2007 ALA Convention!

[Melody]

2007 American Livebearer Association Convention!
:SwimmingFish:


The weekend is always packed with presentations from the experts, vendors, breeders sell from their hotel rooms, Livebearer show, prizes, city tours, partying into the wee hours, etc.

Ted Colleti is always in attendance - he has the monthly 'Livebearers' column in TFH Mag. In fact, he was the recipient of the prestigious 'Knights of the Royal Gonopodium' award last year. :rofl:

UPDATE:

The following details are from the ALA Convention brochure and are posted with permission from the ALA Chairman, Rit Forcier. If you would like a copy of the .pdf version of the brochure, which contains details of show classes, auction rules, etc, please send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will be happy to forward it to you. M.

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THE ALA ROCKS CLEVELAND!
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:goldfish: Something For Everyone

The American Livebearer Association invites you to attend our 2007 Convention. The ALA Convention is well-regarded as an affordable and friendly aquarium hobby weekend event. This year, with the help of Cleveland-area hobbyists, we will be offering a enjoyable weekend that offers something for everyone in your family! Centrally located, our 2007 site is only 6-8 hours by car from Virginia, New York City, Chicago, or St. Louis. Only 8 miles away is Cleveland Hopkins International Airport with complimentary hotel shuttle service.

HOLIDAY INN SELECT HOTEL (Strongsville). With the completion of a $5 million dollar renovation, our Convention site features 13,000 sq. feet of meeting space and 303 beautifully decorated deluxe guest rooms with complimentary wireless internet. The Simmering Pot Restaurant is open for all meals featuring a fresh home style menu where kids eat free! Vinney’s Place Lounge offers a relaxing atmosphere for nightly cocktails and drinks. Barnies Gourmet Coffee shop is also on-site. On-Site Recreation includes one of the largest indoor pools in Cleveland, fitness center, and air hockey and pool tables. Right across the street is Iceland USA skating rink. The hotel is one-half mile from Southpark Mall, which features numerous dining options and miniature golf (complimentary shuttle by availability). Call the Holiday Inn at (440) 238-8800 to make your reservations. Call by April 6 to request the special $99 “American Livebearer Rate.” Early booking recommended.

CLEVELAND ROCKS! Named the "Most Livable City" in the United States by the Economist Intelligence Unit in October 2005, Cleveland and it’s downtown district is only 15 minutes from our Convention site. Or take the scheduled complimentary shuttle to the airport and ride the Red Line rapid metro train into the city. Cleveland boasts the Quicken Loans Arena, the IX Center, MetroParks Zoo, The Rock-n-Rock Hall of Fame, Jacobs Field, Cleveland Browns Stadium, and the Theater District.

AT THE CONVENTION... For the fish fan, this year’s Convention features a 30-class fish show and guest speakers from 3 countries. Not to mention an exciting array of fish and dry good vendors and manufacturers, and of course, a myriad of friendly fish folks from around the world to meet and greet. And don’t forget our Rare Fish Raffle and other events to benefit the Vern Parish Scholarship Fund! Sunday is our famed all-day auction where you can acquire those “dream fish.” It’s all here at ALA 2007!

:goldfish: Schedule

Friday April 27:

6:00 pm Convention-Show Registration opens Vendor / Product Expo Room open
8:00-9:00 pm Speaker Program
9:30-10:30 pm Speaker Program
10:00 pm Registration & Vendor Rooms close
Hospitality Room opens

Saturday April 28:

9:00 am Convention-Show Registration opens
Vendor / Product Expo Room opens
9:00-10:00 am Speaker Program
10:30-11:30 pm Speaker Program Lunch Break Closed ALA Board Meeting
1:30-2:30 pm Speaker Program
2:30 pm Convention-Show Registration closes
3:00 pm Judging—Show Room closes
3:00-4:00 pm Speaker Program
4:00 pm Closed ALA Board Meeting
6:00 pm Vendor / Product Expo Room closes 4th Annual ALA Wine Tasting to Benefit The Vern Parish Fund
7:00 pm Banquet & Presentations
9:00 pm Banquet Speaker
Hospitality Room open

