Memories of the Show

From: ted.held at us.henkel.com on 2008.09.23 at 12:42:58(18574) The show is finished and we have somegood photographs that hint at the vitality. For those of you who have neverattended, you should know that there is nothing that can replicate thefull version, lived in first person. Even if you are able to spend an afternoonwith a fellow plantsperson with their collection, you still don't havethe kaleidoscopic experience that you get at the IAS show, of running intoperson after person, small grouping after small grouping, each a tiny microcosmof expertise of one type or another. Each encounter is open to engagementand the people are friendly and patient with the clueless, like me. Hereyou are discussing a show entry with Julius Boos and are gently interruptedby Steve Lucas wheeling along with some plant he is anxious to learn about.Over here you see Tricia Frank organizing up a storm with three peopleyou don't recognize except that their name tags are familiar from aroid-l.Over here is a line of people patiently waiting to pay for their purchasesfrom the excellent vendors and maybe buying an Aroid Society T-shirt. Thenyou make your way to the conference room to watch Dr. Tom Croat do theTom Croat thing, with profuse pictures from exotic locales that you'llnever visit, ending up with you wondering seriously how it is that thisguy is still alive. Later you get fed one of the best institutional mealsyou'll ever eat, dished out to you by other individuals whose name tagsyou recognize, followed by a talk by Marc Gibernau from France consistingof an outline of cutting-edge research by a part of our truly internationalcommunity. Finally, as your energy seems just about used up, you have thefamous auction of rare plants conducted by the naturally jocular tag teamof Julius and Dr. Croat, coaxing bids out of the audience, such bids beingentirely inadequate for the extreme rarity of the offerings. IAS auctionfare does not consist of Home Depot plants. If you want an $8 plant thata thousand other people have, go to Home Depot. If you want a $200 plantthat is one of only five in cultivation, come to the IAS Show auction. These are the joys of a meeting of aspecialty club, and the IAS show ranks among the best. Ted Held HTML +More --=_alternative 0045D9BA852574CD_=----==============ƒ61054687128750030=

From: "Tom Croat" <Thomas.Croat at mobot.org> on 2008.09.26 at 16:18:36(18585) Dear Ted: Thanksso much for taking the time to discuss your thoughts on the Miami Aroid Showand Sale. You are an astute observer. I enjoyed your talk on Cryptocoryne andlearned a lot. It reminds me that so far as I know we don’t havemuch of anything on this genus on the IAS webpages and I am wondering if youcould prepare some content there, perhaps linking your talk at least. Iwill also see about getting a link to Jon Bastemeijer’s site. Ihave not seen it but it is reputedly the best source of information onCryptocoyne. I was recently in contact with someone named Ghazanfar Ghori at ghorig@gmail.com Do you know him? I was also trying to get his help to improveour Cryptocoryne page for the IAS. If you could do anything to help usout I would appreciate it. All the best, Tom HTML +More From:aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of ted.held@us.henkel.com Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 20087:43 AM To: Discussion of aroids Subject: [Aroid-l] Memories of theShow The show is finished and we have some good photographsthat hint at the vitality. For those of you who have never attended, you shouldknow that there is nothing that can replicate the full version, lived in firstperson. Even if you are able to spend an afternoon with a fellow plantspersonwith their collection, you still don't have the kaleidoscopic experience thatyou get at the IAS show, of running into person after person, small groupingafter small grouping, each a tiny microcosm of expertise of one type oranother. Each encounter is open to engagement and the people are friendly and patient with the clueless, like me. Here you arediscussing a show entry with Julius Boos and are gently interrupted by SteveLucas wheeling along with some plant he is anxious to learn about. Over hereyou see Tricia Frank organizing up a storm with three people you don'trecognize except that their name tags are familiar from aroid-l. Over here is aline of people patiently waiting topay for their purchases from the excellent vendors and maybe buying an AroidSociety T-shirt. Then you make your way to the conference room to watch Dr. TomCroat do the Tom Croat thing, with profuse pictures from exotic locales thatyou'll never visit, ending up with you wondering seriously how it is that thisguy is still alive. Later you get fed one of the best institutional mealsyou'll ever eat, dished out to you by other individuals whose name tags yourecognize, followed by a talk by Marc Gibernau from France consisting of an outline ofcutting-edge research by a part of our truly international community. Finally,as your energy seems just about used up, you have the famous auction of rareplants conducted by the naturally jocular tag team of Julius and Dr. Croat,coaxing bids out of the audience, such bids being entirely inadequate for theextreme rarity of the offerings. IAS auction fare does not consist of HomeDepot plants. If you want an $8 plant that a thousand other people have, go toHome Depot. If you want a $200 plant that is one of only five in cultivation,come to the IAS Show auction. Theseare the joys of a meeting of a specialty club, and the IAS show ranks among thebest. TedHeld ------_=_NextPart_001_01C91FF3.877191D8----==============q49122645841241266=

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