Reports from the Frag Swap?

[crpeck]

Okay lucky people who got to go.....

How was the frag swap?

I sitting up here in Milwaukee where it is like zero degrees after a looooooooong day. Just wondering how the day went there?

Hope you all had fun. Hopefully I can make it next year.

Nick and Vicki ....were you able to find homes for the sarco babies? Thanks SO much for helping me out with that!

 

[sperry]

I had a good time, spent too much money but got some nice zoa, rics, LPS and SPS. Didnt win anything in the drawings though. Well worth the drive.

 

[Del123]

Great, had a good time, just got home at 10:30 ran into a wreck and I was setting on I 40 for almost 2 hrs. (or moving at 2 to 6 mph. ) However what a great time. I even won a nano cube ( sorry Scott) Sold it as fast as I got it. Lots of great frags, even stopped in Jackson and went to Lowes... But I am tired and it is time to sleep..

 

[crpeck]

Did we get any ideas of things we can do in order to start building our frag swap up?

I wonder how much they pay to bring speakers like Ron Shimek in? You'd have to sell a lot of tickets and tables I'll bet.

 

[crpeck]

Wow .. Del .... Sorry about the traffic.

Congrats on winning a great prize.

Glad you made it home okay.

 

[Del123]

I had a change to talk to some of the ventors, Glass cages said they don't do many anymore but would be will to come to ours, we are close enought so it will not be a problem. We really need to get to the ventors as soon as we have a date so they can plan.. Scott talked to others that said they will come also. I think if we can get the same building this year it would be great, they had so many problems with power keeping kicking off. We really have a better place if we can still get it. We also need to get with the people for that as soon as we get a date. Can't wait.

 

[sperry]

Yeah we got stuck in the wreck also. Added about an hour to the drive. I think it had been there all day.

I was going to bring up our next swap at the Feb meeting and get a committee started on it. While I think our swap was a success I would like the next one to have more planning time and member participation in setting it up.

 

[Del123]

I play book when I travel, and I went through 2 cd's sitting there. Thats a long time.. They were flipping the truck over when I get there, and after that it was back to 75. I just about had a wreck when I came up on it, all the sudden the there was car stopped in front of me, I hit the breaks and had to change lanes fast thank God I had room, but I heard tries all over behind me, I was just hoping no one hit me in the back..

 

[Reefdiver77]

Cathy, I think you had a couple of sarco babies left. The BSP and zoas sold too. It was a great swap and I had a wonderful time. I had several corals given to me and the hobbyist set up around me came over at 4 to see what I had left and we swapped several things. I do hope that our swap will be in June. I have the weekends of July 12,19,26 and Aug 2 filled next year. I sure want to be able to be there. I too hit the wreck. It took me an hour to go 8.2 miles. Nick had called and warned me. He was stuck. I stopped in Kingston Springs got gas and ate Mexican food, but still got stuck in it. I did win a door prize of a $10 gift certificate to Emerald Bay. I know it has been a physically and emotionally tiring weekend for you.

 

[joeycadre]

i hate having to work weekends.

 

[crpeck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11641910#post11641910 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefdiver77
I know it has been a physically and emotionally tiring weekend for you.

Thanks Vicki. It did seem crazy to be worrying about the frag swap but last night I needed to get away from all of it and think of something else. The service was beautiful and it's been great to see family that hasn't gotten together for a long time. People are here all the way between the CA coast and Boston.

Thanks for dealing with the sarco babies.

OH! I just now remembered that I forgot to give Nick club cards to take Sorry.

Glad you had fun and did well with your trades and sales.

 

[Rendos]

There is a list of available speakers on the MASNA website for clubs to view, and what they charge to come to a meeting and speak. I mentioned this before, but no one seemed interested. I will print the list out for you all if you want.

 

[Doris M]

I still think our frag swap looked alot better and we had so much more room. There was no where for people to sit and eat unlike ours and malisa and her husband had ours looking so professional. Me and Whit had a good time. Whit won a 6 pack of the dt magnesium, calcium and alkality supplements. The long wait due to the wreck made me and Whit crazy. We dont do traffic jams well. I actually found a large purple clam for 35.00.

 

[glitzyone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11642769#post11642769 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Doris M
malisa and her husband had ours looking so professional.

Thanks Doris!

Wish I could have gone yesterday. Sounds like all ahd fun.

 

[dzones]

I was told the accident actually happen 9:15pm the PREVIOUS night and was JUST being fininshed when we went through there. Something about the softness of the side shoulder and the equipment used to clean it up had sunk down or something. Not sure but we also had an extra 2 hours tacked on to our drive.

My thoughts on having a speaker are this. The swap was a great success from what I could see, lots of happy folks all around and when the lecture was announced even though the place was very crowded only a handful of people actually came down to listen to it. I bet there was no more than 20-25 people total who attended it despite it being an excellent lecture and very informative. Considering the cost of such a speaker and the price to fly him/her in it seems like a lot only to have a few people in attendance.

I really think almost everyone that attends these things are there strictly for the frags, equipment, raffles etc and forking out all that extra $$ seems a bit of a waste. The raffles are a HUGE draw and focusing on getting a lot of awesome prizes like they had yesterday is a great draw, almost zero cost and lots of return on it. It seems more fitting to have a speaker for a MASNA type convention as opposed to a few hour long frag swap.

Just my thoughts on it after seeing how few people actually attended the lecture as opposed to how big a deal the raffle was for everyone.

 

[luckyarbuc]

Great Swap but ours could be better!

Great Swap but ours could be better!

I think we have a much better venue for our swap, and our timing being 6 months away from the MTRC swap should provide us a great opportunity for success. If we start planning early and have alot of participation we can't miss.

By the way, we did have club cards at our table; I had some cards that were handed out at the christmas party.

Robert

 

[Reefdiver77]

I forgot to think Dave, David and Del (the 3 D's) for all their help. In retrospect, I did not show good judgement, in leaving my salt water in the trunk of my care overnight. It is no fun trying to heat water from 35 degrees to 78 degrees, even in a 3 hour period and 2 heaters going full blast. I ended up putting 10 gallons in buckets and putting in the industrial sink in the kitchen in hot water. I was only able to get my frags in at the last minute. It also did not help that the power kept going out and it takes the MH several minutes to power back up. It was very anxiety provoking for me!! Thanks goodness once the swap got up and going the power stayed on. I also got the club banner and will have Nick bring back with club tank. David, I also have your green cord.

 

[stangreef]

sorry new here, but im guessing you guys on this forum dont have to pay an annual membership fee? at my current club we do, and not only does it let us have a 10- 20 % discount at all the local lfs stores, but the money collected goes towards bringing in speakers every month and for paying for reef equipment that members can borrow,,,ie a par meter,,

 

[stangreef]

we're having our annual frag swap next month,, and its the highlight of our club, bringing in over 300 members at last years,, i'll be moving to jackson soon, and wouldnt mind helping putting one together..

 

[glitzyone]

date for swap

date for swap

It is good to try and do the swap the same month every year
( many shows will even go as far as the same weekend every year). This way vendors and guest become used to the date and it builds the show better. this is just what I've seen from my business.
Also for a one day show I have seen a smaller turn out for people going to listen to guest speakers/ seminars rather than when they go to a weekend event like the Conference.