Formal reefing club?

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Johnny Reefer

Hmmm....I count 3 that wouldn't

only 3 votes for to "join and support" which would be a dues/membership paying type thing. only 1 was a definate no.

Steve

[Jaws]

I'd pay if it was needed, but I'd like to see some good things happen if I had to pay for anything.

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

only 3 votes for to "join and support" which would be a dues/membership paying type thing. only 1 was a definate no.

Steve

I disagree. Join and support doesn't necessarily mean you have to pay dues.
My Mom belongs to a small monthly book club (about seven or eight members).
She joined it and she supports it, but she doesn't pay any dues.

I think what is key, here, is the definition of what a "REAL" reefkeeping club is.

Jim?....
Please clarify...
What is your vision of a "REAL" reefkeeping club?
What is your idea of a small annual fee?
At something like $10/year, say, I don't forsee anyone going to any MACNA conferences anytime soon!

Thanx much,

[IPZ]

Lets not put the cart before the horse here... Jim's poll is simply to measure what kind of intrest there is in starting a reefing club.

I think that the idea behind this group is to allow people who share the common bond of reef keeping, to get together on a monthly basis, share ideas, experiences, and make new friends within the hobby.

As my company is prepared to sponsor the costs of a meeting place, ect, there should be no need for anyone to have to pay any fees.

soooo ..... hows about we just schedule a meet !

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by IPZ

Lets not put the cart before the horse here... Jim's poll is simply to measure what kind of intrest there is in starting a reefing club.

I think that the idea behind this group is to allow people who share the common bond of reef keeping, to get together on a monthly basis, share ideas, experiences, and make new friends within the hobby.

As my company is prepared to sponsor the costs of a meeting place, ect, there should be no need for anyone to have to pay any fees.

soooo ..... hows about we just schedule a meet !

exactly, same thing that pops up every year and is put on the back burner because there isn't enuf people on the island to make it realy work.

People are already talking about bringing people in to speak, well they do speak for free, but you have to pay there transportation, lodging, food, ect while they are here. I do belong to the Puget Sound Aquarium Society(and thats where I will most likely stay) they have over 300 members that pay 20.00 per year for a membership and still have to charge a feb bucks when they have guest speakers and such.

On the island I am sure we could scrape up 100 people but it would be so spread out and you would get poor turnouts for meetings. also I have a hard time seeing the vendors on the island supporting a club like the ones in the seattle area support the Puget Sound Aquarium Society, ie. one meating I was at one of the local stores donated about 15 mother colonies (sps) and about 32 frags (sps) and about 25 soft/LPS assorted corals so Anthony Califo could do a fragging demo/workshop and everyone went home with about 3 or 4 frags. I think that would put most local vendors out of business also for a formal club you need to form a elected council to run the club. idealy they have to be from the same area so they can easily get togeather for meatings and they have to have the TIME to do it. you need a constitution and so on and so on (this isn't bad as you can read another well established club's and modify it o fit yours but the club still have to vote on it and pass it.

so as you can guess I voted no because I have seen this come up every year for the last 3 or 4 years and quietly go away because of lack of interest or ability to put it togeather, plus I am already a member of a society.

Steve

[rickjames]

Yeah, except the thing that sucks about joining an American club is that you couldn't bring back any frags of CITES protected corals!

I think the club is a great idea, and would be good for swapping frags and such.

[christyf5]

Steve,

I'm a member of the PSAS as well but neither you nor I were there when the PSAS first started out with 6 guys hanging out in another guys basement geeking out over some tank. Its not like it started off with 350 people wanting to pony up their $20 to see Anthony Calfo or Charles Delbeek give a talk. I'm sure people will pay dues when there is something worth paying for. That is going to take time.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Steve,

I'm a member of the PSAS as well but neither you nor I were there when the PSAS first started out with 6 guys hanging out in another guys basement geeking out over some tank. Its not like it started off with 350 people wanting to pony up their $20 to see Anthony Calfo or Charles Delbeek give a talk. I'm sure people will pay dues when there is something worth paying for. That is going to take time.

not saying that, but what I am saying is that due to the population on the island and the geographical setting I would not expect anything on the Island to become even close to what PSAS ended up being.. yes I agree that 10 fish geeks is a start but the problem is our location and how spread out we are. take for example a start of 50 people. this is a good number for a start but now say that 50 people 20 are from Vic, 12 from Nanimo and the rest from all over the island. In a different club setting say all 50 are from Victoria. so for situation where every one is from the sane town at a normal meeting I would expect 15 to 20 people to attend regularly (most clubs get about 1/3 the membership attending regularly) now this doesn't mean the same 1/3 of the people but on average you will get about 1/3 attending.

now look at the first situation where the club is spread all over the island. how are you going to hold meetings? are you going to have them at different locations all the time? some ones house? ect??? are people going to travel all the time for them?? I expect the turn out would be lower than 1/4 on average and would end up being like we do now by some one inviting everyone over to look at there tank.

Ok so if we go with a more formal club with membership and everything. you are going to need a constant place to hold your meetings, like a hall or a empty garage ect.. where you can set things up for different meeting agendas. this works good when everyone is from the same area but for a spread out club people who are not close will get tired of driving long distances (already 1 person asking about carpooling in the post).

I am not saying it is a bad idea or that it won't work but rather that there is a lot more aspects to look at then a lot of people realize. I run a military club and the membership is spread out like crazy but we only have 1 annual meeting a year and out of 200 members you think I can get 20 that will commit to being on a couple comities that meet 4 times a year lot of changes coming for next year I tell ya

another thing to look at is how are you going to spread the word about this club? you want to do it in such a way that people with out Internet can participate also, which means you will have to do regular mail outs to keep them informed which costs money. and so on and so on.

you can start with 10 people but I think really until you get a paying membership you will not be doing anything that we don't already do on Can reef and when we go to other peoples places to help them or just stare at there tanks.

Steve

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

take for example a start of 50 people. this is a good number for a start but now say that 50 people 20 are from Vic, 12 from Nanimo and the rest from all over the island. In a different club setting say all 50 are from Victoria. so for situation where every one is from the sane town at a normal meeting I would expect 15 to 20 people to attend regularly

so you're saying if we aren't from Victoria we're from the insane town?

I hear ya, but there is no reason why we can't hold the meetings wherever on the island, they don't have to always be in the same place. I realize some of you Victorians are scared to leave your big city so we will probably have meetings there quite often

[TNTCanada]

I think why not, give it a go. It has to start some time, somewhere. For example I joined a community counsel about a year and a half ago. It started out with three people sitting in a room talking over some ideas; we just wanted to do something that we were interested in. A year and a half later we have established a great council, have dozens of people joining the team and we’re growing everyday.
It’s all about meeting new contacts, getting new ideas learning new things and helping new people.
We all started somewhere maybe a gold fish in a tiny little bowl, visiting the Vancouver Aquarium or watching Jacques Cousteau dive the Great Barrier Reef. Some how we decided to go big or go home.
I’m sure we have all made mistakes that cost us lots of money, as well the loss of the critters we were trying to keep. It would be a great place for newbies to ask questions, and get advice. We would be able to save the keepers and animals some grief. It would also be a great place for the more advance people to challenge and help each other to take this wonderful hobby to the next level.

Just my two cents

Cheers
Tyler