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Individual Member

Single (Adult or Minor with sponsor).

Why you should join?

Monthly Meetings featuring expert speakers (10 per year)
Participation in our Breeders Award and CARES programs
Priority registration for Swap Meets (5 per year)
Ability to buy fish at our Rare Fish Auction (2 per year)
Participation in Bag Exchanges (during Covid)
Members-only events such as Holiday Party, Picnic, hobby tours and more
Our award-winning website which includes hundreds of articles, a cichlid classifieds allow you to find local fish for sale and special members-only sections
Show your support for the top cichlid club in the USA

Duration:	1 year
Price:	$20.00

Family Member

Family (Spouses and children under the age of 18 & all under one roof) - roommates, relatives, in-laws, adult siblings, etc will need to get individual memberships

Single (Adult or Minor with sponsor).

Why you should join?

Monthly Meetings featuring expert speakers (10 per year)
Participation in our Breeders Award and CARES programs
Priority registration for Swap Meets (5 per year)
Ability to buy fish at our Rare Fish Auction (2 per year)
Participation in Bag Exchanges (during Covid)
Members-only events such as Holiday Party, Picnic, hobby tours and more
Our award-winning website which includes hundreds of articles, a cichlid classifieds allow you to find local fish for sale and special members-only sections
Show your support for the top cichlid club in the USA

Duration:	1 year
Price:	$25.00

June Meeting: TBD

06-12-2022 06:00 p -09:00 p

Hilton Chicago Northbrook

July Meeting: Dr. Anton Lamboj

07-10-2022 06:00 p -09:00 p

Hilton Chicago Northbrook

Rare Fish Auction (Members-only)

08-14-2022 06:00 p -09:30 p

Hilton Chicago Northbrook

Vendor registration for September Swap 8/30 @7pm

09-18-2022 09:30 p -01:00 p

Hilton Chicago Northbrook

Tropical Fish Swap Meet 9-18-2022

09-18-2022 10:00 p -01:00 p

Hilton Chicago Northbrook

$5.00

Tropical Fish Swap Meet 10-30-2022

10-30-2022 10:00 p -02:00 p

Hilton Chicago Northbrook

$5.00

More Auctions

14 years 3 months ago #3559 by dragonkeeper

Replied by dragonkeeper on topic Re: More Auctions

We at MASI in St. Louis hold 4 auctions and only 1 swap per year. We have a core of volunteers who work every auction and always a few guests who also help out. I would think clubs the size of GCCA who have more members would have plenty of volunteers to run an auction more than twice a year. I don't attend the swaps in Chicago because it is a 4 hour ride up there and not worth the trip to only buy a few fish. When i come i want to fill several coolers with fish to make the gas expense be spread over more items. MASI also limits the numnber of items that any person can bring to 20 no matter what it is (fish, plants, drygoods) which keeps the length down to 5-7 hours. The 20 limit also makes people bring their best stuff and package it in larger quantities. I'd like GCCA to have more auctions and fewer swaps. I'd come up more often.

Speaking about booking far in advance, something MASI does to allow us to book a year in advance is avoid the large chain hotels, they cost too much. We book our events into a smaller "fleabag" hotel with an auditorium/large banquet room. The one we use is frequented by truckers and auto assembly workers. The hotel really likes our business. Do the fish really care if the rest of the hotel is substandard as long as the room is warm enough and large enough?

John V.
MASI Auction Chairman

The fish may not care but I bet some of the customers/members would care if the hotel was a "dump". Personally I don't want to go to an auction in a crappy "fleabag" motel just because it is a little cheaper. And I'm sure I not alone in that sentiment.

DragonKeeper
~Retired President~

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14 years 3 months ago #3501 by drwho0731

Replied by drwho0731 on topic Re: More Auctions

We at MASI in St. Louis hold 4 auctions and only 1 swap per year. We have a core of volunteers who work every auction and always a few guests who also help out. I would think clubs the size of GCCA who have more members would have plenty of volunteers to run an auction more than twice a year. I don't attend the swaps in Chicago because it is a 4 hour ride up there and not worth the trip to only buy a few fish. When i come i want to fill several coolers with fish to make the gas expense be spread over more items. MASI also limits the numnber of items that any person can bring to 20 no matter what it is (fish, plants, drygoods) which keeps the length down to 5-7 hours. The 20 limit also makes people bring their best stuff and package it in larger quantities. I'd like GCCA to have more auctions and fewer swaps. I'd come up more often.

Speaking about booking far in advance, something MASI does to allow us to book a year in advance is avoid the large chain hotels, they cost too much. We book our events into a smaller "fleabag" hotel with an auditorium/large banquet room. The one we use is frequented by truckers and auto assembly workers. The hotel really likes our business. Do the fish really care if the rest of the hotel is substandard as long as the room is warm enough and large enough?

