AH Get Together In Reno During Safari Club International (SCI) Convention 2011

[Mike70560]

Now that the show is over I am able to reflect on the events of the past several days.

First of all thank you to Lori for allowing us to use her booth to meet Friday afternoon. It was a pleasure to meet fellow members along with Jerome and his very lovely wife and sister also.

At times we (or at least I) post on forums without giving much thought at what is involved in making one work. Between the techical aspect of keeping a site running and being a moderator, these tasks can be daunting.

It was refreshing to see Jerome's enthusiasm and passion for the Africa Hunting site. He has some good ideas and I expect Africa Hunting will become even better in the future.

My plan is to become a better member with more positive participation. While I am not the most experienced guy around hopefully some hard earned knowledge can be shared. I also feel we should continue to challenge each other in a civil tone to make certain the best information is available for all members.

Thank you Jerome for your efforts in providing us with a site we can all be proud of.

 

[sestoppelman]

Hear, Hear and Thank you Jerome!

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Now that the show is over I am able to reflect on the events of the past several days.

First of all thank you to Lori for allowing us to use her booth to meet Friday afternoon. It was a pleasure to meet fellow members along with Jerome and his very lovely wife and sister also.

At times we (or at least I) post on forums without giving much thought at what is involved in making one work. Between the techical aspect of keeping a site running and being a moderator, these tasks can be daunting.

It was refreshing to see Jerome's enthusiasm and passion for the Africa Hunting site. He has some good ideas and I expect Africa Hunting will become even better in the future.

My plan is to become a better member with more positive participation. While I am not the most experienced guy around hopefully some hard earned knowledge can be shared. I also feel we should continue to challenge each other in a civil tone to make certain the best information is available for all members.

Thank you Jerome for your efforts in providing us with a site we can all be proud of.

Mike70560, Thank you for this post not just for the kind words that you have extended to me, but for the fact that you have really hit on the heart of what I intended to accomplish with the site. I imagined a place where all hunters interested in hunting in Africa would be welcome no matter what their level of experience. Where hunters could find the best and most current information, basically everything they needed in one place to plan a hunting safari. An intelligent community where hunters could interact, and even debate, in a civil manner to share their opinions, at times even discussing controversial or sensitive subjects with others who share a similar passion but sometimes have a different point of view. I too am proud to be a part of this community and believe that it will become even better in the future because of members like you!

It was a pleasure meeting you.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Thank you to all who came to the meet up!

It was truly great to have the opportunity to meet some of the AH members face to face as well as a few wives and lurkers. I had no idea what to expect as this was the first time that we have ever done something like this, and the turn out was even better than I expected. We had around 35 people come to the meet up and defenitely plan to do it again next year. Here are a few of the members who showed up and please forgive me if I've left you out...

Merry B
Mike70560
bashaw
PHOENIX PHIL
Dlove
steamking
Tyler Strickland
sestoppelman
Calhoun
Paul Brisso
bullman63
dhdds1
Florian
Buffalo Hunter
NYAMAZANA SAFARIS
Karl Stumpfe
spike.t
Mickandy
dschneider
Sergey
J.Willis
RUSHUNTER
MIKE OWENS
ALAN WOLF
There were also several lurking "regulars" who came by to introduce themselves and say hello who I was glad to meet as well.

And of course Lori Spears (safari gal) from Travel Express and her husband Troy Ginn from International Outdoor Consultants who were kind enough to host the meet up at their booth, thank you again.

I also wish to thank my sister Olivia for being our "official" photographer and taking lots of pictures from the meet up as well as the rest of the SCI convention which I will be sharing with you in the next few days.

My wife Mrs. J helped give out AH caps and got the members signed up for the AH giveaway while I was busy talking...

AH is giving away three $250 gift certificates to members who attended the meet up that can be used for purchasing an airline ticket from Travel Express. These gift certificates are valid for tickets purchased by the end of the year (2011). The members who have won these gift certificates are:

Dlove
steamking
PHOENIX PHIL

Congratulations!


An unexpected and very positive aspect that came out of this meet up for me was that I heard some very valuable and constructive feed back about the site. Of course I always enjoy hearing positive comments about AH but I really appreciate it when someone is willing to tell me what they don't like or what is not working for them. Based upon what I heard I will be making some adjustments to the site in the months to come to try to make it more user friendly and easier to navigate. I thank all of you who shared your thoughts and ideas with me, I really listened and continually want to make the site better...

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Hello again Jerome,

It was great to meet you and your lovely wife and sister. Thanks so much for the gift certificate. I wish I had more time at the convention. To say the size of the show was overwhelming is an understatement. I plan to be in Las Vegas next year for hopefully 3 days to be able to take more of it in. Keep up the good work on the website. I hope someday we can perhaps meet in Namibia too!

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

Thanks Jerome - it was good seeing you and Mrs. J again and nice to meet your sister, Olivia. I enjoyed meeting the members of the site and getting to visit with some of them about their upcoming travel plans.

Congratulations to Dlove, steamking & PHOENIX PHIL - I look forward to booking tickets for their next adventure!

 

[Dlove]

Jerome,
It was very nice meeting you and Mrs. J. You do a great job with the site it is very helpful for someone like myself who is very new to hunting Africa. Thanks for the gift certificate I will be giving Lori a call in the next week or so to arrange travel to Alaska. We showed up a little late so only meet a few members, but it was nice meeting Lori and also Mike70560.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Here are a few pictures at Travel Express's booth of the AH meet up at Safari Club International Convention 2011...

Lori at her booth, always smiling and happy to help!

Members at the meet up...

Travel Express's booth...

That's all... some pictures came out blurry... wish I had more pictures to show you from the meet up! More pictures of the show will be posted soon...

 

[Glenn]

Hello,

We (Christa and I) shall be at Vegas SCI again this year. Hopefully we shall be able to meet with you on Friday.

 

[elk338]

Thanks Jerome, I'll be there. I like the dark cap.
Thanks

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

Hi elk338, guess we'll be seeing a lot of you at the convention since you'll be in the booth next to mine!