Here we go huh?
Well I guess to start I will state where I feel a club should go and what I feel its aim should be.
Plain and simple, the advancement of the hobby in our area.
Through the following means;
<ul type="square">[*]Education of new people into the hobby with proper methods of caring for corals and fish alike. Education of new “reefers” through information being available about how to join or contact the club at LFS’s. In addition to the education means below.[*]Education of the people who have been in the hobby for a longer period of time. Through informative discussion and sharing of ideas and info between members. Through meetings and seminars demonstrating new advances in the hobby given by speakers brought in for the express purpose of those seminars/meetings.[*]Through trading of
properly cared for frags of corals and where possible captive raised fish specimens. This being done not for profit but to help spread the use of these captive raised specimens rather than store bought wild caught specimens. [/list:u:8bc6216ac1]
For each of those it is going to take a bit of discussion to exactly where we go with those three. But to me that is what is important. EDUCATION and CONSERVATION.
With each of those we can branch out and get into detail as desired.
I do think we should have an “elected” body. Basically there for organization and running of the needs of the organization. My worry there is about power and who has it. I like Troy’s Idea of for now having the main two people being taken from the mainland and island. This keeps us together as it is at this moment. With the net it is nothing to sit and communicate easily.
Web Site/forum
KISS.
Keep It Simple Stupid
We have a great forum here. And I have about 50 megs of space available for a club web page. That is all we need. Why change what isn’t broke? Web page only. Titus has given us an area(this forum on his BB) for the Vancouver reef club. Lets use that. The Web Page will be for member info, a shot of members web pages. Listings of upcoming events such as bulk purchases, corals and fish arrivals at LFS’s, meetings etc. Nothing fancy. Once we get fancy we introduce too many things to work on. KISS holds true here.
Membership
I think a yearly due is a good idea. I don’t know about implementing it right now but give it a couple of months to iron out the details of a full-blown club. We are going to need some time to iron out the kinks about the club on its own. By adding cash into the mix we are looking at too many details at once to figure it all out.
These dues should be used towards things such as web page, membership cards(or whatever), speakers being brought in to have a more personal information session. Delbeek’s angel rearing in captivity has me amazed. Who wouldn’t want to pick the brain of Dana Riddle? I don’t know that the people newer to the hobby will know all the names but in time will grow to appreciate the knowledge base these people have. If we were to have 30 members it would cost about $40 per person to get a visit from the western US by someone like Rob Toonen. This money could also be raised through raffles, car washes etc. Dues could also be used to a degree towards renting a hall for larger meetings ie annual meeting for election of a board etc.
Associations with LFS’s
Mainly for posting of the club’s info for shoppers who don’t know about us. If the LFS wants to have their banner on our page so be it. Something will be worked out with them at that time. If not the
only need I think we have from LFS’s is for that express purpose. The discount from J&L was nice. But even without it I will still shop there and have no qualms about paying full price for what I need. Maybe, and I stress maybe if we are doing large pooling orders then approach businesses about some form of discount.
Another reason I can foresee to have this relationship is for donations of small items to be used in raffles for fund raising.
Harassing these stores about petty things such as discounts for each end every purchase is not a major thing to push for in my books. It will turn around to bite us and they may not want us to put up a poster or banner letting new or old reef keepers about us. Keep our dealings with them for a poster for the club and that is it.
IF the store decides on it’ sown to be generous in some fashion so be it. We start harassing he stores for a few cents off we are biting the hands that feed us in many respects. I know that in my experiences with stores if you are a return repetitive customer to a store they tend to treat you well in time. Treat them with the respect they deserve for doing something that keeps you doing what you like and they may in turn be quite nice to you when you least expect it. I had
three stores help me when my tank crashed. And that was all kinds of offers for help and assistance. Nothing asked for in return.
Advertising
Short n sweet. LFS’s and Papers such as buy and sell, Georgia straight etc.. Get exposure. Period. More exposure means more members. More members means more knowledge.
In time we can get more detailed with regards to this. At this time I think it is time we look at figuring out where we want to start. Start small. Then once we get one goal completed we look to the next. If we try to bite off too much and expect too much at once we are going to have a hard time at succeeding. Small steps. Lets get a consensus from everyone who wants to join, next comes name, election of officials, then dues etc etc etc. KISS. Best saying in the world IMO.
Wow.. my fingers hurt..