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Big Fish Deal 2019

Becca

Members
I dont think it should be on the club to pay money out to make up for people being ill prepared. Anyone that attends trade shows or these types of events where you have to haul a bunch of stuff to and from, should have their own cart or wagon or whatever they need. Cant assume there is going to be anything there for you when hundreds of other people are trying to do the same thing. If a person needs help with moving product, they should think ahead and ask for it, set something up. Plenty of helpful people in the club.

Just wanted to put my 2 cents in even though I know I will lose money since you only get 1 penny for your thoughts but sometimes that's just the cost of doing business.

You do have a point there. Still, with all of the stuff this event has people hauling in and out (tanks for the auction, wooden stand set-ups for auction and vendors, tanks for display and competition, AV equipment, etc.) it probably would not hurt for the club to have 1 or 2 hand carts for volunteers to use for this. I could just see it coming in handy, particularly if we know we'll be fighting other events for use of limited hotel carts. It's not something the club wouldn't continue to use in the future.
 

captmicha

Members
Maybe some kind of shuttle service? Not that I'm volunteering! Someone with a van/large SUV and a significant other into the event but the spouse not so much.
 

chriscoli

Administrator
Let's all hold off till we can get the official announcement site set up. I have Bruce investigating parking options, and we're not done discussing things with the hotel.
 

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
As I originally mentioned, and Christine followed up with, we're going to post the details when we have everything available. Your cut and paste links below aren't accurate for what we'll have available. As we did last year, we're doing our best to negotiate lower rates for attendees, but we know they won't be waived.

Parking at that hotel is $20-$22 per day, which is somewhat excessive, given that it is almost as much as the event itself. It does appear that there are other garages around that charge lower rates (as well as metered parking) if you use an online service to reserve parking in advance (more like $5-$10 per day). If you're staying at the hotel, they'll validate your ticket so you don't get charged more than once per day if you're coming and going multiple times, but it doesn't reduce the daily fee.

Information on hotel parking is here:
https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/maryland/hyatt-regency-bethesda/bethe/maps-parking-transportation

The hotel is a short distance from the Bethesda metro station. Here's a list of nearby parking areas:
https://www.yelp.com/search?find_loc=One+Bethesda+Metro+Center+One&cflt=parking

It looks like at least some of these are free on weekends, after 10am.

If we want to stop high parking fees from deterring marketplace-only attendees (after all, the hotel parking costs more than it takes to get into Repticon, or the pet conventions) maybe it's worth getting in touch with one of the other parking garages to see about a discounted rate?

At the very least, we could add a list of parking garages and prices to the BFD website.

I like to help with this event, but probably won't this year because of the commute time and the level of traffic I'll face when I need to go pick my kids up from daycare/school on Friday.

Additional work requires additional help, we already place a huge burden on the few people willing to organize and run this event. Hopefully some people will volunteer their time and not just their ideas.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
I am hesitant to enter this heated discussion, but here's the information about parking in Bethesda generally:

https://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/parking-transit-info

Note that street parking and country garage lots are free on weekends and there are lots near the hotel. Having said that, the spots fill up quickly. Don't come at noon and expect to find a spot. Also, Friday evening will be quite a challenge, I think.

Of course, if you aren't lugging much stuff, the hotel is very near the Metro, so that may be an option for some folks. (Yes, I know Metro service isn't what it once was, especially on weekends.)
 

Becca

Members
Additional work requires additional help, we already place a huge burden on the few people willing to organize and run this event. Hopefully some people will volunteer their time and not just their ideas.

I always do volunteer my time, usually to help recruit sponsors and/or run a group buy, but I don't mind calling around to parking garages if I've got the pertinent information to give them about the event. I also reached out a few times over the past several months to see if there was anything I could help with and received no response. I've volunteered to help with set up and running this event from the 2nd year on, as have many others, but the location chosen for this year makes that difficult. I'm still happy to help with arrangements if needed, but in-person is going to be difficult this year due to commute time.

I'm sure there'd be others happy to help in ways other than pitching in ideas if they knew what the planning folks needed help with.

If there's something concrete y'all need help with, feel free to reach out via e-mail.
 

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
My statement was generalized to the club, I know you've helped in the past, we appreciate it. I didn't word my response the best way.

The past few months have been investigating options and locations, so we weren't recruiting help for that phase as its a specialized task.

Once we have a finalized plan, which should be very soon, we'll be actively recruiting help. We'd be glad to have the assistance in recruiting sponsors and donors, soliciting group buys, etc.

Our biggest need is generally during the event; assisting at the registration desk, setting up racks for auction tanks, helping AB participants with their setup logistics, etc.

We'll reach out for pre-event help once we have other details confirmed and finalized. When we ask for help closer to the event, sometimes its tough to get a decent response, but generally people step up at the event. Its just tough with some of our staff handling multiple tasks while helping vendors and attendees take care of their needs. The event has been well run recently, but it can also be stressful and tiring.

In conclusion, we have people working very hard behind the scenes to get everything started. Once we have more details, we'll post that information and start reaching out to people. We're looking forward to another great event, but it will also come with challenges of another new location.

We have Board of Directors elections happening on Saturday, anyone that thinks they could help with club logistics should step up and run, we always like to see active participation. We're glad to have help from non-board members as well, but running for a position will give you an inside look at club events.
 

captmicha

Members
As I originally mentioned, and Christine followed up with, we're going to post the details when we have everything available. Your cut and paste links below aren't accurate for what we'll have available. As we did last year, we're doing our best to negotiate lower rates for attendees, but we know they won't be waived.



Additional work requires additional help, we already place a huge burden on the few people willing to organize and run this event. Hopefully some people will volunteer their time and not just their ideas.
I'd love to, but due to my disabilities, I really can't commit to any kind of a schedule or much work.

If there are any little things that aren't dependant on a set time, I could do that. So just let me know.
 
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