Since my name has been thrown around, I'll give my thoughts on what we did in Texas that seemed to work. Somebody has to take charge and just do it. Saying let's get together or y'all come just doesn't cut it. Trent Lewis kinda stuck me with the job. I don't remember how many attendees we had but it was around 15.
Step one was to find out when Lusk could be there. He is incredibly busy and working nationally but is also extremely interested in this type of thing. Pick the date and stick with it. This part can't be done by committee.
Next, find a place to have it. To do this, you really have to know how many are coming. Once you get a rough idea on numbers, find a place. Gary Condo (Pond Rookie) did it all on these arrangements. He has connections in the
hospitality industry. I wouldn't have known where to start. He also knows a Chef that provided, gratis, some damn good sub sandwiches. Since we were meeting at D/FW Airport, we couldn't wander around a lot so we ate and stayed put. Gary did a helluva job here. If anyone attending has experience in the hospitality industry, hustle them into doing this part. You might be well advised to get in touch with Gary to get his recommendations. We did not attempt to block out hotel rooms for those coming in to spend the night. Gary said we would have to personally guarantee ($) the room occupancy and we passed on this part.
You have to go into marketing mode. I went through past posts to find people in Texas and E-mailed them. Most responded but some didn't. I correctly surmised that some interested ponders only log on occasionally. Since we were meeting inside the Airport, we had to have a firm list of attendees to furnish to Airport Security. Make a list. Not everybody showed that said they would and a couple of people showed up that hadn't previously committed. Gary was able to get them in.
No matter what you do, you have to have some kind of commitment. Without it, you can't make arrangements or figure out an agenda.
For an agenda, we had Lusk talk about all of the steps in ponding from site selection to fishing. Mike Otto talked from his extensive experience on sites and the aspects of pond building. Lots of agreements and disagreements, cussing and discussing here. Lots of sharing on what had and hadn't worked. All of us, including Bob and Mike, learned from each other. Lots of interesting new ideas and experiences were thrown out.
In retrospect, I can't think of anything that we could have done differently. Some attendees might have other ideas and can chime in with suggestions. I hope they will. Eric West (EWEST) did a great job of chronicling the various aspects that we discussed.
The part that I think all of us enjoyed is putting real names and faces with the CB Handles that a lot of people use to post here. I hope we can do it again next year.
Oh yeah, bring pictures of your water holes.
