Thanks for having me back MARSH! For a first year event, I think things went exceptionally smooth in the grand scheme of things. Your BOD and volunteers worked their butts off. I'm safely back in MN and writing from underneath 10 feet of snow (no joke, there are piles that reach my roof).
Someone earlier in the thread mentioned distractions during speakers, particularly folks getting up and leaving or coming in late. As a speaker up on the stage, form my experience I notice but I don't think it makes me skip a beat, nor do I feel any sort of offense or disrespect either. I want the audience that wants to be there...if someone wants or needs to leave for any reason, no worries (maybe a Harlequin Filefish breeding talk simply isn't in their interests) and by the same token, if you really wanted to see the talk but missed the first 5 minutes, I'd rather you still got to see the talk. *MOST* of the distraction probably happens not to a speaker, but to the audience, particularly if people are trying to get (or leave) a seat more towards the front...not sure there's really anything that could be done about that. I was surprised that I only heard one cell phone go off...bravo to folks for silencing their phones without being asked. Someone should have reminded me to turn mine back on....my wife got pretty worried when I wasn't answering the phone that was ringing "silently"!
Mike Hoang was an exceptional host BTW...what largely goes unmentioned is that given our breeding connection, I was eager to spend time with him, so I purposely planned to come a day earlier (also a wise move given that I was coming from Minnesota in the winter...). I wound up spending most of Thursday on the road (2.5 hour drive to the airport took around 4+), and then at the airport assuming my flight would be cancelled (like the other one to Houston). I didn't wind up in Houston until 3 AM (originally was supposed to be around 10); Mike was up until 5, then just a couple hours sleep before taking care of the kids. THEN...THEN Friday night, after a day of doing all sorts of wonderful Houston-only things, we got to the hotel, and tried to get to bed EARLY. I sware not a single drink was had, and Mike hit the sack early...but before 6 AM he was UP and prepping to be at the registration table. I don't know how he does it...I flat out couldn't. Thank you Mike and Teresa and Quoc for all your hospitality!
I share that story, because I'm pretty sure that every single BOD member and volunteer put in similar Herculean efforts, and often those efforts are not really seen by the 200+ people that came through that door...nevermind that those personal outlays of time and resources are largely (if not completely) uncompensated. Let that be my call to all potential future volunteers...help your club leadership with that burden whenever you can....these projects don't come off easy and can readily burn out your leadership! And remember, "volunteering" is not a title...it's a commitment to do a job and people are depending on you. In my own experiences, too often volunteers, volunteer, simply to say they "volunteered"....thinking that because it's volunteer it's OK to not make it a priority or to fail to meet your obligation because you're "not paid". Your BOD members and the volunteers I saw definitely do NOT fit that "I volunteered for the T-Shirt" mentality....they set a standard for you all to emulate. Be sure you show them tremendous gratitude and support since you all clearly appreciated what they pulled off this year!
My thanks one more time to the folks who invited me out to speak at MARSH again, and for EVERYONE who came into the room to hear me talk about my passion as a marine hobbyist. If there was anything I could have done differently in my presentation, I always welcome the feedback. Any questions, be sure to ask...you should be able to email me through the MARSH website??
Congratulations to you all on a clearly successful event! You should be proud.
