Thank you for SaltwaterU

[Margi]

To all of the Sponsors; Speakers; Volunteers; Attendees and Georgia Aquarium People that made it happen.

It was an outstanding success - and I am so very happy to have been a part of SaltwaterU TWO!

THANK YOU EVERYBODY!

Margi Shindell

[Sprayin70]

Thank you all too. Lisa and I had a great time. I can't wait for SWU3!!!

[washowi]

No ---THANK YOU...and Sharon and Simon..and everyone.!! Good time, GREAT SPEAKERS. Love Mike Cottman and the Black Divers Club!!

I think I'm in the club now!

It's so great that we can have an event like this and have the quality of speakers show up, give their time and just enjoy being around us.

Thanks to all. Time to unwind now.

Enjoy the day all or what's left of it.

Todd

[sally]

What an awesome event!!! Awesome speakers....awesome guests. THank you Margi and Steve for all you have done!!

[jcm2256]

I wish I could have been there.

[goodfortune]

I really enjoyed spending Saturday at SaltwaterU...all of the speakers were excellent, and I learned a great deal. I also enjoyed getting to meet and talk with Eric Borneman, Anthony Calfo, and Bob Fenner They were all really down to earth, and more than willing to share their knowledge and enthusiasm

Thanks to everyone involved once again!!!

- Michael

[Flipturn88]

Where do I begin???

Much thanks to everyone involved, from the planners (Margi, Steve, Chris...) to the speakers (Eric, Anthony, Bob, Martin...) to ALL the members who helped create the warm, inviting atmosphere that ensured the event was nothing less than a success. I learned lots from every presentation - I had no idea anemones are "fraggable" and longspine urchins were so essential to a reef ecosystem. Undoubtedly, SWU was yet again an event I could never forget, and I'm already looking forward to upcoming years as well!

As always, Happy Reefing to all!

[SShindell]

Pres. Chris - you made a great MC. I still want to see those dive photos.


Steve

[Margi]

Sharon, Sarah, Simon, Todd, Bill, Bob, Steve, Shakiri, Sally, Pete (and their daughters), Alishia, JJ, Tim, Lester, Kurt, Kevin, Katrina, Ed, Gwen, David and especially Chris Horne (Mr. Pres) - WOW - you guys are great (and If I forgot anyone - I AM SORRY - I am slightly brain dead today for SOME reason!)

LOVE YOU GUYS!

We will get together soon for an after action report (there is my military background coming out) - please start taking notes now of the good - bad - ugly and BEAUTIFUL!

Margi

[gwen_o_lyn]

Thanks so much to everyone- had an awesome time!! You guys *Chris, Margi, Steve, Simon, Kevin, Katrina, Sharon, Todd, Sally, ETC!!* did great- everything went very smooth. Thanks also to the speakers, sponsors, and the aquarium staff.

Someone *Kevin, Katrina <--hint hint* please start a thread with pictures- I was filming all weekend and have very few snapshots and I'd love some for the hard drive. I can PM with an email address if you have some to send me.

Kayla- would love to see your journal for the weekend- looked like you were taking great notes!!

Simon- time to start a tank build thread!!! Congrats!!

THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU!! And I love u too Margi!!! I just got up from a 4 hour recovery nap!!

SWU3- bring it on!!

[Flipturn88]

Yes, please everyone post their pics! I will be collecting them and posting as many as possible on the ARC mainpage asap (if your permission is given).

Gwen, you're right - I have pages of notes I'm going to organize into an outline for anyone interested.

[simon.kruger]

Appart from being absolutely tired. I just wanted to say thanks to the entire team. With all that was going on and the size of this conference it was amazing to see everyone pulling together. It really did come off professional.

My thanks from the Raffle side must go to Kevin and Katrina. Boy o boy they helped so much. There was nearly 100 prizes. It was hectic to say the least. I still have a few unclaimed prizes that I will have posted on the SWU site.

I hope all had fun and took home a little something. I know I did. Thanks Sharon for pulling my name out of the box for the MarineLand 90 Gallon tank.

[goodfortune]

...also, a special thanks to Aquarium Showcase, for donating the Seachem ReefSalt

- Michael

[mojo]

Thanks to everyone that made this event a success! I won't be able to remember or list everybody, but would like to point out some key players in this weekend's event, and who we can directly attribute to its success:

Margi Shindell - Thanks for your persistence in, well, everything. Getting speakers and sponsors, planning, following up with items that needed to be taken care of, and generally making it all happen.

Sharon Warning - You were the person in the shadows taking care of a lot of details and sometimes the voice of reason. Thanks for keeping some of us grounded, and for making our speakers (and us!) feel at home.

Sarah Kruger - Sarah provided all of our incredible artwork, and brought this event to a professional level. We are very fortunate to have Sarah on our team, both in her expertise and generosity of her time.

Bob Lemcke - You did a fantastic job with the teen program; I know the teens had a fantastic time, learned a lot, and were looking forward to next year. We really appreciate your talk on Saturday to fill in the rest of us on the importance to reaching the youth. Thanks also for taking care of the other details, such as the Embassy Suites.

Simon Kruger - The organization of raffles were a bit of a mess when we started, and you did a brilliant job of putting it all together. You even missed the entire conference to help with the raffles; we'll make sure you will get a copy of the program when we get something ready.

Kevin and Katrina Jessop - Thanks for your support through the entire process, from planning to sponsor finding, to helping get us setup in the conference.

Sally and Pete Densmore - Thanks for running the registration desk through the weekend and raffles on Friday night. We really appreciate you guys stepping in and helping out.

Todd Washowich - Thanks for planning the Grey's Reef trip. I hope this can become an SWU tradition - maybe even a bigger trip next year!

Tim and JJ Woolston - Thanks for a lot of behind the scenes work on setting things up and breaking down, working with the live corals, getting what we needed for the workshop, etc.

Maureen Miller - Thanks for taking care pricing for various items and taking care of the shirts - they turned out great, and were a great success.

Ed, Gwen, David, Alisha, and others I can't remember at the moment - Thanks for filling in the blanks when we didn't think about them or didn't have time to do them; your help didn't go unnoticed.

Our speakers - of course, the speakers were the cornerstone of the event.

Eric Borneman
Dr. Rusty Brainard
Anthony Calfo
Dr. Bruce Carlson
Michael Cottman
Robert Fenner
Dr. Robert Heuter
Martin Moe, Jr
Steven Pro
Walt Smith


Our sponsors - this event was costly, and without the generosity of our sponsors, it simply wouldn't have happened:

Venue Sponsor
Seachem

Arm 6 Sponsors
All Glass / Kent Marine
CaribSea
SeaVentures
Arm 5 Sponsors
Aquarium Designs
Aquarium Showcase
Marine Fish
ORA
Arm 4 Sponsors
PBS&J
Fish Store & More
My Reef Creations
Arm 3 Sponsors
Reef Tank Lighting
Aquatic EcoSystems
FAMA and Aquarium Fish Magazine
Arm 2 Sponsors
SouthEast Aquariums
Cappuccino Bay Aquarium
Arm 1 Sponsors
Aquarium Supply
Georgia Neuropsychology
Pets Unlimited

And finally-

And finally, thanks to everyone that came to show your support for ARC, SWU, and your support for "Education through Preservation"! It's events like this that we can help spread knowledge about the future of our reefs and ecosystems.

[Margi]

Oh - and Maureen too - Sorry!!!