Midwest Marine Conference 2010

[cmpenney]

Midwest Marine Conference 2010
May 21st-23rd, 2010
Cranbrook Institute of Science
39221 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303

Think REEF ! - Refocusing on Efficient and Effective Fundamentals
For MMC 2010 we are focusing on topics to reduce losses, reduce impact, and move toward a more self sustainable hobby

Midwest Marine Conference 2010 includes 3 days of activities.

Friday Social Reception with Speakers and Industry Leaders
Speaker Sessions on Saturday and Sunday
Frag Swap on Sunday, Followed by a Huge Livestock and Dry goods raffle
Large Exhibit Hall full of National and Local Vendors


Full Conference Passes Start at just $30 per person! Which get you full access to all events over the 3 days.
General Admission for frag swap is from 11am to 4pm on Sunday at $3 per person.
(Access to the Exhibit hall and speakers outside that time is available to Full Conference Pass holders only.)

Visit: http://www.midwestmarineconf.org for full Details

[cmpenney]

Today is the last day to get tickets at the $30 rate. If your thinking of attending this year get those tickets while they are cheap!

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Tickets.aspx

[Henryreef]

I went last year and thought it was great, can't wait for this years!

[cmpenney]

This year will be even better. More speakers, an extra day of events, and all for about the same price that people paid last year if you get your tickets soon.

[cmpenney]

MASM is pleased to announce that Jake Adams will be our fifth speaker for the Midwest Marine Conference 2010.

[DIRK GRIFFIN]

Wahoo, another road trip:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

[cmpenney]

Thank you so much for your support Dirk!

For those that do not know Dirk will be one of our largest vendors at the conference in 2010.

[cmpenney]

You can also follow the conference now on FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Midwest-Marine-Conference-2010/63740773917?ref=ts

And Twitter:
http://twitter.com/mmarineconf

[cmpenney]

I'm very pleased to announce that J. Charles Delbeek has accepted the sixth and final speaker position for the 12th annual Midwest Marine Conference.

So are final speakers Are:
Jake Adams
John Coppolino
Mike Degruy
Charles Delbeek
Sanjay Joshi
Richard Pyle


Visit http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/ to get your tickets today.

[DIRK GRIFFIN]

For the hardcores out there, this is a 2 day swap/speaker event :spin2::spin2:

[cmpenney]

Actually it's 3 if you count the Friday night social!

[Sanjay]

With the Friday night social, I better not be speaking early on Sat:beer:

sanjay.

[cmpenney]

I'm all for waiting til noon to start the whole thing :)

[copps]

With the Friday night social, I better not be speaking early on Sat:beer:

sanjay.

Ditto... I hear Jake's an early riser... :fun4:

[shred5]

I went too one a long time ago and it was fun... I remember a great lunch, no more lunches? I see now there is a shuttle and the conference and no longer at the hotel... Anyway it was a great time and would love to make it again this year. You guys really do a fine conference. See if I can round up a few buddies to make the long drive with.

Hey Sanjay Remember the pirate party at Imac a few years ago.. LOL

[cmpenney]

No we dropped to lunch which allowed us to get the ticket prices down. While the lunch was nice it just didn't make sense financially. The new format let's us expand to multiple days while still keeping a really great ticket price.

[Talfish]

This is going to be another fun event hosted by MASM at an awesome venue. The Cranbrook Institute of Science is so much nicer than the average "hotel" setting.

Hope to see everyone at the event!

[cmpenney]

It's my pleasure to announce a some more of the vendors for the conference:

Instant Ocean
Marineland

You can see all the vendors at: http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Exhibitors.aspx

[Talfish]

More cool vendors on the way soon. :)

[cmpenney]

Seachem Is now the latest Vendor to sign up for the Conference!
Seachem Laboratories. Sea the Difference (http://www.seachem.com/Home/index.html)


This is certain to be the best Conference we have ever done. Check the image below to get a look at how the exhibit hall is shaping up

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Layout.aspx?ID=96&Img=Layout.gif&Now=3/18/2010%2011:51:26%20AM

[cmpenney]

Hey everybody,

Lucid Propagations Has just signed up as the latest vendor for the conference. Spots are filling up fast!

