2011 Fall Swap/Meet Information

[Jess Puff]

I am one of those people that would like more opportunities for swap/meets. In my opinion, the swap/meets themselves will gain more members (just like this last one). The more reasons to advertise, the more opportunities to gain new members. The past month we've had quite a bit of activity b/c of the swap but now we are going to go into a lull until 5 months from now when we have our next swap. This is all just my opinion but in today's world it is very easy to forget about an organization that is not very active. It would be ideal to have something (other than a board meeting) between our swaps to keep people interested. All of this of course is just my opinion... for what it's worth. I really had a great time at the swap and wish there were more activities throughout the year. If someone can't make it to one swap, we have to wait a whole year to see them. It just kinda stinks...

[allierw]

I agree, Jess! Maybe quarterly instead of bi-annual.

[ree123]

There are those who have suggested we have swap/meets more often, other than the two of you, and that is always open for debate and further discussion, but for now just the two per year is appropriate IMO, and here is why I think so......... I just don't want to rush things and have some tiny little get together's every month or two with 5 or 10 people. Having 50+ show up every 6 months is fun, challenging, a lot of prepare work, and rewarding when all over and done with. Monthly stuff was tried here a year back and it was a flop. Quarterly might work, but then officer/board meetings, and planning, would have to be stepped up too. I don't think we are big enough to have more frequent swap/meets yet. IMO, we need another 100 forum members and double the ones on the forum every day. Now, it's like 25 on the forum every day. It takes 50 or so every day for us to qualify for membership into the ACA and I think we should meet that goal first.

If we over extend we might flop again, as before, and we are doing very well right now, IMO.
I do understand that there are a few folks, like Denny and Alli, who find themselves in a position of missing 2 swap/meets, and a whole year passes, but most of the members are able to work around it and be present for at least one of the swap/meets each year. I do not mean to sound callus to the plight of the idea of quarterly, but just believe as stated before, that to over extend to soon will cause us to flop, and IMO for now, our goals should be set on growth of members, and registered forum users & their growth numbers as well, with an emphasis on every member continuing to contribute to the advertising of our group, in order to achieve bigger numbers before thinning the molasses to thin.

[davidtcb1]

I see both sides of it. I agree that it would be nice to have something more often. I've missed the last two and it feels like forever until the Spring swap. But I also see your point Rick. There is certainly a lot that goes into the prep, and doubling the amount of work would be a lot to add onto the officers, etc.

[jon carman]

I would like more, but I also think they might get watered down. I would rather have 2 great ones than a lot of so so swaps.

If we get to the point we can have 4 great ones then I am all for more.

[Jess Puff]

I may not have been clear enough when I said I would like more functions, I meant at least one per quarter... sorry about that misunderstanding. I think one every month would definitely be out of our league right now. I just think that if we had more functions it would be easier to recruit more members. But I do understand that it would create quite a heavier workload on the officers. I just don't want to let this momentum fall into a lull between now and spring.

[ree123]

David, I wasn't talking as much about the officers work load, but it is true, there is a lot that goes into the planning stage that takes a lot of foot work to prepare. I was more trying to get across the message that, IMO, if we stretch ourselves to thin, then we run a big risk, IMO, of having so few people to show that it becomes a tiny little get together with just a handful of folks attending at any one time.

We are now trying to have bigger and better swap/meets. We have, for the first time, just last week, had our very first raffle, auction, and speaker program to be implemented. We don't need to put the cart before the horse, once again IMO, by thinking, now that we have had success one time that it is time to rock the boat and change up everything. I just believe our efforts could be better suited to asking all the members to help generate advertising venues for now, thus growing the club in numbers of members, paid or not, and numbers of participants on the forum.

If we can get all the current members on board for this project, then in another 6 months, with a second swap/meet, sweeter than the one just completed, IMO again, we would then be better suited (if the numbers warranted), re-discussing the topic of changing to a quarterly swap/meet.

Also remember, we have discussed the idea of a photo contest among us via the forum over the winter, and we have had ideas thrown out about a future fry competition among members, to name but yet two more ideas members are interested in.

I just think we need to move slowly as not to tip over the boat and find ourselves unable to get back with in without a lot of effort. To refresh you old timers, that almost happened once before.

I actually like the idea of quarterly swap/meets, I just don't think the time is just yet.
Growth, IMHO, is the next task, and I would like to see every (EVERY) member making some sort of effort to help achieve this.

Of course, this is my opinion, but I just don't believe it can be challenged to say that growth is the most important next step.
Can we grow enough by creating more swap/meets as Jess suggested ? Maybe. I don't know for sure.
But I do know we tried to stretch things once before and we almost had a dead club.
We are thriving now, and growing.

I vote and recommend that we continue the good fight for a bit longer, and try to raise the numbers in the club, and on the forum, thus having a goal to be a part of the ACA. That would be a real achievement towards the stability and solid foundation of this club, IMO.

I am hoping to be the President for another year if the members will have me, and my goal is to see this club grow to a level that stability is a true success, thus my successor will step into a thriving, stable, and prospering club with a number of members we have never achieved thus far.

I am still convinced there are hundreds, yes hundreds, of people in our community, that have no idea we exist, and would make fantastic members. I want to reach all of them that I can in the next year, with the help of everyone here !

I know there are those that disagree, and that is fine with me. I am only expressing my opinion here, and stating my goals for all of us, hoping this club will be strong and steady by the time I leave office and hand the gavel to another.

