Geofest is February 17-19 at the Indiana State Museum

Geofest

Indiana State Museum
Indiana State Museum

Calling all rock hounds, fossil hunters, jewelers, scouts and families!

Indiana State Museum’s GeoFest slated for February 17, 18 and 19

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana State Museum will host its 15th annual fossil, gem and mineral show GeoFest on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17 and 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 19 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will take place in the museum, located at 650 W. Washington Street in downtown Indianapolis.

GeoFest, presented by Indiana-based Irving Materials, Inc. (IMI) will feature geology experts, exhibitors, chances to win geo prizes and hands-on activities that include making your own geode, discovering how rocks and minerals are used in everyday life, building crystalline structures and comparing your speed against ice age animals. Participants will also have the chance to explore the museum’s natural history galleries.

“GeoFest is a great opportunity to see and buy amazing gems, minerals and fossils, and to learn about the Earth through our exhibitions and special activities offered by the museum and earth science organizations from throughout the state,” said Peggy Fisherkeller, curator of geology. “Many of the exhibitors will have just returned from one of the country’s premiere gem and mineral shows in Tucson, Arizona, so GeoFest will be the first opportunity to see treasures from all over the world.”

This year’s participants are listed below:

Vendors
NAYAB Gems and Minerals
Khyber Gemstones
Jox Rox
Nature’s Spectrum Gems
Harris Precht Minerals
Oh My! Jewelry
Hi Ho Gems and Crystals
Lavin’s Gems and Jewelry
M&R Trading, Inc.
PaleoScene
Savage Creations
Kathleen Clausen
Redivius
Indiana Gold Prospectors
Wonders of the Earth
Karen Angela Cox-Ford
Transparent Gem
Michigan Rocks and Minerals
All My Relations
Woodies Rock Shop
Crawfordsville Crinoids

Organizations
IMI
Professional Geologists of Indiana
Indiana Geological Survey
Friends of Mineralogy
500 Earth Science Club and Indiana Society of Paleontology

GeoFest is included with museum admission. Group rates are available. School group and home school group reservations are required to receive free admission. A scout admission price of $5 per person for all scouts and their families is being offered.

For more information, please call the museum at 317.232.1637 or visit online at indianamuseum.org.

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The Indiana State Museum is located in White River State Park in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. It is Indiana’s museum for science, art and culture, offering a place where you can celebrate, investigate, remember, learn and take pride in Indiana’s story in the context of the broader world. Even the building is a showcase of the best Indiana has to offer in architecture, materials and sculpture. Easy and convenient parking is available in the attached underground garage.

Gilsum Rock Swap and Mineral Show 2017

Gilsum Rock Swap and Mineral Show

Gilsum Rock Swap and Mineral Show to be Held June 24-25, 2017

Gilsum, NH — The town of Gilsum, located in the scenic Monadnock Region in southwestern NH, will once again host thousands of people from all over the U.S. who will attend the Gilsum Rock Swap and Mineral Show. Here more than 65 dealers, swappers, distributors, wholesalers and collectors can buy, sell, or swap beryl, quartz crystals, semi-precious stones, and rocks and minerals of all sorts. Displays range from newly found specimens in the rough to fossils, prized collector’s pieces and hand-crafted jewelry.

The event takes place at the Gilsum Elementary School grounds, Route 10 in Gilsum, just north of Keene, NH, and is about 2 hours from Boston. Show hours are 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Saturday and 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Sunday.

On Saturday at 1:00 PM in the auditorium, James Tovey, owner of Toveco, will show how a freshly mined mineral specimen from the local Tripp Mine moves from rough specimen to fine gemstone jewelry. This presentation is free. Don’t miss “From rough gemstone to finished jewelry.”

Gilsum’s many mines operated until the 1940s and yielded feldspar, mica and beryl. Most are now abandoned, although one, the Beauregard mine, is available to mineral clubs through prior arrangement. Today collectors prize other minerals such as beryl. Maps showing locations of local mines are available during the show.

Since the show’s inception, the town of Gilsum has opened its doors for the event. Activities include a presentation on prospecting Saturday, daily pancake brunch, bake sale, book sale, a traditional Saturday night New England ham and bean supper with homemade pies and a chicken barbeque dinner Sunday afternoon.

Admission is free, although donations are graciously accepted. All proceeds go to youth recreation and community programs.

For more information please contact Robert Mitchell at the Gilsum Recreation Committee, P.O. Box 76, Gilsum, NH, 03448; call 603.357-9636; or send e-mail to gilsumrocks@gmail.com.

How Gem and Mineral Clubs can Recruit More Members

How Gem and Mineral Clubs can Recruit More Members

American Geode team members have the good fortune of being members in good standing with many different gem and minerals clubs from New York to Pennsylvania, Vermont to Texas. We have also been vendors at many shows hosted by gem and mineral clubs, and supporters and buyers to even more different shows organized by gem and mineral clubs throughout the US and Canada.

In addition to gems, minerals, geodes, fossils and rockhounding, American Geode has decades of experience in SALES. With this essay, we would like to share tips, tricks and advice for gem and mineral clubs to recruit brand new members!