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/banners/lucid.jpg

[copps]

Hey Chad, I sent you a couple of PMs... thanks buddy!

John

[cmpenney]

Sorry John,

Been totally swamp ( not a good excuse ).

[cmpenney]

http://www.masm.org/upfiles/jakeadams.jpg

Just got word from Jake Adams that he will be speaking on LED lighting technologies and plans to have some cool demos for new bleeding edge stuff to show off.

[cmpenney]

We've had a few people ask for the schedule for the weekend so I have posted it below. It is possible that the time and speaking slot could shift slightly as we get closer but this should be pretty close to how things will go down.

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/schedule.png

[Rook]

Can't wait. This is an awesome list of speakers. It will be tough to have to decide which I can see and which I can not. Although, DeGruy and Delbeek are not at these events often, so they may be my priority.

[cmpenney]

Please Welcome Eco Reef Technologies as the latest Exhibitor for the 2010 Midwest Marine Conference. The Full Conference Booths are filling up fast!

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/banners/ertbanner.jpg

[Talfish]

We have quite the line up of speakers and vendors. This is going to be our best Conference ever, I can't wait! :spin1:

[cmpenney]

Just in case anyone hasn't seen the list of speakers for the conference, check this out:

Jake Adams
- LED lighting Technologies
John Coppolino
- Angelfish in Reef Aquaria: From QT and Adaptation to Pairing and Spawning
Michael DeGruy
- Creeps From the Deep and Other Stories
Charles Delbeek
- CAS Large Reef System
Sanjay Joshi
- Reef Aquarium System Design: Principles and Good Practices
Richard Pyle

[Bongo Shrimp]

I can't wait for this one! Last year's was awesome but this one seems like it will be much bigger and better.

[Talfish]

I can't wait for this one! Last year's was awesome but this one seems like it will be much bigger and better.

That's the plan. :)

[cmpenney]

We've certainly got the dream team of speakers there this year. A couple of these guys rarely speak for these types of event and we managed to get more than one of them at the same time!


Certainly going to be one for the history books.

[cmpenney]

Check out this list of some of the vendors we will have this year:

Boston AquaFarams
YZReef.net
Midwest Saltwater
Dirk's
AquaticLife
Aquatic Eco-Systems, Inc.
Digital Aquatics
CaptiveReefs
Paradise Corals
Paul's Corals
Inland Hobbies
Reef Hobbyist Magazine
Cherry Corals
Reef Nutrition
House of Corals
Instant Ocean
SeaChem
Lucid Corals
Reef Brite
Eco Reef Technologies
Marineland
Rod's Reef
Reef Stewardship Foundation

[cmpenney]

We are looking for Volunteers to help out working the floor during the conference, checking in people, setting up, tearing down, doing security, etc. In exchange for at least 5 hours of your time over the weekend volunteers will get:

$5 Discount on their ticket
2 Free Conference Shirt ( to wear during the event )
Access to the Speaker and Volunteer Lounge
And a Secret Saturday evening surprise that makes the rest of the stuff seem worthless.

We can split up your time between the days or you can do it all in one day. If you are interest please send me a PM and I will get you the information on how to get your discount.

[John Dawe]

pm sent

[cmpenney]

http://www.michiganreefers.com/images/banners/preusspets.gif



It pleases me to announce that Preuss Pets will be sponsoring the beverage service for the Conference. A big thank you to Rick and all the folks at Preuss' for their continued support of the Midwest Marine Conference and the Reefing Community!

[cmpenney]

We have released a very few swap tables for sale. Due to space issues these may be the only full tables with power that will be available at the swap.

See http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Vendor.aspx to get all the details.

