You may vote two times if needed
Not much to say. I laid it out in the other thread. This is something that i thought would be a no brainer, but apparently some members are of a different thought. Let me know what you think. I promise, you wont hurt my feelings ;D Does anyone have any idea how much less work it will be for Ellen and I if we dont have to fool with a new raffle system or bring food? >LOL<
i Feel that if it can still be good prizes, as there will still be a lot of tickets being bought… i dunno…
food part is easy. pizza works good, and have a donation bowl. i would donate for dinner, as most would not mind eating thier versus stopping off at a wawa for dinner on the way. also we could start a BRING A DISH type of meeting. i am sure we could get a few poeple that could bring things at future meetings.
raffle is something that may need to be discussed and tweecked as you se fit. but i think your ideas are good. we all have seen the prizes we were getting and some of it was really not wanted, so more things we need and want is really what it needs.
I really like the idea of possibly coming home with a nice frag or even a bag of salt. YahoO I think we could alternate bought food (hoagies, pizza, ect…), with a pot luck style meeting. I am sure that there are many good cooks in the club that could whip up something. ;D
I make a badass pasta salad.
Glen - appreciate the feedback, and your ideas are good. however, if we get negative feedback for increasing the raffle ticket cost i can only imagine how well a donation bowl would work ;D
i would donate for dinner, as most would not mind eating thier versus stopping off at a wawa for dinner on the way.im sure you would Glen, and that was our thought behind. our meetings are during dinner time and we thought it would be a good idea to provide something a little more substantial than a snack for our members. like everything, we will give it a shot and change it if it doesnt work.
i think potluck is awesome but would require much more active participation. i also think alternating it is a really good idea. im more than open to this idea. any thoughts?
march - one more thought about the raffles. keep in mind that the ticket price is increasing in proportion to the prize. your comment would make perfect sense to me if we increased the cost but continued to have items in the $5-10 price range as prizes. it could be that you have not attended enough meetings, but my decision is based on comments and feedback that i have heard or gotten over the last year. the current group of officers really hussled to get as many donations as possible for raffles, but sponsors arent exactly beating down our door to donate $30/polyp frags or $80/buckets of salt. A $5 ticket with more participation will allow us to use part of the proceeds as well as sponsor participation to continue to get higher quality prizes. From the perspective of a member i think its a no-brainer.
As far as your math goes, i agree with you. It might mean the same net contribution over all. You can spend $5 for one chance to win several prizes that you will likely really want that might range in value from 5-20 times the amount you put in, or you can spend $5 for five chances to one a lot of prizes that you might not want that range in value from 1-3 times your overall contribution.
i know first hand, that our officers this last year did what they could to provide what the could in the way of raffles and a lot of people threw it back in their faces. i understand both sides and im trying to bridge the gap, but you know what, if you really want a $50-$100 item for a $1 ticket its not going to happen. i dont want to come off as an a$$hole, but if it puts a financial strain on someone to purchase a $5 ticket instead of a $1 ticket they might be in the wrong hobby >LOL<
i though we were giving the people what they want. if the raffle doesnt work,and the overall consensus is that it would be better to go back to the way things were then it wont hurt our feelings. we only want to make the overall experience better for everyone involved.
I make a badass pasta salad.
what a coincident because i like to eat badass pasta salad!
I'll spend extra money for nicer prizes, never really had foods at the meetings so that will be nice.Hey guys, I am a member (I think) but I haven’t been to many meetings as of late. My “armchair” stance is that I would prefer to have ten opportunities to win something with my ten dollars over two opportunities.
I completely understand where you’re coming from Shawn, I just think that it would be better applied to a special event raffle, with the Christmas party, or picnic/barbeque, etc… That way, a couple of times per year, people would know to save their pennies and purchase twenty (fifty, whatever) dollars worth of five dollar tickets.
Great ideas on all parts, you’ll never make everyone happy.
i think its a really good idea. ill spend 20$ (or at least 10) to get something nice. you cant beat 5 dollars for for a 40$ frag.lets say u come to every meeting. thats 60$. theres a good chance you will win at least 1 thing. thats the price of a acro or acan. imo well worth the 5 dollars ticket.
the better the prizes the more money ill spend. if u get nice acros (ora frogskin,red planet,peral berry) ill deffently increase my “spending limit”. It all depends how bad u want it.
i Feel that if it can still be good prizes, as there will still be a lot of tickets being bought.. i dunno...
im not sure i follow?
