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MACNAXX

MACNA XX September 5-7, 2008 in Atlanta

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We are excited about the MACNA XX conference. We already have Pre-registered and paid as many as most of the total attendance of the first 15 or so MACNAs, so it should be huge. Combine that with a great hotel, great speakers, cheap flights, and the Georgia Aquarium and we have everything to try to get you guys to have a good time while in Atlanta.

The hotel is great, and the room night of $119 can't be beat, it usually is in the $250-300 range. We were able to negotiate pretty well, but rooms are going fast.

There is a lot to do in Atlanta if people come early or bring significant others - CNN, Olympic Park, the Georgia Aquarium, the Children's museum, the world of Coke, and Hooters (hey, I know my audience) is within a 5 minute walk, and MARTA goes from inside the airport to the hotel for $1.75 - so no cab charges. The same MARTA can take you to the Braves, shopping centers, etc. We are also getting together a kids program (popcorn and movies in the hotel) to allow parents to go to the banquet and speakers. We will offer that at cost.

Oh, and the banquet is food by Wolfgang Puck. No open bar like Pittsburgh, but good food inside a great banquet hall inside the largest aquarium in the world with two windows - one toward the largest indoor aquatic exhibit in the world (over 6 million gallons - the size of a football field) that includes four whale sharks and the other one toward the four beluga whales.


Please use this thread to ask questions and I will try to check in to answer them. You can also check out our website. If your administrator could make this a sticky that would help alot.

Since I started posting these type of posts on club sites on Tuesday another 15 people have signed up.

So who is going from New Jersey?

Steve

www.macnaxx.com
 
i will definitely be there. just have to get the funds together. I'm putting a new tank together plus the swap gotta get some frags for new tank. i will definitely register before December.
 
If you bring 250, we will find room, but I have to tell you, it will be tight! We have already met our 75% room allotment that was based on projections from previous MACNAs, and are currently renegotiating with the hotel for more rooms. I would book sooner rather than later to make sure. We already have over 370 paid registered, plus another 100 from paid exhibitors, so we have almost 500 full conference tickets sold... and we are 11 months out. MACNAIX in Pittsburgh (the largest MACNA to date) had 550 full conference tickets sold, (and many other trade show or one day only tickets) equaling 900+. This MACNA should be much, much larger.

Steve
 
It is already a short week (Labor Day) and you can take a flight out Friday, or alternatively, we will have kid activities while you are at MACNA (there is the Children's Museum, Center for Puppetry Arts, Georgia Aquarium, etc., etc.
 
Macna Update....

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A MACNA teaser - our main banquet speaker....
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Joanne Ruxton

Behind the Scenes as a Underwater Wildlife Producer for the BBC


Joanne studied Zoology at University and moved to Hong Kong in the 80's. She joined the World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong in 1990 to establish their Marine Conservation Programme; a significant task in a place that had no legislation to protect the coastal waters and where massive development was taking place before the handover to China. After four Marine Protected Areas had been set up, she joined the BBC’s Blue Planet team in 1997. Since that time she has been involved in numerous underwater film projects.

Prior projects include:

Blue Planet
Deep Blue
Death on the Reef
Deep Trouble
Live from the Abyss
Under the Skin - Antarctica
Under the Skin - Penguins
Smart Sharks
Shark Roulette
Shark Coast
Dive to Shark Volcano
Wild Caribbean
Pacific Abyss
 
i have one question. adults pay full price each. i got 2 babies at the time of the show they will be 2 and 3 years old. do they pay if so how much?
 
They are free. We can try to arrange for baby sitting at the hotel for you during the banquet, as they would not be able to attend (it will be sold out, and you need to have fun too).
 
This is the last chance to get the $109 price for MACNA 2008! The price for the conference is only $109 for all three days including the banquet and trade show, but will go up to $129 after December 31st, 2007.

Other Confirmed MACNA speakers:
Dr. Bruce Carlson
Dr. Sylvia Earle
Eric Borneman
Anthony Calfo
Dr. Alex Brylske
Christie Williams
Dr. Kimberly Cobb
Michael Cottman
Jake Adams
Dr. Al Dove
Ray Davis
James Fatherree
Cathy Sakas
Larry Jackson
Marj Awai
Jim Walters
Dr. Rob Toonen
Scott Fellman
Robert Fenner
Phillip Root
Stephen Pro
Christine Williams
Matthew Wittenrich
Kelly Jedlicki
Charles Delbeck (will confirm in April due to potential schedule conflicts)

More speakers will be confirmed soon.

Sign up now at www.macnaxx.com or pay more after December 31st!
 
I wonder if it could be possible to arrange a contract with a couple of tour buses to drive us down there.
I was thinking, how much it would be per member as a group?

Just a suggestion to all that live past Interstate 78 going north. ;D
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Anyone thinking of going down to Atlanta for MACNA XX should book their room at the Westin TODAY! They've been sold out of rooms and just released a new block of 20 rooms. The experience will not be complete if you are not in the host hotel!

There will be members sharing 12 passenger vans for the trip for anyone interested in taking the 13 hour drive rather than flying.

Also the price of your entry ticket goes up at the end of May, so if you don't already have your ticket, BUY NOW!
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
We will probably leave out of Cherry Hill, NJ and take the vans from there. They will leave around noon on Thursday and return LATE on Sunday.

The fee for the vans will be roughly 60$ per person round trip. This will include gas, tolls and the van rental.
 

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
Is anyone else flying down and want to split cabs or parking to and from the airports?
If the raffle is at 2:00 on sunday I maybe cutting it close with a 5:00 Pm flight but its the last one of the night.

I've been looking at flights so far this is what I have.
Depart: 1:45 p.m. Fri., Sep. 5, 2008 Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty) Arrive:
4:17 p.m. Atlanta, GA (ATL) Flight: CO1161

Depart:5:00 p.m. Sun., Sep. 7, 2008 Atlanta, GA (ATL) Arrive:
7:40 p.m. Sun., Sep. 7, 2008 flight number CO1152
 
Ed,

I can't go - but looking up continental.com - there's a later flight...

Depart:7:35 p.m.Sun., Sep. 7, 2008 Atlanta, GA (ATL) Arrive:
9:57 p.m.Sun., Sep. 7, 2008 Flight: CO1156
 
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