Origami August 27, 2014 Share August 27, 2014 September 4, 5, & 6, 2015 @ the DC Marriott Wardman Park Hotel http://www.macna2015.org I am honored and very pleased to announce that WAMAS has been selected as the host for the 2015 Marine Aquarium Conference of North America! **************************************************** You heard right. MACNA is coming back to DC! For those that don't know exactly what a MACNA is: It's one of the largest reefing exhibition / education conferences of its kind in the entire world. It's a multi-day experience drawing hobbyists from around the country and from overseas to hear up to three days worth of speakers delivering on topics of interest to the community. It also draws hundreds of sponsors and exhibitors from all corners of this hobby: Equipment manufacturers, retailers, drygoods providers, livestock providers, internet and print media, and conservation organizations to name a few. The opportunity to be host to a MACNA is gained only after a lot of hard work and competition with other prospectives seeking the same honor, and does not end in being named as host. The road to today comes only after a lot of forethought and consideration; structuring and planning; and relying on the skills of a core group of people here whose assistance, both past, present and future is both recognized and appreciated. The work is not done, of course. There is much work yet for us to do to plan and to successfully execute the show. But the road behind us is longer than many might think. Nearly two years ago, the WAMAS Board of Directors considered whether or not to put in a bid for MACNA 2015. Really, any club that wants to host a MACNA needs to be thinking this far in advance. There's a lot to consider in making this first decision: What's the benefit to the club and it's members? Do we have the support of the membership? Do we or can we develop a sound plan that reasonably manages the risk of sinking the club financially? Having hosted MACNA in 2005, we were fortunate enough to have a baseline understanding of what a MACNA was about and, with the memory and help of others who put on that show, were able to put together a detailed plan for the much-evolved and growing show. We understood that bringing MACNA to DC in 2015 brought you, the membership, an opportunity to attend the premier show of its kind without the added financial burden of a plane ticket and hotel bill. And, after consulting with the club membership, came to the conclusion that we had support from within. With those questions answered, we decided to bid. We worked hard to develop a quality proposal for MASNA to consider. One unlike any that they had seen before. We were up against strong competition from another major city that started out as a sentimental favorite. But we saw very strong reasons to bring the event here in 2015 - not the least of which was you, the membership. If you've been part of other reefing clubs, you know it already, but if not - WAMAS is among the most active, strong, and engaging local clubs in the United States. And it's upon this strong foundation, that we were able to convince MASNA that we were better prepared to host, develop and continue to grow MACNA. Some of us learned of our winning MACNA late last October when MASNA's decision was passed down. In support of the current year's host, an embargo was placed on any annoucement of that fact. In the months since, we've been planning and laying the foundation for a successful event behind the scenes. Under the leadership of our MACNA 2015 co-chairs, Craig Kuhn (gatortailale) and Doug Arthur (dbartco), and with the strong support of others including Carla (valeria), John (copps), Dave (davelin315), Dave (DaveS), Scott (Scott711), Chris & Christie (netpez and huly), and Jenn (sachabbalireef)'s husband, Steve, we've been working together to make this day and next year's event a reality and a success. Over the coming months, we'll need your support - it takes a lot of people to pull an event of this size off. You'll see calls for both skilled and unskilled volunteers. Please keep an eye out and, when you see a call, I hope that you'll consider helping wherever you can. Whether it's in these developing stages or later in event execution, we will need your help. As I look behind at the two years of work behind us on this project, I see an even longer road built by a leadership and a community that took a group of friends that met in living rooms and laid the foundation that enabled a very large group like us to develop and yet still to retain the characteristics of a tight-knit community. I am so very, very proud to be associated with this club and its successes, and remain confident that MACNA 2015 will be yet another success that we are able to claim. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everybody here for your part in making this club a success and realizing the opportunity to bring MACNA 2015 to DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale August 28, 2014 Share August 28, 2014 Getting one of the banners unpacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale August 29, 2014 Share August 29, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale August 29, 2014 Share August 29, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale August 29, 2014 Share August 29, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale September 9, 2014 Share September 9, 2014 MACNA History 26 Years of MACNA! Twenty six years and going strong! I Marine Aquarium Society of Toronto April 22-23, 1989 II Cleveland Saltwater Enthusiasts Association April 21-22, 1990 III Windows to the Sea Marine Aquarium Society (New Jersey) April 20-21, 1991 IV Florida Marine Aquarium Society September 20-21, 1992 V Marine Aquarium Society of Toronto September 12-13, 1993 VI Cleveland Saltwater Enthusiasts Association October 14-16, 1994 VII Louisville Marine Aquarium Society September 14-16, 1995 VIII Kansas City Metro Aquatics Council October 11-13, 1996 IX Chicago Marine Aquarium Society September 12-14, 1997 X Marine Aquarium Society of Los Angeles September 25-27, 1998 XI Louisville Marine Aquarium Society September 10-12, 1999 XII Florida Marine Aquarium Society (Fort Lauderdale) September 29 – October 1, 2000 XIII Chesapeake Marine Aquarium Society (Baltimore) August 17-19, 2001 XIV Dallas-Fort Worth Marine Aquarium Society September 27-29, 2002 XV Louisville Marine Aquarium Society September 5-7, 2003 XVI Boston Reefers Society October 14-16, 2004 XVII Washington D.C. Area Marine Aquarist Society September 16-18, 2005 XVIII Marine Aquarium and Reef Society of Houston September 22-24, 2006 XIX Pittsburgh Marine Aquarium Society September 14-16, 2007 XX Atlanta Reef Club September 5-7, 2008 XXI New Jersey Reefers Club (Atlantic City) September 25-27, 2009 XXII Orlando Reef Caretakers Association September 3-5, 2010 XXIII Greater Iowa Reef Society (Des Moines) September 9-11, 2011 XXIV Dallas Ft Worth Aquarium Society September 28-30, 2012 XXV Florida Marine Aquarium Society (Hollywood) August 30 – September 1, 2013 XXVI Colorado Organization for Reef and Aquatic Life (Denver) August 29-31, 2014 XXVII Washington D.C. Area Marine Aquarist Society September 4-6, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale May 7, 2015 Share May 7, 2015 It's your club. Show your support and help make MACNA 2015 the largest MACNA ever. Head on over to the MACNA website right now and register for your pass. Remember WAMAS Members who volunteer to help us run the conference will get some or all of your ticket refunded post MACNA, dependent on the number of hours you help at the conference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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