AGA Convention 2008: Who's Going?

i want to go too!!!!!

How quickly does one have to purchase the convention tickets? Is it a limited seating type event?

Afyounie said:

I want to go soooo bad. Though with the price of gas and the cost of college it will probably be a no for me. Can someone please explain what all those fees are for? It says that only AGA members can attend, but do you still have to pay $59 to go?

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Hi Afyounie,

Yes, if you want to see the presentations, the fee is $59 AND you have to be an AGA member, which is $20 BUT you get a FREE quarterly subscription to The Aquatic Gardener, journal of the AGA. The banquet is extra but that is a pass-through cost. That means we charge you what the hotel charges us for the food and service. The only other expense is the hotel room. It looks expensive to me also, but the reality is, that's a very reasonable price for a nice hotel in downtown Atlanta. So buddy up with some of your pals and split the price of the room rate. What's the point of going to college if you don't ever sleep on the floor?

Bert, wow it would sure be nice to get such a response that we had to cut off registrations. But in previous years we have accepted registration at the door for a slightly higher fee.

Cheryl

I don't think there's a mad rush or necessarily a limited supply for tickets. I'm purchasing my convention tickets here shortly, and looking at flight in a month or so when the 'specials' for November start popping up.

Don't forget about the large auction on Sunday - my collectoritis is starting to act up again

Does anyone know if there will be ADA equipment for sale? I wonder if Jeff will be bringing any items from the ADG store. I suppose I should just email him and find out.

Thanx cheryl for the explanation. Unfortunately I am the only one of my friends that enjoys planted aquariums. Also, I told my girlfriend that we couldn't go to the cichlid convention in atlanta this year(not fond of cichlids anymore), so that means no for the aga convention.

Do they hold this convention in atlanta every year or is it at different places across the nation?

Its in different places, last year they didnt even have one.

bigstick120 said:

Its in different places, last year they didnt even have one.

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Wasn't last year San Francisco? I think it was the year before that they didn't have one.

I'm most definitely going to be there, it's just down the road! I wouldn't miss this one for the world. I'll finally be able to go to the auction and other Sunday activities. Yeay!!!


On a peripheral note, since I do live in the area I'd love to have folks over to my place at some point. If you're going to be arriving early on Wednesday night or Thursday let me know. We might be able to arrange some sort of pre-mass-arrival goings-on before the big Thursday night activities get going.

Regards,
Phil

Nelumbo74 said:

Since most aquatic gardeners are also terrestrial gardeners, you should try your best to also see the Atlanta Botanical Garden while you're in town. It's one of the best, and the new state of the art orchid houses are amazing with both highland and tropical sections. There are Nepenthes in there bigger than your forearm. Also, the Camellias will be beginning to bloom in the woodland garden, and they have some exceptional dart frog paludariums in the lobby of Fuqua conservatory.

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That's good to know since I'm going to be there next month of the ACA (American Cichlid Assn.) convention. We are going to the aquarium, but we weren't sure about the botanical garden. Now that I know, we'll probably visit that too.

I've been hoping to get to an AGA convention one of these years, but I don't know if I can justify the cost of traveling down there twice in a few months time just for my hobby.....

Phil Edwards said:

I'm most definitely going to be there, it's just down the road! I wouldn't miss this one for the world. I'll finally be able to go to the auction and other Sunday activities. Yeay!!!

On a peripheral note, since I do live in the area I'd love to have folks over to my place at some point. If you're going to be arriving early on Wednesday night or Thursday let me know. We might be able to arrange some sort of pre-mass-arrival goings-on before the big Thursday night activities get going.

Regards,
Phil

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I might take you up on that Phil. My wife and I will be driving up from Orlando from a wedding the previous weekend.

Who is going to the AGA meeting in Nov.

Who ever is going may be we can make a group of daring adventurers to go to the northern forests of Georgia and look for Big Foot!!!

Re: Who is going to the AGA meeting in Nov.

I'm planning on going to see Amano-san fo sure. By November the Big Foots are usually down on the pan-handle of Fla. Later around January they do the dreg thing down in the Key's. Haha!

I guess I'll have to check it out. We just had MACNA (marine aquarium conference of north america) here last week and that was a lot of fun too. I guess this year we hit the aquarium convention lottery, lol.

If you go the the GA aquarium do the behind the scenes tour. I lucked out and got a private look by one of the aquarium volunteers. Looking down into the whale shark tank is amazing, 6.3 million gallons!

I totally agree with you on the aquarium, Jan. I'd rather take the drive to Chattanooga than go to the one here again, outside of the conference that is.

How big is the convention? How many people have there been at past conventions?

kkau1 said:

How big is the convention? How many people have there been at past conventions?

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The time I went when it was here there were 80+ people, so it's small as far as conventions go, but I kind of like it that way because you actually get to meet most of the people and have one-on-one time with your favorite speakers.

I'm guessing we'll have nearly 100 people this time. We hope. BUT you don't have to wade through the fish folk to have a conversation with a fellow plant-head. We're all plant-heads.

Wow, nearly 100. That's awesome!