Jim – as always, your thoughtful comments & insights are appreciated. I’d like to address each of your points with my point of view:

1) I LOVE this idea. I’m not a big fan of the sit-down banquet & would much rather enjoy the evening doing something similar to what is done on Tuesday evening at the Palms – have a drink & say hello to friends that you haven’t seen in awhile.

2) I’m not certain that the “Non-Smoking” restriction affected dealer participation, but this is something that can always be revisited.

3) I disagree on this one, Jim – if we could establish an equilibrium point where the costs for dealer tables and admission would allow the to break even for the convention, that would be a great thing -- but establishing that point is not an easy thing to do. This convention is not a huge money-maker for the club. In fact, just a few years ago, it lost a lot of money. We could certainly trim convention costs by not having trading rooms or not conducting seminars, but some members come to the convention really only to trade…and as a “Not-for-Profit” educational corporation, those seminars are a big part of the club’s mission. Pre-registration, admission fees, dealers’ fees – they’re ALL applied to result in a convention that hopefully pays for itself.

4) Our volunteers are THE key to a successful convention – without them, we really couldn’t have & enjoy this convention. While it may not be much, these wonderful volunteers & their efforts are recognized in the form of the Volunteer reception. While I have yet to attend one, I have been told that the volunteers DO appreciate this gesture. With regards to seating for the banquet & how that is established – I don’t know but will ask. Other than our guest speaker, I’m not aware of any complimentary tickets / seats going to anyone else (but I will ask on this point as well).

5) As previously discussed, I believe that this is just too costly…and I, personally, wouldn’t want to have the club “subsidize” a bar.

6) Yeah, the poker pay-outs aren’t what they could be, especially this year. I feel that they paid too many places instead of just the final table or 10% of the field (9 players). A portion of the “take” for the tournaments goes to both the club and to the host. Our portion is nice, but I would rather forego that for better pay-outs.

7) The doesn’t look to make a profit off of the dealers – we realize that they are the life-blood of this convention & that without them, there would be no show. But the dealer fees do help the club to reach that profit/loss “equilibrium” point. We’ll see what the final numbers are for this convention & I’m sure that the club’s BoD will review & discuss ALL fees, just as we have every year.
8) The issue about new & younger membership has been discussed FOREVER, it seems, with no real answer. The “Junior Membership” idea was discussed at the BoD meeting & some response will be issued shortly.

9) The club has spent more in advertising this year than in years past, including some costly ads in the ANA magazines. I know that we are all interested in seeing what, if any, pay-oiff these ads have/will produce. Spending $10K-$20K for a partial page ad in a widely read magazine would be a hard sell to the BoD & maybe to the membership, but it certainly is something that could & should be looked into.

10) I like the idea of raising funds specifically aimed towards advertising. I believe that this is something that we can & should do. Through the generosity of a group of our members, we raised $2,000 to have special room cards made & handed out which promoted our club & our convention. I think that it was a great idea & I hope that it turned out to be money well-spent. My opinion on cutting dealers’ fees was noted above. Cutting membership dues – I don’t think so as the cost of membership barely covers the costs to provide our membership services. And if we get to losing money per member, there is no making it up in volume. With regards to the club’s spending habits, well, we really don’t waste a lot of money, Jim. Some of our biggest costs in the past have been in getting together for mid-year meetings & that impact has been reduced by our wise past-Treasurer (current Prez). We do look to cut costs & save money wherever we can. But Jim, I did want to point out that you may have chosen a better analogy as most of us know what followed the Roaring 20’s!!

Once again, Jim, thanks for your comments, ideas & opinions…they all are greatly appreciated.

Steve B