Free power heads? Where/who was that?
MACNA 2013 too expensive
- Thread starter Airtex
- Start date
keysfishfinder
New member
Instant ocean booth
AquamanE
Active member
Im tired so cant respond to all but just a few tidbits about this event.
Very significant financial commitments had to be made for this to happen. Just a few of a few dozen: 220k in food alone, 10 k for security, 30k for audio/visual, 30 k for speakers, and again just a few of dozens such expenses.
In the winter FULL confernce passes where available for the three days including the evening events at $89.
Volunteering got you in free.
IF and thats an IF, FMAS ends up making money, it goes right back to the community via FMAS a non for profit organization run by volunteers, for its members.
Very significant financial commitments had to be made for this to happen. Just a few of a few dozen: 220k in food alone, 10 k for security, 30k for audio/visual, 30 k for speakers, and again just a few of dozens such expenses.
In the winter FULL confernce passes where available for the three days including the evening events at $89.
Volunteering got you in free.
IF and thats an IF, FMAS ends up making money, it goes right back to the community via FMAS a non for profit organization run by volunteers, for its members.
marke
New member
Thank you Aquaman! Great job even if you acquired a few new grey hairs. Wondering if we can get discounts for macna 2014 on both entry and hotel. Where can we sign up! $89 full entry including 2 meals.....not bad? Maybe hotel rooms for under $150 a night. I think we had that if early. Free air with mileage. Can be a great weekend for 2 for under $1000. How do we sign up!!
Treeman
New member
I'm sorry that people made you feel that it was necessary to share all that.
Talk to any club that hosted a MACNA, I bet they all say that going in, they expected the club to make a lot of money. Come the end, I'd bet that most just about broke even, or were actually in the red.
Ask yourself why you don't see clubs that host MACNA more than once.
Are the prices listed this high because of venue? Would it have been cheaper at a convention center or another hotel? I know ORCA made out pretty well but then again they did not hold MACNA at the Westin Diplomat (a gorgeous hotel).
I personally thought it was expensive to get in but that is not based on value, rather it is based on what I prefer to spend to be able to shop for corals. I didn't care about the speakers, the parties, or anything else so for me it was literally $40 to be able to shop. I do recommend it is a better value for those people who plan to take advantage of everything the conference had to offer. With what I was able to pick up I am happy I spent the $40.
I am also kicking myself for forgetting to look around for a good saw. I didn't see the inland and gryphon saws until they were packing up and leaving. I am still stuck without a saw.
Airtex
New member
Wow Biggar you really scored !...
I am not sure why we didn't get anything for free. We stopped by a lot of the booths. My wife really wanted a MACNA 2013 shirt and we didn't even walk away with one of those....Still don't know where everybody got the yellow bags! I thought we would receive a goodie bag with some stuff but maybe they were all gone by Sunday....we really went to try to introduce my wife to the hobby and maybe join a local club or something so she would maybe get interested via other women.. wanted her to see that it's not just a man thing...so yes we spent a lot of money and walked away without anything so it wasn't the best introduction...my bad.
So I guess I'll deserve it when she says " You aren't' going to spend the whole weekend under the tank again are you" ?
I am not sure why we didn't get anything for free. We stopped by a lot of the booths. My wife really wanted a MACNA 2013 shirt and we didn't even walk away with one of those....Still don't know where everybody got the yellow bags! I thought we would receive a goodie bag with some stuff but maybe they were all gone by Sunday....we really went to try to introduce my wife to the hobby and maybe join a local club or something so she would maybe get interested via other women.. wanted her to see that it's not just a man thing...so yes we spent a lot of money and walked away without anything so it wasn't the best introduction...my bad.
So I guess I'll deserve it when she says " You aren't' going to spend the whole weekend under the tank again are you" ?
We started out with 2500 yellow bags, ran out sometime on Saturday from what I heard. That means attendance from walk ins was through roof, well above any expectations. Quite success. As for freebies, we might have to teach you how talk vendors out of stuff, or maybe you should have had your wife to the talking
My daughter got a few freebies on Sunday without even trying...basically just being the cute blonde showing an interest in stuff :lol:
Biggar
New member
Airtex, we did have to ask for most of the shirts. Julian Sprung gave me the acro-power after speaking with him towards end of show, since it was a floor model. I forgot to mention, that was only the dry goods that were given away:
Got some Rods frozen food
And Marke gave wife and I crabs! lol
Got some Rods frozen food
And Marke gave wife and I crabs! lol
Anim8me2
Member
It was a great conference. The speakers were really good and the amount of free stuff available was crazy. Between myself and my wife and kids we don't need t-shirts for two years and I have salt for the next year.
