Registration: The Convention is almost here! Have you registered for it yet? Online registration for the Special Package ends on February 24th! The package includes the lowest prices available for registration, Friday buffet, Saturday breakfast, and Saturday banquet. Each of these meals includes a keynote speaker! It also includes a t-shirt and a raffle ticket for a chance at the Special Package prize.

After February 24th, you may still register online, but prices for the meals go up, and you can no longer order a t-shirt. Online registration closes on March 3. After March 3, you will be able to register as a walk-in at the Convention. Please register online soon to take advantage of the Special Package prices!

Workshops: There are a limited number of seats in Tony Terceira’s Photography workshop, and a few more open seats in Scott Fellman’s hands-on Saltwater workshop. This workshop is also suitable for African cichlid keepers. I know you are out there! These workshops can be reserved online and are at no cost to registered attendees.

Hotel Reservations: We are able to offer a special convention room rate of $99.00 per night (plus tax) for the nights of March 21-26, 2012. This special rate is available through March 9, 2012. To receive this rate, please make your hotel reservations by clicking on the link below or you may call 1-888-233-9527 and refer to code N7Z. Online reservations may be made at:https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=7052440

Conservation: Are you planning on donating fish for the James J. White Memorial Fund silent auction? If so, please send an e-mail to the donation coordinator This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . At last year’s auction, we had so many donations that we had to add another table to the silent auction. Let’s make this year’s auction table even longer – donate fish and help conserve endangered species! We also will gratefully accept hard goods such as books or sets of fish hobby magazines as donations.

Club Table Sales: As a benefit of NEC membership, all member clubs are offered a club table during the Convention. The tables are available in the Vendor Room all day from Friday through the Sunday auction for clubs to distribute promotional literature such as auction flyers and membership forms, as well as selling club-logo items such as t-shirts.

This year for the first time, club members may pay a nominal table fee of $20 and also sell fish and plants on Saturday from 12noon until 4pm. This fee is waived for clubs that were represented at 3 or more of the 4 NEC General meetings. The table fee may be paid at the Convention Registration table. If your club would like a table, please let me know by February 20th so that we can have them available for you!

CARES Table: On Saturday, there will be a CARES Preservation Program table! It will be open from 12noon to 4pm for the sale of any species that is listed on the CARES Priority List. A few members have volunteered to man this table, but we need a few more volunteers, please. If you have CARES fish to sell to club member, or a club member of another CARES club, please bring them to the table, and volunteer for an hour. The benefit of selling your fish to another CARES club member is receiving a RED seal for that species! Klaus Steinhaus, the CARES Canadian Ambassador, will speak on the CARES program at the Saturday breakfast, and has kindly volunteered to spend some time at the table to answer questions and discuss the CARES program. NEC clubs that are also CARES member clubs are ACLC, BASNY, DAAS, GCAS, JSAS, and NJAS.

Advertisement Postcards: Boxes of postcards advertising the Convention have been distributed to all member clubs; the majority of them required being sent to clubs that didn’t attend the last general meeting. Please promote the Convention and distribute them to your local LFS’s!

Mailing Lists: Individual postcards were sent out to members who had no e-mail address listed in the club rosters that we received. Many were returned as undeliverable. Please update your membership rosters regularly so that we send postcards to current members. Better yet, send us e-mail addresses and your members will receive information from the NEC even faster!

Several clubs do not share addresses, either e-mail or USPS, preferring to use a central contact point. Please contact them if you are not receiving NEC general or Convention information. If you personally would like to receive e-mails from the NEC if your club is one of these clubs, please send me an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and I will make sure your name is added to the NEC mailing list.

New NEC member clubs: I know that Joe has welcomed new member clubs to the NEC family in his President’s letter, and I’d also like to welcome them. A warm welcome to new clubs Boston Guppy Club (BGC), The Connecticut Aquatic Plant Enthusiasts (CAPE), and The Metropolitan Area Killifish Association (MAKA)! As member clubs of the NEC, your members will be able to register for the Convention at the best prices. I look forward to welcoming you to the Convention!

As always, we are looking for energetic volunteers during the months prior to the Convention or at the Convention itself! If you would like to volunteer, please send an e-mail to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Remember, its volunteers that make the Convention a smoothly-running event!

Your Convention Chair,

Leslie