[cmpenney]

We are now down to only 6 booths left!

[cmpenney]

Well things just keep getting better! Kee's Aquarium has just signed on and is the the latest addition to the stellar lineup of vendors and exhibitor at this years Midwest Marine Conference.

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/banners/kees.gif

Thanks Kee's for your support of this event.

[cmpenney]

Reef Peddler is the latest vendor to be joining us for the Midwest Marine Conference. Thank you Reef Peddler for your continued support of MASM and the Reefing Community

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/banners/reefpeddler.gif

[cmpenney]

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/Brightwell.png
Brightwell Aquatics has donated a ton of there top notch additives and supplements to the raffle


http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/BRS-RO.jpg
Also Bulk Reef Supply has donated a full RO/DI system as well.

Thanks to both Brightwell Aquatics and BulkReefSupply.com for their generous donations!

[cmpenney]

The good news just keeps rolling in!

The Blue Glow has signed on as the latest commercial vendor for the Conference.

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/banners/blueglow.jpg

With all the choice stuff there it's really going to be worth getting a Full Conference Pass or at least a Exhibit Hall Pass to get first crack at the cool stuff on Saturday!

[Pcrain]

psssh is Michigan really considered Midwest.. because last time i looked at a map of the us there is nothing mid - or west about Michigan.

/cry its to far for me to travel from Cali i heard mid west and was like woot im west i wonder how far mid is hehe

I wanna hear about this it looks like fun!!

[cmpenney]

The name way predates me..This is year number 12 of us putting this on. MI falls in kinda of a weird place. We aren't really in the East...Or in the West. If you google around you'll find that the Michigan resides in it typically refered to as the Midwest:

http://cavemanwines.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Midwest_-28United_States_of_America-29-1-291x300.png


http://www.americanbannerexchange.com/us-midwest.gif


http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/616563/3824/The-Midwest

[slosht]

meh, they need to rethink their naming conventions, isn't Texas in the South? Why is there no Mideast? or is there...

Looking forward to the MMC12, maybe I will finally talk to Chad this time??

[schminksbro]

I though Michigan was the center of the universe.:lol2: Hmm.. I look forward to seeing you all at the conference!

[cmpenney]

Looking forward to the MMC12, maybe I will finally talk to Chad this time??

Look forward to it! I should be easy to find.I'll be the guy guy running around like a chicken with his head cut off all weekend.

[cmpenney]

I'm pleased to announce that the gang from CaptiveReefs.com will be joining us as a Exhibitor this year. Thank-you Captive Reefs for your support of the Midwest Marine Conference and MASM.

[cmpenney]

Thanks to Digital Aquatics! They have donated a ReefKeeper Lite L1 to the Raffle at the Conference

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/RKL-L1.jpg

[cmpenney]

Hey everyone! Please join me in welcoming Amazon Stingrays as the latest Vendor to be joining us at the Midwest Marine Conference On May 21-23.



http://www.michiganreefers.com/images/banners/amazonstingrays.jpg



Thanks guys for your support of the Conference this year.

[cmpenney]

Once again we have more good news for the conference. Moby Dick's Pet Store has just now signed up to be a vendor at the conference.

http://www.masm.org/images/banners/mobydick.jpg

We are going to have a packed hall this year!

[cmpenney]

It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce that Rod Reef, Maker of the the many varieties of Rod Food will be yet another vendor at the conference this year.

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/banners/rods.gif

Thanks to Rod's for there support of this record breaking event.

[cmpenney]

Just got word Seachem will be donating:

3) buckets of our new Salinity salt http://www.aquavitro.com/Products/salinity.html
1) 100 gpd Pinnacle Plus RO/DI unit http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Pinnacle+RO.html
3) sets of our Reef Fusion 1 and 2 in the 1 Liter sizes http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/ReefFusion.html

[cmpenney]

Just got some cool swag from the fine folks at Marine Depot and Premium Aquatics for the raffle...

