How did MACNA go?!?!?!

[dough]

Wow Joe...nice stuff!

I got a few nice pieces today. I got an 'Acroberry' from gcarrol, he had lots of nice frags. I also got Some nice chalice pieces and an acan. I also got a mag-rock and some mag frag plugs...and some new blades for my easy scraper.

Ah man, I went by gcarrols booth late today to get an Acroberry and he was out and the same with the mag-rock stuff. Snooze you loose. :rolleyes:


Loren, I think that maybe some details where overlooked, but as a whole things went pretty well. IMHO.

 

[sailfish]

Macna

Hey Doug I got you covered if you want the acro berry.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed myself and feel I got some nice corals. It was also nice to meet some of the people I have made purchases from before.

If you were interested in equipment then there was more then enough to keep you busy.

Joe

 

[LorenK]

Ah man, I went by gcarrols booth late today to get an Acroberry and he was out and the same with the mag-rock stuff. Snooze you loose. :rolleyes:


Loren, I think that maybe some details where overlooked, but as a whole things went pretty well. IMHO.

When it grows out you can have a frag :-)

It was the largest MACNA ever and I thought the club did a good job. I was very impressed with certain people and I hope they get some serious recognition for the work they did (patty, rawn, george, bud, david and melody, etc).

 

[dough]

Loren and Joe, I knew there was a reason I like you both.

Hey don't forget the waterboys under Rawn's direction! Ah that included me. ;). I actually enjoyed the volunteer work. I was going only do 8 hours and ended up with about 18 and probably could have done more today if I didn't have the children left home alone as an excuse not to.

But all kidding aside your right alot of those guys busted butt.

 

[coral diver]

Even farther from me :hammer:

AHHHH I think I'm the farthest less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean :rolleyes:

 

[rebelprettyboy]

Even farther from me :hammer:

How arent u in florida? ur closer than me

 

[FateX8]

well I "tried" to look for people but got nothing
first, we left fl at 9pm on friday and got there saturday around 6am so we were dead tired
i knew going into the place on saturday that all the good stuff was going to be gone already so i told myself i wouldnt get anything until sunday when people were trying to dump their stuff so thats what i did
got 2 large dendro frags, war coral (wanted the colony but already sold) and tie dye micro from cherry corals
also got a vortech mp20
since this was my first macna i was expecting something HUGE, i think my problem was that i hype stuff up in my head
i was easily recognizable, i was the only asian guy there with long hair...

 

[johnr2604]

I personally thought it went great. If you couldn't find help then you were not looking. There were plenty of us running around with MACNA staff shirts on and you could see one of us anywhere you looked. I personally pulled at least one 16 hour day and three 12 hour days. I might agree that anouncements could have been better but the Logistics of pulling off something that big are a handfull. We moved about 11,000 gallons of water through that place while still helping attendees and exhibitors. I have the upmost respect for all the volunteers and planning commitee. Something to think about is that all of us that worked that many hours only were signed up for 16. We did what had to be done sorry it wasn't recognized. Also like Loren stated we had no controll over the price of the drinks guess we should have had it at the Holiday Inn :(

In the very limited time I got to actually enjoy the show I got some great Zoos, acros, acans and micros from Bluegrass, Cherry and Mr. Coral

 

[Smarsh]

Okay, I have been to 3 MACNA's now. I was not impressed with this one. There were key vendors who were not there. I think it was lacking in organization, for instance there was a raffle on Sat that a lot of people had no idea was happening until after it happened, me included and I bought the big package of tickets. The rooms at the hotel were not good at all, and the GA crew had nothing to do with that, that was the hotel. It may have had the most people, but I don't think it was the largest MACNA ever. The Aquarium was great, the food was great. There's more, but I won't go into all of it. I did have fun, saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a while.

I didn't have much need to talk to the people who put the show on, but the two times I did talk to them they were not friendly or helpful.

I got some cool corals from Bluegrass. The highlight of my weekend was that I was one of the high bidders for a pair of captive bred Mandarin Dragonetts and my friend won a pair of the ORA Snowflake Clowns in the raffle (I really wanted them).

Just my .02

Sandy

 

[robharold]

THIS MAY BE A LITTLE LONG but,

This was my fisrt MACNA. I really enjoyed it as much as I could. I left here at 6 pm and got to Atl at 2:30 in the morning so I was tired to start with. The GA Aquarium was fantastic. banquet was pretty nice too.

I was a bit disappointed in the organization inside the hotel. The signs were not really clear as to where to go for the speakers and such. I did see a bunch of workers though so If I asked I was able to find where to go.

I too was suprised to see so few livestock vendors. After speaking to a friend of mine that is a vendor, I understood why. Booths are HELLACIOUSLY expensive imo. And as stated previously, factoir in shipping transportation and hotel expenses and any business will drop a huge chunk to be there.

I did get to pick up some really nice pieces from mrcoral. I forgot to go back to chery corals to see if I could get a dendro. I thought the Raffles could have went a little better, like spread them out during the event instead of 2 hours at the end of the show.

