1) It depends upon whom you speak with whether it was a good convention or bad. It seems to vacillate every year from dealer to dealer. Every year, after the convention, the dealers are requested to fill-out a survey & to provide comments about their convention experience – very few do. Those that do, their suggestions are ALWAYS discussed between the club’s BoD members.

2) With regards to advertising, one thing to keep in mind is what return can be expected for advertising dollars. There have been many excellent ideas brought forth about exposing the club & this hobby. Unfortunately, it is hard to determine the actual effect of spending $5K to $10K on advertising. We would have to see an addition of over 150 new members to recoup or justify spending $5K for advertising. Some dealers & some members would donate money for increased advertising, most won’t. As far as your observation about this being a wealthy person’s hobby, I don’t completely agree. While the headlines seem to go towards all of the high-dollar chips, many people are equally as passionate about the less expensive items, too. The convention trade sessions are well-attended & many people spend lots of their time going through dealer’s “bargain buckets”. Growing in popularity are the illegals & the cost for those chips don’t seem to be too high (yet).

7) We are ALL looking for some way to stem the tide of decreasing membership. This is always a topic for discussion at the BoD meetings and numerous times in between. I wish that there was some formula to make people want to collect & to keep those that do from “burning out” after a couple of years. This year’s convention will offer free entry on Friday & Saturday in hopes of attracting more locals. The costs for the convention floor itself goes up substantially this year & we anticipate a decrease in convention revenue. What is an acceptable amount to lose & how long can the club sustain these losses. The club’s BoD continues to explore ways to increase both membership and interest in the hobby. We haven’t found the magic formula yet, and we continue to look.

8) I will respond to your items as you have presented them:
a. This is a true statement. This is a hobby & the majority of members don’t have the desire to put forth the effort to help the club. So every year, the club (and its members) depends on the same volunteers to step up & carry the load. I am very thankful to those that do.
b. The club’s BoD consists of five voting & one non-voting member. These six people do not have all the answers nor all the ideas. It is up to our members to offer their ideas or comments or solutions if we are to move forward. 1500 minds can offer more ideas than six.
c. I don’t know who the “clique” is, but it seems to me that ANYONE that is involved in this hobby would benefit through growth & growth will come through change.
d. & e. – I’m not certain as to what this is concerned with.
f. I fully believe this to be true. There are so many that volunteer to make not only the convention an enjoyable experience, but those that give to this club & hobby throughout the year.
g. One thing that I have learned these past six years as the membership officer is that we have many members that are NOT on-line. Some can’t afford on-line access & others don’t have a convenient way to access public on-line access (libraries, etc…). Many members’ only link to this club is through the four magazines that they get every year for the price of their membership. Some don’t even have chip collections, but enjoy what our magazine has to offer. It’s hard to imagine living in this country without on-line access, but it exists.
h. In my opinion, the BoD IS doing the best that they can…but I don’t recall any feelings of resentment.
i. This is a true statement. ALL suggestions are discussed by the club’s BoD – Doug Smith makes certain of that!! Some ideas are implemented, many are not – but all are discussed.
j. A lot of the same discussions come up and, for the most part, things don’t change. But these things still need to be brought up because you never know when someone new will chime in with a brilliant solution…it happens.
Please note that things DO change. We don’t have a roadmap for success so we continue to discuss & try new things in order to help our membership & our hobby.

Thank you for taking the time to present your thoughtful discussion.

Steve Bedo
Membership Officer