It's starting to look like I'm going to need a U-haul to get all this stuff to the conference!

[cmpenney]

Hey everyone, Just got word that House of Corals (http://www.houseofcorals.biz) will be donating some frags for the raffle.

Thanks to the fine folks at House of Corals (http://www.houseofcorals.biz) for their generous donation!

[cmpenney]

Moby Dick's Pet Store has just thrown us some nice Gift Certificates for the Raffle. Thanks to the great people of Moby's for their support.

[Rouselb]

This one seems like it will be much larger than last year.

[hdean]

cant wait im definatly going to try my hardest to get there will there be a post on fragswapper?

[cmpenney]

It should be larger. Last year was really only one day...This time it's two and the ticket price has remained the same...

hdean I don't thing anything has gone up on there but that is a good idea.

[cmpenney]

Forgot that FragSwapper has our club stuff all messed up and no on in the club actually has admin access. I emailed the admin to hopefully correct the problem.

[hdean]

ok that would be cool im trying hard to get the funds to attend all weekend

[cmpenney]

Are you planning to come up Friday to hang out with the vendors and speakers?

[cmpenney]

The good news doesn't stop! Blue Life USA has signed up to be a vendor at the conference this year:

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/banners/bluelife.png

Thanks to the Blue Life USA crew for their support in making this a conference for the record book!

[kmjoen230]

How do i buy tickets?
the only ones I can select are the $18 ones, I want the full deal!

[cmpenney]

Sorry about that..It's all fixed now.

[Talfish]

Ya beat me to it! :)

[kmjoen230]

AWESOME!!! Thanks

[cmpenney]

No Problem...

Just a little something to wet everyone's appetite. Here is a TED talk that was done just recently by Mike DeGruy, one of our featured speakers at this event.

http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_degruy_hooked_by_octopus.html

[cmpenney]

The folks from Fishchannel.com/Bowtie Inc. will be donating a copy of the most recent edition of Aquarium Fish International for every conference attendee.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t183/cmpenney/cover_imageaspx.jpg

The head of AFI will also be attending the Conference so if you see Scott wandering around be sure to tell him thanks!

[Bongo Shrimp]

Ugh, just heard that Digital Aquatics won't be able to make the conference...

[hdean]

definatly trying to make all 3 days hopefully my daughter will sleep or something no sitter for that length of time

[cmpenney]

Yes, Scott had a conflict come up so we do have a booth open again..

If anyone is interested in a booth I don't expect it to be open very long.

[cmpenney]

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/Aquafxro.jpg

The folks at AquaFX have donated a complete RO/DI System with Automatic shutoff and Membrane flush to our raffle this year.

Thanks AquaFX, for your support!

[t4zalews]

this looks awesome..and is so close to my house...I'll definitely be attending.

[cmpenney]

There's still more good news on the way too! Stay Posted...

[deep_reef]

The event sounds like its going to be awesome. May have to make a weekend trip up there :) I saw a link for your guy's swap at http://swaps.coral2sell.com/swap.php?id=2&tab=info You can do pre-sale items from there and there is a lot of event information for it too!

[cmpenney]

It is a cool system.

[cmpenney]

Piscine Energetics has generously donated 90, yes that is a 9 and a 0, 90 packs of 4oz PE Mysids to be given away at the event!

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/peshrimp.jpg

A huge thanks to the people at PE for this very cool donation!

[cmpenney]

Mark Vera of Phyto2 has donated several large jugs of there top quality Phyto2 and Zoo2 plankton for our raffle

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/Phyto2.png

Thanks Mark for your support!

[cmpenney]

Reef Brite has donated a very cool 24" Blue LED Strip Light system to our raffle

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/reefbrite.jpg

Thank you Joy, and all the great people of Reef Brite for this wonderful donation.

