Thanks for Making the BFD 6 A Success!

[jonclark96]

I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who attended the BFD this past weekend. Hopefully everyone had as good a time as I did. There was a lot of hard work put in to make the convention go, and I received nothing but positive feedback from everyone I talked to.

Thanks to the core group Manuel Moro, Michael O'Shea, Shawn Leffler, and Christine Keys for pulling this all together. You guys did a great job taking the lead and running a fun convention.

A big thanks to Jason C. for running the A/V. I think we're all a bit spoiled by having Jason as a part of the club. We kind of take for granted that we always have a solid backbone for our presentations, but it really is Jason doing a ton of work behind the scenes that is truly under-appreciated. Thanks for all that you do!

Thanks to Andrew, Matt E., Frank C., Victor, Caroline, and Pat for helping wherever was needed! You guys are great.

Thanks to everyone who volunteered at the registration desk, and I know if I try to name everyone that was there I will forget someone, so I won't even attempt. I know that everything was solid, and that's what counts!

Thanks to everyone who helped run bags in the auction and the Jim, Donna, and Bruce for helping with the MGA logistics. I think everything ran smoothly.

I'm sure that I am forgetting someone and I apologize ahead of time for doing so. Great job!!

 

[chriscoli]

Our registration desk folks absolutely rocked this year!

Greg Tangcollector
Walter Z zendog and Lucy L lizardboy
Mark MarkK
Shawn Leffler817
Reed Reed
Cory CSnyder00
Matt E FishEggs
Bryan + wife R Rinlor
Caroline Carolineep
Jim guarddog5
Bruce (dedicated Fish-Husband. He earned a LOT of Husband Points this weekend)


Who else did I miss?

 

[chriscoli]

Let's see....another name I forgot. Matt C mchambers did a ton of work before-hand keeping track of the ever-growing pre-registration list. Thank you, Matt!

 

[chriscoli]

Becca Becca , Shawn Leffler817 , Mike DiscusnAfricans , and Josh JLW coordinated group buys.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Jon pretty much took the words out of my mouth.

I tried to thank everyone I could possibly remember on saturday night before the AB awards, and Jason was someone I realized I forgot. I talked to him later, but he really is a huge asset to the club, he literally brought a van full of equipment, set it up with help, ran it for nearly the whole event, and broke most of it down, then had to transport it all back.

Manuel, Christine, Jon, Shawn, Matt and Andrew, you guys are amazing, the event couldn't have been a success without you. I probably wouldn't have eaten the entire weekend if it weren't for you guys, and someone would've found me passed out on the floor somewhere. Jon and Christine coordinated the raffle and did all of the heavy lifting for that among many other things, really appreciate you both, especially considering this was supposed to be a 'light' year for you guys. Shawn was our default MC, and took great care of our speakers. Andrew and Matt had their hands in just about everything and were always around for help. Everybody was a big hand with the auction fish, made it seem like a fairly easy task.

Thanks to everyone who helped at the registration desk, Christine covered more than I could remember, but the desk was always well staffed. msjinkzd brought her daughters which were also a huge help, I saw them back there several times. Bruce is awesome, spent time at the registration desk, picked up food for the speakers, helped lug supplies around, and is a role model for the fish spouses.

Thanks to everyone who helped bag fish for the auction, we had it done about 40 minutes prior to the auction, which was a relief, because I could actually relax for a few minutes before everything started. I know Becca , Wet Sleeves , Tony , and a few others helped on top of the core group, and I received several compliments on the quality of bagging. Thanks to the runners too, LiluDallas was happy to help as a new member, but I happened to miss most of the names. guarddog5 and a few others took care of bidder card registration and payment checkout. Sorry to anyone I missed, but you are appreciated, I just have a terrible memory in general, but especially for people's names.

Termato and Frank Cowherd did a great job with the Aquarium Beautiful competition, I know there were several GWAPA members, and other club members helping, but I was so wrapped up in other stuff I didn't truly notice all of the supporting staff, but their hard work was evident. Thanks to everyone who set up tanks, there were some really cool looking displays.

Thanks to P PatchinCurtis and Andrew for stocking and hosting/sponsoring the hospitality suite, as well as Sonny Disposition for providing security on friday, well past his bedtime. Everyone seemed to be having a great time anytime I was there.

