Sept Scott Michael

[jesshimom]

Yeah I know it's only July..... well anyway, I heard from Cy about wanting to sell frag bags at meetings. Well, you cant do that at a meeting that is hosted/sponsored by another sponsor.

I dont want to turn the club into a commercial deal, however i want to make good deals available to the members definately.

So what I did is offer Barrierreef the option to sponsor either the seahorse meeting and have him bring in horses at a good price for purchase or raffle a few away to those who wish to have them; or a better idea was for him to sponsor the Scott Michael meeting and try to recoup some of the expenses for that meeting.

I told him a few ideas I had but that to call it "co-sponsoring" a meeting they had to at least split the airfare (SWC paid the entire Borneman airfare and we called that "sponsoring") or in some other way bring in approximately $150 - $200 in revenue. Does that seem fair? I only said that because that is how it has been working thus far.

I told him I didnt care if he brought in a bunch of coolers with eggcrate like Dang does and sell them prior to the meeting if he was Co-sponsoring and share that with the club for the split airfare.

COme on, tell me what you think... don't be shy.. lol .. like anyone is here.

Reed if you are still checking us out, I'd appreciate your input as well. In fact I'll Pm him and ask him to speak up.

 

[reedman]

I think you are on the right track with this Colleen. You have to have some break point that shows that the "sponsor" is really "sponsoring" the event. I think half the cost of airfare for a speaker the caliber of Scott Michael is more than fair.

I completely agree with not allowing commercial ventures to sell at meetings. I would go so far as to say no selling at meetings period. I think you hit it perfect...if someone wants to sell at the meeting they can offer up some of the profit for the club. We aren't a storefront.

I see no flaws in what you are proposing. If the sponsor can't get the full amount to cover the sponsorship costs then they can co-sponsor with another store (or person in the case of someone like Hamby or Dang).

My 2 cents for all it's worth

 

[jesshimom]

OK, I hope everyone agrees:

1. No outright commericial selling at meetings (knowing we can't stop prearranged deliveries by anyone)

2. Members are encouraged to buy/sell/trade from each other at anytime as stated on our web page. (If people disagree here, we need to change our web page)

3. Sponsors of meetings can sell frags at their meetings whether at their store or BCC if/as they are doing that to secure the revenue needed to pay their share of the sponsor (such as airfare split).

How does that sound?

 

[reedman]

I'm in full agreement here. People swapping frags...no problem, but selling needs to be kept to a minimum unless some of the proceeds go to the club.

Also, there should be a time set aside for trades either before or after the meeting so as not to disrupt the meeting. Maybe even go so far as to suggest trades happen at the premeeting social (when you have them) and not at the meeting itself.

 

[jetaero]

I know that blue sierra wants to sponsor the scott michael meeting...

-Josh-

 

[jesshimom]

Well that's interesting Josh. I sent them a letter to their customer service email address about a month ago stating I was very interested in knowing what our sponsors wanted to do in regard to club participation and what could we do for them since we rely on their support I want to make sure we recognize and give back to them and I never heard a word. If they want to sponsor a meeting I think they need to speak up. I haven't heard from any sponsor about anything except Kahuna Corals and Barrierreef recently.

So, if anyone hears from sponsors, lets make sure we include them in some way but they do need to speak up. I also sent the same email to SWC and never heard word one either. I will contact Blue Sierra and see what they say, if anything to me.

 

[jetaero]

Send the email to their nickname of "Sierra" i dont know who customer service is... but jonas did mention it last night...

-Josh-

 

[jesshimom]

ok i just sent an message to him

 

[Skimmy]

in a nut shell i think we have to grow up, and either become a non profit, or acknowledge that we rely solely on local resources and allow comercial selling at the meetings if that's what the sponsors want to do. who cares?? as long as it's not at a competing sponsor's store, then why should we tell people what they can and cant sell at the meetings?

i dont agree with the whole anti commercialism attitude, i think were too small to stick up our noses at it just yet, and if we were smart we would find a way to make money off of it.

 

[jesshimom]

The main issue for me is the even considering to sell something at another vendors meeting.

 

[reedman]

Mark, that is certainly one tact you can take. It can work, but I personally see it as very distracting at the meetings. how would you propose the club have meetings when 3 different stores show up to sell with only one of them sponsoring the meeting? I would not stand for that and would feel very insulted if I was the sponsor.

What do you do when the stores come out to sell frags and Paul Hamby comes out and undercuts them?

No doubt it can work, but I think you should have a very well thought out plan before inviting in commercial entities to sell freely at a meeting.

And I agree that the club should either become a real nonprofit or stop pretending we are one. You can't have it both ways. nonprofits have responsibilities that may not be appealing to the board members...that's a choice you have to make. If you choose not to go that route then you need to develop a plan to bring in some cash to support the club (and plan not to get donations from the big guys).

To summarize, I agree and disagree with you Mark. I think you make a good point about the non profit status. I also think there needs to be a lot of thought put into the meetings structure and timing if you plan to allow commercial sales at the meetings. I would definitely check with some of the members that regularly attend the meetings to see if this is something they would like. Without members you don't have a club. My two cents

 

[jesshimom]

For info on sponsoring meetings; etc, please see that post.

FYI: Sept meeting room is booked and paid for as is Scott Michael's airfare and room. He and his wife are coming and renting a car for a little peninsula trip. Low key for us.

So here's the agreement with Barrier Reef who is cosponsoring this event. They will be paying 1/3 of the cost by giving some high end SPS to raffle. Here is how it will work (tentatively):

4pm there will be 10 PSAS member signed up to go to their location to buy corals and take advantage of special offers that day only.

5pm Premeeting social in Issaquah at Round Table Pizza in the banquet room. This will include the raffle for the corals which will be prebagged and named (asking for pics on the RF Scott Michael meeting thread). The sales need to reach the $225 and if not BR will pay the diff. (They are just starting out, and made a committment prior to our decision).

630pm Everyone head's to BCC for meeting. Prearranged sales only; no open sales.

Another 10 people if they want can go to BR after the meeting.

BR can accomodate only 10 at a time is the reason for the 10.

How does that all sound? I think it can and will be a bit of fun.

One thing I plan to do, is I'm getting less shy and more brave, so I'm going to crack the whip on keeping to our schedules and time. Everything continaully runs late, so I'm going to keep us moving on a schedule. I hope I dont come across as a pain in the butt.

Off on vacation, hope everyone can live/likes this set up. I'm sure I'll hear from you if you dont and again, please speak up, I want to hear from everyone, this is a community effort..

 

[jetaero]

Sounds good!!

-Josh-

 

[cwby416]

I third the motion

 

[jesshimom]

I'm about to send out the evite. Here's the timeline; what do you all think?

10-4 BR sale

430p meet at Round Table in Issaquah

6pm OR 7pm for the meeting? I said 6 and I like 6 but I think we will again be pressed for time and I want to say a time and stick to it from now on, so I'm thinking 7 since we will begin in Issaquah....

 

[jesshimom]

Guess everyone is vacationing... so I'll just guess and go with 7pm.

 

[Ed Hahn]

I have a box of Seachem goodies to raffle, I have a frag to give away with person with lowest TDS. I am heading up within next half hour. Josh, I will try to call you. Dang talked about meeting me somewhere. Camera, cooler, Notes.. I will be in Seattle area definitely by 11.30 so please call me on my cell if needed. Colleen, I would love to meet up with you on corals at Barrier Reef.
See you all soon, Drive safe and bring a smile for all of us!
Ed
509-374-0815

 

[Ed Hahn]

Kudos to you guys for doing such a good job! Kudos to person that got such a cool guest speaker!