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Trac

6K views 41 replies 11 participants last post by  ScooterBlenny 
#1 ·
Is this still going?
 
#6 ·
I think with a little effort we can build a great club in the area.

TRAC seemed to fizzle out because of lack of involvement and lack of interest.

No offense to the TRAC people but there was very little effort put into the meetings, which resulted in very poor turnout.

There are a ton of reefers in the Triangle area. People will show up if the meetings are worthwhile.

TRAC meetings usually ended up being 4 or 5 people sitting around staring at each other with no agenda.

Maybe we should wipe the slate and start a new club with a new name. Put some effort into it. Maybe become MASNA affiliated. Become a legitimate club. There are certainly enough people in the area.

Again, no offense to to TRAC organizer but this thread has been here for a week and nobody from TRAC has even responded.
 
#9 ·
Not just you ;)

I went towards what I think of as the end. After Robert was... gone. I even hosted one :) And, you are right, there really wasn't a clear agenda at a few of them. Some of them though, had clear agendas.

The one at Graces mom's house had a lasagne agenda.. oh, wait... we discussed foods and man made frag rocks.

The one at CRG was about aquaculture or something.

There was one at Mikes house where we checked out his new tank design, and did a fragging demo of a coral.

The one at my house we discussed being a "real" club with dues etc.. but that didn't go over well because no one really wanted to deal with cash.

All joking aside, I'd love to see this start up again. And, I really do agree with you, I'd like to see it become a real club, with an actual goal, and be inclusive. The only thing I really gained out of going to those TRAC meetings was meeting some cool people, some of which live soooo close to me but don't post on snipey boards, just lurk, and therefore I didn't know they existed. That's a true benefit :)
 
#10 · (Edited)
For the past few years the only person willing to work on organizing a meet or providing an agenda has been Scooterblenny - Laura. She tried to recruit officers so she would have help, but no one showed up to vote. (yeah, Blitz, that and no one wants to handle cash...working on a way SR can help with this for smaller clubs to help them grow) Most of her posts trying to organize a meet got very few replies. I imagine she just threw up her hands and went back to her horses. ;) For awhile she found an outlet to make TRAC grow through ReefSMART, but again, with no one to help her it was very discouraging.

TRAC people? Not for years. One person. That hung on in here desperate for help and never got it in the amount it was needed.

I have the recipe, guys, I just need the cooks. All it takes is a PM to Scoots, telling her there is interest with people who want to WORK on the club, not just come once a month and do nothing at all in between - if she answers, great, if not we will assume she is busy with other things in life and pick up the torch - I guarantee she would not mind.

No reason to not keep the TRAC name, after all there are some tshirts out there and such, but whatever you guys want to do. :) What's in a name, a rose by any other name, so on. ;)
 
#11 ·
Yeah I didn't become active in the area until Robert had already left.

I have met tons of cool people in the area. I think to be successful we need to find a common meeting place.

Many people (myself included) are not into hosting meetings at our homes. Especially when extending open invitations to people I have never met. My wife already tells me I have to many "strangers" over when I sell frags.

The old "Hey where are we going to meet this month?" Followed by "Nobody? I guess we will meet at a LFS" was kind of a turn off. Then everyone feels obligated to buy something if they go.

Just spitballing some ideas/observations here.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Wow, Wes, meeting an LFS would make you feel you have to buy something? I never thought of that...every time we hosted TRAC I always gave away so much free stuff I figured people would know they did not have to buy anything. Very interesting point, though - does anyone else feel this way?

And now you see why I can't just do this for you guys. It would be seen as a TRF club, no matter how untrue it was, no matter what we called it. I wish I could, but while I can help with "the recipe" I just cannot cook this time.

I will say that the oldest and I think largest aquarium club in the state does not hold meetings at business or home - they use a room at NC State. RAS, formed in 1981 - year I was born. ;)

The more I think about it the more I see your point, Wes. The first thing that would need to be done is pick a day of each month it would always be held, and then someone who works at state would have to get the room. (And if you are reading this please pm me, lol, I need you for something for ReefSMART)
 
#14 · (Edited)
You funding that, poolshark? ;) Check out NC State it would be free if you can get it set up right. :)

However that could be done if there was start up capital - you would be surprised how much RAS made at their monthly raffle. ;)

And someone has to commit to handling money, just has to happen - as I said earlier I am working on an outlet for this.
 