All in all, the event was a huge success; my biggest complaint was the hotel's wifi running at dial-up speed. All of the speakers said they had a great time, and thanked us for having them. That was even after putting them to work helping with the auction, which was a blast. All of the vendors thanked us for inviting them, and said they wanted to return next year, except for maybe JLW . I talked to many people at the event, and everyone said they had a great time. Met a lot of first-timers, and all of them said they planned to return. I talked to people from at least 8 different states, and we even had someone fly in from Barbados. I talked to a lot of great friends, and even caught up with the elusive SubMariner .

Thanks to everyone who came, if it seemed like it takes a lot of work to run the event, its because it does, and we're always looking for more volunteers. We can only keep hosting a successful event if we have plenty of help. I'll need a few months break before we even start talking about BFD 7 .

 

[Jim Anderson]

Great job with a lot of hard work making it very successful as usual.
Thank You

 

[CSnyder00]

Jon pretty much took the words out of my mouth.

I tried to thank everyone I could possibly remember on saturday night before the AB awards, and Jason was someone I realized I forgot. I talked to him later, but he really is a huge asset to the club, he literally brought a van full of equipment, set it up with help, ran it for nearly the whole event, and broke most of it down, then had to transport it all back.

Manuel, Christine, Jon, Shawn, Matt and Andrew, you guys are amazing, the event couldn't have been a success without you. I probably wouldn't have eaten the entire weekend if it weren't for you guys, and someone would've found me passed out on the floor somewhere. Jon and Christine coordinated the raffle and did all of the heavy lifting for that among many other things, really appreciate you both, especially considering this was supposed to be a 'light' year for you guys. Shawn was our default MC, and took great care of our speakers. Andrew and Matt had their hands in just about everything and were always around for help. Everybody was a big hand with the auction fish, made it seem like a fairly easy task.

Thanks to everyone who helped at the registration desk, Christine covered more than I could remember, but the desk was always well staffed. msjinkzd brought her daughters which were also a huge help, I saw them back there several times. Bruce is awesome, spent time at the registration desk, picked up food for the speakers, helped lug supplies around, and is a role model for the fish spouses.

Thanks to everyone who helped bag fish for the auction, we had it done about 40 minutes prior to the auction, which was a relief, because I could actually relax for a few minutes before everything started. I know Becca , Wet Sleeves , Tony , and a few others helped on top of the core group, and I received several compliments on the quality of bagging. Thanks to the runners too, Jelimafish was happy to help as a new member, but I happened to miss most of the names. guarddog5 and a few others took care of bidder card registration and payment checkout. Sorry to anyone I missed, but you are appreciated, I just have a terrible memory in general, but especially for people's names.

Termato and Frank Cowherd did a great job with the Aquarium Beautiful competition, I know there were several GWAPA members, and other club members helping, but I was so wrapped up in other stuff I didn't truly notice all of the supporting staff, but their hard work was evident. Thanks to everyone who set up tanks, there were some really cool looking displays.

Thanks to P PatchinCurtis and Andrew for stocking and hosting/sponsoring the hospitality suite, as well as Sonny Disposition for providing security on friday, well past his bedtime. Everyone seemed to be having a great time anytime I was there.

All in all, the event was a huge success; my biggest complaint was the hotel's wifi running at dial-up speed. All of the speakers said they had a great time, and thanked us for having them. That was even after putting them to work helping with the auction, which was a blast. All of the vendors thanked us for inviting them, and said they wanted to return next year, except for maybe JLW . I talked to many people at the event, and everyone said they had a great time. Met a lot of first-timers, and all of them said they planned to return. I talked to people from at least 8 different states, and we even had someone fly in from Barbados. I talked to a lot of great friends, and even caught up with the elusive SubMariner .

Thanks to everyone who came, if it seemed like it takes a lot of work to run the event, its because it does, and we're always looking for more volunteers. We can only keep hosting a successful event if we have plenty of help. I'll need a few months break before we even start talking about BFD 7 .

You and Jon and Christine said it. It takes a small village of people to run an event well. While I wasn’t as involved as I would have liked to be, I was still able to pitch in at the desk. So many people helped make this event a good one. While many of you deserve a break, I’m going to suggest we start a “BFD comments/improvements” thread so that we can make notes for next year to help us get a head start. That way we can make suggestions on improvements while they are fresh on our minds.

Thank you all for a great weekend!

 

[Becca]

Also - thanks to the planning committee for doing all of the leg work to get this event set-up and moving this year!

 

[chriscoli]

While many of you deserve a break, I’m going to suggest we start a “BFD comments/improvements” thread so that we can make notes for next year to help us get a head start. That way we can make suggestions on improvements while they are fresh on our minds.

