You better hope she's NOT kidding Bob. Can't be a wallflower at a show like that can we?

Just found out that Harry Luther will be doing one of the seminars. Has anyone been to any of his talks?

Yes I have and he is a walking book of knowledge

Hey there, how are everyones plans shaping up for the Extravaganza?
Colleen

Hi Colleen, Plans going great! hotel booked, airline booked! And I have my plant permit in hand! I hope to meet some of my bromeliad forum buddies. I plan to have a wonderful time.
Rochelle

That's great Rochelle,
Where are you coming from?
Colleen

From Nassau Bahamas

All booked and ready to go! I just wish it wasn't going to be such a looooong trip (no direct flights).

Hi Lisa, My trip is pretty short only 45 minutes by jet.

You're lucky, Rochelle. We leave here around 10:00 at night and don't get into Ft. Lauderdale until after 4:00 PM the following day. And that's with only a one hour layover! Most of the flights we looked at had two stops. Forget it!

Wow! Lisa, I agree I am lucky. I did not realize your trip is so long! Looking forward to meet you @ the Extravaganza!
Rochelle

Hey Lisa,
where are you coming from?? Just to let you know it will all be worth it.
Colleen

I'm in Hawaii, Colleen.

I'm sure it will be worth it, but do me a favor and get rid of all of the fire ants before I get there, okay? ;-)

Hey Lisa, done deal, we'll make sure all the fire ants are gone. It's fantastic that you are coming from such a long way. Are you a grower or hobbiest?
Colleen

Im bringing the fire ant bite medicine
And Lisa is a grower/hybridizer

Here is a link that might be useful: helpful link

LOL, I thought the link was going to be a fire ant remedy, HDD! Both of my previous Florida visits ended up with me barely able to walk. I was thinking maybe I should get some hip-waders.... ;-)

LOL nooooooooooo...they get in those waders and you are toast

From what I hear, they are up to 200 people now signed up for the banquet.Should be quite a party. Where is eveyone going after the banquet ends? I'll be pool side.

Colleen, do you have a schedule of events for Saturday? We'd like to come up with a convenient time and place where we could all meet. Once we get there some of us won't have cyber-access, so if we could arrange something beforehand, that would be good. I was thinking the banquet, but apparently not everyone here will be attending that.

Never mind, I just saw it above.

Maybe 1:00 lunch break?

raises hand for banquet 'I will I Will' LOL
How about a lunch break at Michael's table?

Hi Lisa and HDD lunch break @ Michael @ table sounds great!!
rum runner I will probably be soaking my aching feet and sipping coconut rum LOL!
Rochelle

We need to eat lunch, though, and there's only an hour before then next seminar. Maybe we could meet there and all go get something to eat? Or are you springing for a pizza for everyone, HDD? ;-)

Good point Lisa.
As you and hdd know Michael very well,maybe[thru you guys],he could arrange a 'pizza lunch'/pop for his faithful 'gang',so as not to lose valuable time between sessions hunting up lunch.More time to meet friends and talk w/Michael too.Just need a head-count.
A plan? ;)
Bob

Im for pizza if that is what everyone else wants...and if we can get pizza...it is a hotel so I dont know what the rules might be. yes we need a head count,,As far as seminars I havent seen anything on what content they might contain...
And we can always continue introductions at the banquet :)

I won't be able to go to the banquet so I'll definately be there to meet everyone at 1. Since I live pretty close I wouldn't mind picking up pizza on the way there, if that's what everyone wants to do. I'm not sure if we could have pizza delivered to the hotel? Regardless, I'll be there.

Great, this is shaping up into a plan! Thanks for volunteering, Mike! I don't think there would be a problem bringing food into the sales area, but maybe somebody who lives in the area could call the hotel and ask them, just to be sure.

Now we just need a head count. Two here.

Head Count:
Bob & Nancy ,(and lets count Michael and Donna too?)

[I'm wondering,not knowing the layout, how much room we will have as a group to pizza-lunch together. Maybe Mike,[local on-site volunteer],could check with Colleen to see if this 'plan' will work.
We may need to set something up with the Hotel,which I think they'd co-operate with,when considering the amount of people attending this event.]-just a thought. Bob

Alternate idea= take Pizza/Pop/People to my room at the hotel for lunch.

