As many of you know, this past weekend was not just Labor Day weekend - it was also the weekend of the 2015 Marine Aquarium Conference of North America (MACNA, for short).

I had the good fortune of attending the Conference, along with several others from WMAS. What follows is a recap of the 3 - day event, for those of you who were not able to attend. I will also share my experiences and opinions on the event at large; from the perspective of a hobbyist, and not necessarily as a member of WMAS or the WMAS Presidency.

What is MACNA? 

MACNA is an annual Conference and trade show that takes place at a different location each year. It lasts for 3 days, and features many famous Guest Speakers, along with a large Exhibit Hall filled with display booths from many of the big name companies in the Marine & Reefkeeping Hobby industry. There are also Vendors selling corals and marine fish; a Friday night reception and a Saturday night Banquet; and a large raffle with dozens of prizes.

This year's MACNA took place at the Wardman Marriot Hotel & Convention Center in Washington, DC.

A 3-day full access pass (which included everything above) cost $119 per person.

Getting to MACNA

My MACNA adventure started the way everyone else's from around here would have started... flying to Washington DC.

I was lucky to have booked my flights at a time a few months back when Southwest Airlines was running a big sale. My flight from SLC to Reagan Airport in Washington DC was only $159; my flight home (from BWI Airport in Baltimore, this time) was $189. So, about $350 total. Not bad. And the flight home was a non-stop, to boot.

The first flight - SLC to Austin, TX

Second leg - Austin to Washington DC

I chose to rent a car and drive from the airports to MACNA. I got a nice little subcompact for $109 total. Other options would have been to take the train (DC Metro); take a taxicab; or even try out the "Uber" online car service.

The Hotel

Because I booked my room a little late in the game, I did not stay at the Wardman Marriott, as it was sold out. MACNA had secured rooms at a second hotel, the Omni Sheraton. It was right across the street from the Marriott, so no issues going back and forth to the Conference. I was able to get the MACNA - negotiated discount price of $125 / night. If you have ever been to Washington DC, you would know that price is about half of what a quality hotel room goes for. So a good deal.

The Omni was celebrating its 75th Anniversary. Apparently it is a hotel with a good deal of local history.

The Omni Sheraton, Washington DC

A luxurious place with a lot of history

My own room was clean, comfortable, spacious, and well-appointed:

Interestingly enough, both WMAS President Jeremy Wooten and I felt like the 'overflow' hotel was actually a little nicer than the actual MACNA Hotel...

Anyway, now that I was safely checked in to my hotel room in Washington, DC it was time to go check out the Show...

Marcoss - nothing to be sorry about; ask all the questions you want!

Jon - post your swag pics HERE on this thread! And tell us what you did to get your corals on the plane, and home from MACNA (since I did not buy any)...

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"The Show"

First off, MACNA is huge in size. It is one of the 2 or 3 largest shows of this kind in the entire world. The bulk of which is the Exhibition Hall, filled with close to 150 booths showcasing all the latest Marine & Reefkeeping hobby equipment, plus fish and corals for sale. Then you have the Speaker rooms, the Banquet Hall, and the lounge and reception areas.

Touring the Exhibition Hall is a pretty awesome experience. There are just booths everywhere. And it is a lot of fun walking the aisles, checking out all the cool new equipment and gadgets, and all the beautiful display tanks:

Entrance to the Exhibition Hall

MASNA Booth

MACNA 2016 Booth - next year it will be held in San Diego

Inside the Hall

Tons of booths. Tons of display tanks, filled with all kinds of cool fish & corals.

Which brings me to my first major MACNA criticism...

Almost NONE of it is For Sale.

Maybe I expect too much, but it sure would have been nice to take home one of the cool new LED lighting systems, or the latest Bubble King skimmer, or maybe one of those 100+ sweet Scolys in that Eye Catching Corals display. You know how many out of those 100+ Scolys were for sale? Exactly zero.

Too bad it was all only for show.

Now there were some things for sale - Karen Talbot had artwork for sale; I saw a booth with T-Shirts; one or 2 other booths. And this guy DID have a bunch of equipment  for sale - albeit nothing new from the show:

But 90+ % of all those cool display tanks you just looked at? Sorry, just for show.

Which brings me to my second big critique:

I was disappointed how FEW fish & coral vendors were at MACNA

I went around and counted, twice, just to be sure. 22 vendors. That's it.

Now, why do I say that 22 was only a "few"..?

Well, in my head, I am comparing MACNA to our own regional show, the Mountain West Reef Fest (MWRF).