Hey guys, I am a member (I think) but I haven't been to many meetings as of late. My "armchair" stance is that I would prefer to have ten opportunities to win something with my ten dollars over two opportunities.
maybe if you came to more meetings and saw the prizes you would have a different opinion >LOL<
seriously - i appreciate the feedback Joe. The good thing is, that for people of your mindset thing shouldnt actually change to much. If everyone spends the same amount of money regardless of ticket cost, you chances will stay the same since its relative. The only thing that would change is the number of prizes available. In example, if half the club purchased 5X$1 tickets in the past, and the other half purhcased 10X $1 tickets in the past then their odds do not change at all for winning a prize if they still spend $5 and $10 respectively.
i guess we will just have to see how things play out. if after its all said and done, the $5 raffle doesnt bring in more money then it will go away because we wont have the means to continue it without extra revenue. Food will likely go back to $5 pizzeria style pizza(if we’re lucky) and then Ellen and I will move on to another project.
We are simply doing what we felt the club wanted, but will not be offended if it doesnt work. Although it would seem by the poll numbers that support is leaning towards the new system, i think its worth pointing out that this has kind of been the MO for the club for a long time. People are very quick to complain and criticize about everything under the sun and when the officers(past and current) try to make changes for what they perceive to be the better they only recieve more complaints and criticism. I appreciate the feedback so far, and feel that everything offered has been very constructive and helpful. Its important to weigh in with your opinions if you dont want something to change or not change based on the opinions of the vocal few. If somone prefers to spend a $1 at a chance to win some tetra freshwater fish food, have intermittant food at best, and then complain about how much the meetings suck…what can i do? >LOL<
For anyone not in the know, my comments regarding the lack of food(quality and consistency) and lack of quality for raffle items is not a dig at the current/past officers. I happen to know first hand just how hard it is to get raffle items donated by sponsors, and if this is the method we want to rely on moving forward, do not expect any changes. The officers have done the best they could with what they had. The relationship between club and member has to be two ways, you cant reasonable expect to pay less than $1 a month in dues a year and eat/drink at every meeting and have a raffle with better prizes. The math just doesnt work. What you can do is have a nice meal, a good time, and a chance to win something your probably going to buy anyways for as little as $5(but more is better ;D).
If you dont want change, just say so. If you have thoughts or feedback, its welcomed. If you have a better way of doing things then where were you during officer nominations? Your officers are willing to put the work into making this club better and more enjoyable for all, but we need help from everyone to do it. I know i might be coming off as being defensive, but i assure you that is not my intention. I only want to drive the big picture home to everyone who might not understand that the club is only as good as you make it and that the quality of our meetings and events will reflect the amount of contributions(time,money, effort)donated by our members. This is only the first step in making the club something special. If we can not support something as basic as this, or a similar alternative, then i feel it will be very unlikely that we will be able to move forward in organizing larger events that will only require more participation.
please continue with the constructive feedback. if this is important to you, then vote and let your opinion be known. you dont have to post if you dont want, but it is encouraged.
i think its a really good idea. ill spend 20$ (or at least 10) to get something nice. you cant beat 5 dollars for for a 40$ frag.lets say u come to every meeting. thats 60$. theres a good chance you will win at least 1 thing. thats the price of a acro or acan. imo well worth the 5 dollars ticket.the better the prizes the more money ill spend. if u get nice acros (ora frogskin,red planet,peral berry) ill deffently increase my “spending limit”. It all depends how bad u want it.
im not sure if i have the mentality of a 14 year old, or if your just mature for your age, but my thoughts on the matter were identical.
i will like to point out one thing. with an increase in quality their will be a decrease in quantity meaning that you will have the same chance as before to win something, just not as many opportunities. with that said, if we were to average 25 members and 5 items at every meeting you still have a 20% chance of winning which is pretty good IMO. Thinks will be necessity start off a little slow but with more participation will continue to grow. I will do my best to keep the member to prize ratio consisent so that everyone has a decent chance of winning something.
Brett - FYI, i happen to know for a fact that there is at least one Red Planet Acro, one Joe the Coral, and one Pearlberry that will be made available if things move forward.
Just to reiterate. This wont be an SPS raffle anytime soon. We will strive for a balance between beginner, intermediate, and dififcult corals with an emphasis on quality and rarity. Not everything will have a fancy name(although we all know we love those fancy names ;D) but everything will be above average quality. No colt frags here!
Think about the things we regularly spend money on as hobbyiest: frags, food, salt, bulbs, test kits, supplements, media etc and the things that almost every hobbyiest would want or could use: media reactor, high end powerhead, high end heater, float mag mod with blade, $50 gift certificate, etc. This will be the focus. Even if a person uses IO salt and API test kits, would you not use a bucket of TM salt or Salifert testkits if you win them?
Other raffle items that i thought would be pretty cool and appeal to most of us are books and magazine subcritions. Would anyone not want a chance to win a one year subscription to CORAL?
