Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations 2009 PB Conference location

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#125528 - 18 July, 2008 07:51 Re: Conference, from my eyes..... [Re: Bob Lusk]
. Bob Lusk .I swear this meeting was another family reunion of many people who have never met face to face...I plan to write a letter to everyone, thanking them for attending. Plus, we'll include a survey to gain some input.
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We need to decide when and where to have the next one. Ray Scott wants us to go to New Orleans. Others want us to go north, maybe to Columbus, Ohio. We've had others ask us to come to Charlotte, NC. So, we'll see.............................................
Thanks for your friendship and loyalty to me and our favorite pond magazine.Fish on!Bob Lusk
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For obvious reasons my FIRST choice is Arlington – if it ain’t broke – don’t fix it.
My second FIRST choice is Jackson, Mississipppi:

Half way between Dallas and Atlanta, I-20 all the way.
Short commute for Ray Scott and Bill Dance
Historic southern city.
Jackson-Evers International Airport provides 40 daily non-stop flights to ten cities / twelve airports via eight outstanding passenger carriers.

Oh, did I fail to Mention Eric West?

I know my chances of going would greatly increase the closer the convention is to my home, but I also know we have alot of resident Texans on the forum, so we don't want to make them travel to far. I would like to see it in Indy, but how about St. Louis? It is kind of a middle ground between east and west, north and south.

Here's my two cents and it may be completely wrong...

I used to be president of a state taxidermy association. Mind you it was only state and not national. We usually stayed in one location in the state a couple of times and then moved to a different area of the state, i.e., southwest to northeast. What we found was we did lose some people. However the people that were committed came no matter where the convention was located. But most importantly we ended up with lots of new people.

I guess moving to a drastically new area would be a gamble, but it could pay off in many new subscribers. Two things we found out were very important to relocating: Strong advertising of the convention, and an on site person that did a very good job of organizing it, and good communication.

I say we relocate, but not sure if we shouldn't move too far from the base as in Jackson or New Orleans until Pond Boss increases more northern subscribers. On the other hand moving north could be a gamble that really pays off.

If we did go north it would be important to set up the convention dates as soon as possible along with the Itinerary ASAP with topics of interest to draw people in in that region. And of course the usual local media advertisement closer to the convention.

Also if a move north is done, someone should do some research and find an area that has lots of ponds and hasn't been ravaged by drought or flooding that may have distracted folks to other priorities than their ponds.

And if we relocated to Jackson or New Orleans please, please, not during hurricane season.

And one more thing. Taking a vote to see if a move is warranted doesn't work well. Why? Because a large amount of your members at the time will be from the area you just had your show. Guess where they will want it?

St. Louis sounds good to me!

St. Louis or Columbus would work for me. Never been to either city. BUT, I have been from Maine to Spain.

Wait. Is that Columbus Tx., or Miss? Ain't there one up north somewhares?

We better hold it in Granville, Ohio, just to keep Burger from getting confused.

I think we should have it at the Lazy W.

I think it should be a 4 day event.Day 1)meet&greet.Ididnt get to meet near as many people as I wanted to,and didnt get to spend enough time with those I did.(As an aside,showing up after an 18 hr workday with 2 1/2 hrs sleep didnt help much either.)
Days2-3)typical convention.Day4)Dinner&drinks.All day round table event.
IMHO Jeff was the smartest of us all.He got there early,rested up,met people as they arrived when possible and then had plenty of time afterwards before heading back home.THAT,my friends is forethought(so was getting adopted!)Hopefully,Ill be that smart next year.
Oh,by the way,I vote Arlington,but Im predgudist anyway

I also thinking "if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This was our first Pond Boss conference and I really liked the location (other than the hotel remodeling that was going on).

The advantages that this site has IHMO is:

The conference center is an easy walk from the hotel.

The hotel vans are very willing to not only run you to and from the airport but also to and from restaurants and include a tour of multiple cities to boot.

Very nice swimming pool and grounds at the hotel.

The hotel itself, rooms, amenities, etc were very nice (once again aside from the construction).

I'm sure another location could be found that has all of these but some real location scouting would have to occur. If a new location didn't have shuttles that would run us to restaurants and to/from the airport that would increase the cost of the conference significantly (hiring a taxi for all local travel).

I'm not a fan of New Orleans at all but that is just my personal opinion. Just about any other location besides NO would be fine with me. Just please, please don't schedule the conference during tax season - - during tax season no JHAP or JWHAP.

One item I think that should be discussed is conference attendance. This forum has well over 4,000 members. The magazine has over 3,000 subscribers. Obviously there is overlap between the two and I have no idea how much. Still the attendence numbers are, IMHO, not great.

People this is our forum and in a way our magazine. From a layman's perspective there is no better place to obtain free information from the internet, and a great magazine at a very reasonable price that discusses pond management in a style and form that even a bean counter can understand. Sure there are highly scientific technical journals for the biologists, icthyologist and all of the other "ologists" but for a laymen these journals are "gouge your eye out" technical. Not so in the Pond Boss family.