1. Less is More! We have been to many gem and mineral club tables at various shows, and while giving gifts to prospective members is a nice gesture, usually it’s too much too early. The result can backfire on you! The person has just arrived to the show, they don’t want right from the start to be carrying papers and flyers and bulletins and free sample minerals. That does not create a desire or need for that person to join your club!
Instead, try these steps:
a. Upon introduction, ask the prospective member what his or her interests are? Is it education and lectures? Is it field trips? Is the interest purely social? Find out WHY the prospect may want to join your club so that you can offer them a SOLUTION! Take notes. Are they interested in rockhounding field trip, fellowship or education? Tell the prospect to “Enjoy the show, and be sure to stop by before you leave to learn more about the club.”

2. Don’t “hot box” your prospective members when you meet them! The term “hot box” means expending undue pressure on a person to join your group or affiliation. To the person being “hot boxed,” they will call it a “turn off.” Again, “Less is More.” Educate the prospect about the club, ask questions, that shows mindful and sincere interest in them and will appeal to them, and then “hook” them on the return visit. While the prospective member is touring the show and dealers, plan and prepare a relevant gift, relevant information and means to sign up when they exit the show. For instance, if the prospect says they are interested in rockhounding, have your field trip leader or officer, or someone who has been a frequent field trip rockhound, talk to the prospect about the last trip. Have a schedule planned for the upcoming trips to share! If the person is interested in lapidary and jewelry, be ready to discuss access to equipment if that is a benefit of your club, or discuss the other members who are lapidary experts and how often your meetings are about lapidary. The trick is to make the conversation relevant. While your club has many, many great things to offer, satiating and fulfilling someone’s rockhound or mineral need is going to sign up more users than sharing the other great, but irrelevant strengths your club has to offer.

3. How do you “hook” your new members? Prepare, prepare, prepare! When you meet them the first time, write down their name, note if they are with someone or their family. Be prepared to offer a family membership at the lower price point. Be prepared to sign up people THAT DAY! Have the forms ready, have plenty of pens, have pocket cash to make change if someone pays their dues with cash, and have someone be ready to take credit cards via Paypal device you can attach to your phone. Does your club offer on-line sign-up and membership? Then have a laptop ready for someone to sign up right there! Whether it’s retail sales, high-end luxury good sales, memberships to any organization, when people walk away, and you don’t get the sale, the chances of them returning to complete the sale later are as low as 5%. That would be a terrible shame when you have someone who is a “hot prospect” because they are at your club show!

With these “sales tricks” we know you will succeed!
If your gem and mineral club is seeking a website, or social media account and promotion, American Geode can help. Contact us about designing your club’s new website, with means to have new members renew and sign up on-line conveniently, host, archive and protect all of your club bulletins, and be #1 on google when someone new searches for “gem and mineral clubs” in your region or state! Contact us through our site, http://www.americangeode.com and click the “Contact us” button on the left.

Keep updated on the best shows with the American Geode gem, mineral, jewelry and fossil show newswire and calendar!
Watch a short video here for gem, mineral and fossil show tips from the experts!

Annual Rock and Gem Show
Annual Rock and Gem Show


I loved this geode.

Houston Gem, Mineral, Jewelry and Fossil Show


Click below for details and to order tickets for this excellent show hosted by our friends at the Houston Gem and Mineral Society!

Houston Gem and Mineral Show
Does your gem, mineral or fossil club or society need new members in your ranks? How about new guests to your gem, mineral and fossil shows? Would you like rockhounds and gem, mineral and fossil enthusiasts to travel across state lines to visit your show? Would you like exponentially more traffic to your club’s homepage or the show’s homepage?

American Geode can help. Between 3000 and 10000 rockhounds and gem, mineral and fossil enthusiasts visit our website each month. They also contact us for suggestions on clubs to join, and shows and events to attend.

Other mineral websites charge between $600 to $1000 per year for a banner ad on their site.

We charge a flat rate of $150 for 12 month basic partnership and offer much more than other mineral sites. Send us two banner ads, 728×90 and/or 150×150, that we will post on our website. As an add-on service, send your club announcements and show announcements for us to post over our famous American Geode Twitter Account with 10,000+ rockhound followers, fans and friends.

The benefits to you and your club are that you will raise higher in the Google ranks when someone searches for gem and mineral clubs, and gem and mineral shows. You will also view many more visitors to your site, soliciting information about how to join your club, download your member application form, and visit your shows.

Canaveral Mineral & Gem Society 43rd Annual Parade of Gems

Canaveral Mineral & Gem Society 43rd Annual Parade of Gems

Canaveral Mineral & Gem Society 43rd Annual Parade of Gems
November 12 and 13, 2016
Dealers in lapidary, minerals, fossils, beads, jewelry and gemstones. Demonstrations; Grand Prize; Hourly Silent Auctions; supplies for hobbies and crafts and related activities. Excellent and economical Christmas shopping with one of a kind creation that make wonderful gifts.
Show Times: Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Location: Melbourne Auditorium, 625 East Hibiscus Blvd. Melbourne, FL 32901
Admission; $5 Donation
Contact: Don McLamb, CMGS President & Acting Show Chairman

Canaveral Mineral & Gem Society Home Page

#GetOutandRockhound with American Geode


Keep updated on the best shows with the American Geode gem, mineral, jewelry and fossil show newswire and calendar!
Watch a short video here for gem, mineral and fossil show tips from the experts!