Thank you all for a great weekend!

I agree, but sometimes the comments can get a little....over the top. I'm willing to listen to any comments, and sort them into categories for presentation to the board. Instead of commenting here, everyone should feel free to send me a PM with your thoughts.

 

[CSnyder00]

I agree, but sometimes the comments can get a little....over the top. I'm willing to listen to any comments, and sort them into categories for presentation to the board. Instead of commenting here, everyone should feel free to send me a PM with your thoughts.

There you go. Good thinking. Thanks for being the lead on this.

 

[Wet Sleeves]

I had a blast. Thank you guys and gals for all your hard work.

 

[olzkool]

Thanks to everyone that made this possible!

 

[Frank Cowherd]

Hey, I had a great time, this convention was really good. Love the new hotel's ball rooms and atrium and hall ways. Access to water was great, disposal of water was not quite as good.

I really did not help with the ABC, though I did enter a couple tanks and won a ribbon or two. I must be getting the hang of decorated tanks finally.

I was a part of the crew who put together the racks for Jeff Rap and the fabulous rare fish display. Manuel M, his nephew Leo, his friend Walter (all the way from Peru just to help with the BFD), Bob Boch and Ted were there about 11:30 Friday. Manuel got the equipment there the night before. We got the rack up by 2 PM, black plastic on them shortly thereafter, cleaned up the tanks from last year removing all the old stickers and painted on labels, ran out to get braces for the rack so to guarantee they would not fall over sideways, got the lids on and sponge filter and air pump working, and had the water in them and dechlorinated (Jon Clark) and lights on (Jon CLark) way before the fish got there.


I know Manuel, Leo and Walter were involved with taking down the racks and getting to back to storage. Probably other were involved.

I am sure there are other people who supported the BFD through their work or actions and could call out many other people who helped in other ways. THere were a lot of people who helped make this BFD successful. Thanks to you all.

 

[Pat Kelly]

I will throw my 2cents worth in.....

I would also like to thank everyone who helped make this a success. I had a great time as usual.

I think this hotel rated in my personal top 3, if not #1, that I have ever been to for a fish convention.
I had no issues and they really keep the place up... even my room had nothing that I could find wrong with it. (yes, once I realized how nice it was, I really started looking for something. )
I am sure this hotel is more expensive to rent but I had multiple people tell me that we really stepped it up this year when it comes to hotels. One of those people puts on conventions for another club.....( he would not say ours was better than his but I am sure it is. LOL)

I am already looking forward to BFD7

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

The setup and teardown people are ones I missed, but were absolutely essential and appreciated. I've been fortunate every year that everything has always been set up and ready by the time I get to the event with fish. It makes my job much easier. I always help with teardown for what I can, but there are always a ton of people helping. Manuel's crew was a big help on both ends, the physical labor is taxing, but vital. Sorry about the mixup Frank, sometimes I fill in my own blanks and things get a little misconstrued, but appreciate everything you helped with.

 

[FishEggs]

I'd like to thank everyone who helped to make this event happen and run smoothly. I wont try to name everyone since i don't know everyone's name and what everyone did. I had a great time and everyone i talked to said everyone that they talked to had a great time and loved the event. I also want to thank everyone who spoke at and attended the event. With out everyone attending or speaking or vending at the event, no matter what everyone who runs the event does we wouldn't be able to do it. So thank you everyone.



i just had to see how many times i could say everyone while thanking everyone.





everyone.

 

[chriscoli]

For those that were curious, I just tallied up the registration totals. This year, we had 332 adults and 30 kids register for the full weekend, and an additional 191 people register for the Sunday only.

These are really awesome numbers!

And, because I know someone's going to ask...last year, we had 278 adults and 26 kids register for the full weekend, and 155 for Sunday only.

 

[CSnyder00]

Numbers up from last year significantly. I like it!

 

[Reed]

BFD gets Bigger and better every year thanks to the the number #1 CCA club. Thank you to all the hard working CCA Fish Ninjas volunteers who make it happen. We are very lucky to have a great crew of Club members and community to share our comon interests. Thanks again.

 

[Pat Kelly]

For those that were curious, I just tallied up the registration totals. This year, we had 332 adults and 30 kids register for the full weekend, and an additional 191 people register for the Sunday only.

These are really awesome numbers!

And, because I know someone's going to ask...last year, we had 278 adults and 26 kids register for the full weekend, and 155 for Sunday only.

A 20% increase in full registrations........ Who can complain about that..... That is a beautiful thing........