The cost issue makes me chuckle. I used to attend Comdex when it was still being held and a single day would run you into the hundreds of dollars just for entry and hotel. We would attend for the full four days and it cost the company thousands for 2 of us. Not to mention food and transportation.
I bought three Mitras units for my system. I got the show special (999), so I saved $600. GHL NEVER gives deals so even at full price for tickets I saved money.
The cost issue makes me chuckle. I used to attend Comdex when it was still being held and a single day would run you into the hundreds of dollars just for entry and hotel. We would attend for the full four days and it cost the company thousands for 2 of us. Not to mention food and transportation.
I bought three Mitras units for my system. I got the show special (999), so I saved $600. GHL NEVER gives deals so even at full price for tickets I saved money.
Airtex
New member
Bill,
I thought that we were doing the right thing with talking the vendors...no we didn't stand there and beg for free stuff.. not our style...normally free shirts and stuff is something that is given as an advertisement for their products. I obliviously pumped up my wife's enthusiasm talking about all the "free shirts and stuff" we would receive trying justify the hefty price just to walk the booths. When we didn't get anything...you know I took some heat. I then asked her to have what I thought was complimentary breakfast...WOW I was really wrong about that !
I am sure that many people had a great time for their money and I have taken some heat because I said it was too expensive...however our experience Sunday was expensive, unfruitful regarding free give-aways and did nothing to impress my wife that this hobby is for her.
The other issue I had was that I thought the " big Raffle" Sunday originally was advertised as been drawn at noon...however we found out when we got there that the time had been changed to 3 pm ( or maybe I misremembered ) so we could not even enter the raffle because we would not be there for the drawing.
I thought that we were doing the right thing with talking the vendors...no we didn't stand there and beg for free stuff.. not our style...normally free shirts and stuff is something that is given as an advertisement for their products. I obliviously pumped up my wife's enthusiasm talking about all the "free shirts and stuff" we would receive trying justify the hefty price just to walk the booths. When we didn't get anything...you know I took some heat. I then asked her to have what I thought was complimentary breakfast...WOW I was really wrong about that !
I am sure that many people had a great time for their money and I have taken some heat because I said it was too expensive...however our experience Sunday was expensive, unfruitful regarding free give-aways and did nothing to impress my wife that this hobby is for her.
The other issue I had was that I thought the " big Raffle" Sunday originally was advertised as been drawn at noon...however we found out when we got there that the time had been changed to 3 pm ( or maybe I misremembered ) so we could not even enter the raffle because we would not be there for the drawing.
wmo168
New member
It was a great show, but it would be nice to have cheaper ticket price point just to go and browse the booth ($20ish), I end up have to go alone by myself because my wife is not into this hobby and don't justify spending $40 - $60 to get in... It was nice to be able to see new products and talk to the vendor for a lower price point. I know speaker cost money and it would be additional $ if you need to go conference.
Again, it is nice some people get free stuff to justify cost of $60+, but there is no guarantee that everyone will get free stuff and you don't go these show to get free stuff...
Again, it is nice some people get free stuff to justify cost of $60+, but there is no guarantee that everyone will get free stuff and you don't go these show to get free stuff...
mrx66699
New member
How can you get cheaper than FREE ............All you had to do was speak to me and I could have made it FREE FREE FREE FREE for you all day all you had to do was give 4 hours of your time helping with an area and the day would have been FREE.......come on people, volunteers by the way you were WONDERFUL ......Thank you to everyone that helped out, this couldn't have happened without your assistance.
We had people from out of town even get out of line for tickets and ask me "hey if we help out and volunteer could you use our help and help us out on the tickets" and I said step right up we need everyone we can get, how about FREE and they signed right up and ended up helping out the whole weekend........
blackthunda77
New member
mrx66699
New member
Thank you lol......I can't say enough about the event ...It was off the hook fun with all the people that came out, the speakers, the vendors, the celebrities, the media, and of course everyone that helped out....we couldn't have asked for a better turnout. Everyone was awesome.
