Neptune Aquatics

For all those who worked or went to the market...

There were only 2 tickets in your raffle bucket, and the ticket that won didn’t have a name on the back. Arnold should have the ticket number to post on here though.

Being in the South Bay and telling people the tank cleaning had to be within 30 mi of SF discouraged some ppl.
Yeah, I figured that might be a problem, but you never know until you try. San Jose is too far and too much traffic for me, I had to put some restriction on it. Guess we could try a half off normal price so I don’t lose money driving down there if we try it again.
 
Yeah, I figured that might be a problem, but you never know until you try. San Jose is too far and too much traffic for me, I had to put some restriction on it. Guess we could try a half off normal price so I don’t lose money driving down there if we try it again.

Or! We will do it completely different. We will offer the free evaluation and basic cleaning that will be fulfilled by one of three companies based on where the winner lives. Mike if it's in San Francisco, Diablo Corals if it's East Bay and maybe Edward if it's in San Jose. That way it's a raffle that covers more area and also allows these compnaies to push a few products and perhaps sign up a new account right in their area. In other words if it doesn't work out the first time -- go bigger.
 
I enjoyed helping with the booth. Was great to have some more time to chat with current members as well as people coming by. I think everyone hung out longer than their allotted 1-hour, which made a huge difference in making it more social and a fun atmosphere for new members to see.

First time I helped behind the booth, so you can take or leave my comments, but sometimes fresh eyes see things. My thoughts (several things already mentioned!):

- The way the raffle items were organized was confusing. Some were must be present to win, others were don’t need to be present to win, some for anyone, some members only, another was new members only, some you could put several tickets into, others only 1 ticket, some no contact info required, other required the contact info. And these groups were not physically grouped or obviously labeled. I recommend having more simple rules, like a members only table and an everyone table, clearly stated, with no name required (member raffle winners can write name or look to the website the next day for winning numbers).

- I agree the banner was awesome. I also agree the shirts would have been better displayed on hangers, at least one of each color and example of front and back. Then in at least semi-organized piles by size right underneath the display shirts.

- I agree the super frag pack should have been open to all members. 1 ticket per entry was fine for new members only, but if we were to open it up we would want to allow multiple tickets to bring in more cash. Not that I was feeling left out or anything (I bought plenty!), but we did have people who just joined like a month or two ago shut out of the contest with these rules, and it was another confusing item to have to explain. I wouldn’t be surprised if some tickets got in there from not-new-members or multiple ticket entries from people.

- If we had several people interested in donating, it would be great to have a couple different frag packs. Having high-end SPS available only to new members, many of which are likely new to the hobby, didn’t seem like the best match to me. Another pack option with nice softies/LPS would have been attractive to new members too I think. Or even the bounce mushroom by itself as another pack along those lines.

- For the raffle items, we did put some out but would have been great to put all the physical items out on the table so people can quickly see what they are bidding on. With the items out you don’t even need much of a description on the paper.

- I agree that getting more people to visit the site as guests is key to getting more members (as opposed to just pushing membership up-front). Just not sure how to do it other than emphasize how friendly and helpful everyone is there.

- I think this one’s obvious, but we needed a more organized way to record information taken down.

- Since what we are selling is mostly our website/community, I wonder if we should have a laptop at the booth facing outward for people to see our site and also sign up as new members directly? It would have the nice side effect of making it so they don’t have to write their info again on a piece of paper.

- I get that booth space is limited, but I feel like we would have drawn more people in if we setup the desk items along the sides of the booth rather than in front? Would also increase the amount of desk space so the raffle items could have more space.

- We benefited greatly by being the only booth raffling anything besides the organizer items in front.

I fully get that it’s a lot easier to be a critic than an organizer. I’m glad to have been able to participate and had a great time. Overall I think it was a real success. Huge thank-you to the organizers Bruce and Arnold!
 
