AQUAMANIA 2015

[fredmir]

When is your next  AQUAMANIA

[ajm1961]

April 11 and 12 - same place as last year: Travelodge on Carling Avenue.
Speakers to be announced.
Stay tuned.

[ajm1961]

****ANNOUNCEMENT***

AquaMania will be limited this year to just the Giant Auction on Sunday, April 12 at the Travelodge Hotel, 1376 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1Z 7L5

We are sorry the whole event could not be organized this year. Various personal circumstances plus competing events during that period have made it difficult to find sufficient sponsor support and available speakers.

We will be posting information about the Giant Auction in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!

[Stussi613]

****ANNOUNCEMENT***

AquaMania will be limited this year to just the Giant Auction on Sunday, April 12 at the Travelodge Hotel, 1376 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1Z 7L5

We are sorry the whole event could not be organized this year. Various personal circumstances plus competing events during that period have made it difficult to find sufficient sponsor support and available speakers.

We will be posting information about the Giant Auction in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!

This is very sad, I think that the event went so well for two years in a row and we had some great momentum going. 

It's too bad that there wasn't a way for the exec to pull it off this year.

[bitterman]

I'm deeply saddened about this I understand all the hard work the exec puts in for such an even being there for the past 2 Aquamania's to help.

Be nice if more people in the club stepped up to help the exec.

Bruce

[robt18]

It came down to corporate vendors not being able to make it out and give us the support we needed with booth/table rentals. The speakers, organization, etc. were all doable, but unfortunately the majority of the funding came from sponsorship/vendors the past two years and they simply weren't available this time around.

We spent a long time discussing and trying to figure out other possible ways to make things work, but it just wouldn't come together this time around.

We look forward to the Giant Auction and hope AquaMania can return in years to come.

[charlie]

This is very sad, I think that the event went so well for two years in a row and we had some great momentum going. 

It's too bad that there wasn't a way for the exec to pull it off this year.

Sad is an understatement.
I can tell you this makes me rethink my association with the club.
The momentum that was generated in the last 2 years has gone for nought, trust me trying to do this again will take a lot more work than Aquamania 1. & that work needs to be started from NOW, not in 2016.
Regards

[Nienna]

Sad is an understatement.
I can tell you this makes me rethink my association with the club.
The momentum that was generated in the last 2 years has gone for nought, trust me trying to do this again will take a lot more work than Aquamania 1. & that work needs to be started from NOW, not in 2016.
Regards

The executive asked for people to step up for AquaMania twice at the meetings this year and I believe we also mentioned it at last year's elections.  AquaMania is a huge amount of effort and does require a lot of upfront planning.  A particular challenge we faced was the need to contact people and organize things to happen during business hours.  Originally we were hoping to have a sub-exec group of volunteers dedicated to AquaMania - if people are willing to step up we could theoretically start as soon as the elections are complete and the new exec votes on whether the club should make the attempt.

Respectfully I disagree that hosting AquaMania next year would take more work than the initial AquaMania - there are many groundbreaking things that have already been done to clear the way.  In particular, we have a familiar, accomodating and sufficiently sized location, sponsors who are willing to participate as long as they have sufficient notice to book us and a record of what was done and what needs to be done in order to make it happen.

If the club wants to be able to host big events, we need the support from the members to do it.

[charlie]

The executive asked for people to step up for AquaMania twice at the meetings this year and I believe we also mentioned it at last year's elections.  AquaMania is a huge amount of effort and does require a lot of upfront planning.  A particular challenge we faced was the need to contact people and organize things to happen during business hours.  Originally we were hoping to have a sub-exec group of volunteers dedicated to AquaMania - if people are willing to step up we could theoretically start as soon as the elections are complete and the new exec votes on whether the club should make the attempt.

Respectfully I disagree that hosting AquaMania next year would take more work than the initial AquaMania - there are many groundbreaking things that have already been done to clear the way.  In particular, we have a familiar, accomodating and sufficiently sized location, sponsors who are willing to participate as long as they have sufficient notice to book us and a record of what was done and what needs to be done in order to make it happen.

If the club wants to be able to host big events, we need the support from the members to do it.

Thanks for enlightening  me on what it takes to do Aquamania.
Regards

[Lexx]

Being new to the club i have not attended Aquamania in the past. By the sounds of it, it is agreat event. As i have enjoyed attending the meetings, i would like to offer assistance towards the return of Aquamania. If someone could point me in the right direction as to who to talk to that would be great.  i also feel that it should be a seperate committee comprised of volunteers, overseen by the exec.

Regards
Morgan

[ajm1961]

Let's not look at the glass half-empty. Yes, it's disappointing that we don't have the full enchilada this year. But we will have the Giant Auction, and we are keeping our association with the Travelodge as the venue. We will do our best to make that a success, and a fun-filled time for everyone.

Things are looking up for the end of season:
- we had a good turnout for the last meeting, and all had a good time
- we have a great speaker in Larry Johnson coming up, along with a planned dinner
- we have another good speaker on deck for April's meeting: Catherine Salmon on Bettas
and we are planning a spaghetti dinner and yet another speaker for the May Election night
I've also started looking into a possible Montreal LFS bus tour for June - so stay tuned for that.

As for planning next year's AquaMania - if anyone wishes to volunteer to start that process, please PM me - I'll be more than happy to have someone take that over.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES ON THE GIANT AUCTION!!

[ajm1961]

PM sent to Lexx.

Anyone else want to start planning, or better still, lead the planning for the 2016 event?
PM me...

[Stussi613]

I find it supremely frustrating that I have experience with the exact thing that it seems was a gap from previous years events and my offer to help wasn't taken up. 

I hate to say it, but some of us knew this was going to happen.

There's a big difference between volunteering and saying you don't have time to do things and actually doing the things that need to be done.  To say that the inability to make calls during the day is the reason that the corporate sponsors didn't sign on is a total load of BS.  I did 80% of the communications by email.

I have little doubt what the outcome of my post will result in (censorship or being warned) so I'm just going to quit while I'm ahead and thank Andre, Sylvie and Robert H for all their hard work over the years and for the great event we pulled off a few times.

[ajm1961]

Okay, let's move on. As I said, what's past is past - let's look forward to a great auction.
And for those of you who are interested in organizing next year's event, send me a message.

We will open a new thread for the Giant Auction so we may focus on providing information for that.
Thanks to all for your patience and understanding.