The OKC zoo has gone from conservation to profit. As such we are no longer allowed to use their facilities without paying for them. Tulsa Zoo is totally free, tis why I favor them.

Using the facilities at UCO is fine with me. Just thinking of what might be of interest to you all, as to OKAA everything is of interest.

 

[pwhitby]

im sure whatever the local zoo charges is still less than gas money from OKC to Tulsa.

Irrespective, if and when we decide to do a joint meeting, it will be set up to be the best for all parties involved.

 

[Gwalker]

Paul-

As far as financing, the vendors or LFS booths would have to pay a booth fee. This would be used to pay any "mucho importanto" speakers as well as the venue rental fee. You should be able to get many sponsers to give raffle items as furthur income for the show. If you get enough vendors and booth rentals signed up it you might even have enough money left over to add to the various club's revenues. Idealy you would want to make it an annual event. Each year the turnout on vendors and public would likely increase and make it easier to pull off in the future. The first year would be the hardest but it could start off in the smaller catagory and grow each year. You might not even want to do a $$ speaker in the first year.

First find out how much the rental fees for the venue are and what the cost of a speaker would be. Then you could gauge how many booths you would need and how much to charge each one. With around 10 stores in Tulsa and several here in OKC, I think you could get a good base started. It would be in all the stores' best interest to have such a targeted base to present themselves to and I'm sure most would join in. Also not a bad way to increase membership in the clubs through a larger public type show. The stores would benefit with increased exposure as well.

Gerald-

The first thing to do about a tour of the OKlahoma Aquarium is get a good estimate of how many people from OKAA would want to attend and then we could work a deal.

I helped get the last tour going and it wouldn't be a problem to set up another one.

Gary

 

[TimV]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7759918#post7759918 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by herpchat
The OKC zoo has gone from conservation to profit. As such we are no longer allowed to use their facilities without paying for them. Tulsa Zoo is totally free, tis why I favor them.

Using the facilities at UCO is fine with me. Just thinking of what might be of interest to you all, as to OKAA everything is of interest.

The Zoo is a governmental organization not a for-profit institution. Perhaps they simply felt that groups meeting there needed to at least cover the zoo's costs of hosting the meetings. Frankly, given all the good our zoo does, your sniping is quite unwarranted and is inappropriate in our forum. The OKC zoo gave our group a great behinds-the-scenes tour just last summer.

Since COMAS is the largest marine group in the state, and OKC is centrally located, it makes sense for any large meeting organized by COMAS to actually be located here. If another group wants to organize a major meeting, they are free to do it where ever they want. While a meeting at the Oklahoma Aquarium is nice, it is pretty expensive. Given the price of gas these days, driving to Tulsa for a meeting seems a little excessive simply to get a free meeting place and places quite a burden on our members from the southern portions of the state.

T

 

[herpchat]

Paul;

The last thing I would ever want to do is make you upset or uneasy; I think your a cool dude and you have a great club. I totally agree with your assessment of the situation. I was just tossing out an idea I had and wanted your groups take on it. I am now seeing what you would have in mind.

Some of our OKAA members say a joint meeting would never work because the clubs are too different.

In my opinion COMAS has great members and I know OKAA has great members. My thoughts were it would be nice if we could have a cross over event like once a year or once every other year. It may never come to be, but I do think about stuff like this.

I totally 100% believe in local clubs and know they should be supported because they benifit club members and local shops.

Paul I do apologize if I did upset you.