Overall the feedback seems to be good. I dont see any votes for $1 tickets yet, and i completely understand the logic of those that will spend the same. This is where i think its important for us to advertise the raffle items before the meetings so that members can get an idea of how many tickets they will purchase before hand.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:12, topic:2334”]
i think its a really good idea. ill spend 20$ (or at least 10) to get something nice. you cant beat 5 dollars for for a 40$ frag.lets say u come to every meeting. thats 60$. theres a good chance you will win at least 1 thing. thats the price of a acro or acan. imo well worth the 5 dollars ticket.the better the prizes the more money ill spend. if u get nice acros (ora frogskin,red planet,peral berry) ill deffently increase my “spending limit”. It all depends how bad u want it.
im not sure if i have the mentality of a 14 year old, or if your just mature for your age, but my thoughts on the matter were identical.[/quote]
+2. My thoughts exactly. We need to get more youth involved with the club. You are a very wise young man Bret.
There’s one other thing you need to consider when setting the price of the raffle. The powers that be have decided that $5 is the magic number that average consumer is willing to spend for a meal or something they don’t need. It started with Domino’s 5-5-5 deal, then $5 footlongs, then Pizza Hut and Arby’s jumped on board, etc… It’s everywhere in our society right now.
From the economic perspective, it’s impact is on our rationality. Supply and Demand graphs only work when people behave rationally and there are limited resources. In this case, the mass marketing has twisted our Nation’s psyche to the point that we will spend $5 without thinking. But $6??? Forget it!
A $5 burger sounds great for lunch but $10??? That’s waaaaay to pricey! But even a $6 burger is over that magic tipping point of $5 and people just won’t spend the money right now.
I witnessed firsthand what happens when you change your prices from $5 a calzone to just $5.75 a calzone in an attempt to make a dent in the cost of food increase. You’ll have to trust me when I say stick with $5.
hey all so im new and have never been to a meeting let alone participated in a raffle but i like the higer end stuff for 5$. sure its a little more but it better to have a better, higher quality selection of winnings then the same old cheap stuff that everyone already has.
with that said, who’s to say we cant try our hands at doing both. kind of like smaller and big ticket items. maybe a bunch of 1$ items and maybe 1,2, or 3 5$ ticket items. im sure everyone will at least try once at a big ticket item as well as going for a bunch of the smaller ticket items.
hey it could work
RCA - Great points, makes a lot of sense.
Kdino - We may end up doing just that. Its much easier logistically to have one prize range rather than mutiple prize ranges including sponsor donations, different tickets, different pots, etc Not to mention that i want the raffle to be only a small part of the meeting and not have to devote an uneccessary amount of time for balancing mutiple priced raffles. Im not saying its not an option or it wont happen, but, personally speaking, i would likely lean to a majority rules raffle rather than a please everyone raffle.
Everyone should remember that its not just a raffle but a contribution to the club that will pay dividends in the type of events we can organize this year. I know its nature to see it only in terms of what your getting out of it, but please know that your also contributing to the club. Each raffle will need to cover the food costs for that meeting as well as the raffle items for that meeting that were not donated. We have to do much better than breaking even if we are to raise money for future club events or grow the raffle to more and or larger items.
To the people that think its ridiculous to pay more than $1 for a ticket, i would like to point out that all of the frags for this meeting have been donated by club members that expect 0 in return so that we wont start in the hole. The ORA frags(albeit larger) go for $40-$70 and the nuclears go for $5/polyp. Im sure they could have easily sold these on the member board for $20-30 each quite easily but chose to give them to the club to help out. And, no, these arent all my frags ;D
Lets stop talking in circles and just let numbers do the talking like logan said. You guys have access to the amount of money taken in from the raffle at previous meetings. Over the next few meetings see if that number goes up with the 5 dollar tickets or stays the same.
Statistically i feel they are, 12 and a dozen, meaning the same… but we shall see… maybe your right. Just let this way run for 4 meetings, and then change if necessary. either way ima spend the money, i was just playing a devils advocate.
no worries. like i said, all constructive feedback is welcomed. it provided me with the venue to fill in necessary details as well as my thoughts on the mattter.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:11, topic:2334”]
maybe if you came to more meetings and saw the prizes you would have a different opinion >LOL<[/quote]
Probably very true. New baby, full time work and full time school have me running ragged. One more block to go!
I always enjoyed getting little odds and ends for a few bucks at the raffles, but admittedly my tank is nowhere near what your (and other member’s) tank is. You probably have no use for algae scrapers and the like, I was always pretty happy to get one. That said, I would be very happy to win a reactor or a powerhead, etc… and I’m sure I will bring my ten bucks along to the next meeting I am able to attend.
I’m happy to see you putting the effort in to making the club better. The last couple generations of officers have vastly improved the club from where it was, so you are on your way to carrying on that tradition.
New baby, full time work and full time school have me running ragged.
oh, i know man. im in the same boat with work and school and ive only got one little one. im surprised you find the time to post ;D the only reason im on the boards as much as i am is because i like fish more than sleep >LOL< or pain more than pleasure…i forget which, need more sleep:)