Vendors cant leave their booth's unattended so they have provided them with food
I will call tomorrow and get some idea's

We wouldn't need much room, Bob. We can just stand around and munch and chat. Usually the booths at this type of thing consist of a U-shaped table configuration, upon which the vendor's plants/pups are displayed. Sales open at 9:00, and the first hour is always a mad rush. I'm sure Michael will have cleared out at least enough bare space on one of his tables by 1:00 to put a pizza box (or two)!

I'll give Colleen a call this afternoon. My only concern is that they want to clear out everyone from the vending area (well, minus the vendors) during that hour.

That seems odd, Mike. That's the time many people will want to hit the sales-- between seminars.

Yes, see what you can find out.

Sorry, I mistyped there. I thought they MAY want to clear everyone out (to give the vendors time to eat lunch), but I didn't look at the schedule close enough. You're right, with sales opening at 9 and seminars starting at 11, I'm sure there will be quite a few people purchasing before seminars start up again at 2.

I just got off the phone with Colleen and she suggested that we maybe meet at Michael's table but hang out and eat pizza outside the lobby by the pool. They are estimating a HUGE amount of people to be running through the sales area all day so it may be a bit too congested to meet, greet, and eat. With about 220 people signed up for the banquet alone, there could be 1000+ that just show up for the sale. She also thinks the hotel shouldn't have a problem with us bringing food in, since you could do so if you were staying there anyway.

It also sounds like the garden tours on Sunday are going to be great. I wish I had time to go. Maybe I can take a break and hit one up in the afternoon.

Poolside is our best bet like Mike said...Pepe said there are 250 signed up for the banquet
Meet at Michael's and maybe by then everyone will have a food idea

Hi Guys, Head count three here. Can't wait to meet all of you!!
Bradisha

PS will bring Some Nassau Royale!! (rum!!) LOL

Count me in for pizza please!!
Patris

Hello everyone......... I heard from a friend of a friend that Chester will be doing some kind of book signing for his new book. Anybody else have any info on it and is it a new bromeliad book? I'm still dig-in around for answers. Who said they were bringing rum?? That's who I'll have lunch with!!LOL

I just heard the same, rumrunner, but no details. I got the impression it was kind of a secret, but I guess the cat's out of the bag now! ;-)

Hey folks the book isn't about the plants themselves... it's about where his journey has taken him with the plants

Thanks for clearing that up.Any idea what the book will cost?

Just got my 2007 Bromeliad Extravaganza booklet in the mail. Here are the topics for the seminars.
10 am....... Dr. Lawerence Giroux on " The Jim Irvin Designer Collection"
11am....... Michael Young "The Artistic Bromeliad"
1:30 pm......... Dr Theresa Bert " Bromeliad Evolution;Tepuis and Highlands to Lowlands, Seashores, Mountains and Deserts"
2;30 pm....... Harry Luther " Bromeliads at Their home and Yours"
So there you have it.
Nice program booklet by the way!!

According to the schedule listed further back up the thread, seminars were from 11:00 to 1:00 and 2:00 to 4:00, but it looks like that's changed. Maybe we'd better change our rendezvous time to noon!

Hello all...... A really nice article came out in sundays Miami Herald. Go to Hearld.com and enter Chester Skotak in the search box. Has a couple of nice pictures as well.Also, if you go to www.chesterskotak.com you will be able to read all about his book and for those of you who can't make the extravaganza this week-end, you can order the book on line.This should be THE Extravaganza for all others to match.See ya all pool side!!

Here's the article:

Here is a link that might be useful: Bromeliad fans land a big catch for show

And the website:

Here is a link that might be useful: chesterskotak.com

So, just so we're clear, we're all meeting at noon now? Mike, still bringing pizza?

Also, Colleen, if you're still reading this, could you email me?

Promise me to make loads of pics for those of us who can't make it.

Sander

Lisa, thanks for adding the links. Also, there will be a photographer that will be taken hundreds and hundreds of pictures from Friday night on and will send to photobucket.com and you will be able to buy photos there or just look.

At least can I get a lousy T-shirt?