MACNA XVII

[Sph2sail]

Fellow WAMAS Members,

 

First off, a huge congratulation to Nathan and all the members who contributed to the WAMAS website, as it won the MASNA Website of the year award at MACNA XVI!

 

Now that MACNA XVI in Boston is done, MASNA now allows us to advertise, sell spaces, sell tickets and in particular, communicate the themes and details for MACNA XVII.  The officers have been working non-stop for the past several months preparing for this launch.  As a group, the work effort has been huge, even at this early stage.

 

So without further adieu, we proudly present to the WAMAS membership:

 

MACNA XVII -

Expanded Horizons

September 16-18, 2005

The Hyatt Regency Crytstal City

Arlington, VA

 

The Hyatt Crystal City is a 685 room conference facility with a 23,000 square foot professional exhibit hall and over 30,000 square feet of meeting space.  This location is surrounded by a vast selection of eating, shopping & night life, and free Metro & National Airport shuttle service.  For the event we have secured a room rate of $129 a night.  For locals, we have a $7/day parking rate in their garage.  For the out of towners, it's $10/night.  Over a 50% discount, folks.

 

The conference schedule is still in the works, but Michael has a great outline focusing on beginner, intermediate and advanced hobbyists.  We are planning sessions in the morning based on special[/i] tracks like "large Systems", "New Technology" "Bio-tope Engineering" and "Coral Identification" are just some of the great topics on the list.  Along with the pure hobbyist sessions, we will be running both a Sustainable Harvest - Industry Regulatory Issues and a very exciting K-12 Education tract, not to mention the probability of professional Aquarist sessions.

 

Afternoons, everyone gets back together for a plenary sessions.  Keynote talks, special issues, and major speakers are in the plenary sessions.  Everyone sees it all!

 

The location allows us to run both a full 100+ vendor hall, and enormous speakers areas. With over 25 speakers, we can assure everyone will want to see everything.  Everyone will get a great seat.  

 

Along with a reception on Friday and a Gala Dinner on Saturday, no firm details at this moment, but we can assure you they will not only be educational, but a lot of fun too!   Plus, we are working on a few surpises too boot!

 

To ensure that this MACNA is the best ever, we have formed an Advisory Committee, including speakers, vendors, MASNA and past host clubs.  This committee includes the likes of Eric Borneman, Anthony Calfo, Sanjay Joshi, Mac Terzich and Dennis Tagrin.  This group is very focused on issues surrounding our hobby and will ensure that the entire event will be designed for the maximum impact to the attendee!

 

With all the work that's been done so far, it's only a drop in the bucket.  The closer to the event date we get, the more work we will have, and that's where WAMAS will really shine.  It takes quite a crew to pull off an event of this magnitude.  The recent show in Boston reported they had the largest MACNA attendance yet, with over 1200 attendees.  Many WAMAS members have already shown the spirit and sent us emails and posts on the boards asking to be volunteers.  WAMAS member volunteers will clearly be our hallmark of success with this event.

 

There will be a "town hall" meeting shortly where the officers get together with WAMAS members to discuss what we know, what we don't know, and what we need to drive a successful event.  We will also be starting a discussion on volunteers online in the Forums on our website.  Please climb aboard and show our fellow hobbyists why Washington DC is one of the best city's in the world, and that WAMAS is a world leading reef club!

 

Sincerely,

Steve, Glenn, Michael, Craig, Scott, Tamie & Nathan

The WAMAS Officers

[traveller7]

I certainly would like to help out, but really need advance notice to modify my work schedules.

 

Congrats on the website award!  

[Guest trstange]

I signed up at  last weeks macna for the full show, how do I book hotel reservations getting the discounted room rate?

 

You might want to add an email addy to the macna xvii site so people (like me) can ask questions... just a thought

[Sph2sail]

Thanks for registering.  Updating the website today.  Hotel reservations will be available shortly.  Will post when that's available.

 

steve

[Guest tgallo]

so this is macna in VA, why do we list it as wash dc?.

[SDBDRZ]

so this is macna in VA, why do we list it as wash dc?.

 

Technically yes the hotel is in Virginia but it is just across the river  :D

 

We looked at a lot of hotels in and around DC and this was the best option for size and price.  When marketing the show to out of town attendees we will still be focusing on DC as the destination.

 

Heck around here I can never tell whether I am in MD, DC or VA anyway.