Regional Club Frag Swap: Planning

[Unarce]

Hello again everyone!

Well, as of last night, we had 75 total positive votes from all the polls. Seventy-five just happened to be that magic number, and we hit it. Now, the hard part begins.

How about having it on the first weekend of November? I’m open to either Saturday or Sunday, but I’ll wait to hear what you all think.

I do have a venue in mind. What I witnessed at the last BAR and MARS Frag Swap, is that nearly everyone ate. I thought perhaps we might be able to enjoy a nice meal together during the swap. The venue has a large enough banquet hall to seat (no more standing around) at least 100 people, and doesn’t mind us having the 100’s of coral frags lying around everywhere.

I have no problem covering the deposit for the banquet hall. The only thing I’m really worried about is if everyone will want to have lunch at the swap. In order to attend, you have to have purchased a meal. We’ll need a minimum of 50 attendees (confirmed by advanced payment of your meal). I was quoted $13.25 per person. If the majority of you like the idea of having the event this way, than I can look into the 3 menu options that will be available to everyone.

This event will not be sanctioned by any of the surrounding clubs. So, I will be making it open to non-club members, too. If club officials do plan on attending, it could also be an opportunity for you to official join your local club.

This post will also be mirrored to the surrounding club RC Forums (RARE, BAR, NVR, CVR, SEABay, and MARS). I will check each one for comments, ideas, and concerns throughout the week.

Until then, HAPPY REEFING!

Best regards,

Karl

 

[Unarce]

UPDATE:

This is what I have set so far.

The Regional Club Frag Swap will be on Saturday, November 4th, 2006. This will be a lunchtime event, and the banquet hall will be available to us from 11am to 4 pm.

The event will be held at:

Vince’s Ristorante
8901 Elk Grove Florin Rd.
Elk Grove, CA 95624

The meal cost per attendee is $13.25 (tax + gratuity included). The 3 chosen menu options are:

Steak Sandwich with Fries
Chicken Marsala with Rice
Lasagna

To be honest, I've never eaten there myself, but I've heard nothing but good things about the food there. I'm told everything will be cooked on the spot. Not ahead of time.

Each entrée includes salad, bread, and either coffee or iced tea. Soda or alcoholic beverages will have to be purchased by you separately.

I’ve been given until the 28th to submit the deposit to reserve the banquet hall. We will need at least 50 attendees to qualify for use of the banquet hall. With the 75 positive poll votes we received, hopefully that won’t be a problem.

I would like to receive payment for the meal cost in advance. I just set up a Personal PayPal account just for this purpose. The PayPal address is: karlitosway@gmail.com Please include your menu choice with your payment.

I will wait until the 28th, to see how many paid lunches we receive. If for some reason, we aren’t close to the 50 attendees required, I will then cancel the frag swap and refund everyone’s money in full. I apologize if paying in advance is an inconvenience. I just don’t want to risk losing the $200 deposit.

Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions. If you wish to make your payment by some other means, please PM me.

Soon as we get past this hurdle on the 28th, we can begin to hammer out details pertaining to the actual swap.

Kindest regards,

Karl

 

[Unarce]

UPDATE:

This is just to answer some of the questions from either PMs or in the club forums.

In cases where members wished to participate but did not have frags to include in the swap, the sponsoring club would then charge a fee. This being a non-sponsored event, the ‘buy in’ would be inappropriate.

From past experience, I know most prefer that participants should contribute frags, but I realize there instances where you’re not able to, because of a tank crash, for example. Perhaps, if we could get more opinions on this, it would help me decide. We could either require the contribution of frags, or maybe have a ‘prepaid buy in’ that would allow me to put together some raffle prizes.