And the MWRF generally averages between 12 - 15 fish & coral vendors. (This year I believe we have 13.)

So MACNA had fewer than double the fish & coral vendors that the MWRF gets. Despite having over 100 more total exhibit booths.

And most of the fish & coral vendors were no bigger - or better - than the MWRF vendors.

Although I did really like the booth for Pacific East Aquaculture. They had a tank full of cool Sponges and Gorgonians that I really wanted to take some home. And also a large tank filled with close to 100 clams. But they were the exception, rather than the rule.

Hogie wrote: Bob, was this your first MACNA? If not, how did it compare to years past? Would you go again?

This was my second MACNA... however, the last time I went was like MACNA # 3 or 4, it was in New Jersey, and it was early 1990's

This one was a lot bigger than what I remembered.

And yes, I will be going again - most likely to next years in San Diego

I don't want people to think I didn't have a great time - I did! - there were just a couple of things I guess didn't meet my personal expectations (which maybe I was just expecting too much based on all the hype).

But I absolutely recommend that everyone go at least once; it is like a "bucket list" thing for us fish geeks, LOL

Marcoss wrote: It sounds like MACNA is for retailers that is open to the general public, for some reason. I go to a number of expos a year, but they are for buyers/retailers only. They show the newest trends, what is cool, and what you can expect to see in the future. At the end of the day, they let you buy items that the vendors do not want to take back. I have never been to MACNA though but from reading what Bob is saying, sounds like that to me.

I think MACNA may be more "Trade Show" heavy than some of the other Conferences; tilted a bit more towards buyers and retailers than say MAX or ReefAPalooza...

But, as Jon pointed out, there is a big 'educational' aspect to MACNA. You could literally go to Speaker Presentations every hour of the entire 3 - day Event

Jon -

AWESOME PHOTOS!!!

I love all your swag! You and Bacot really hunted down a ton of stuff!

I was lazy, and didn't get near as much, LOL:

And I love your shots of the sponge tank from Pacific East Aquaculture - and that tank full of clams!!!

Man, I was jones-ing to spend a whole bunch of cash at that booth... I just chickened out with taking it back on the plane

When you took your corals to the airport, did you call TSA ahead of time, or just let them inspect your bags?

Before I talk more about the Conference, I just want to touch on something Jon already covered... but I think it is important enough to have everyone reading this thread 'chew on the info' a bit more.

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WMAS Paid Member Brad Syphus ("tileman" on our Message Board) was awarded the 2015 Marine Aquarium Hobbyist Of The Year at MACNA.

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One more time:

BRAD SYPHUS (aka "tileman") OF MURRAY, UT WAS CHOSEN AS THE #1 MARINE & REEFKEEPING HOBBYIST ON THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT AT MACNA THIS YEAR!!!

Yes, that Brad Syphus, the guy with the absolutely stunning 335 gallon Reef Tank filled with gigantic SPS colonies; beautiful, rare and hard - to - keep fish; the same Brad Syphus who takes phenomenal photos (and wins our POTM contest about every other month )... the guy who goes to MACNA and hob knobs with the likes of Sanjay Joshi, and Larry DuPont, and Tony Vargas and Joe Yaiullo...

And the same humble, down to earth guy who is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet in this hobby...

I just got 2 more things to say about this...

1) A well deserved honor!!!

2) Pretty damn impressive, my friend

I don't think any potential toxins would set things off; the screening machine is basically just an X-ray machine.

But that last sentence on the TSA site is what scared me off. I was afraid that I would get a TSA Agent that either didn't understand that corals are 'live fish' - or just one in a bad mood. And then tell me I could not bring it aboard as carry - on. That it would have to be shipped as 'cargo'... which not only cost a fortune (a decent sized box of fish and coral would cost about $100 to ship) but the cargo hold on a plane is not heated - so you would need heat packs to ensure your corals didn't die from exposure.

Jon was braver than I was - and it sounds like it paid off.

Next year I will bring something back

This was the poster I picked up for my grandkids:

As Jon mentioned, there were so many great Speakers at MACNA this year.

Here was the line up for Saturday:

Jon, Bacot and I went to several of the same speakers together; I also went bright and early to the very first one on Saturday - Dr. Sonia Rowley

She gave a great presentation on Gorgonians and their Morphology

Not only a very interesting topic but Dr. Rowley had a wonderful Australian accent, and she was cute, too

And, oh yeah, I kept bumping in to this guy:

I guess they will let anybody into these things nowadays....