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MACNA 2015- Time to Sign Up and Volunteer!


DaveS

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All,

 

As you know, WAMAS won the honor of being the host for MACNA in DC September 4-6, 2015.  Please see the MACNA announcement for background if you missed it.

 

This is quite an honor but also quite the task.  It takes an army of people to run a multi-day, multi-million dollar international event with over a thousand attendees.  We had another thread that discussed volunteering for MACNA for those interested.
 

After 2 years of laying the foundation for the event, we are now at a point where we can turn from strategic planning to tactical deployment.  In short, we are ready to start the process of allocating volunteers to tasks for the conference.

 

In order to do this effectively, we have set up a survey in SurveyMonkey.  Here is where we describe the various jobs we need help with and collect your contact information, when you can help out, and what you would like to do.  We would like everyone who can help to fill out a survey and offer us as many time and job options as possible. 

 

Please keep in mind a few things:

  1. MACNA is run and hosted by volunteers and amateurs.  Don’t be intimidated by anything as everyone before you was also figuring it out as they went.
  2. We are still figuring it out as we go.  Despite all the planning, there will still be some things we missed and need to correct on the fly.  Patience and flexibility will be appreciated.
  3. The actual schedule won’t be finalized for a bit.  My guess is that somewhere around a month before the event, YHSublime the Volunteer Coordinator will be able to schedule people for their specific roles and shifts.  From there we can look at training sessions and other things.  If you could please just keep your time slots open that would help.  Practically speaking, everyone should try to block off the entire weekend to be onsite so they are either helping or enjoying the conference.

 

So without further ado, please go and fill out

 

The MACNA Volunteer Survey

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If I've already been Volun-told for a position, would I need to fill out the survey :)

Lol

I can't wait!

Go ahead if you can. We will pull out people who already have assignments but maybe we will give you something additional based on your responses!

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Bump.  33 views and tons of other posts that have buried this thread.  Yet only 2 people have filled out the survey.  Not a good sign...  :unsure:

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Thanks to every who has responded so far.  We are now up to 9 responses, 2 of which were incomplete.  Just 90 more to go... :blink:

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It's very nice of him to volunteer!  We are still working out details on the swag bag packing.  There is a strong argument for doing a 10-12 hour day the weekend before and packing them at the hotel.  That would save us from transporting the 4-6 tons of material to the hotel later on.  But there are still some logistics and costs to work out before that decision is finalized.

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WAMAS Members: We could really use your help for this. Please fill out the survey and give a little bit of your time to help make this go smoothly. This is the largest marine aquarium conference of its kind in North America. We made a bid for and won the conference so that we could bring it directly to you - so you wouldn't have to travel far to enjoy the unique experience of MACNA. Please consider participating in its success, not only as an attendee, but also as a volunteer. Even if you can only give a few hours, every little bit helps.

 

When answering the survey, please keep in mind that we're asking you about what hours you could be available to possibly work.  It's not a commitment to work all of the hours that you check, but helps us to develop a volunteer schedule within the limits of everybody's availability. We fully expect this conference to be MACNA's largest on record. It's going to take a lot of volunteers to make it an unqualified success. Consider giving back a little.

 

Thank you.

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Also have a pickup personal and can borrow another one from my dad for swag bag transfer if needed.

 

Good to note.  Think the two of them can transport about 10,000 gallons of salt water from the Baltimore aquarium to the conference?  That would save us a pretty penny! :tongue:

 

Just kidding, but thought I would throw out an example of the logistical requirements we are working to address.  Having a good team of volunteers established and ready for the easy stuff would eliminate a major stress point so we can focus on other things...

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(edited)

Good to note.  Think the two of them can transport about 10,000 gallons of salt water from the Baltimore aquarium to the conference?  That would save us a pretty penny! :tongue:

 

Just kidding, but thought I would throw out an example of the logistical requirements we are working to address.  Having a good team of volunteers established and ready for the easy stuff would eliminate a major stress point so we can focus on other things...

 

 

 

That is def something I could assist with since its up my way. Ill try to fill out the survey later tonight.

Edited by WilRams
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Good to note.  Think the two of them can transport about 10,000 gallons of salt water from the Baltimore aquarium to the conference?  That would save us a pretty penny! :tongue:

 

Just kidding, but thought I would throw out an example of the logistical requirements we are working to address.  Having a good team of volunteers established and ready for the easy stuff would eliminate a major stress point so we can focus on other things...

 

I figured we'd just turn on a RO/DI starting two months in advance (at 150gpd) to start filling a 10000 gallon tank in the basement from the hose bib on the wall and then we could cart down 1.5 tons of Instant Ocean and start stirring.

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Done :)

I'm slated to help Scott with vendor relations since he is going to be out of town the week prior, but I will be working during that time also, so something during the event days would be good, as I am hopefully going to be there for all 3 days :)

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When do you think there will be a schedule put together for the volunteers?  I've volunteered, filled out the survey, and written PMs.  I would hope that the early (eager) volunteers would get assigned to the prime jobs. 

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When do you think there will be a schedule put together for the volunteers?  I've volunteered, filled out the survey, and written PMs.  I would hope that the early (eager) volunteers would get assigned to the prime jobs. 

 

Please see bullet #3 in the top post.  All the jobs are prime jobs! 

 

We have gotten about a dozen survey responses.  That's about 1/5 to 1/8 of what we need.  Unfortunately some of the surveys are incomplete! 

 

If you are filling out the survey, please note that we really need to know when you will be available and what tasks you prefer.  Otherwise, we would have to resort to assigning you to a random time/role.  That's not good for anyone as people either won't show up or won't enjoy what they are doing.

 

Again, thanks to everyone for filling out the survey.  Hopefully we will get more responses as we definitely need it!

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Could we go back through those threads gauging interest, pull out the forum usernames of members who said they'd volunteer, get the membership director get email addresses for all of them, and start contacting them directly?

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