Sunday April 29:

9:00 am Show and Vendor Room opens
10:00 am Auction Registration and viewing of fish
11:30 am Show Awards Presentation
12:00 pm Super Auction Begins

:chatterbox: Our Speakers (Note Canadian)

Bill Allen (Louisiana). Program: “Fancy Xiphs.” An aquarist, hobby writer, pathology technician, former music teacher, and past band leader for Percy Sledge, Bill Allen is the ALA’s Jack-of-all-Trades and Talents. His native climate affords him the opportunity to collect and study wild mollies and gambusia (many of whom are promptly fed to his Belonesox), and maintain an outdoor fish shed to work with both wild-type and fancy livebearers.

Dr. Felix Breden (Canada). Program: "Endler's Livebearer or Cumana Guppy?...and other enigmatic Poecilia.” An Associate Professor in Biology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Dr. Breden researches how complex biological interactions control the divergence of genes, individuals and populations. His subject matter has included among others: molecular systematics of Poecilia; Parallel evolution in the guppy; and divergent sexual selection and the differentiation of the Cumaná guppy.

Eric Hanneman (Oregon). Program: “Travels with my Seine and Cast Net South of the Border”. Eric has kept fish for over 40 years, focusing mainly on Central American and African species. He has collected fish in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and has dived in Lake Tanganyika. He resides in Eugene, Oregon, whose soft water irritates his taste in hard water fish. Eric received his Ph.D. in Developmental Neurobiology in 1986. In 2005 he opened Liquid Sunshine Tropical Fish, a specialty retail store.

Mike Hellweg (Missouri). Program: “Adventures Breeding Livebearers” Well-regarded as an aquarist, writer, and speaker, Mike has bred over 75 species of livebearers including rare Halfbeaks, Jennysia, and Syngnanthiids. Mike also has perfected species maintenance methods. He is a Grand Master Breeder and Horticulturist in the Missouri Aquarium Society (serving his 9th year as President) and is also an ALA Master Breeder. After working 21 years in retail operations management, Mike now owns and operates a retail pet business.

Dr. Arcadio Valdés González (Mexico). Program: “Guppies: What are They Good for? Studies from Genomics to Sexual Selection to Systematics.” Dr. Gonzalez is a professor at the School of Biological Sciences, U.A.N.L., at the Pedro de Alba y Manuel L. Barragán, Ciudad Universitaria. His specialties include aquatic ecology and extinction threats. His speaking topic will cover the guppy complex, including Lebistes, Micropoecila and Endler’s.

Dr. Gil Rosenthal (Texas). Program: “Natural Hybridization and Mate Choice in Xiphophorus of Mexico’s Sierra Madre Oriental.” Dr. Rosenthal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Texas A&M and the 1999 ALA VPF Winner. His principal research is on the diversity of systems animals use to communicate with one another. He has worked extensively with the Swordtails, and his work with his graduate students on chemical cues and pollution in creating a Xiphophorus brichmanni-malinche Hybrid Zone in Mexico received national attention in the popular press last year.

Banquet Speaker TBA (always entertaining).

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CONVENTION DETAILS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE - I'll keep you posted!

[Soggybottom]

I love wrecking hotel rooms, I'd never thought of combining that with my aquarium hobby...sounds like a blast!

[Melody]

Note to self: Make Blaine share a room with Mr. SB so I don't have to.

[blainep]

Note to self: Make Blaine share a room with Mr. SB so I don't have to.

Note to self: Stink bomb Melodys room

[Melody]

We have got to be the WORST secret, evil planners I've ever met. :secret:

Hey, what's that smell? :Eeewww: Must be one of the 8 zillion fishies I bought.

[amber2461]

I heard it on the grapevine that according to Rit Forcier the ALA
Board has decided not to have the convention in Vancouver, WA. No
specific reasons were given.