WE were Also A BIT upset that the big tank drawing was done by a member of the ARC and also won byt another member of ARC. Looked sort of rigged. I heard a LOT of people talking about that one.

My local reef club is talking a bit about hosting but we have a lot of work to do. I am considering going to Jersy but that is one heck of a ride. I also heard that in 2010 it will be in Orlando. I will DEFINATELY make that one if it there.

I COMMEND the Oraganization that put this on. I can tell it is a ton of work and I imagine that it is strictly voluntary for those members who work.

This one was fun for me

 

[ironman]

Dont get me wrong guys I enjoyed the event. My comments were strickly my opnion. I was there from thursday till it was over sunday. I never knew when any raffles were going on, infact I accidentally stumbled into the room where the raffles were or I wouldnt have even known they were there. But in atlantas defense I didnt search the place looking for staff to ask. but also I shouldnt have had to be clueless what was going in if things were posted and obvious. As for the comment that this was the biggest macna, It was my first, but I was helping several of the Vendors who frequent these events and they didnt seem to feel this was done well at all. I understand this is a HUGE event, and im sure people busted there butts. But I feel alot of little important things were missed. But bottom line it really doesnt matter now anyway! LOL! I had a great time, Just wanted to give my opinion of some things I thought could have been better.

 

[ironman]

Oh ya, Loren. The only reason we talked was cause we know eachother dude! HEHE! I know you and gwenolynn, and the two of you are the only atlanta people who we saw and talked to.

 

[Blue Ribbon Koi & Marine]

I think with the economy the way it is, it was a good show. The expense for a vendor to go and setup is more than one could imagine, there are many factors besides the $1200 for a 10 x 10 booth! If you are setting up livestock it just becomes even more expensive, due to the intense labor involved to set up, break down, and maintian livestock in an enviornment that is not designed to have water in it. We all want it to be in a nice place, and be cost effective.....not reality. I was there, as a attendee, with my posse, enjoyed shaking hands with manufactures, creating new relationships and contacts, solidifying existing relationships. Enjoyed a few nights of the Atlanta nightlife, and a little me time! All in all, fewer vendors than previous years, more expensive, but an a much nicer venue that last year. The aquarium is a perk that no other MACNA has had in the past years that I know of, and it was quite a treat. I think well put on by a bunch of volunteers, thank you Atlanta!
John

 

[bluegrass]

I had a great time. It would have been nice to have more livestock vendors as that would pull more attendees I would think. However for those that travel from far away it is logistically difficult to get livestock home whether it be a very long drive or a flight. If I had been going as a hobbyist looking for livestock only I may have been disappointed. Major kudos to the ARC volunteers. So many of them were incredibly helpful. It was great to meet a lot of people I have known from the boards over the years.
Cheers
Casey

 

[FateX8]

that was my feeling about the livestock
i was hoping there would be more and at a bigger discount
i got some great stuff but i really wanted to spend more but there was just nothing there that peaked my interest

 

[paintballer768]

How arent u in florida? ur closer than me

I guess we would be close who is farther, but you get the point.

I also heard that in 2010 it will be in Orlando.

Brilliant!!! Ill be the for sure haha:biggrin:

 

[reef-lover]

Let's See Some Pics!!!!

 

[robharold]

It was pretty cool to actually meet some of the "famous" people of the industry face to face. I talked with Walt Smith briefly and Julian Sprung. Both seem to be very down to earth.

I will certainly be attending again in the future. Just not sure exactly when and where.

Anyone want to come to Louisiana for one?

 

[ironman]

HEHE! Funny you mention walt smith, brandon and I went up to the figi gold table not having a clue who they were. When walts wife proceeded to tell us there was no way possible to overdose the figi gold brandon called her out on it and she got ticked. then I sat there and asked walt how he could think that it couldnt be overdosed. It was an uncomfortable situation. It wasnt till the banquet when they asked walt to come give his vacation ticket out that we realized it was walt and his wife we were jerking around! LOL! Woops!
I went and bought a thing of the figi gold out of guilt!

 

[johnr2604]

I dont believe the tank was won by an ARC member but if they were it was an out of towner. It was sold almost immiediatly because it was going to cost the winner $1000 dollars to ship.

I also cant believe people are complaining about the booths being $1200 that is actually cheap for a trade show. My wife runs trade shows for her company and we have seen $20,000 for a 10x10 and have seen the larger companies pay up to $100,000 for larger booths. Just wait till Atlantic city when the union forces them to pay to get thier trucks unloaded and loaded.

Another thing to think about is that the ARC were just the worker bees and MACNA is put on by MASNA. the ARC gets a very limited benefit from the money that was made. I promise that most of the expensive stuff we had no control over such as food pricing, parking and drinks. We all had to pay it too. None of us got paid and it cost me money to be there.

I'm truely sorry if any of our people came of as being rude. We all worked very long hours with a couple hours sleep and maybe time to eat one meal a day. I'm sure it was nothing personal and just fatigue.