My point related to all of this is that we really, really need to support Pond Boss if we want this source to be here in the future. Obviously we are constantly telling newbies to subscribe to the magazine, and not for any self serving purposes, but because it is a great reference material.

We also need to support the conference. For those of you that did not attend this year. Please seriously consider attending next year. It is not just about information, it is about friendship, camaraderie, and fun. You will get to meet your long lost crazy uncle JHAP and his fantastic wife JWHAP (and you'll wonder why in the heck she puts up with him). You'll get to meet all of the great moderators and personalties on this forum. I guarantee you that you will learn a lot and have a whole bunch of fun to boot. That week was by far the most fun vacation that I have had in years. And we have some ideas to make it even better (not that ANY of my ideas will be taken seriously).

Next year if you live within driving distance, which I consider to be 400 miles or less (heck I drive 500 miles just to get to my pond) then you should be at the conference. If you live in Texas then there is absolutely NO excuse for you not going.

Next year if you don't commit to going then I'm gonna organize a posse. There are some big folks on this forum and you don't want them knocking at your door at 2 am. We have our very own Mongo and I gotta tell ya he looks like he wrestles bear just for fun and exercise. I'm sure for a few beers he'd head up the posse. You don't want Mongo and 9 other big angry Texan's knocking at your door just because you wouldn't drive a measly few miles to a conference that will be one of the best times that you've ever had. If I have a place on the 2009 conference attendance committee next year then that is the NICEST thing that'll happen if you don't commit to going.

I'm doing this for your own good, trust me on this.

Go to the 2009 conference or else.

Oh and while I'm yelling at you all I'll add this. Support the forum and magazine vendors. They support Pond Boss. So if you need supplies, equipment, paid technical advice then try to buy from a vendor that supports Pond Boss. That way you get what you want, they get a sale and Pond Boss get's supported. It's the cycle of life kinda sorta.

And tell the vendor that you heard about them on Pond Boss, they may not know so make them aware of it.

OK, NOW I'll get off the soap box.

You know after reading my posts above I have come to the conclusion that this new personality suppression medication that I'm ordered to take is affecting my humor level.

It's time to go off the wagon.

Again.

Ahhhh that's better.

NOW

I FEEL GOOD, LIKE I KNEW THAT I WOULD

SIgn me up fpr the posse....You said posse right?

yse.

A huge consideration is airline schedules and BBQ.

Lots of places were considered for the first one but, in virtually all cases, airline availability was very limited. Also, it takes beaucoups of on site looking, thinking, planning, negotiating, wheedling, threatening, etc. to pull it off.

BBQ speaks for itself. Aw heck, I gotta admit it. Texas has a lot of places that serve some pretty crumby BBQ. The one we have been going to is head and shoulders above any other place in the D/FW area.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm, BBQ.

I want more Main Street BBQ, I want it now.

My thoughts are ----- let Lusk choose whatever is best to accommodate his busy schedule. He, Otto, DD and all of the moderators are the backbone of this dysfunctional family, and will probably go anywhere (like most of us), but lets make it easy on them.
Personally, I'd like to have it in Vegas.

See JWHAP, I've been telling you this for years.

And now it's on the internet so it must be true.

I keep telling you not to believe every thing you read.

Folks, it's like trying to herd bees I tell ya...

angry little bees, with squeeky little voices, talking to you all angry-like, telling you to do things......


....oh, sorry, that was a different thread.

I like the Vegas idea, but I'm not sure we'd get much done.

This is not an easy choice either way. Part of me wonders if the show has developed enough critical mass to start moving it.

If it was to be moved, I would think you would not want to move it too far so as to keep as many of the drive-in folks coming again.

For us out of towners, we flew in anyway, so if it moved, no big deal.

There are a lot of things to think about and more ideas to review. It takes a lot of work to put on the PB conv. You have to have staff in place to do it and they have to be there for much of the work. You have to be close enough to enough members so that most don't have to pay to fly and stay. As Jeff noted we need higher attendance levels. You have a fair % of local vendors that are required to make this work. There are some very good and loyal nationwide vendors who will go to a good location but not enough to cover the possible loss of the local vendors.

George thanks for the thought about Jackson but DFW or other locations are much better.

It may be a while before we have another convention because of planning and timing.

There are other options. We could do regional meetings as have been done in the past. They are very good but just not a full scale convention with vendors and booths. They would be easier to do at remote locations due to costs.

More thoughts would be good - a lot to consider.

Regional meetings attended by Professor Lusk and his core bunch of groupies might be a good alternative to annual full scale conventions. Full scale conventions could then be held every few years.

DFW Regional PB Chapter already established and quarterly meetings held...

Dave Davidson and Fatty McB, Co-Presidents.
Rocky - Sgt. of Arms.
george -Pondster Emeritus...

WOOOO hoooo!!

The Texas chapter started up because of BBQ and TexMex!!!