Announcing IMAC 2006

[degall]

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 [acronym:ca0536207d="Broken or cut pieces of coral which will eventually grow into a new animal"]frags[/acronym:ca0536207d] 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

[Macmommy]

Wow! It looks to be alot of fun Just called the hubby at work and told him to plan to take a week of vacation time for IMAC! Can't wait to meet all of you there!

[BillyZ]

(Moved to the lounge)

Very interesting...lol

[degall]

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

[degall]

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