Re: So what are your thoughts of the OVAS swap meet & season Launch - Sept. 22

[exv152]

D Day is here less than 3 hrs away it`s a wet  cool day, so come on down meet your fellow aquatic hobbyist, share your hobby experience, ask questions, buy & sell your excess aquatic collection, have a meal, renew your membersip, buy your OVAS shirt & wear it proudly, sit in on a few w/shops, win some cool prizes, have a great time with folks who share your hobby interest - what a way to spend your wet Sat. afternoon

Thanks you to all the ovas people for putting this on, great time and we should do more like it.

[charlie]

Thanks Eric.
On behalf of all your hard working Execs. I would like to thank each & everyone who made todays effort a success, was it a great success -No but it`s a good isgn of where we are going & we are happy in that regard.
A special thanks to all our sponsors that supported us in one way or another.
To those that took time to chat with us thank you, it was appreciated & judging from the feedback it was an enjoyable day & everyone was happy with our new location.
Please share your opnion of today`s event , it will further help us devolp from here.
Thanks All
Errol/Charlie
OVAS President

[daworldisblack]

It was a great effort by the club to get people out. I think quite a handful showed up and it was good to see fellow members and chat them up again. Got my membership today as well so it was convenient. I brought a friend along and he was interested because of the info sessions which he found useful. Definitely the turnout could be better but it was an indication as to what is possible if you multiply club participation by even a small factor. Sponsors were great and knowledgeable as were the fellow members! So def come out next time to just chat, learn and even win a few prizes (my fiend won free New ERA food and a few of the other members won giftcards to the sponsor's stores!)

[Feivel]

I sat and listened to robs presentation for salt water set-up and won a koralia 1050 door prize donated by one of our great sponsors.

Thanks again Ray and everybody for taking the time to put an event like this on. it takes a lot out of your spare time and life and family time and we appreciate the effort and participation by the members for bringing their stuff and offering a second life to some old gadjets that we dont need and someone else can profit from

Kudos to you guys
Cheers
Seb

[Monte]

It was a great season launch. I would like to thank the Execs for doing such a great job and working so hard to make the season opener a success.
The food was great ( pulled pork ) and the new venue was a needed improvement.
The workshops were a great idea for new members to gather more info on aquarium keeping and nice stuff for sale at the members and vendors tables.
I won a couple of prizes which made my day ( fish food and a $20.00 Gift card from critter jungle) .
I will be stopping by there soon to buy some supplies. It was also nice to chat with members I haven't seen all summer.
Looking forward to the Oct. meeting.

Take Care..  Steve/Monte    

[76brian]

I enjoyed it. It was good to meet and chat with other hobbyists. Thanks to the club for organizing it. I would go to another one any time.

Swap meets are always great. I didn't win anything but I got away with some good deals, enough to set up a complete second tank... plants and all

I was also glad to sign up for a membership and support the club. I think the discounts alone are worth the $20, never mind all the other benefits.

[charlie]

thanks to those of you who posted , but i saw quite a few guy`s from the forum there & we need your input let us hear ti, i know you guy`s are not shy so come on .
Thanks

[NjOyRiD]

well for me, would of been great to have more salties with me haha
i guess I,ll have to fix that up haha

[charlie]

well for me, would of been great to have more salties with me haha
i guess I,ll have to fix that up haha

Well i`m pleased that you said it! I can assure it`s not from the lack of effort from the club

[NjOyRiD]

we need to find somebody that will sell frags at them meetings

[NjOyRiD]

anybody else wants to put their 2 cents? lol

[lucius]

As a new member, I thought it was great for the most part.    I found that not a lot of people talked to me but I admit, I didn't really go around introducing myself.  Only charlie came and talked to me. 
I stayed for most of the presentations.  Sometimes it was difficult to hear, even with the loud speakers, when there were people behind me talking.    So I think next time, I won't sit in the very back row.

There was some confusion on my part as I wasn't sure If I needed to sign in or something.  When I walked in, nobody asked if I was a member and I had to ask for a ticket at the front tables.  And I only asked for a ticket because I saw other people doing it after I did a walk around. 

There were alot of interesting stuff for sale and I bought a piece of driftwood and pleco cave.  I was also the winner of the DYI fish food which leaked on the way home but luckily I had double bagged it and it only leaked through the first bag. 

[Feivel]

Maybee we can set up that tank u picked up phil and offer some frags to other members? This could spark some salty interest:-) 

[groupie02]

well for me, would of been great to have more salties with me haha
i guess I,ll have to fix that up haha

it's really hard to spot a salty from a distance 
I didn't know you were there otherwise I would have introduced myself

Cheers

[1macuser]

As a new member it was nice to see and talk with other Cichlid hobbyist to get more info and talk about setups.
Looking forward to attend the monthly meetings and find out more about pretty much everything.

[bergenm]

I thought it was a good effort by the club. Thanks to the Exec for all the hard work.

Pros - Nice change in format
       - Good to get to talk one on one with people
       - Informative seminars/speakers
       - Nice to meet/talk with the sponsors

Cons- It would be nice to have a loading/unloading area for these events
       - Too much talking/noise during the presentations
      - Could use more promotion/advertising for these types of events
      - Could use a bit more organizing at the front table

Suggestions
       - Having a mini-auction towards the end of the day might be an idea... I would have been happy to get rid of some of my larger/heavier stuff regardless of the price...
       - Maybe having a 'Club Sales' table set up for people who want to sell stuff but can't be there to do so, or for items donated to the club - if the stuff doesn't sell it goes in the mini-auction...

[charlie]

I thought it was a good effort by the club. Thanks to the Exec for all the hard work.

Pros - Nice change in format
       - Good to get to talk one on one with people
       - Informative seminars/speakers
       - Nice to meet/talk with the sponsors

Cons- It would be nice to have a loading/unloading area for these events
       - Too much talking/noise during the presentations
      - Could use more promotion/advertising for these types of events
      - Could use a bit more organizing at the front table

Suggestions
       - Having a mini-auction towards the end of the day might be an idea... I would have been happy to get rid of some of my larger/heavier stuff regardless of the price...
       - Maybe having a 'Club Sales' table set up for people who want to sell stuff but can't be there to do so, or for items donated to the club - if the stuff doesn't sell it goes in the mini-auction...

Good input Mike love it, especially the suggestion of a mini auction at the end.
Thanks Errol

[rockgarden]

Love the new location/facility.  Selling raffle tickets at the next giant auction should be a breeze  .  I pretty much missed the rest of the day but nice to see everyone that I did get to see. Next time I'll remember to come with a fully charged battery in my camera so that I'll have photos to add to my blog to promote OVAS activities some more.  

Now have to focus on the Carleton University butterfly exhibit which starts this weekend (butterfly info: http://www.megapixeltravel.com/2012/08/carleton-university-butterfly-exhibit-2012/

Ron