Huge Frag Swap Suggestion...

I spent a few years as a trustee of the Utah Open Source Foundation, so I helped manage and schedule the yearly nerd conference.  I would be happy to help with it.

couple of things that would have to be done quickly.  One, a committee to put the plan together, and a chair person to be in charge....cough...nikki...cough...nikki....cough  (typed in my best subliminal style).  Positions that need to be filled.  Marketing person, the face, the one to push it, the person to be the announcer to announce events, etc. 

One thing that would have to be found immediately is a space.  We need a space so we can lay out what we want.  There has to be a booth layout, then someone to manage the spaces, the schedule and who goes where.  That is what I always did, was the conference scheduler/manager.  Once the layout of the booths is designed, then there is a decision on the cost of the booths.  Better booths at the front or at the start of isles usually get premiums, just like booths next to the entrance.

Also, if you are going to plan this type of "conference" swap meet, then my suggestion is to pepper it with 3 or 4 good speakers on topics that would interest the crowd.  Make it a full blown fish nerd conference.  Frags, equipment, booths to sell whatever would appeal to the hobbyist.  As long as they pay for a booth, and what they are selling is legal, go for it.  if it is all day we need to court some food vendors who want to come in and will pay us a percentage, or some decent fee.  This done right can make substantial money.  Especially if advertized correctly and the word gets out all over the mountain west.

Do we want to make the place in sections, vendors here, hobbyists here, or frags over here, equipment over here, or just spread eveyrone out.  My suggestion is mix and match and spread them out to maximize traffic.

Do we want to charge a minimal admission, like a $2 for a member of any fish club, $3 or 4 for someone not a membrer?  or just let in the general public and make the money on the booths?

lots and lots of questions to answer.  I nominate Nikki to chair this since this is her idea..all in favor say I!!!

Wow bmac! Those are great suggestions!! You'd better be right alongside me if you're nominating me! LOL.

You're completely right on all those points. That's why I was nervous waiting until the new year to get started. There's so much to do! I also agree we need a chair and subcommittees (sponsors, vendors, advertising, food, facilities, you name it!) I'm more than happy to volunteer as long as I have everyone on board.

I was thinking the "facilities" committee could research our needs (based on expected number of vendors, hobbyists, etc.) and compare our electrical and space needs to available places (also depending on cost, convenience to the highway, etc.) I like your idea of mixing hobbyists with vendors. Most places I've seen line the vendors against the walls (so they have the most electrical access) and put the hobbyists in the center (less electrical...if any.) If we could find a facility to accomodate everyone, that'd be great! I also hadn't thought of charging a premium for booths at the entrance to aisles. Really think we could get more for them? I was thinking maybe a premium for corner spaces or double spaces. Hmm...interesting!

Speakers would be awesome, but I'm not convinced (not that it matters). This would make it a mini-MACNA with hobbyists selling too...almost seems like too much going on (at least for my little brain.) But you're right - it would draw even more attention. I wonder if we could get a mini hotel with multiple conference rooms in order for it to work. Hummmmm....

Food vendors may be tricky. If we do it in a hotel, we usually have to use their catering service ($$$.) I was just thinking of ordering pizza and soda...or maybe some hamburgers/hotdogs on a grill...but vendors would be nuts! Getting more interesting!!

As far as $$ goes, I think those things would just have to wait for the swap committee to propose a budget and present it to the Presidency. We'd have to weigh the costs of the facility, etc. and make sure we make the club back something nice to fund more activities.

Molli - that's a neat idea! We could have a small QT/dipping station with maybe some pictures of pests and containers to dip a few corals in. I have a few concerns (certain frags don't do well with certain dips, so we don't want to kill people's frags, etc.), but I think we can work around them. It would be so educational and beneficial!

   

So is this like the Mountain West Reef Fest we had or a bit different?

It's like FragStock, MWRF, and the classified forums all combined into one big, crazy event. :) Or...at least that's the vision.

We usually had ours at places like the American Legion, etc. - big enough, but cheap. If we did speakers, I don't think that would cut it. Parking at the campuses would be easy...hmm. We usually paid about $400 for our location, and we made that back with no problem (and then a whole bunch.)

I agree that location should be central SLC...makes it so we're likely to have the Vegas crowd, Idaho, everyone. The highways make it all pretty easy to get to, too. The last thing we want is to be in the middle of nowhere with nothing for the families to do.

What I've seen in the past is the following (I have detailed sample budgets somewhere).

Vendor space (depends on space size): $100+$50 donation (non-sponsor), $75 + $25 donation(sponsor)
Early bird space: $30 (non-member), $20 (member)
General Admission: $5 (non-member), free (member)

Raffle donations (gets various size/location advertisement placement)
Platinum sponsor: $300+ donation
Gold sponsor: $200-300 donation
Silver: $100-200 donation
Bronze: $10-100 donation
I've got a list already of companies known for donating for advertising space. Hopefully they'll do it for us too!

Raffle tickets: $1 per ticket, or 25 for $20.

Food: minimal funds for the club

T-shirts: $20 per shirt

Alright...I'm thinking we have a good start with lots of interest. I think it's time (once we have the official "go"), to make the committees and get the groups working on what they think is best. We can hem and haw over this here, but it'd be great for each group to pick out what they think will work.

Edited by ReefdUp - October 09 2012 at 10:04pm

Here's a screen clipping from Fragswapper. Just list what you have available for the swap, then people can request them. So much easier than running around like crazy.

Well I am willing to help also.  I forgot to add that on the last post.  Everything is sounding like alot of fun. 

Would it be worth starting a poll, to see who would attend and see if it is worth the trouble? To be honest, I personally wouldn't but I'm probably the minority.

ReefdUp wrote: rfoote wrote: Would it be worth starting a poll, to see who would attend and see if it is worth the trouble? To be honest, I personally wouldn't but I'm probably the minority. Considering we had over 400 people at our Fragstock (and we would just be expanding Fragstock rather than making a whole new event), I don't see why we wouldn't easily get 400+...which might be a bit excessive for a poll. May I ask why you don't think you'd participate...even as a possible buyer?

Oh, a few different reasons but I recognize that they are probably exclusive to a nut like me and that I'd probably offend. In regards to as a buyer, just not really willing to drive an hour for the same thing I can have delivered to my door.(unless it is to support an LFS)

Edited by rfoote - October 18 2012 at 7:33pm

How do these frag swaps work?  Are the corals happy in tanks so that you can get a good look at them or are they in small containers and all closed up?  Have they been in small containers for quite awhile or are they somehow getting oxygen and water flow?  I've never been to a frag swap before.  It sounds interesting and I'd volunteer some of my time to help -- just can't commit to spending a lot of time each week from now until then.

rfoote wrote: ReefdUp wrote: rfoote wrote: Would it be worth starting a poll, to see who would attend and see if it is worth the trouble? To be honest, I personally wouldn't but I'm probably the minority. Considering we had over 400 people at our Fragstock (and we would just be expanding Fragstock rather than making a whole new event), I don't see why we wouldn't easily get 400+...which might be a bit excessive for a poll. May I ask why you don't think you'd participate...even as a possible buyer? Oh, a few different reasons but I recognize that they are probably exclusive to a nut like me and that I'd probably offend. In regards to as a buyer, just not really willing to drive an hour for the same thing I can have delivered to my door.(unless it is to support an LFS)

Edited by BobC63 - October 18 2012 at 10:24pm