[cmpenney]

Randy from Reef Nutrition has kindly donated these cool goodie bags:

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/pix/reed_bag.jpg

We will stuff these with all sorts of cool stuff including the May issue of Aquarium Fish International, Issue 1 of Fish E News, samples from Hikari and Tetra, and some special offers, literature, and information from our vendors as well as a conference program.

And every Conference attendee will get one!

[cmpenney]

Inland aquatics
http://www.inlandaquatics.com/_borders/logo_sm.gif

Just donated a $50 Gift Certificate to the Raffle. Thanks to Inland Aquatics for this wonderful donation.

[cmpenney]

We'd like to thank the fine folks at AquaticLife LLC/ for their donation of a 36" T5HO Fixture with digital timer.

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/ALT5HO-1.jpg

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/ALT5HO-2.jpg

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/ALT5HO-3.jpg

Very Nice, Thanks guys.

[cmpenney]

MASM would like to thank Sea Dweller's of Angola for their donation of an Oceanic 29 gallon Biocube for our raffle.

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/Oceanic.jpg

This will make a nice addition to someone's livingroom!

[cmpenney]

Captive Reefs has donated a pair of T-Shirts to the conference raffle. Looks like some people will be walking around the conference in style...


Thanks guys!

[kmjoen230]

any idea on the timeframes for the speakers?
looking at the slots on the schedule give the impression they will be talking for a minimal time or quite an extended amount of time, lol

[cmpenney]

Please join me in welcoming ACAN Lighting, Inc.
http://www.acanlighting.com/images/stories/acan_anim.gif

As our latest Conference Vendor.

[cmpenney]

any idea on the timeframes for the speakers?
looking at the slots on the schedule give the impression they will be talking for a minimal time or quite an extended amount of time, lol

The way the schedule looks can be a little misleading because it is not linear. Basically each speaker will talk for an hour or so including a Q&A session afterward. Then you'll have some time to get up and walk around, stretch your legs, etc.

[cmpenney]

So check this out. Acan Lighting has just donated this sweet LED light setup for our raffle:
http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/AcanLrg.jpg

It's their 18" A101 Model LED lighting system.

http://staging.acanlighting.com/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/A101%20Full%20light.jpg4b7eb84638976.jpg

I might be throwing in some raffle tickets for this one myself!

[kmjoen230]

The way the schedule looks can be a little misleading because it is not linear. Basically each speaker will talk for an hour or so including a Q&A session afterward. Then you'll have some time to get up and walk around, stretch your legs, etc.

Thank you! :spin3:

[xxoutlawtorn]

Is the website down? I tried getting on to midwestmarineconf.org and haven't been able to.

[cmpenney]

It was for a short time but it's back up now.

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/

[cmpenney]

Reef Geek has donated one of their LET Lighting 48" 2x54W Miro-4 T5 High-Output Retrofit Kit w/ Bulbs. If your tank is in need of a lighting boost this is the item for you:

http://www.midwestmarineconf.org/Raffle/reefgeek.jpg

T5 high-output fluorescent retrofit kit complete with LET Lighting Miro-4 individual parabolic reflectors for each bulb made from 96% German reflective aluminum, electronic ballast with color-coded wire bundle with quick disconnect, power-cord, moisture proof end-caps, standoffs and 2 bulbs.

[cmpenney]

This year our vendors have really gone all out. We’ve got several that are giving away samples and freebies especially on Saturday. Others will also have special pricing and discounts available all weekend.

