Carolina Fish Talk Forums banner

TRAC Meetings

5K views 28 replies 12 participants last post by  gatorchem 
#1 ·
How do you guys want to handle our meetings in the future? Our attendance at monthly meetings has dropped considerably in the last several months, so let's figure out what we need to do to make meetings more appealing and convenient for everybody.

Some ideas would be:
-Have meetings on a weeknight instead of on Saturdays
-Have meetings every other month instead of monthly
-Have a different club member plan each meeting
-Make meetings into frag swaps and advertise heavily - the hard part about this idea would be finding a location to host us.

These are just a few ideas - I don't feel particularly strongly about any of them, and I'd love to hear some more!
 
#2 ·
Hey Scouter,

We all admire your persistance and drive. I think you previously opened the table to others volunteering to become officers of TRAC in an earlier post. You obviously carry the load of TRAC for the most part on your shoulders alone, and we thank you for that - YOU DO A GREAT JOB! :) IMO, I think you (and I could assist as well as any other TRAC members willing to volunteer) should consider REACHING to a few truely experienced, knowledgeable reefers (I sure many would consider themselves in that catagory - BUT in particular ones that have YEARS of experience and have passed the test of TIME in the hobby).

Again I can't say enough about how GREAT of a job you do with TRAC and I truely thank you, and by NO means am I trying to take anything away from your efforts the success you have created with TRAC. Howerver, without any other support a table can not stand on ONE LEG or even TWO, but can with THREE and is even stonger with FOUR.

I remember sitting in Roberts (Marineduud's) amazing fish room, for the 1st and 2nd TRAC meetings years ago, listening and admring the knowlege that everyone in the room openly shared. In addition I recall the level of excitement everyone radiated about being part of this new club. I think it is possible to recreate that excitement of our gatherings with the appearance of familar faces along with the new.
 
#3 ·
I agree completely with Chris :) Laura, I don't know how you do it, I know it takes herculean committment, especially when you aren't getting an equitable response to your effort. I have attended a handful of meetings, spread out over the past year. The ones I attended, were well attended, and I had a GREAT time.

I didn't attend any of the TRAC meetings when they were at Roberts, it wasn't until I went there for other reasons that I even knew about TRAC. It wasn't nearly as well organized or publicized at that point. But there was a loyal following, and I wanted to be a part of that :)

I don't know what the answer is, but, maybe a reenergizing of the experienced local reefers is the ticket. If they show, the newbs will too ;) hoping to gain some knowledge :) If the newbs get involved, they have a better chance at being successful in the hobby :) And the cycle gains momentum.
 
#4 ·
Laura, please tell me if I'm wrong but Blitzburggirl sure sounds just like a STRONG "table leg". :) Thanks for chiming in, Thereasa. You are a PERFECT example of a "truely experienced, knowledgeable reefers". In addition to the logistics of reefing, and specific topics for me I enjoy the company and camaraderie in the meetings. This occurs when you walk in and see familar faces. I know attendance has been one of the issues. That is why IMO it crucial that TRAC tries to recruit as many experienced reefers to step up and make a commitment to participate. I also would suggest that instead of monthly meetings, maybe we would get more bang for the buck having them quarterly, or even everly 4 months. Assuming we could get more "experienced reefers" to participate this would give you and the officers some actual time (in between meetings) to plan and make the meetings more valueable to the members. This might also build some anticipation to the next meeting (very similar to that of REEFSMART - if it were every month, I think attendance would suffer), its like the law of supply and demand.

Lets keep the suggestions coming. I'd also be interested to hear the thoughts of anyone out there that is not currently a member of TRAC (new to reefing or experienced).
 
#5 ·
I think those are some great ideas - and absolutely, knowledgeable reefers are supposed to be the heart of a reef club! But how do we attract those reefers to our meetings??

I kind of like the idea of having fewer but bigger meetings for now until we can build our member base back up - maybe incorporating a frag swap into our meetings to get some interest. Again, though, we would need some ideas on where to have those, since LFS may not want us swapping frags at their stores.

I know for a fact that we have more than two members, though, so I would still like to get some more input.
 
