I have always been amazed at the number of new members brought into the club through the years by Archie, yourself and others... and I know it's not an easy task having manned our club hospitality table for a few years at the Florida United Numistmatist convention in Orlando and at a COLLECTORAMA show in Florida as well.

Though I often mentioned here that I thought the club should be more active with major coin and collector-type shows, I always did realize it wasn't an easy task trying to find members to donate their time at a table...

...and I do realize that our club, as well as other hobby clubs have not done well in the past several years and I do not attribute this to the economy which I think is healthy, but do strongly feel that the Internet played a huge part.

My only thought at this point is how do we now utilize the Internet to our benefit, not to attract people to the hobby as it's obvious there are thousands of casual collectors worldwide who are very active online, but not so active in actually joining a club or society and, this, too I know for a fact being very active in the orchid world. It's easy to get folks' attention online, but to actually join a local orchid society is virtually impossible as it seems as though there are no benefits. Yes, I know our club magazine in a benefit, but is it enough when I ask myself... and I come to the conclusion by looking at reality and realizing that the Internet is the new "club" for millions of people in most every collector hobby and maybe that is our only and last chance to possibly sign up new members since we do offer a specialized convention each year.

How (I can hear the question)? Maybe private YouTube channels? Maybe even a more active club message board (?) in some way. It does seem strange, though, with all our club website has to offer there is hardly any personal touch... I don't know and I wish I had the answer, but I bet there are others who do and I can only hope that they step forward and express their thoughts in comfort...