I typed all this not only for you David, but for everyone. If I have offended anyone, I apologize. I just think this is a solid foundation idea, and I really want everyone here to jump on board and help me achieve it. I believe many already have, and I am looking for the rest to follow suit.
Time and the numbers will tell.

We have had 3 members join the forum just this week, since the swap/meet. How fantastic is that !
Everyone keep up the great work !

I am proud to be YOUR President, and am VERY PROUD of all the work all of you are putting into asking others to join us and the spreading of the word of our existence. For those of you dragging your feet a bit, please pick it up and spread the word. After all it is all of ours club, and as I have always said, "The more the merrier."

We need more active members ( club and non club) and talkers. As any of you who have been around a long time know, when just a few show, or a few chat, it is OK, but it so much more fun on the forum and @ the swap/meets when a bunch of folks are participating.

This is just my opinion.


As long as it is just your opinion, any of you are welcomed to disagree or offer other suggestions. I am not set in stone, I am only trying to lead in a direction I believe will work for stability and growth. As a team, we will be successful !
No matter if we disagree or not !

As always, Respectively,
Rick, YOUR current Pres.

[ree123]

I agree with Jess, we don't want the momentum to fall into a lull by Spring.
We want every one of you being pro active, all winter, trying to help the club to grow, chatting on the forum, asking your friends and even strangers to join us, suggesting new ideas for the next swap/meet, suggesting new ideas like the one about a photo contest over the winter., etc...
Participation !
The big key !
Lets ask and encourage everyone we meet to join and participate.
Growth achieved by all is the goal, IMO. Can I plan on every one of you, EVERY ONE OF YOU, helping achieve this ? It will take us all !

[ree123]

An example. P Hayes has joined the forum today. He has not posted. When one of you is on and he comes back on line, send him an PM and say hello. Or do it now. I have done that today. Ask him to chat.
Watch for new registered members and do the same. Just an idea to help promote.
Some may take the bait and be your next best friend.

[rickl]

This is the first aquarium club I've belonged to, though the second one who's events I've attended. I believe the AAAA is a goodly bit bigger than the MCAA (though I could be mistaken on that front), and they have monthly meetings, but bi-annual auctions. I went to one of their monthly meetings (at a local greek restaurant... gyros, yum), which included a speaker and a mini-auction.

I thoroughly enjoyed this past swap meet, and I understand both Jess's desire to not let the club fall into a stupor until next spring, and Rick/Jon's fear that more won't really be merrier.

I wonder if there's a something-in-between... maybe talk someone into hosting a bbq, or organize a field trip to chattanooga, or even just unofficially get together. I've pondered tryiing to arrange a little "MCAA-South" get-to-together in huntsville, just to meet up with the local aquatic enthusiasts for dinner or billiards or something fun.

Just a few thoughts (which, as usual, are worth about what you paid for them).

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)

[tradewatertropical]

I understand where Rick is coming from completely. I was the President of a Die-Cast Car club for a few years, which we had monthly meetings and our members would bring stuff to swap and trade amoung each other, but our membership also grew doing so. Of course throwing a few die cast cars into a box on the way to a meeting is totally different than spending two hours bagging fish !! And I also agree that it does take alot of preporation getting ready for a swap meet to make it sucessful. ( one question about the swap meets is why are they always on Sunday afternoons, which is fine for me, but just wandering).
But I also agree with Jess I do think there should be something more to keep the members more interested and actually have something to tell their friends or just people they have just met about to make them interested in joining in on the fun !! At this point not really sure what this might be, but it could be something the members might want to think about. Weather it be add on another swap meet per year or maybe just a get together for a fund raiser of some kind or as far as that goes maybe a cook out or anything just to keep the friendships fresh and the spirit of the club going. I have told several people in my area alone about how much fun we had and they talked like they were all interested in joining the club, but of course as said they are going to have to wait for the spring meet to get involved.
About the forum, I am out in left field on that, but was wandering how hard would it be to set it up to where whanever someone posted something it would be automatically sent out to all the members ? I know nothing about what this involves, but just interested. I am not a member of the Louisville club, but this is what they do and it keeps the members more involved. But as I said I don't have a clue of how much trouble it would be to sit this up.
I wish I was a little closer I would love to be able to be there to help in any way I am about 2 1/2 hours away from Nashville. I am disabled due to a major heart diease that most of the time keeps me confined close to home and I don't travel very long distances by myself that is why I have 130 + tanks in my basement. But I still get bored quite often and am open to helping anyone with their fish in any way I can or am more than willing to do what ever I can for the benfiet of the club. I do have a tomtom and can usually get to most places that I need to go, but I am like a 100 yo man it just takes me a little longer to get there. So if nothing else drop me a line and we can talk fish !!!

[davidtcb1]

Good points Tom.

I think the Sunday idea came about just because people generally have less commitments with family events, work, etc. on Sunday afternoons than they do at any time of day on many Saturdays.

[rickl]

Tradewater -- some message boards support "subscribing" to threads, where you will get an email if something new is posted to a thread you've subscribed to (and often auto-subscribe you to a thread you post in), but I haven't figured out how to make proboards do that yet.

I don't think I'd want an email every time someone posted, but I've missed the subscription feature that I use on the other forums I frequent.

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)

[davidtcb1]

At the top of every thread is a blue bar. On the left side, there is an option to "bookmark" or "remove bookmark" once you have chosen to bookmark. This is what will send you an email to let you know a thread you are involved in has a new post/reply. I believe it is the same as "subscribing" on other forums.

[rickl]

sweet, thanks david!

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)