#6 ·
Hi there I am new to cft, and so lots of questions first off what is TRAC? second can you be a new member to go?
My husband has been a meber for I think over a yr now and we had no clue of this group. Would love to learn more about it and if we can join and go to meetings would love to go to a place a learn more about what we are doing and learn how to do it better. Just a side note but I like the idea of frag swapping one because you might be able to get something you dont have and two because the frags of lots of stuff you have can find a different home.
thank you for being out there I have truely enjoyed reading the post and getting lots of information it truely helps to know if theres something wrong you can come here type it and have an answer pretty quickly
 
#11 ·
Hi there I am new to cft, and so lots of questions first off what is TRAC? second can you be a new member to go?
TRAC is the Triangle Reef Aquarium Club - we have monthly meetings in the Raleigh area. We're very lax on membership requirements (as in we don't really have any) so anybody is welcome to attend any of our events.
 
#8 ·
Hahahahahaha, thank you for the vote of confidence Chris. I'm not very reliable though to be honest. Once sports gets in full swing, I'm all over the state. lol

How about call out some locals, that we know are awesome, that don't come to the meetings? They don't have to join, they don't even have to come to more than one meeting. But, instead of being "not part of TRAC" they could just show up? One cool thing about TRAC is that it's open to anyone, and a very inclusive group. For some reason though, every time, someone asks if you have to be a member. Welcome Wff31... hope to see you there!!

Starblitz? Fishfinder? FOXFACE? Dfason? There are soooo many more.

Let's install something on someone's tank. Lets build a stand. Photography lesson.
 
#13 ·
I have not attended a meeting yet so take my two cents with a grain of salt.

If it was more swap oriented instead of everyone meeting at a store I'd prob be more interested.

A casual meet somewhere to check out someones setup and swap a few frags is more appealing to me than going to a fish store where I feel obligated to buy something.
 
#14 ·
A casual meet somewhere to check out someones setup and swap a few frags is more appealing to me than going to a fish store where I feel obligated to buy something.
I think that was the original idea when the club was started, but we have very few volunteers to let us come meet at their homes. Hopefully we can change that this year!
 
#17 ·
I would love to come to everyone meeting but I have so much going on the weekends now it is almost impossible for me to get out.

I have a couple of suggestions. I am not committing anyone, but I would be more than willing to help out where I can... :)

1. setting up a chat room and doing a monthly call-in type thing. invite guest speakers; i.e. Joe Creature. Carmie Jo, people who have been the hobby for a while and can answer questions or discuss problems. Carmine use to have these meeting on another reef forum. Not really sure if they do them any more or not, but I use to love joining chat room and calling in with questions.

2. quarterly or bi-yearly frag swap and meeting at store willing to host. Perhaps this would keep attendance up and provide some potential business to our LFS :)

3. possible suggestion thread here on CFT to discuss topics and bring up questions, issues, meeting topics, etc.
 
#20 ·
Frag swap would definitely draw big numbers and generate some buzz. Long term, I'm convinced that with the consistant presence of well rounded and experienced reefers, TRAC attendance would improve (new and exisiting members alike). IMO, in order to be a successful club, there has to be something of VALUE that it offers to its members. I think that KNOWLEDGE and COMRADERY are the 2 that we should be our focus. At least for me, years ago, that was what kept me coming back. I envied those with experience and as well as their tanks. I will try to reach out to a few, who I think would be assets and bring a lot to the table (like legs) and encourage others to do the same. I will check with my better half about the possiblity of holding a meeting/swag swap at my place, assuming we can draw enough of a crowd to make it worthy. NO COMMITMENT YET!

If you are not a member, whether experienced or new to reefing, please consider joining!

-Chris
 
#21 ·
Alright, sounds like what we need to do now is identify some of those knowledgeable reefers and try to get them involved.

Perhaps we should begin planning a swap-type event for a month or two from now and try to get as many folks as possible to show up? Provided, of course, that we can find a location.
 
#22 ·
Scooter, Seaherd. I would like to help, I have some experience and can share a lot of ideas that really drew big crowds. I think Chris is on the right path. Experienced reefers, really will drive attendence. They have the knowledge and dedication to move the club to the next level. From past experience, you will need take a baby steps and offer benefits that appeals to all reefers at all levels.
 
#26 ·
+1 to the groupbuy and frag swap idea- these are some of the bread and butter tools of reef networking and they can open the doors to allow new members to join in. However, as has been pointed out, having experienced reefers, or individuals willing to demonstrate new or innovative ideas will keep people coming back for more.
 
#28 ·
I'm ready for a frag swap/group buy whenever you guys come up with a date. Oh, where do you usually meet?

Thanks
That's a large part of our problem - we have a hard time finding meeting places. We used to meet at a different member's house each month, but people have gotten busy and we don't have many offers to host anymore.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top