So what did you think?

It was a great event!!!
Needed more room, as we had tons of people there and needed to be able to set up the night before so things had time to open up and everyone doesn't feel rushed!
The BOD did a great job, congrats and thank you for your time and dedication!!!

 

Thanks guys. Yep, next year I think Friday night setup will be a must.

-JB

 

WOW! We were really impressed at the amount of people and the setup! The only thing I would do different is more room. A big thank you to everyone that got fish today too! We SO enjoyed meeting everyone! It was quite an honor to have Anthony Calfo stop at our home too! That man is an incredible wealth of knowledge. GREAT JOB GIRS! It is really great to talk to everyone as we all learn so much. We get and give great ideas and that is what this is all about. Again, a very impressive event!

 

Over all it rocked! Selection was awesome. The only thing that needed any improvement was the space issue. But hay to get the sweet deals i got today i'll gladly say excuse me 800 times.
Thanks to all who had part in setting it up!

 

It was still GREAT! Good Job!!

 

I want to applaud the BOD and the team of workers that pulled this off, kudo's to you!!! While it was a little tight at times, it really wasn't bad over all (space wise) and it was great to see the steady line of people waiting to get in!! I really liked the facility and the ease of loading and unloading for the sellers. Thanks also to Steph for a great lunch!!
It seems to me that with the "tight" economy and economic woes in this country presently that we should all be pretty happy that the turn out was so GREAT that we'll probably need more space next year!

 

That was a GREAT event. Sure it was a little tight but it didn't seem to stop anyone from coming home with loads of new coral. I for one might have over done it a little on the shopping end.

Thanks to everyone for their hard work especially Steph with those tacos! It was a very fun and successful event indeed!

 

I agree - it was a great event. The speakers were really informative, there was a great selection and variety of corals, and the raffle gifts were awesome. Really nice job. Yes, it was crowded, but that's just a testament of it's success. With so much selection of tables and goods to buy, who cared !! Thanks.

 

It was an absolutely GREAT event. A perfect place to take my wife and she was amazed by the corals that were there, I know I came home with more that if I wouldn't have brought her, great strategy! I already switched some of the flow in my tank after hearing the words of wisdom from such a great mind as anthony, I only wish I could have made it in time for the first speaker, that was worth the trip in and of itself. Thanks for all the countless hours that had to go into setting up such a great event.

 

Great event, no complaints about any of it. Thanks to the people that helped getting this even together. Thanks to JB, who IMO really got this off the ground. Steph them taco's were great. On the space issue, I don't think anyone who was planning this really expected to have a turn out like we did. A bigger place next year for sure.

2 thumbs up

Troy

 

I never thought i'd say this but my wife SPENT more than i did at the Fest. Time to UPSIZE the tanks again!!! I wish i could have bought more. Most of the frags have opened up...the other should in a couple days. Thanks to all. It was a good time.
I was wondering if anyone recorded Anthony Calfos talk and if so, how can i get a copy. We weren't able to stay do to kid issues

 

It was a great event and good to see the numbers that showed up. The tight space just brought us all a little closer together /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/wink.gif I may have gone a little overboard but hey we only have 2 swaps through the year. Now I am ready for Spring swap....starting to save my pennies!

 

I thought it was awesome. Was great to have the speakers too. I feel I learned a lot. Was great to see the large coming together of vendors. There sure was a lot of coral to choose from (too bad for me most of it was sps that I can't keep yet). I am pleased it turned out as well as it did

 

What a great event! We were very impressed with everything and everyone for such a successfull swap.
Thank you to everyone for all your hard work and we look forward to your next swap. If someone from the BOD can send a note when the next one will be that would be wonderful.
Thank you to everyone who got corals from us!!!
Look forward to seeing everyone again soon.
Karen & Paul
Paul's Corals

 

+1 on bigger place. It would have been nice for the people who were busy helping out to be able to listen to the speakers. Maybe if we get a bigger place that's more open next year, we could have the speakers on the other side of the room with sound throughout the place!

+1 on awesome idea of the "Walking Tacos." It was very simple and a something everyone can enjoy. Only suggestion: maybe some bottles of pop next time. I didn't see any spills, but it would make it a lot easier to walk around with them.

Suggestion for checking in: It would have been a lot easier and faster if we could have a list of members in order so I could have found them faster! This slowed down people coming in and might have frustrated a few who had to wait so long. There were a few people who didn't understand the question: "Are you guys members?" A lot of people thought that meant just registered on the club and not an actual paying member. The time we spent trying to find these names sure could have saved some time and headaches! Maybe we could have a laptop to check off members and keep a better number of attendance...?

Sorry I couldn't help stay to clean up, but coming early to help setup was no problem since I didn't actually have any live goods being stressed out yet. I live a little over an hour away, is that a good enough excuse! haha

All in all that was a MUCH MUCH better event than I could have expected! I couldn't make last years, so it was very nice to see (almost) everyone working together to put on such an impressive event! Can't wait til Spring Swap!

 

Posted By saltwaternewbee on 11/15/2009 01:45 AM
I never thought i'd say this but my wife SPENT more than i did at the Fest. Time to UPSIZE the tanks again!!! I wish i could have bought more. Most of the frags have opened up...the other should in a couple days. Thanks to all. It was a good time.
I was wondering if anyone recorded Anthony Calfos talk and if so, how can i get a copy. We weren't able to stay do to kid issues
I hear you there!! This is Chops from BNARC I want to say you all did an awesome job. I'm a noob to this hobby but from I seen yes it was a squeeze but man did them corals look awesome.
Me"I thought this was my hobby"
wife "yeah but those are really pretty"
yep gonna need another tank.

 

I'm a freshwater planted tank guy who is planning his first reef.  I heard about fall fest on this web site, and decided it would be worth the drive to see what it was like.  I especially wanted to here Anthony Calfo speak since I have a number of his books.
Well, let me tell you it was freaking *fantastic*.
I liked the food, I loved the vendor area, and was very upset I got there too late to hear all of the first presentation.  (Both of which were fantastic, IMHO).
Yes, it was a bit crowded in the vendor area, and at the next raffle it would be nice to have some chairs in the area.
I wanted to hear a presentation or two and maybe buy a few books I didn't have yet, and look at some coral.  I wound up buying a few hundred bucks of books, and even won a few nice little items in the raffle.  But the biggest thing was that I had the opportunity to ask Mr. Calfo questions, which he answered in an extremely detailed and understandable manner.  Having a chance to ask one of the worlds foremost Marine Aquarium experts specific questions?  Totally priceless.  That $10 ticket was some of the best cash I have ever spent. (And a big thank you to Mr. Calfo, who I suspect has answered my questions several hundred times, but still gave me all the info I wanted.)  I was expecting to hear him speak and maybe autograph a book or two, talk about a pleasant suprise!
Fall Fest was utterly fantastic, and I will most certainly be at the next girs event!
Next time around I would like to see a bigger venue, and more presentations.  Hopefully I'll have a tank up and running so I can get my hands on some of the amazing frags I saw.