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An IMAC in Las Vegas

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Well;
IMAC Chicago is over and it was a huge success. All the booths were sold out months ahead of time and everyone seemed to have a great time. Now it is time to really get working on IMAC Las Vegas on August 10, 11 and 12. You West Coast people have not had a major aquarium conference out your way in years and many East Coast people will love to come to IMAC LV for the excitement that Vegas provides. We have almost 20 speakers and over 100 exhibit booths.

Guys this one will be an easy sell. Your significant other can see Celine Dion, Carrot Top, Rita Rudner, Bette Midler, David Copperfield, Elton John, Wayne Newton, Barry Manilow or some of the many other headliners while you attend the conference. (Hint: Buy your tickets now, for the best seats. Celine Dion sells out about a month in advance).

Rooms at the Riviera Hotel and Casino, where IMAC is being held, are just $99/nite. Conference registration is just $155 but it goes up on July 1, so hurry. You can even book extra days at the $99 rate if you want to extend your stay. Our room block includes rooms for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday but not for extra days so you should hurry to get them. Vegas hotels always fill up quickly. And the $99 rate is only guaranteed until July 9th.

So hurry over to http://www.theimac.org/IMAC%20Las%20Vegas.htm and see what we have lined up for you.

Cheers,
Dennis Gallagher, Conference Chairman

;D
 
Hi Everybody;
I’m sorry to be the bearer of sad tidings but it appears that IMAC Las Vegas will be cancelled. There have been so few sign ups that it will not be fair to the vendors, the hotel or us. It is very disappointing to us since we thought Las Vegas would be a very popular destination, especially for West Coast hobbyists.

If you have registered for IMAC Las Vegas you will have 2 options: a refund or you may apply your registration toward IMAC Chicago next year May 29-June 2. Exhibitors will have the same options.

Is this decision final? Possibly not. If 200 of you register in the next week, IMAC Las Vegas is still possible. In checking the forums of the western clubs, we find many of you say you are coming, you just haven’t registered. Don’t worry, registrations are kept in a separate fund and won’t be involved in our negotiations with the hotel, if this IMAC is cancelled.

West Coast hobbyists, this may be your last chance to show that you can support a major conference. So go over to http://www.theimac.org/IMAC%20Las%20Vegas.htm and sign up to try and save this conference.

We’re sorry if you have already bought plane tickets to Las Vegas. Maybe you can exchange them for something else or, better yet, encourage your friends to sign up for IMAC Las Vegas.

Thanks,
Dennis Gallagher


:'(
 
Hi All;

When I made my post about IMAC Las Vegas possibly being cancelled it was intended to get some of you off the fence and register so we would be able to have the conference. Apparently, it had the opposite effect. Oh, some of you signed up quickly. But most of you did not. I received a lot of emails from many of you saying you were going to sign up today but since the conference was cancelled, you did not..

That was not the intention of the post. I don’t know what all of you were waiting for. You know hotels in Vegas fill up months in advance. You know you can get a full refund on your IMAC registration if the conference is cancelled and you can get a full refund on your hotel reservation if you cancel 48 hours in advance, so I don’t know what the problem is.

We will be making the decision about whether or not to cancel the conference on Monday July 9th. We will see how many of you have made your hotel reservations by then. And you can still sign up for IMAC Las Vegas at http://www.theimac.org/IMAC%20Las%20Vegas.htm

Best,
Dennis
 
That was not the intention of the post. I don’t know what all of you were waiting for. You know hotels in Vegas fill up months in advance. You know you can get a full refund on your IMAC registration if the conference is cancelled and you can get a full refund on your hotel reservation if you cancel 48 hours in advance, so I don’t know what the problem is.
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Vacation time is very limitted for most people Dennis. IF there is a chance it's not going to happen, they most likely are going to jump ship for something that is a sure thing. I know I would.
 
Hi GreshamH;

I'm sorry if my tone did not sound like a good marketing tool; it may have been desperation, or perhaps disappointment. For years West Coast hobbyists have been bugging us to have an IMAC closer to them, and when we do nobody comes. In the last few months IMAC Las Vegas was a sure thing, and they didn't sign up then either.

This is just a last ditch effort, one month before the conference, to try and round up support and prove that westerners can support a major conference. If they don't I guess it shows they can't.

Sorry,
Dennis
 
Holding an event in the hottest month of the year for Vegas is not a good test for a sign of western support for major conferences IMO. Yah the hotels are cheap then, but for good reason. If you held it in the fall or winter your attendance would be far greater even thought the rates would be twice as much :)

If they don't I guess it shows they can't.
Click to expand...

If you don't come, your incapable of supporting a major aquarium conference? Wow is all I can say.
 
I was going to be attending this conference as a vendor and I am sad it looks like it isn't happening.

Most of the people that I have talked to hadn't heard about the con. East coast IMAC has a rep so people know to think about it, but since this one is new, I think some extra advertising would have been helpful. I'm pretty active in several reefing communities, so if there was any extra advertising, IMO it didn't work all that well. I think blaming/guilt tripping people for not signing up for something they didn't really know about is unfair, and will prolly result in less people signing up.

Besides being hellishly hot in Vegas (which most westerners know), Aug 10, 11, and 12 is right smack dab in the middle of summer vacation which makes it generally hard for people to make time for.

I think there was a lot working against people signing up for the conference, both now and in the past.

My guess is most people will be waiting to see if the con is a go before they spend time making any reservations, and I don't envy the catch 22 the coordinators now find themselves in.

I hope this turns around and a ton of people register because it looked to be a great, informative time.
 
I was looking forward to attending, however the way my schedule tends to fluctuates I really can't make concrete arrangements this far in advanced.

Another thing is that while yes Las Vegas is closer than Chicago, it's not really THAT much closer as the plane flies. Not trying to make excuses or bitching (even though I am incredibly good at both :D), but it really is an awful lot of money to throw down for a conference Las Vegas is not a cheap place to stay (and I'm talking beyond hotel costs), JMHO.

It really sucks for you guys though, I know you put a lot of time and effort into getting this thing off the ground, I hope that my feelings aren't representative of the majority and your conference pays off.
 
Sorry, if it looks like it's being cancelled.

August is at least for us SF people the nicest time and everybody is usually away during this time frame. If it was either much later or much earlier in March or even April that would be ideal.
 
And the NW-CFM the weekend after. RAP will be ~1000 - 1500 people this year :) Last year it was ~800!
 
The first time I heard about IMAC in Las Vegas, is when I read it all over reefcentral saying it was cancelled. Then I decided to go on BAR to see if there was more, and here it is =(
 
I also think a lot of us find Vegas unappealing as a convention destination. I mean, if we wanted flashy, cheesy environments we wouldn't be living here in Norcal. I'd be more likely to go to Chicago than Vegas.
 
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