Announcing IMAC 2006

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Hi;

I hope you enjoyed this year’s IMAC, all the comments we received from attendees were positive. We are well underway in planning for next year. In 2006, IMAC will again be at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Chicago on April 28, 29 and 30th. This is a change in dates since we recently wrote many of you and found out that you didn’t like Memorial Day. We originally thought that not having to take time off from work would be better. Sorry about that. We are adding a number of special events for spouses, significant others and family so you can make IMAC a family vacation. And with your registration, a friend or family member can attend all the speaker sessions and see the exhibits for FREE, but this option expires November 30. They don’t get a Program Book or the Banquet, but they can use yours, and you can always get them a Banquet ticket and then they get everything!

These special events include a trip to Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio, a Windy City tour of Sears Tower, Museums, Navy Pier and other landmarks, trips to the Field Museum (new King Tut and Dino Zone exhibits), Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium, an Evening Dinner Cruise on Lake Michigan, a bus trip to Six Flags Great America Amusement Park, a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry (U-505 German sub and an IMAX theatre), the Chicago Art Institute and shopping on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, a trip to the Woodfield Mall (the second largest in the country), an Evening show and dinner at a “Gangster Speakeasy” Nite Club, a live Broadway-style performance at a Chicago Theatre, plus much more. The Cubs and White Sox will probably have home games at that time as well, and we will see about getting tickets for a taping of the Oprah Winfrey show.

So far, we have a very impressive speaker lineup including Martin Moe, Eric Borneman, Anthony Calfo, Dr. Ron Shimek, Dr. Sanjay Joshi, Bob Fenner, Mike Paletta, Allen LaPointe, Dr. Adelaide Rhodes, Zack Schwartz, John Kelly, Julian Sprung and Dana Riddle, with more to come.

You can now participate in a survey on the Registration Page of www.theimac.org to indicate which events you think your spouse/significant other/family would like to participate in to help us in our planning. By completing the survey you will not be committed to any of them. You will have a chance to sign up for them later.

Next year we are enlarging the Exhibit Hall to accommodate about 70 booths and, of course we have the Great IMAC Raffle. We will also have almost continuous Fragging Demos with free frags being given away at the FragExchange booth.

Special IMAC room rates at the hotel are just $109/nite, which makes IMAC the least expensive weekend conference you can attend.

Our attendance has been growing each year (this year there were 562 of you) and we expect an even bigger jump in attendees in 2006, so use the special low registration rate now to get in on what we believe will be the best IMAC yet. Registration for the special spouse and family events will be limited to earlier registrants so don’t delay!

Cheers,

Dennis Gallagher, Chairman
International Marine Aquarium Conference
http://www.theimac.org

 

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Hi Everybody;

Just in case you have never been to an IMAC, here is how you can get an idea of what to expect. Just go to www.theimac.org and scroll down to the bottom of the home page. You can see major portions of the presentations given by some speakers in the past. These include:

Dr. Ron Shimek, “Myth Takes About Sand Beds”
Anthony Calfo, “Coral Farming”
Jeff Mitchell, “Diseases in Hippocampus”
Randy Reed, “Culturing Copopods and Rotifers”
Julian Sprung, “Goniopora Husbandry”
Richard Harker, “Coral Growth vs. Spectral Quality”
Eric Borneman, “Reef Aquarium Myths”
Dr. Ron Shimek, “A History of Sand Bed Organisms”

And the best part of this is that you can see them for FREE.

Enjoy!

Dennis

 

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Hi All;

Well, things are really moving ahead on IMAC for next year. We now have the Grand Prize for the big IMAC raffle; it is a 9 day trip for 2 to Fiji provided by Walt Smith International.

We also have a new Forum on the IMAC site www.theimac.org where you can get more info about the conference and ask questions.

We have a special offer going on now too. If you register by November 30, you can bring a friend for FREE. They don’t get the Banquet (but you can buy them a Banquet ticket). Along with a hotel rate of just $109/nite, this makes IMAC one of the least expensive weekend conferences you can attend.

Next year IMAC will be held in Chicago April 28, 29 and 30. And you can still see streaming videos for FREE on the website of some previous speakers’ presentations.

Cheers,
Dennis

 

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Hi There;

The Speakers List for IMAC 2006 is almost complete. We now have:

Jake Adams
Eric Borneman
Bob Fenner
Anthony Calfo
Tullio Dell Aquilla
Dr. Sanjay Joshi
John Kelly
Allen LaPointe
Martin Moe
Mike Paletta
Steven Pro
Dr. Adelaide Rhodes
Dana Riddle
Zack Schwartz
Dr. Ron Shimek
Walt Smith
Julian Sprung

The theme of the conference is "The Science Behind Our Hobby".

Remember if you register by November 30 you can bring a friend for FREE. See the website www.theimac.org for details.

We're hoping to see you in Chicago in April.

Dennis

 

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Hi;

Well it is only a few months to IMAC. The International Marine Aquarium Conference will be in Chicago April 28, 29 and 30. We have gotten in topics for most of the speakers:

Jake Adams, “Water Flow Speed is Critical in Our Aquaria”
Adam Blundell, “Filtration Methods in a Natural Reef Aquarium”
Eric Borneman
Bob Fenner, “Organism Selection for the Saltwater Aquarist”
Anthony Calfo, “A Call to Farms. More Efficient Coral Propagation Techniques”
Tullio Dell Aquilla, “Advanced Lighting Technologies for Aquariums”
Todd Gardner, “Seahorse Nutrition in Aquaculture”
Dr. Sanjay Joshi, “Designing Reef Aquarium Systems – Thwarting Murphy’s Laws”
John Kelly, “Goniopora – A New Beginning”
Allen LaPointe, “Water Quality Monitoring and Data Interpretation”
Martin Moe
Mike Paletta, “Setting Up a LARGE Aquarium”
Steven Pro, “Recent Experiments with ‘Reef Safe’ Treatments”
Dr. Adelaide Rhodes , “Culturing Copapods”
Dana Riddle, “Tide Pools of Kahalu’u Hawaii. What they tell us about Reef Aquaria”
Zack Schwartz, “K-12 Education and the Science Behind it”
Walt Smith (Banquet Speaker)
Julian Sprung “Invasive Species”

Eric, Anthony and Steven will also conduct Coral Propagation Workshops, sponsored by FRAGExchange.com. And we now have a Schedule posted.

Registration is just $125 (for another week) and along with special hotel rates of $109/nite, IMAC is the least expensive weekend conference you can attend. But, to make it even a better deal, for a limited time we are offering a special 2 for 1 rate. That’s right you can get 2 full registrations, including the Speakers, Banquet, Trade Show and the Big Raffle for $125. This is NOT mentioned on the IMAC website www.theimac.org but if you click on the Registration picture there is a space marked “Additional Names” right under the “Add to Cart” button where you can enter the name and email address of your guest. You will both get full registrations. Then you can split the cost with your guest. NOTE: If you have clicked on the “Add to Cart” button before, the page that shows up may indicate 2 or 3 registrations. This is because your browser remembers that you have been there before and it will add another one. Just check the “remove” button, “update cart” and start over.

We are just getting in products donated by major companies for the Big Raffle but we already have the Grand Prize. It is a 9 day trip for 2 to Fiji donated by Walt Smith International.

So hurry over to www.theimac.org and sign up. We’ll see you in April.

Cheers,

Dennis Gallagher, Chairman
International Marine Aquarium Conference