Can anyone confirm this?

Cheers

[Melody]

Apparently the PNWL back out, yes, but we're trying to avoid the spread of rumours until a new host is confirmed. Rit will confirm with me and I'll post when authorized to do so.

[Melody]

Sorry, Board decision after many conference calls. We've pulled out of Washington. I'll let you know when a location is decided on.

Too bad :no: .

[amber2461]

Oh well ... never mind ... one day it will arrive in Seattle again.:smile:

[Melody]

Well we can fly anywhere. In fact, what fun is it if its too close?;)

Last year I got e-mailed reports from there via Rit (super nice guy - spoke at a Quebec fish club not long ago) and their ALA Mag editor gave me his cell phone number in case I was missing everyone enough to call. They're a great bunch and I do look forward to attending one of these days. This year I'll be at a new job so I highly doubt I'll get the time off anyway.

Its really going to throw a wrench into things though - its quite an event to pull off.

[blainep]

Not to sidetrack the thread ( and not bashing the ALA at all ), but why is there no CLA ?

[Melody]

I think we've established that I'm not a real sticker on 'topics'...lol.

Interest, plain and simple. Before the Internet Canada was just too spread out and most think of Livebearers as what they see in stores. Plus we didn't have a very determined (late) Dr. Joanne Norton willing to take up the task. She's my fish hero - amazing woman. She documented the ONLY bonified Angelfish genetics information and she did much the same for Livebearers. She had such a pure interest that she left purists shaking their heads - she loved crossing this with that, its the basis of curiosity that I share with her. Yet she also valued and studied pure strains, documenting information that we still rely on decades later. She did most of this in a man's world, I might add, and wasn't long gaining their respect. Whatta woman.

But beyond that, we just couldn't get the fish. They are next door but they might as well be a world away. Or at least that's how it used to be. I don't have the expertise/education that made Dr. Norton the universally acknowledged "First Lady of Livebearers", but I'll be the Eve of Canadian Livebearers if I accomplish nothing else in this hobby. Everybody needs a goal I guess ;) . I know I'll have the full support of the ALA if I decide to found a Sister, that's just the kind of group they are.

We do need to work the hobby more here though. We're not as formally into it as the US is. We need more BAP programs and WAY more shows, for starters.

[Melody]

Official Announcement:

... The 2007 ALA Convention in Vancouver WA has reluctantly but officially been cancelled. I'm sure rumors will begin immediately, but there is no one to blame; a series of factors came into play that are best left to the two parties involved and not discussed on an open forum.

Rumors are circulating as to where the convention has been moved. They are all rumors. As of this morning, we do not have a new location or date. We are scrambling to set up a new location and date, but right now we don't have anything more to give you. As soon as we do, information will be posted on this forum, and on the home page of the website.

The ALA BOD wishes to apologize for any inconvenience this may cause any of you. We realize this decision might be unpopular with the membership, but please know the decision was made after much deliberation and hours of phone conversations by a unanimous decision of the BOD in the overall long term best interest of both PNWL membership and the ALA membership.

~ Mike Hellweg, ALA Vice Chairman

It sux, but fish poo happens and the fact that they pull it off at all every year, let alone such a spectacular weekend-long show, never ceases to amaze me. I have no doubt that the decision was a necessary one - its not the kind of thing anyone wants to feel the backlash of.

[Livebearium]

Would those in BC be interested in coming down if PNWL still held a Livebearer Convention this year? Several of the speakers that were scheduled to speak are fairly local, and we may be able to get them to speak.

Let us know ASAP. The dates would be different but still in the Portland/Vancouver, USA area.

BTW I am the Chairman of PNWL.

[Melody]

<Squinting> Doran? Is that you?;) Good to have you here.

Who have you still got on board and what will they be speaking about?

[Melody]

2007 Convention details added!
:SwimmingFish:
Please see updated initial post.