What would be your Ideal Meeting?

[Ed Hahn]

What do you look for in a Meeting beside great people sharing this Hobby?

 

[Ed Hahn]

A few people want to organize a extra Large REEF /Saltwater Meeting. We are trying to do something in mid August. We want to drag everyone out of the wood work. Tri-cities is centrally located. We want to take advantage of that if possible.

 

[Witfull]

open bar!!

 

[Wolfesbane]

Frag swap/sale!

~ Steve

 

[Fijikid]

Bring anything "Reef related" to sell/ trade or giveaway

 

[CarlaW]

Frags and some kind of alcohol related beverage

 

[flugelnuss]

I don't really have any friends into the hobby, except my fiance. But I wouldn't mind meeting more of you and learning as much as possible. I just need someone or someones to take me under their wing and teach me! I stil have a lot of questions, after only 6 months into marine, and I am so introverted that I hardly ever ask enough questions at the LFS. Plus, some of the LFS employees over in Seattle just aren't my type of people. It's tough! Will somebody be my friend?

Jeff

 

[Ed Hahn]

Wow, Keep em coming! I am writing this down. I am sure we could round up some frags. A few of us in Tri-cities are seriously thinking of doing this. This is the chance to meet the person you have been talking to on here. The message has been sent out down here in the Tri-cities. We would love to have everyone together for a relaxing time. I have feedback about one person wanting to open up his house which is close to the columbia river. Maybe we all could do a little roasting Hot Dogs, marshmellows along the river, water skiing if we can get it organized. You can check out the Midcolumbia Saltwater forum in here to learn what we are trying to put together.

 

[Ed Hahn]

Jeff,
You got lots of people wanting to talk about this hobby! The window is open. Each person on here has nothing to gain but friendship and the gift of sharing this hobby. I do not know as much as those on here. I am learning. If you want to learn which mistakes I have made you can pm me anytime. I will tell you what has worked for me. You can never have too many friends.
Welcome Aboard Jeff!
ED

 

[NaH2O]

Hey Ed, my take on this - the type of meeting you want to have will dictate what you will do....if you want it to be a get-together of people - getting together to socialize and meet each other, then frag swap is a good idea, maybe have a topic about coral placement or something to go along with the swap. If you want it to be more than a get-together...then maybe have a topic on easy DIY projects (fluidized reactors, sumps, etc) You wouldn't necessarily have to build them there, but talk about how they were done. This was just an example...you could organize any type of speaker/organized topic.

 

[Llarian]

I've found my previous hobby-based meetings (cars in this case), the best and probably more informational were the ones with no topic, just a social.

BBQs, or something of that nature were people can meet face to face and talk about a subject they enjoy, and there will be a ton of information shared no matter what you plan, its the nature of people who like to geek about something they enjoy.

Just setting up a time and place always seems to go a long way.

-Dylan

 

[CarlaW]

At something like this, you always seem to cover every subject under the sun anyways. It's always been my feeling that the less structured the " meeting" is,more conversation takes place. JMHO

I'll show up for sure, just get me the dates. Just for grins, I'll throw a clam in.

 

[Ed Hahn]

Dylan,
Every Meeting I have gone to this year people have been doing that same thing. I can not get enough of it. We are serious when someone wants to share a issue. We are thinking the Middle of August.

Nikki,
I sent you a Pm.

Charlie,
I will let you know asap. You made some friends in the last few meetings in Spokane. They can not wait to show you thier tanks.

thanks for sharing your thoughts,
Ed

 

[MtnDewMan]

I tend to like structured meetings with only a few meetings spent on pure socializing. By a structured meeting, I mean a guest speaker with a set agenda topic of discussion. If you want to have a socializing meeting, have a bbq and invite your friends. If you want to have a good meeting, make it a good meeting by having lots of discussion on a focused topic.

I have found through our meetings that if you have all social gatherings and no structure, then the meeting attendees will not have a problem missing meetings because it is just a "social" anyway ... they are more inclined to not want to miss a meeting if a Scott Michael or a Charles Delbeek is speaking.

 

[mojoreef]

I say you invite Chuck down thier and have him do a presentation for everyone, ehehehe

Mike

 

[Alice]

That's true Chuck, but it sounds as though Ed is really wanting to give club attendance/membership a shot in the arm and a big frag swap/social gathering is a sure-fire kick off. It's also a good time to put out a questionaire or even a more informal survey to find out what members would want to see in future meetings. And maybe more importantly, to find out if there are people willing to give Ed a hand planning larger, more structured events in the future.

 

[Alice]

LOL, I'll second that one, Mike. We can sit in the front row.

 

[NaH2O]

Can I come? I promise not to make faces at you, Chuck!

 

[MtnDewMan]

You guys are too funny ... I may have to resort to the speech fright tactics of imagining everyone in their undies

 

[Alice]

But did you ever wonder how many people in the audience are imagining you in YOUR undies?

:lol: