Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations 2009 PB Conference location

I went out back and talked to the cook manning the bbq pitts.He told me they travel all over the us cooking for parties and entering contests.Ill bet they could ship you some.Dave,if you dont mind,would you ask about it the next time you go please?

St. Louis MO sounds great. If it's in St. Louis I'll be there. Otherwise I might have to wait a little while to get to a conference.

IMHO, I think Bob's support staff has got to be one of the main considerations. Not only the costs to attend, but the logistics of putting the conference on at a "remote" location.

"It's fun being on the Pond Boss Conference Attendence Possee. Ya get to meet new folks all the time. Let's see here, this is the address of a Pond Boss member that is close enough to drive to the conference yet didn't sign up. I think I'll just mosey up to the door and "introduce" myself."

Tom, I don't know whether they ship it but I do know that they do a lot of traveling. I'll ask the next time I go there.

Thank you Dave.

Jeff be carful, you should never carry more chain than you can swim with. It's dangerous very very dangerous.

I hear ya Rocky, that's why I recruit folks for the heavy work.

If that were me in that photo I'd have to use some of that white plastic chain stuff.

I like Bill's idea of regional meetings, it would allow more pondahawliks to meet, and exchange ideas. Id rather talk to people than try to hunt and peck on this keyboard!

After reading Mr. Lusks blog and checking out the links...I vote for Richmond Mill Lake

Yep, who needs speakers when you can fish every day at R Mills.

RM would be nice - but you better bring a BIG CHECKBOOK.

Tony Stewart's Martinsville ponds are very close to Indianapolis. Mr Lusk would have to call in a BIG favor for Tony to allow convention-goers to visit.

Personally I think regional meetings are fine but IHMO they are not a substitute for a national conference. Aside from Texas, at a regional meeting you will only have a hand full of attendees, you will not have any vendors and you will not have presentations from national experts. I think regional meetings have their place but cannot be compared to the conference.

I think the question that we should be asking is how can we make this conference a success. That conference hall could have easily held 50% more people and probably 100% more people. That would make the event more of a financial success for both Pond Boss and the vendors. The conference needs to become a profitable venture for all those involved (vendors and Pond Boss). Based upon my personal and professional experience it takes multiple years to have an event such as this achieve profitability. I think it would be a shame to kill the conference at this point in time.

Oh and just for clarification, I don't have any financial interest in Pond Boss, I am not a vendor, and I stand nothing to gain (financially anyway) from the conference. I am just an attendee that sees the potential in what has been created. This was only the second year and from what I have heard from first year attendees it had been significantly refined. This conference is in it's infancy. I think that if we had 500 to 600 attendees then the conference would be an entirely different event.

That is just my perspective in a rare moment of clarity or perhaps complete dementia - it's difficult for me to determine which is which anymore.

I agree JHAP, there is no substitute for a national conference, but many pond owners do not have either the time, or money to attend the national. I believe many pond owners would be interested in regional meetings where we could share ideas, and experiences, also being able to drive, or car pool to the event is a big advantage.
The fact that there wouldn't be vendors there is not important, meeting other pond owners, and gaining info on their problems, and solutions would be the main advantage. If we could get knowledgable speakers at the meeting all the better.
The comradery you experienced at the national was one of the main advantages of these meetings, and by having regional meetings more people would benefit from meeting other pond owners.
Maybe im all wet, (i also fell into my pond trying to align my dock from a boat) , but thats my 2 cents.

Jeff,

Were you at the convention last year? I could be wrong but it looked like there were more people in attendance last year. If so, that may have been due to things out of our control like the increase in fuel prices as in both automobile and air fare.

Kansas City area:
Hilton Garden Inn

Cecil, I was not at the 2007 conference. I hope Bob Lusk posts some comparative information from 2007 to 2008. Based upon initial discussions with Bob there was more attendance in 08 compared to 07 but not much of an increase. I'm sure that fuel prices caused some people not to attend.

A.P., I agree that regional meetings are a great way to share information. Unfortunately some of us (OK, I'm talking about ME, ME, always ME) live in an area that even if we got 100% attendance at a regional meeting we would only have four or perhaps five people there.

Look, all I'm saying that the conference was a fantastic experience and I really believe that as a forum we should be supportive by attending the conference. We can make this grow into a "must attend" event.

So I'm asking for forum members to spread the word and support the next conference through attendence.......



.... or the dog gets it.






Kidding, I'm kidding, no hate mail please, I don't even own a dog. JHAP doesn not adocate violence against animals even though he has in fact murdered Gams past. No animals were harmed during the creation of this post. It's a joke people. I'm just trying to make a point here. Moderators if this is too over the top please delete it. I didn't have much sleep last night so I'm kinda cranky.

JHAP, did i say i'd give you more BG this summer? and y'all thought my swiss army knife treatment was bad......

What can I say, either:

a) it's finally happened, JHAP has gone full tilt bozo and is armed and dangerous

b) a sleep deprived JHAP should not post to the forums, what little brain filter he has left doesn't function without an adequate amount of shut eye

c) spending a hour and a half in the car with the evil Dr. Condello affects a guy, it just does

d) all of the above

I'm feeling better now, really I am...

OK it's over, here is the location it's final.
http://bearfireresort.com

We got no reason to ever leave the lonestar state again. We got it all now!

I need to find out how those guys cool things down in Texas. It would help to cool down my trout pond.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=130268&Main=11662#Post130268

Bob posted about having the Conference in New Orleans.

That seems like a good place. Lots of things to do within walking distance. It is also not to far for all of the Pond Boss crew.

As long as it's not during hurricane season.