Why is this event a one day event ?

One of our main goals in planning this event was to keep costs low and pass these savings onto our vendors and attending aquarists. We also wanted to simplify our planning and managing requirements. As this event grows, we may eventually expand the event to occur over a saturday and sunday, but a 2 day event presents numerous logistical problems for coral farming vendors that are difficult to address.

Why is this event on a sunday ?

Rental prices for exhibitor rooms are typically less expensive on Sunday. Saturday rates tend to be higher due to wedding receptions. Keeping costs under control was important, since we are traveling across the country to setup this event.

Is the South Eastern Coral Farmers MarketSM competing with the MACNA conference or IMAC West Conference ?

Definitly not. One of the factors in choosing the date of our event was that the date could not interfer with other major events within the captive industry. One of the main attractions of those conferences is the speakers and their presentations. Those conferences have a larger cost structure due to the expense of flying in and accomodating speakers. This is why their booth and ticket charges are much higher then the booth and ticket charges at the SE-CFM. We have kept our costs under strict control and have passed these savings onto our customers. The SE-CFM is exactly what its name describes. A Coral Farmers MarketSM event. As we grow in size from year to year, there may be a point where speakers and presentations are added, but even if we eventually incorporate speakers and presentations into the event, they will always be secondary to the main purpose of the DA-CFM event.

Why do you prefer to sell vendor booths to Coral Farming vendors ?

Our primary attraction is exotic farmed coral. Our customers expect that a very good selection of corals will be available for sale. When we contact potential vendors for booths we always place more effort on getting coral farming vendors to reserve booths. There are however many Mariculture companies that support coral farming indirectly. We typically reserve a medium to large Hotel room for this SE-CFM event and this gives us plenty of vendor booth space. As we expand our vendor participation we will be adding more and more non-coral farming vendors as this event grows.

What is the coral used in the background of this web site ?

The image used in the background of this web site is copyrighted by Steve Tyree and is an image of the Mayan Sun Favia Limited Edition Coral from Dan and Tina at Wet Thumb Frags. This favia coral has a very striking pigment pattern.

What is the coral used on the top web logo and on the event tickets ?

That coral is the My Miami Chalice. A Jason Fox Signature Frags coral. The original Image was taken by Victor and Lou of World Wide Corals. Post processed by Steve Tyree.