#15 ·
Agreed... I don't like inviting people I don't know to my home. I'm the queen of "let's meet in the McD's parking lot, or, other places I'm going that day. Work, fish store, highway lmao

I admit that I used to feel obligated to buy something if I met at a store (even in their parking lots...) but, lately, I don't even feel obligated to buy something if I stop at a gas station to use the facility anymore. I guess I feel more and more like it's up to the business to provide something I genuinely want to buy. Totally different topic for me though ;)

If there were a club, in the Triangle area.. Trac, whatever... and we don't want to lean on members to open their homes (and therefore show off tanks, demos, what not..) and LF stores aren't a good idea... Where would we meet? This is directed at anyone... One thing Trac used to do, was impromptu meetings at a restaurant. I think they were totally social. I thought that was really cool.. except there was no way on God's green earth that I was going to drive to Raleigh to eat at a fried food restaurant.
 
#17 ·
Seriously, I sat on the board of one of the largest associations for my profession in the country. Paying for a meeting space in a hotel or conference center is no where near the ability of a club that has 0 dollars. And, getting a person committed enough to handle money, long term, that's a whole different issue. How many people invest hundreds, thousands in this hobby, then when it gets hard, bolt? Yet, we'll haggle over $5 on a frag like it's killing us. Same thing with a club. I think you said it well Puffy. People need to be willing to do something during the month too. Not just show up once a month for a raffle. And, right now, I'm not sure that there is anyone willing to do that. And, if you throw money on the table, someone has to be trustworthy enough to count it, hold it, be a steward of it. I hate to be the whiney nay sayer here, but, I don't see Trac being that, any time soon. Maybe that's why others need to see the vision and run with it :)
 
#18 · (Edited)
Let me just write a blank check for this puffy... lol..JK!! All of my spare cash goes into my tank. Id be interested in helping out in some capacity, and I like the NCSU idea. Its common ground for everyone, and is somewhat easily accesable.

I believe there are enough people that could run it, but we need more than just a handful. Something that could potentially be this big of a club in the area needs lots of people to make it work. "Many hands make light work" after all. We just have to have the right spin to pitch the idea and get people interested.

I know a few people that could handle the money aspect, including myself. I just agree that Idk how many people would want to do that.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Mmm. Okay. Time to get to the meat of it here, and yer pal puffy has to get to work, lol. And I only have two hands, lmao! ;) (Love it, poolshark, so stealing that!)

Yes, it is hard to get any one hobbyist to commit that long term. However, in a real club, the officers can change and the club lives on. Here is why.

Clubs are supposed to be set up as a legal non profit, this enables them to collect money and have an account for it. Since this takes start up capital, I am working on providing a legal "umbrella" of sorts through Sustainable Reef, the non profit that puts on the expo ReefSMART. The clubs would collect money for the non profit, which it would keep track of, then pay out to the clubs for advertisement. Banners on your websites, so on. Finalizing the details still, hope to be done by ReefSMART time. When the clubs have grown enough and there is enough in the kitty that they can set up as their own non profit, they can spread their wings and take off on their own, and Sustainable Reef will just hope they work with us as sister organizations in the future. :)

As for who will do the work in between the meets - I heard poolshark with a clear volunteer, and also tcoker has expressed willingness to me.

Who else? :D (Just put a call in to the vet school for you guys, get some ducks in a row for you - all I can do. You gotta run with it! :))
 
#20 · (Edited)
Sorry I'm so late to the party, but that's how I roll some times. lol!

I'm all for getting it going again and helping in anyway possible. I know it's hard to do meetings like this at a LFS or someones home, but my home is always open. Also now that I'm a member at Prestonwood I can use meeting and banquet rooms on Sundays, but the lunch buffet runs about $22 pp.

Either way I'm all for getting it going again, so lets keep this thread alive until we can all agree and come up with something.
 
#22 ·
I'm certainly interested in helping do whatever I can. I don't mine paying dues if that is what it takes to get a good club in this area. I also think it should be of value for being a member and not just a social gathering. Hopefully this thread will get us to the next step.

Sent from my HTC Rezound using Tapatalk 2
 
#24 ·
Ok so I've got a 1,600 sqft facility that is heated and cooled w/ lots of parking and while I would rather not handle the money, I'm willing to organize the meets with the help of other experienced people. I've never done this kind of thing but hell let's just get it done. Personally I'd rather have it called something else as well since it will be a new start for a local club. There's wayyy tooo many people not to have something like this in our area.
 
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