Re: NANFA-- Huntsville Convention Report, the first

Rose Lawn Museum (roselawn_at_mindspring.com)
Mon, 09 Jun 2003 11:12:47 -0400

You did a GREAT job, Prez! Thanks for having us over. More text and many
pix to follow. The clock is now ticking for NANFA '04 in SC!

Steven A. Ellis
Kennesaw, GA

At 11:02 AM 6/9/03 -0400, you wrote:
>As some of you know, the Huntsville convention seems to have been a success.
>The speakers on Friday were interesting (and amenable to ending within time
>limits!) and were all well-received by the assembled multitudes. The field
>trips on Saturday all worked well, a total of four (!) going out into the
>rainy morning but all hitting the stream in sunshine so everyone could enjoy
>the clear waters on all the trips.
>
>Financially it also seems to have been a great success. We had at least 62
>paid registrations. T-shirt sales were brisk on Thursday night and Friday
>morning (Casper and I have to calculate the totals). And the auction
>Saturday night was both fun and rewarding. I want to thank Rob Denkhaus for
>allowing me to volunteer him to be the recorder for the auction with Phil
>Nixon as auctioneer. We had wide range of items to auction, and the crowd
>was frisky even without any available free beer. The total came to $1660 for
>the auction. The donated 46 gallon bow front aquarium and stand went for
>$290(!), and I was gratified to see that the copy of Scott Mettee et al.'s
>book "The Fishes oF Alabama..." went for $55 and the Handbook of Darters
>package went for $65 (if I remember correctly...).
>
>Four members of the BOD wound up in Huntsville--myself, Leo, Rob and Martin,
>almost a quorum!
>
>I also hope to compile a list of advice and suggestions for the South
>Carolina hosts of the next convention, to supplement the excellent list that
>Leo and Bob Muller made available to me. If these meetings keep getting
>bigger, both the hosts and NANFA should be better organized in how to plan
>and execute them. Leo is volunteering (I think?!?) to be our manufacturer's
>contact, so that we have one face to deal with donors and don't have to
>reinvent the wheel every convention. I was able to roust some good donations
>myself, but the efforts of Leo, Bob and Jim Graham were extremely important
>to the final outcome with the auction.
>
>And Casper Cox's work with the t-shirts was crucial, too. He, Steven Ellis
>and Stott Noble were crucial volunteers for organizing field trips and
>keeping the meeting happening.
>
>I have to sit down tonight/tomorrow and complile my final financial summary
>to send to Chris and Stephanie.
>
>To borrow the phrase, it takes a whole NANFA to make a convention work...
>
>--Bruce Stallsmith
>Huntsville, AL, US of A
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