Hi all,

Slept in today I will post up info later today on results. Gave some info to Bruce already, but need to find which one won the tank maintenance raffle. TY to all who came to help...Doing setup Fiday and take down Sat wiped me out ( not just the booth but the drapes a railings) We need to add sign up to teak down as well in future. Special thanks to Hermit, who stayed with me to load my car and do take down with event till 6:30pm.
 
oh besides a mishap of a forgotten heater move that resulted in some fish soup:(, I think the result was for our first organized booth was pretty good. Steve Tyree even said we were great, better than he ever expected. It takes alot of work to organize all the parts of this, so big shout out to everyone involved! I agree things are be improved, so we see if/when we do a booth again.
 
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I agree with JVU that we should probably have a couple laptops or tablets on the table that showcases the site and also allows people to register right there and then.

Sorry i couldn't hang around to help out, I was only at the market for about 40 minutes and I'm also a huge introvert and not very good with striking up conversations with folks in real life (which is also the reason why I didn't volunteer to man the booth). But i'll always support the club with any behind the scene artwork that's needed. :)
 
Here's a crazy idea.. how about for the next show we set up a monitor that loops a slideshow montage of the site's top topics/discussion, funniest comments, member tank photos, etc. A quick visual summary of the site. I'd be glad to put together the slideshow.
 
Here's a crazy idea.. how about for the next show we set up a monitor that loops a slideshow montage of the site's top topics/discussion, funniest comments, member tank photos, etc. A quick visual summary of the site. I'd be glad to put together the slideshow.
I had thought about that too but wasn’t sure where we’d set it up. Table space is at a premium and the banner is on the curtain.

I’m pretty sure the laptop was part of the original plan but didn’t materialize at the last moment.

I talked to Steve on my way out and he said he’s not sure he’ll do a fall one but the next February one is already reserved. That means we’ve got a full year to make the changes.
 
I talked to Steve on my way out and he said he’s not sure he’ll do a fall one but the next February one is already reserved. That means we’ve got a full year to make the changes.
One full year before the next CFM??? Noooooooooo!!!!!!


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Here's a crazy idea.. how about for the next show we set up a monitor that loops a slideshow montage of the site's top topics/discussion, funniest comments, member tank photos, etc. A quick visual summary of the site. I'd be glad to put together the slideshow.

Arnold and I almost did that, but just didn't have the time to get it set up once we found we could use the projector. Add to that I couldn't bring my laptop and we tabled this till next time. Hopefully we can run some pics of this years events on a screen next time around.
 
I had thought about that too but wasn’t sure where we’d set it up. Table space is at a premium and the banner is on the curtain.

I’m pretty sure the laptop was part of the original plan but didn’t materialize at the last moment.

I talked to Steve on my way out and he said he’s not sure he’ll do a fall one but the next February one is already reserved. That means we’ve got a full year to make the changes.

I wonder why there isn't a fall one scheduled.
 
There still could be one, he just said he wasn’t sure about it yet. I like the once a year idea too. The CFM always lands around the time of our swaps and can detract from them a bit I think.
 
Is a coral farmers market too big of a project for BAR to take on?


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I would think it’s too much, not to mention I wouldn’t want to step on any toes. Maybe we could try to organize a more locally focused event?this could coincide with our regional swap possibly.
 
I would think it’s too much, not to mention I wouldn’t want to step on any toes. Maybe we could try to organize a more locally focused event?

Just wondering. Good point on not stepping on toes. How about a coral farmers market but instead of retailers/LFS selling frags, let’s have regular reefers and maybe some “garage” sellers sell their corals. Kind of a neighborhood garage sale. Maybe there’s already an event like this.. just spitting out ideas.


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Just wondering. Good point on not stepping on toes. How about a coral farmers market but instead of retailers/LFS selling frags, let’s have regular reefers and maybe some “garage” sellers sell their corals. Kind of a neighborhood garage sale. Maybe there’s already an event like this.. just spitting out ideas.


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hat steps on he toes of our store sponsors and is big no no.
 
FYI - were we originally getting just a small table by the entrance door according to the map, but Steve gave us a full booth since there was room. We don't have any choice on where we get a spot unless we pay for a booth normally.
 
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