John V.
MASI Auction Chairman

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14 years 3 months ago #3095 by rm-slover

Replied by rm-slover on topic Re: More Auctions

at the last meeting we had almost 30 bags of donations and BAP bags. sometimes speakers from hatcheries and fish farmers bring in species to donate to the club that are auctioned off to members. we even do rare fish auctions from some wholesalers and breeders.

there are plenty of great opportunities within the GCCA to get some quality fish.

www.aca2010.com/wp-content/images/simple_aca2010_banner.jpg" alt="ACA 2010 Web Site" height="60" width="468" />

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14 years 3 months ago #3094 by dragonkeeper

Replied by dragonkeeper on topic Re: More Auctions

Yes we do. They are generally donation bags and BAP bags. Every once in a while we do get a box swap in from another club.

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14 years 3 months ago #3092 by LCGoldman

Replied by LCGoldman on topic Re: More Auctions

Do you guys have "mini" auctions at every meeting? We do at NCAS... always a nice selection to choose from, and the selling prices can't be beat

Lonnie

Creator/Adminstrator of the Nassau County Aquarium Society Forum

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14 years 4 months ago #2532 by forumadmin

Replied by forumadmin on topic Re: Event Conflicts

. . . . do we really need to work around bears games? if getting a bigger room or booking a year in advance causes us to miss a bears game is it the end of the world? we can just tivo it or put a TV in the entrance area with it on to keep us updated.

A few years back GCCA booked an auction the same day as a Bears game and you could hear the crickets chirping.

GCCA event attendees are overwhelmingly male and I think a lot are sports fans. We do book swaps the same day when the Bears have a late game. That was one of the reasons the swaps now end at 2 PM. That gives everyone plenty of time to get home for the game at 3:15 PM.

To revisit the hotel issue, we have covered this previously. To summarize:

We are not a profitable group to bring in because of we do not purchase booze, catering, etc. Hotels will not give us an affordable rate far in advance.
We do not have much leverage with the number of rooms we sell for the Classic.
It is extremely time-consuming to find venues that can accommodate our group and are affordable.
We certainly would be open to anyone who would like to volunteer to research different venues. PM me.

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14 years 4 months ago #2520 by

Replied by on topic Re: More Auctions

The whole hotel engaging process has been handled by some very, very dedicated volunteers. They have canvassed many places. We are a small user, that won't (can't) pay a lot. We cannot compete with a for profit user. We get very cheap rates athat are affordable for us. If we tried to tie up the hotel well in advance, the rates would increase dramatically - even to the point of not beng affordable. We dont buy food, or booze or refreshments, etc. There is a lot of profit in that stuff and the hotels want that type of business.

I have rented meeting rooms for business and I wish I could get the GCCA's rate. We do need to conserve our resources where possible.

As far as dates go - the problem as I see it is that several clubs all have the same desires. Once we had a swap the same day as an auction. That was a long day. I am pretty sure if we had an event the same day as a Bear game, attendance would suffer.

As far as more auctions - the club voted to limit the auctions to two from three. Democracy in action.

Visitor

14 years 4 months ago #2515 by rm-slover

Replied by rm-slover on topic Re: Event Conflicts

Ray is right. We do occasionally have conflicts with events put on by other aquarium societies. That includes clubs in surrounding states such as Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Iowa. We do greatly appreciate the support of everyone who travels to our events and many help out at auctions and our Cichlid Classic.

...

As for more auctions, I doubt that is going to happen. It takes 15-20 people to run an auction who have to commit an entire 16-hour day. Afterwards, it takes three people most of a day to balance all the purchases and write the checks. I'm fairly certain we are going to stick with 4 swaps and 2 auctions per year.

i dont think that having more auctions was the point of his post. i think it was to see if there was a way to coordinate with Milwaukee and greenwater to set something up where the three groups are hosting events on the same day. could we find a hotel that allows for our size, that also allows us to book dates a year in advance?

also do we really need to work around bears games? if getting a bigger room or booking a year in advance causes us to miss a bears game is it the end of the world? we can just tivo it or put a TV in the enterance area with it on to keep us updated.

www.aca2010.com/wp-content/images/simple_aca2010_banner.jpg" alt="ACA 2010 Web Site" height="60" width="468" />

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14 years 4 months ago - 14 years 4 months ago #2490 by forumadmin

Replied by forumadmin on topic Re: Event Conflicts

Ray is right. We do occasionally have conflicts with events put on by other aquarium societies. That includes clubs in surrounding states such as Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Iowa. We do greatly appreciate the support of everyone who travels to our events and many help out at auctions and our Cichlid Classic.

In our case, the conflicts are not easily avoided:

We only can book the large rooms at the Sheraton AH about 2-3 months in advance.
There are a limited number of dates that "work" considering Bears games, the SuperBowl, and our own meeting dates.

Believe me, we'd love to book all our dates a year in advance, but our hotel deal does not allow for that.

By the way, it looks like the Classic is going to be at the Sheraton! You can "sell" your spouse on taking the kids to the CoCo Key water park that is now part of the hotel.

See my earlier posts re: the Swaps for more detail.

As for more auctions, I doubt that is going to happen. It takes 15-20 people to run an auction who have to commit an entire 16-hour day. Afterwards, it takes three people most of a day to balance all the purchases and write the checks. I'm fairly certain we are going to stick with 4 swaps and 2 auctions per year.

Rick

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Last edit: 14 years 4 months ago by .

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14 years 4 months ago #2485 by newworld

Replied by newworld on topic Re: More Auctions

totally agree

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