There were some inquiries about swap rules or outline. I don’t really want to delve too much into that yet until we determine whether or not this swap will take place. As of this evening, I’ve only received 4 paid lunches, which is far short of the 50 minimum we need. Again, the restaurant has given me until this Thursday (Sept. 28th) to submit the deposit for the banquet hall. If we’re not close to the minimum by Thursday, I’ll need to cancel or postpone the swap and send refunds to everyone that did pay.

The planning committee has been me, myself, and I (fortunately, I get along great with myself). If we do get to the point where we know this is going to happen, I’ll reach out to those that have expressed interest in helping me out (which I greatly appreciate).

This is ‘our’ swap. I want this to be a wonderful experience for the grizzled, battle-scared swapper and the new, never knew what hit ‘em newbie. Keep the ideas and suggestions coming.

Regards,

Karl

 

[Unarce]

I apologize for the cross post. It just makes it easier for everyone to follow one thread. If you have any questions or comments, please post it here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=937838

Thank you so much for your consideration!

Karl

 

[Unarce]

PayPal Payments

PayPal Payments

Hi everyone,

I'm happy to announce that we are now at 50% of our attendance goal.

I'd also like to note in advance to those that haven't already sent in their payment for lunch and 'Buy In Fee' (if you're not putting in frags). The account that I had set-up for this is a Personal Account, which doesn't incur any PayPal fees for accepting payments.

Unfortunately, it doesn't allow payments from debit or credit cards, and must come from PayPal funds. I'd like to keep this account as a Personal Account, so more proceeds will go to charity.

Please let me know through PM that if for some reason, you are not able to process your payment with PayPal funds, I can provide you with a Premier PayPal account that can accept debit and credit payments.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your consideration.

Regards,

Karl

 

[Unarce]

Just wanted to let you all know that I've posted a thread for Guidelines: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=944446

...and another for Side Trades:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=945548

 

[Unarce]

We are now at 80% of our minimum goal of 50!

I'd also like to announce another supporter that will be joining Gresham and Reef-Nutrition www.reefnutrition.com in sponsoring the event. John Dakan of Your Reef www.yourreef.com , will be contributing some live coral to the Charity Raffle!

John and Your Reef have been an integral part of our local and online reef community for the past 2 years, providing the healthiest livestock at incredible prices. Not to mention, the great service.

Thank you, John

 

[Unarce]

More Raffle Prizes

More Raffle Prizes

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to give another update on a couple more prizes for the Charity Raffle. Two things from my own, personal collection, that I'm sure some of you will be able to use in your system.

The first is an AquaC Urchin. This is an in-sump skimmer that is rated for up to 75 gallons. It has a very small footprint, making integration rather easy. There's a slight crack at the top of the collection cup, which won't have any affect on performance. Plug in a powerhead of your choice and you're ready to skim.

The second will be my Euro-Reef RS5-3. Another in-sump skimmer, this is in great condition and performed admirably on my 110g in its early months. It's rated for 90 gallons, and comes with a Sedra 3500.

We've got a few more spots for the $10 lunch, so sign up as soon as possible. The deadline for your RSVP and prepayment for lunch, will be October 21st.

Regards,

Karl

 

[Unarce]

UPDATE

UPDATE

Well, it just keeps getting better and better!

We are now at 94% of our attendance minimum. There was also a couple of lucky hobbyists at the BAR meeting that won guest passes that were donated to the raffle by Gresham.

I’m proud to announce that a third sponsor, Matt Juner of Reef Ready www.reefready.net , has joined Gresham ( www.reef-nutrition.com ) and John ( www.yourreef.com ) as advocates of the Regional Club Frag Swap! He will be donating some prized pieces to our Charity Raffle.

Matt is the proprietor of Reef Ready, which is dedicated to providing healthy and highly collectible coral, as well as drygoods, online and to the Bay Area community.

Those of you that are familiar with rare and collectible corals have probably heard of certain farmers having ‘a good eye’ for stuff. Matt is definitely one of them, having introduced the Rainbow Monti, The War Coral, and The Peace Coral.

It’s great to have you aboard