Aquatic Plant Forum banner
21 - 40 of 55 Posts
Discussion starter · #21 ·
thats good and all but everyone has to join that and this may be a sticky spot for the development of the club. we can all meet in a public area or something that way there are plenty of people around. you can even bring someone if you like to make you feel more comfortable. we just need to get the club up and running i think before it starts to die out again.

thanks,
JJ
 
thats good and all but everyone has to join that and this may be a sticky spot for the development of the club. we can all meet in a public area or something that way there are plenty of people around. you can even bring someone if you like to make you feel more comfortable. we just need to get the club up and running i think before it starts to die out again.

thanks,
JJ
I totally agree that it needs to get up and running and if you need to move on ahead, I say go for it! Unfortunately because I'm a performer and hold two university jobs, I really can't do a regular schedule of meetings at this time. I'm very sorry. :( If you went to the same 13 hours of meetings I went to yesterday, you'd understand. :crazy: I really like the idea of a club, but I know my limits very well. The Skype thing would have been perfect, as it is very easy for me to do, but if you feel that's not where you want to go with the club, that's fine and I completely understand. I can always join up later when my schedule frees up more. Right now, it's the start of the school year, it is quite busy. I'll support and definitely encourage people to join up, though, and I'll offer plants up for swap to any of you, as I'd much rather give priority to locals for equipment I don't use anymore and good plant clippings.

Please keep me abreast of what is done. :)

llj:)
 
JJ I know you're excited, but here's the problem I see:

i told you i'd be interested in being part of the club, but i have no intention, nor time, to be a coordinator for it. you set it up it, you run, and you tell me to be at a certain place at a certain time, and i'll be there...but setting up the logistics for it, i just can't, and i'm sure others dont have the time either.

so what i think you should do, is you make all the decisions, find the place, the time and just get it going. then people will go or not. does GCAS allow us to choose when and where we meet? no, they decided it and if you like it you go, if you dont you stay home. that way you'll have some members and a club, rather than a bunch of people online giving you excuses...

all i ask is you don't make the meetings be in south beach. i dont mind driving around for meetings, but parking in south beach is a PITA all the time, and costs too much money...and did i say it's a BIG PITA...i only go to south beach on the bus:shock::der:
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
this is the things guys we have to start a club before we can actually go out and rent a place to hold them. i dont have space in my apartment to hold a meeting or i would. and i am setting it or at least trying to. im trying to get everyones input but all i get is "im in" or "im interested" but no one is willing to hold it. i suggested to meet at a park or something to introduce ourselves but again nothing how are we supposed to get a club going if no one is willing to stepup and say something. no suggestions!!! you mentioned to me that you go to school well so do i and work full time. but here i am trying to get this thing going without much help. everyone has or needs to be more willing to help with ideas or suggestions or we will never get this club going. period.

thanks,
JJ:confused:
 
Discussion starter · #27 ·
bump anyone still interested in this club. im trying to get a spot. going to ask neighbor hood fish farm if we can hold it there until we can get a permanent place. hope my last post didnt scare anyone away.

JJ
 
The best way to do it is to just hold a "plant swamp/picnic/whatever" at the local park, say, A.D. Barnes Park on Bird Road. Since there are probably not very many of us to begin with, I do not think reservations or any other complications of that sort are necessary. Whoever shows up, shows up.

We can just meet up at the park at X time (say, Saturday at 4-5pm), swap plants, talk about tanks, eat snacks, etc. It does not have to be anything serious, but at least it will get a membership going. If the club grows, then you can start to consider a school to host your meetings -- keep it simple for now.

That said, I am currently in Australia until the end of November.

Good luck,

Carlos
 
Hi everyone! Sorry about my late reply.

Unfortunately, South Florida has not been a good location for aquatic plant hobbyists. It's ironic because Florida produces much of the industry's supply of ornamental aquatic plants. We have many excellent farms/growers/wholesalers in the area.

I tried to unite a few members several years ago without much success. I suppose it was too informal and people were simply not that interested.

With the continued growth of the hobby and online resources, perhaps it's worth it to try again. However, I would like to throw in a few suggestions.

First, for any club to survive the critical first years, it must be created by a very dedicated and hard-working core. It can't be one person but it doesn't need to be many. This is the heart of the club that will keep the blood flowing during the initial inertia of getting members interested.

The AGA did this when they revived their group in the 90s. Without that core of dedicated members like Niel Frank, it would never get to where it is now.

Second, the club needs to have a formal structure. This means a governing core, bylaws or rules, scheduled meetings and (today) a website. Membership dues are always a plus because it makes people put skin in the game but you need to have a management team able to legally/appropriately deal with the money and how it's spent.

Lastly, the club must bring some value to the members. Simply sharing plants is not enough. We all will get to a point where we don't need more plants. What am I getting if I'm a member that I don't get if I'm not? Why should I go through the pain of going to meetings?

I don't mean to put down your efforts so far. And, in fact, if you want a formal get together, by all means go for it. I just wanted to give you some thoughts on my experience on the subject.
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
thanks for the info. for starters we need to get a meeting going and then from there we can move on with it. as far as money and stuff goes that would come in all due time. we just need to get the ball rolling.

JJ
 
I talked to Neighborhood fish farm yesterday when i went by there and they said they would like having a planted tank club meet there. They even said that if we bought a lot of plants they would give us a discount, and were open to the idea of sponsoring a club. I talked to them about times and they said they close at 6, but if we wanted to meet after that we could talk to them and they would schedule it and open for us after 6. Let me know what you all think.

-Matt
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
Hey Matt,

I was there Thursday morning with my friend asking them the same thing. They told us they have to schedule some things. so looks like we might have a place to meet. anyway lets keep this thing going.

JJ
 
Discussion starter · #35 ·
here is a private message i recieved about a south florida plant forum. check it out.

Hi,

Lets discuss this further. I started a small forum just for us South Florida aquarists. Would appreciate it if you could sign up there too so we can see if we can start an online as well as offline community. This may make it easier to get things started.

http://southfloridaaquarist.com

Regards,

Art
 
Yes! I'm new to South Florida, and it seems like this place could use something like that. I just shipped most of my aquarium plants and supplies out here, and I'm already having trouble figuring out where to go for some nice fish, shrimp, and more plants. I'd join.

-E
 
Discussion starter · #38 ·
Hey guys im bumping this again as I would really like to get our own plant club. if anyone interested let me know. we need to set a place and time to meet. we can move on from there. lets do this. the hobby is growing ever more in south florida and we need to get a club in place.:rolleyes:
 
21 - 40 of 55 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top