Aquarium Fish International:
Free copies of their May Issue + a special subscription offer

Rods Food:
Free sample packs of several varieties of their food and their cool new koozies

Hikari:
Free samples of several of their pelleted foods

Piscine Energetics:
Free 8oz Packs of PE Mysids first come first serve

Sera Marin:
Free bottles of Granules pellet food

Captive Reefs:
Giving away T shirts, Plus gift certificates to Pet Connection, Amazon Stingrays, Reef Solutions and Fish Doctors

Eco Reef Technologies:
Free Eco rock samples

Moby Dick’s:
Free T-shirts from Tetra

Free Copies of Fish E News Vol 1 & 2

Lucid Props: Specials
$10 spearmint pipe organ, favias, safecrackers, pokerstar montis, mangrove trees
$20 ORA red planet, Oregon tort, superman montis
$40 3" Deresa clams
$150-200 Tuamotu Maxima Clams


The Blue Glow: Specials on Acrylic Frag Racks

[cmpenney]

Reed Mariculture Has donated a 1 Pound of 90% GSL Artemia

http://www.midwestMarineConf.org/Raffle/Artemia.jpg


And 1 Liter of RotiGrow Plus

http://www.midwestMarineConf.org/Raffle/RotiGrow.png

to the Raffle.

Thanks to the guys at Reed Mariculture and Reef Nutrition for this excellent donation.

[cmpenney]

Reef Nutrition has donated a 4) 6oz Sampler packs of some of their hot products for the raffle

http://www.midwestMarineConf.org/Raffle/rnsampler.jpg

Each sampler pack includes one each of the following:
6oz Arcti-Pods
6oz Roti-Feast
6oz Oyster-Feast
6oz Phyt-Feast
16oz Marco-Feast
6oz Fuzzy Phytes
6oz Tigger-Pods


Thanks to the guys at Reed Mariculture and Reef Nutrition for another generous donation.

[cmpenney]

Well another MMC has come and gone. Our attendance was up 29% over last year and while we had a few hiccups, over all our first 2 Day event went very well. We had an amazing line up of speakers and some absolutely top notch vendors this year!

MASM would like to thank the Cranbrook Institute of Science for hosting the event for us. Reed Mariculture/Reef Nutrition for Sponsoring the Conference, Reef Hobbyist Magazine for our Media Sponsorship, and Preuss Pets for sponsoring the beverages. These companies really pulled out all the stops to help us pull this event off.

We’d also like to thank all of our vendors:

Reef Nutrition
Reef Hobbyist Magazine
Preuss Pets
Acan Lighting
Amazon Stingrays
Aquatic Eco-systems, Inc.
AquaticLife, LLC.
Boston Aqua Farms
Captive Reefs.com
Cherry Corals
Dirk’s
Eco Reef Technologies
House of Corals
Inland Saws
Instant Ocean
Kee’s Aquarium & Pets
Lucid Propagations
Marineland
Midwest Saltwater
Moby Dick Pet Store
Paradise Corals
Paul’s Corals
Reef Brite
Reef Peddler
Reef Stewardship Foundation
Rod’s Food
Seachem
The Blue Glow
YZReef.net

We saw some really sweet booths and very professional setups this year! MASM truly appreciates your support.

[cmpenney]

In order to improve next year's MMC, we would really would like to get some feedback from both attendees and people that did not attend.




If you decided not to attend this year, why? Was it the time of year, weather, speakers? What can we do to get you to attend next year?

If you did attend, What did you like about the conference this year? What were your thoughts on the presentation of the hall?

For people with passes to be there on Saturday & Sunday, what can we do to keep you at the venue longer each day?

For people with full conference passes, what affected your decision to attend or not attend a specific speaker this year?

What influenced your decision to buy or not buy items at the conference?



Please feel free to send your responses to: sales@masm.org, Thank you for your input.

[Wolverine]

If you decided not to attend this year, why? Was it the time of year, weather, speakers? What can we do to get you to attend next year?

I had every intention of going this year, especially since Cranbrook is a lot more convenient for me than Weber's. Unfortunately, it conflicted with a non-reef-related conference I was teaching in.
If you can avoid overlapping with my other duties, that will help for next year. :D

[cmpenney]

We can try but no promises :)

We try to set a date as early as possible to help people plan but you never know what will come up.

[Wolverine]

We can try but no promises :)

We try to set a date as early as possible to help people plan but you never know what will come up.

I know. My thing was supposed to be the week before, but it got moved. :mad: