Who is this geared toward?

[Opus]

Friendly disagreement going on in the lounge and thought the current MACNA people could answer this best. Is MACNA an industry show for manufacturers and LFS/online sellers to connect with hobbyist welcomed or is it for the hobbyist. I said it was for the hobbyist since that is how I felt at the one I attended and since it was put on by a local club and not the industry. I personally don't know of any of our many LFS going to the show other than ones that are setting up booths to sell coral.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Friendly disagreement going on in the lounge and thought the current MACNA people could answer this best. Is MACNA an industry show for manufacturers and LFS/online sellers to connect with hobbyist welcomed or is it for the hobbyist. I said it was for the hobbyist since that is how I felt at the one I attended and since it was put on by a local club and not the industry. I personally don't know of any of our many LFS going to the show other than ones that are setting up booths to sell coral.

The shows are for the hobbyist. It allows the manufacturers to show case their products/new products to the hobbyist and lfs. The fish and coral sellers are there to sell to the hobbyist. I'd say the hobbyist hand down.

 

[DaveMorris]

I can 100% guarantee you that it is intended to be for the hobbyist. Manufacturers, fish stores, maintenance companies, etc. certainly have every bit as much of a reason to be there, but it is an educational show intended for anybody in the hobby.

 

[Dirk Griffin]

General rule with the 25 or so I have attended and/or had booths at....
65-70% are hobbyist and 25-30% are stores, maintenance people/companies. The rest are distributor type companies/people-many get more done walking the shows...and/or waited to long to get a booth and they were sold out.
It is a annual social event for many. Developing friends, contacts, peers...is 3/4 of the fun. There are a LOT of speakers...many of them are good for all of us regardless of what level of experience you are
You can also rub elbows with many of these all stars in our hobby
See many of you soon!!!!

 

[MACNA]

We are with Dirk; MACNA is for all types associated with the Marine Aquarium Hobby

1. For hobbyists, you can buy stuff for your tanks, talk to manufacturers, and meet new vendors face to face you want to shop from, plus attend dozens of workshops and speaker presentations to help you take better care of your livestock.
2. It is for the retail stores and your LFSs, they can walk the floor and meet new distributors, set up accounts, find new products for their stores, and also attend the dozens of workshops and speaker presentations to help them be better educated when helping customers. MASNA has given away over 180 free passes to retail store owners and employees to attend MACNA this year to help them better serve hobbyists at the ground level.
3. It is for distributors/wholesalers/equipment manufacturers, they can meet possible future partners on new products, also meet their customers, showcase their products, and gain a better understanding of what their customers need in future product designs and product offerings, plus learn, learn, learn about what is important in the hobby.
4. It is for marine scientists as well, many of the speaker presentations are great educational experiences and work towards meeting continuing education goals. Plus many equipment manufacturers who offer hobbyist level products also serve the public aquarium and research industries, so making these connections can be essential in building lasting relationships and making next steps in research or expanding public displays.

Plus - making lifelong friends is the best part! Meet fellow R2R'ers face to face, buy them a drink, and chat for hours.

 

[UM Aquarium Club]

From our experience it 100% depends on the location of the event. Last year in New Orleans we were seeing quite a few LFS local to the Miami or South Florida area because it wasn't too bad to make the drive up with livestock. Being in Vegas I'm expecting fewer LFS to be present but maybe some will make the drive from California. Either way even if LFS don't have booths a number of owners or workers will probably be in attendance anyways.

 

[Lvreefkpr]

We have had over 100 LFS’s request retail passes, the stores will be well represented. Plus there are a couple speaker sessions and workshops geared towards the LFS. MACNA is for everyone.

 

[reefwiser]

Having been at MACNA since #3 it has always and still is a Hobbyist event. When I first hosted MACNA 7 I spent two years working on getting Aquarium manufacturers coming to the conference. They don't sell to hobbyist they said. Well they found out that hobbyist go to the show and find out about that cool new pump or light and go back to their LFS and buy it. So ever since companies come to the show to get the people who are what I would call Advanced hobbyist who if they by a pump people will respect their opinion and buy it too. A good LFS comes to MACNA to meet the company rep's many may never meet them in person so they sit down and discuss how to order product and get information to sell new equipment. Hobbyist get to enjoy all this by seeing equipment that they would never see in person and talk to the rep's about using it on their tank. Also sharing new ideas and learning about corals and fish from marine scientist. You will also see Marine scientist attend to learn new techniques in husbantry of corals and fish from hobbyist who spend a lot of time learning about how to care for corals as their hobby. Everyone who attends MACNA wins is you come home more educated.