Starting a local club, suggestions ?

Pirate · 04-09-2002, 12:56 PM

Well as always when I have a question I turn to the experts. During a drive to Indy on sat, a friend and I were talking about a local marine/reef club and why and how to go about beginning one. Of course the friend I speak of is an encyclopedia of knowledge and has always been willing to share. I know many folks in the area and they have all mentioned this type if club at one time or another. But it has never gone beyond the talking stage it seems. So realizing this I thought that the best place to begin is here. How many of you belong to local clubs, are there yearly dues ? Do you have a web page, you know all that kind of stuff. We may only have two members, junkzoo and myself. But at least we could call ourselves something cool. But anyway I would appreciate any and all ideas and suggestions. Someone has to get this off the ground. Might as well be me !

hooked · 04-09-2002, 01:00 PM

Pirate,

Were are you in Indiana? I am from cinci and would like to be apart of it if it's within 45 minute drive.

MontanaRocknReefer · 04-09-2002, 01:01 PM

Hey Pirate! You could put up flyers at any LFS in your area or by word of mouth by telling hobbyists you know.
You can have a meeting each month at different hobbyist's home to view their tank and have a small discussion afterward which is the best part as you share knowledge and friendship as well.
Once you club is big enough you could take a vote on dues depending on what you want to do to make the club more fun and interesting!
I belonged to a club over 30 years ago but it has gone out of existence now! Johnny

Pirate · 04-09-2002, 01:15 PM

hooked... we are in the northwest corner of the state, near Valparaiso. But I'm sure with the membership that we'll have, it may still be worth the drive. Then when it's your turn to host the club we can all stay with you. Sounds good to me !
And hey Johnny it sounds like it may be time for you to start a club of your own also. What ya waitin for ?

FishDaddy · 04-09-2002, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pirate
We may only have two members, junkzoo and myself.

Hmmmmmmmmm.......why do you need anyone else?

Scott,
I've been going through this process recently. We've been trying to organize a group in the Knoxville area for some time and Ernie Smith, over on Reefs.org, was able to spend the time to help organize. We had our first meeting this past Saturday at his home with 9 reefers attending. We have a few more very interested that were unable to be there. Our plan is to meet every 4-6 weeks either at someone's home or a friendly LFS. Some LFS may resist involvement as they might perceive frag trading as cutting into their business but the two main ones in the Knox area should be cooperative.

We also plan to have guest speakers, do some socializing and frag trading.

We found our suspects from people we'd met on the boards and by posting notices on all the reef boards. Only a couple of them had known each other personally but it was a super nice bunch of folks. Reef people are good folks!

We don't have a structure yet and there's no plans to charge dues. As long as the group is small I think it's better to avoid getting into a formal organization with IRS, legal issues, etc. Later, it will probably become necessary to formalize the association.

The two hotbeds of organized reefing among our members seem to be the Atlanta Reef Club (JennM) and the PNWAS (Alice, Mojo, Renae, Doug, etc.) They can shed much more light on the operations of a club than I.

Good luck!
Dick

Junkzoo · 04-09-2002, 01:29 PM

Boy Scott , ya get a new RO/DI ,and ya wanna start a club! LOL

my proposals:
1) yearly club trips to Jerel's,,,monthly if club votes for same,,

2) tank maintainance seminars will be given to new members , to be held at founding two members homes,,,

3)product reviews will be given to any LFS/manufactor that provides long term product testing, Tanks(150 gallon or larger), salt, test kits, the coolest fish, and the largest frag.etc.
4) captive bred fry , and coral frag practice results will be given to the founding members for grading/approval.

5) see #1.

seriously tho, any tips/ help on this subject would be great!

mikeMersot · 04-09-2002, 02:08 PM

Too bad, I just moved from Merrillville a few months ago, now Im in Peoria, Il, I would have been happy to join and help out.

thebigblue · 04-18-2002, 12:44 PM

hey guys...im in!....

let me know when we meet!...

brad

Drew · 04-18-2002, 01:52 PM

Congrats on the new club guys, I am a member of the Wisconsin reef society and I love it. There are some things that the WRS has done and I think were great. First, try your best to get a frag trade going. This really helps new members to get their tanks going with new corals. Second, get some sponsors. The WRS has raffles every meeting and can give away some pretty nice stuff. What else... ahh yes, guest speakers are very nice. I recently saw Dr. Ron thanks to my reef club and coming up we have Eric Borneman. Another thing that has worked has been a club trip to some good fish stores out of state. Good luck with the club!

Drew

Starting a local club, suggestions ?

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