crumbletop
New member
Okay all you out there in MTRC Land. I thought it would be a good idea to update everyone on the state of the club.
2007 was a good year for us. Some key folks in the club had to move away, but we had a successful election back in March of 07 and moved on from there.
Meetings:
We had 10 Meetings in 2007, and instituted a fairly regular schedule (2nd Weekend of the month) and regular reef-related topics. We had topics such as salinity in reef aquaria, management of calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity in reef aquaria, how to make 2-part calcium and alkalinity solutions, and others. We had several meetings where corals were fragged for all the members who were there, and also had a couple of guest speakers. Our first guest speaker was Chris Ray (fishdoc11) who gave a presentation about the care of SPS corals at the Aquatic Critter meeting. The second was Dr. Robert Tanner from Vanderbilt who spoke on Protein Skimming (foam fractionation) at the meeting at Fins of Franklin. Speaking of Fins, we added them to the lineup of LFS meetings in 2007 (their first year participating)! The LFS meetings have been our biggest and best, and 2007 was no exception. All in all, a very good year for meetings.
LFS Inovolvement:
All I can say is we had tremendous support from the 3 LFS's in 2007. The Aquatic Critter, Emerald Bay, and Fins of Franklin all really pitched in. They each hosted great meetings and really went out of their way to offer great value for club members and great enthusiasm for our club and the hobby. I really view the club and the LFSs as partners in growing this hobby and growing responsible, knowledgable, and successful reef keepers, and I think 2007 went a long way in that direction
Membership:
After the election in March, we had 43 paid members. The BOD really wanted to see the club grow -- not just in numbers, but in involvement. We thought that a regular lineup of meetings with useful topics. Extra effort to help others out in the hobby, and ramped up LFS meetings would help encourage new members to join, but also encourage active member participation in the club. I must say that we had a year that exceeded our expectations and I think has positioned us for even more in 2008. 2005 and 2006 were both years where we hit about 60 paid members. I am happy to report that we had 42% growth in 2007 to 85 paid members for the year! We have also already had over 60 renewals/new members for 2008! The growth in membership and member participation I think will enable us to do some new things this year.
Frag Swap:
Of course, our premier event is our annual Frag Swap. We just held that and by all accounts it was a great success
A lot of people pitched in. We had over $8000 in raffle prizes and door prizes. Dr. Shimek was kind enough to attend the event and gave a couple of great talks (one to our club, and one at the swap). We had some mayhem at the beginning with signing folks in, but we ended up with the member sign-in along with the other sign in sheets with around 350 folks who signed in. I know of others there who didn't make it on to the sheets so I'd say we had around 400+ in attendance. Thanks to the help of our membership, things ran smoothly for the most part, and ran on time.
So overall, I think 2007 has been more than what the BOD hoped for back in March of 2007. It was a year of growth in the swap, membership, member involvement, and LFS involvement. So with 2007 being the year of growth, 2008 can shape up to leverage where we are. So I think 2008 can be even better and I look forward to seeing where we can go this year
I want to publicly thank Gary (gflat65) for all he did for the club. We only moved this far because we stood on the shoulders of giants.
2007 was a good year for us. Some key folks in the club had to move away, but we had a successful election back in March of 07 and moved on from there.
Meetings:
We had 10 Meetings in 2007, and instituted a fairly regular schedule (2nd Weekend of the month) and regular reef-related topics. We had topics such as salinity in reef aquaria, management of calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity in reef aquaria, how to make 2-part calcium and alkalinity solutions, and others. We had several meetings where corals were fragged for all the members who were there, and also had a couple of guest speakers. Our first guest speaker was Chris Ray (fishdoc11) who gave a presentation about the care of SPS corals at the Aquatic Critter meeting. The second was Dr. Robert Tanner from Vanderbilt who spoke on Protein Skimming (foam fractionation) at the meeting at Fins of Franklin. Speaking of Fins, we added them to the lineup of LFS meetings in 2007 (their first year participating)! The LFS meetings have been our biggest and best, and 2007 was no exception. All in all, a very good year for meetings.
LFS Inovolvement:
All I can say is we had tremendous support from the 3 LFS's in 2007. The Aquatic Critter, Emerald Bay, and Fins of Franklin all really pitched in. They each hosted great meetings and really went out of their way to offer great value for club members and great enthusiasm for our club and the hobby. I really view the club and the LFSs as partners in growing this hobby and growing responsible, knowledgable, and successful reef keepers, and I think 2007 went a long way in that direction
Membership:
After the election in March, we had 43 paid members. The BOD really wanted to see the club grow -- not just in numbers, but in involvement. We thought that a regular lineup of meetings with useful topics. Extra effort to help others out in the hobby, and ramped up LFS meetings would help encourage new members to join, but also encourage active member participation in the club. I must say that we had a year that exceeded our expectations and I think has positioned us for even more in 2008. 2005 and 2006 were both years where we hit about 60 paid members. I am happy to report that we had 42% growth in 2007 to 85 paid members for the year! We have also already had over 60 renewals/new members for 2008! The growth in membership and member participation I think will enable us to do some new things this year.
Frag Swap:
Of course, our premier event is our annual Frag Swap. We just held that and by all accounts it was a great success
A lot of people pitched in. We had over $8000 in raffle prizes and door prizes. Dr. Shimek was kind enough to attend the event and gave a couple of great talks (one to our club, and one at the swap). We had some mayhem at the beginning with signing folks in, but we ended up with the member sign-in along with the other sign in sheets with around 350 folks who signed in. I know of others there who didn't make it on to the sheets so I'd say we had around 400+ in attendance. Thanks to the help of our membership, things ran smoothly for the most part, and ran on time. So overall, I think 2007 has been more than what the BOD hoped for back in March of 2007. It was a year of growth in the swap, membership, member involvement, and LFS involvement. So with 2007 being the year of growth, 2008 can shape up to leverage where we are. So I think 2008 can be even better and I look forward to seeing where we can go this year
I want to publicly thank Gary (gflat65) for all he did for the club. We only moved this far because we stood on the shoulders of giants.
. You've done/are doing a great job, Jack. I've not heard of or seen too many clubs that interact like MTRC members do (as well as surrounding areas and old salty staples). With increased participation, it can only get stronger
