Joint OKAA and COMAS Meeting

I am not a beer drinker but I keep seeing those Samual Adams commercials and wonder if there is anything to them.

Sounds like everyone needs to just relax and have a beer.
 
The following post, by necessity of size restrictions will span several posts, my apo

The following post, by necessity of size restrictions will span several posts, my apo

April.

I have waited all day to respond to your posts from earlier since I felt that it would be expedient to calm down before I respond. Unlike you I don’t have the luxury of expressing how I feel. I can only work on what I feel is best for the club. Not my club, but our club. I feel that I can now accurately respond in a civil manner.

I will hopefully try and respond to all your points, but if I miss something, please feel free to prompt me.

As you did, I will copy remarks and give reasons/rationales and thoughts.

"I wanted to interject to let folks know that something is in the works. I don't want to toss out too many details before we have things really planned out."

If something is really in the works, why not just come out and say it, for pete's sake


I think that PaulT did come out and say that. We have been working on a joint meeting of the clubs, as requested by the club members. You know that, its been discussed. This will be a joint meeting of the Marine societies. As such PaulT myself and George Davenport in Tulsa have been in touch with each other and have discussed options and ideas. In truth, I hadn’t thought of OKAA till Gerald joined us, however OKAA members would be more than welcome to come to any meeting we finally decide on.. Around a month ago, I mentioned in a thread that I had been discussing plans, so its not new news.

You said:
It was not directed at Paul as a person in any way
but did you not start a whole section with this comment?
Now PaulW, I'm going to pick on you.
I think that stands for itself.

Lets move on
Paul, there are 90+ members in COMAS alone. Most are active to a degree in the club. I've had numerous people approach me, wondering what they could do to better the club.
That’s great, im glad people approach you. Not many do approach me, but sometimes it is easier to approach general members than one of the officers, though I do my best to be approachable. However, since no one came to me, im assuming you didn’t tell them to come talk to me. If that’s so, what did you tell them? Im sure no one would mind if you said who approached you as they clearly want to help and there are several projects that I have asked for help on that still require hands and minds to complete. Either way, I think needs clarification.

"Speakers need to be decided upon. These need to be more than club members..if not..why would anyone come. I ask all the time for people to do presentations inside our meetings....who so far has done one? If anyone would like to, please let me know."

I, personally, do take offense at that remark. I, personally, have given a guest presentation at an OKAA meeting. I, personally, completed a questionnaire about seahorses to help complete a college thesis and I, personally have spoken, about seahorses, to our club - twice. I have also just offered in the above thread to do it again, if asked. To say why would anyone come if local yokels are the only ones speaking is ridiculous. No one from OMAS or SOMAS has heard me speak, just as I have never heard anyone from their clubs speak


And, I take offense at your coimment that I am insinuating local members are local yokels. My point then and now is this. If people in our club have the desire to give a talk it should be done in one of our meetings. That’s why we have meetings. You have talked, I grant you that, at your home. Please, give a presentation at the UCO venue on evening. Irrespective, you twisted my point. The point here is this. To encourage people to attend from ALL the clubs it would be great to have a guest speaker. I can give a talk on many subjects, but who would pay $10 or more to come to a meeting to hear me talk when they can hear that any second Saturday of the month. I categorically do not consider my fellow aquarists in this club as Local Yokels. That’s is a phrase you have used and unfortunately shows a disrespect for our members. To make this clear: I feel, as do other club presidents, that a guest speaker is required. Several club members have also started this is true and that speakers from inside the club alone are not sufficient to draw people to this meeting.
 
April, in a later post you say that..

I think this year may be best with only one or no extremely well known speakers simply as a monetary consideration. which is exactly what is being planned. So your comments regarding local yokels and Yahoos (more on that later) are kind of mute. In the same sentence you state that “As Travis stated, I also keep FW tanks and would love to hear how some local breeders raise angelfish, per say” My response is that as a marine aquarium society we should focus on marine aquaria. A one day meeting is insufficient to diversify between fresh and salt. A single talk on FW will not encourage FW enthusiasts to attend and may discourage SW enthusiasts to not attend. The meeting will be SW. If you feel that a mixed FW/SW should be held, I think that would be more the province of OKAA which does both. I would not like to step on their turf, so to speak. They are an active club and I would not presume to choose a topic that they know more about. Maybe Gerald could encourage OKAA to do a joint meeting of both FW and SW and COMAS could attend? Since I have been in this club only this club has made any effort to get a group meeting going between any of the local clubs.

Now, referring to the acknowledged experts in the field as yahoos, or specifically some yahoo getting big bucks preach at me. It is difficult getting people to come to a meeting and give a talk. One of the first things they do is look at club activity. I wanted to thank you for your inciteful comment above. Clearly that statement was written to insult, and it does. I think Paul T eloquently dealt with that and I have no desire to revisit that topic. You have stated in the past to me that you felt there was no education in the club. The absolute best way to get that is to go to the source. Get an expert. It seems you disagree….but then, as you stated, in one of the paragraphs above a single outside speaker would be good.

If you wanna hear the yahoo's go to MACNA . April, the costs of a trip to MACNA are a great deal. I don’t think you have the authority or the right to tell people what they should do. Again you recanted that statement with your later one of a single speaker, which is what we had planned on all along.

we are a club with 90+ members, each of whom has paid 25.00 to be a member. We are not the only club. We are talking about 3 other clubs, and altho they may not be as big, I'm sure they have some cash flow
Im sure the other clubs would be pleased to know you are willing to spend their money for them. Whether they do or do not have cash is not the point. If this is to be done the funds need to be secured upfront to be able to do that. Im assuming your statement of how much we each pay is meant to indicate that cash is available? For the most part it is. It’s the same cash that buys door prizes, equipment, books, gift certificates for POTM, pays for the website. Which of these do you think we should drop to finance a meeting that may or may not succeed. Gary said the LFS will help. That’s not a certainty. Maybe Gary should say how much he is willing to put in to this? On the basis that most people that attend know all the local stores….whats the financial advantage to them. I only bring this up so you can begin to understand the complexity of what we are dealing with here. If the meeting is in a church hall, there may be a total sales restriction. Im not sure if stores would want to come if they couldn’t sell anything. Do not forget, a low turn out has the potential to deplete the clubs funds to nothing. This is why im working hard to get a program together that may work.
 
Now we get to the parts where I really become your target.
This is the first I've heard of over 500 e-mails being sent by a single person for a single meeting. Why didn't you ask for help? Obviously, we ALL have computers, and access. We all also have things we are good at and enjoy doing. We also all have different ideas.. The reason you haven’t heard anything about 500 emails is because I don’t discuss what I do for this club. I was incredibly angry at your assertation that I whined about what I do. The whining about how this was such a burden on the back of a few also was annoying. It is a role that we as presidents do freely. I wrote that to give you an idea of what we do. A request for sponsorship/help should come from a club president. If, as you say you have different ideas, then share them. As you stated you were club secretary, did you share ideas then. What do you have to share now? Apart from criticism of what a group are trying to do I don’t hear ideas. What ideas did you share with the people who came to you for help ? I know that may sound harsh but you have no idea of whats being done. The reasons why we haven’t made statements is simple….we are still figuring things out. I will post a thread soon and fill everyone in on what we propose. You can criticize peoples efforts then.

"As for people coming? who from here went to the Dallas meeting? or the One in Arkansas."

Maybe we all have a little different idea of what we want to get out of this meeting. It sounds like the powers that be want this little Oklahoma thing to rival MACNA, where people come from all over the world to hear the same people talk about the same things. Me, I'd be happy just to get to meet some fellow, local club members with a like interest as I, and promote our hobby among newbies who would like to get started, but don't know how.


Let me explain my point a little clearer. In simple terms, people don’t travel. The only people who may come will be local. So its our group, one or two from SOMAS and maybe 10-15 from OMAS. If OKAA want to come, great…more the merrier, but for the most part it will be local. That creates issues, such as sponsorship by LFS as discussed above. Now…….Im confused why you think we want to put on a MACNA. I assume you have no idea what MACNA is. If you do know, then I have no idea why you think we would attempt that. Im still confused on that one.
 
but does anyone else feel the same way I do?
Judging from the resounding support you received, im thinking not. I maybe wrong. Hopefully people trust us to make a set of decisions that will allow us to have a meeting. Not a set that decide the meeting and its format in its entirety. I hope people do trust me to do that. If not I assure you I will happily step down.

As for Granted, I'm not an officer (this year) but as a club member, maybe we should talk about things relative to the club at meetings, rather than just saying there is no new business, oh, and the beer is over there - help yourself I don’t think you have the right to criticize people that open their homes to us and what they offer to supply be it soda or beer. As for no topic, try talking every month and keeping interest of the members. To my knowledge the club has always been, when we make a home visit then the topic is that persons tank. At UCO we need to find a topic and someone willing to deliver it. I gave a talk on reef pesties etc. Im not sure if you came to that one since you had decided to not be a meber of COMAS at that time….I think it was informative. I was thinking of revamping it and adding more. Anyway. My challenge to you is give the next presentation at UCO. Forget complaining that we didn’t have a topic this month. Next month is all yours, afterall, you say that you are more than willing to help and have given talks. I know many in the club both like and have seahorses. I think they are neat. That’s not a lie, I do. I acknowledge that you are a well versed on them. So….the balls in your court.

Now as for the whining. I don’t think asking people to let us get on with what we are doing, or trying to convey the time consuming nature of what we are doing is whining. Nope, this is whining. I and others put an enormous amount of time into this club. PaulT has spent hour upon hour to get a webpage developed and still is working on it. Who has thanked him for that? I spend approx 10-15hrs a week answering emails/pms/general questions. I travel local stores just to say Hi. I organize the meetings. I try and organize a clean up crew for the UCO tank, I find venues months in advance, I get sponsorships we never had, I coordinate things with other clubs out of state, but what I really dislike is writing long responses like this when I could be doing something useful. I do all that because I believe we have a great club and I really like the people in the club. I do this because I have learned a great deal and love to share. I do this because it’s the job of president. A position I asked for years ago and one I happily do since no one else would volunteer. I do not get anything out of this at all but along the way have been accused of many things. In the time I have been President the club has grown through the implementation of the various programs we have going. None of that was in place before. Was it all me, no way. Many people have been involved all doing so privately and quietly without concern for praise. These are the people I feel sorry for after reading your post. Travis spends lots of time working the frag program. I just couldn’t keep it going and he has done a great job. Stephanie has done a wonderful job of getting bank accounts and dealing with memberships. She responds to new members and gets the ball rolling. Sarah (the VP) has worked with the stores in Norman to keep close relations down there. Ray has done a great job getting minutes written and takes very good notes on club activities.….I thank you all.
 
Finally, I apologize to all the new members that have come to us. I hate to have written the above but I will not allow people to be bad mouthed inside our forums without some sort of a defense. I sincerely hope this does not color your view of COMAS and what we stand for. Education, survival of our systems and marine life in general. Unfortunately I felt that, this time, I am compelled to respond to defend myself and the people working hard, behind the scenes to promote the club.


Finally, having said all that, I wanted to thankyou April,and others who have offered help and who have done so in the past. For example, I asked people a while back for Tank write ups, only April responded.
Again, I offer myself in whatever capacity would be most helpful. Right now help is needed on the UCO tank so that we may have a venue. Help is needed giving talks.

Ooops, (almost forgot to mention) Since its clear people want to know what we are potentially organizing, I will post something soon on the ideas the club Presidents have been mulling over.
 
:eek:

I feel like a prairie dog who just stuck his head out of the hole right in the middle of a stampede.
I can’t figure why this started, but I understand clearly the clubs position & direction, at the end of this thread. I do believe that Paul Whitby is the driving engine for this club. I have been an officer of another club with 80+ people in it, many years ago. It’s a hell of a task to get people motivated to do anything, in any club. People need to realize that these positions are voluntary & they are not getting paid to put up with personal criticisms. We have many good people who do more than their fair share for the club (Paul W., Paul T. Travis S., Tim V., etc). I am eternally grateful for the help I had in starting my SW tank.

By the way Paul, My in depth tank write up was in the April Minutes (I know that’s cheating, but it is a write up).

I’m ducking back in my hole now; please keep the dust down…

Ray
 
Ray..thanks, could you post pics of your tank in the thread discussing T5s (think its the mushroom for sale thread) to show the color and brightness.

Thanks P.
 
Paul I just wanted to say thanks to you and the other club officers for doing an outstanding job keeping this club afloat. You guys are the ones that motivate and keep everything smoothly...just wanted to say thanks because I feel it's not said enough obviously.
 
I am sure Gerald will be along shortly. :) I have just joined both clubs, so I honestly couldn't tell you yet... but since there is a meeting for OKAA this weekend, I guess I will see then.
 
Yes I was offline for a bit;

Paul you have nothing to apoligize for, you have done an outstanding job and your club shows that. I am very happy I joined and even though it was suggested we did not have an organized program last time I learned a lot and it was quite informative to me and I was glad to make it to Gary's.

As to the OKAA meetings it so varies, nothing is consistant. Typically we have as few as 2 dozen to 60 show up at a general meeting. I think a lot has to do with the timing. Now let me contrast, the club in KC HAAS is way financially sucessful yet at their general meetings has around a dozen show up on a good turnout day. This is typical for a number of general aquarium societies. So as a general society the OKAA is doing quite well. I spent some time at HAAS going over why I think the OKAA is much more sucessful then them as far as membership goes.

It finally came down to the competition in the BAP which generates fish for auction and everyone loves being able to show up and get really expensive fish cheap. Our club auction is our biggest draw. Recently HAAS had one of their auctions as a symposium where they had speakers then their auction. If you have not seen one of these auctions they are huge, the one I went to had around 200 bidders and several thousand bags of fish and some of them were marine. The event lasted more then 12 hours and drew in people from if I remember right 15 states. This is where the club (HAAS) makes its money, from its biannual fish auction. They have absulutely no problem flying out a speaker to talk infront of dozen people (to me that is a waste).
 
Wow This got political in a hurry! I suport Paul W and have even more respect for him now, if thats possiable. And Love Comas and feel honored to be a part of it . I can also speak for my wife on this. I have learned so much from everyone here. I have learned it only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch. This should not be taken as a jab at anyone. Just a observation!

These people :President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Website Developer
and anyone else I forgot ...they do all the work and get no praise for it !
while everyone is busy having a life and casually stopping by for a meeting they are working their butts off and I would like to say thank you
 
herpchat: I have heard a bit about the BAP program that OKAA has, but don't know much about it. Can you do me a favor and start a thread about it here? I think it would be interesting to discuss.

Thanks!
 
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