As a geezer myself, may I suggest that the club start looking for younger blood to serve on the board and in officer and committee positions? Reasons include:

1. They don't think like we do. Sometimes that's annoying, but they're the future and they know what THEY want and if the club wants to assure its own longevity, it needs to embrace the younger generations.
2. According to a few eBay sellers, young people appear to be gobbling up chips at higher prices on eBay, in auctions, and other outlets. If that's true, they have more disposable income than I would have thought.
3. Young people hang out with other young people. When we do it, we're perverts or opportunists or lonely or May-December romance enthusiasts. Or whatever. Point is, "clubbing" has a different meaning to them than us and we travel in vastly different circles... as it should be, I reckon.
4. Outreach by peers (aka "influencing") is way more important to them than us old guys trying to talk these young whippersnappers into enjoying "our" hobby.
5. Motivations differ... I feel the old-timers among us continue to view trading chip-for-chip as the way this hobby should exist. Others see it as a business or an investment. One should not shun other people's motivations if it prevents them from participating. If kids want to treat chips like rare pokemon cards, let 'em.
6. Longevity - Sure, I know that I'm immortal, but some of you may not be. If we don't make plans to hand off control to the young 'uns, they'll start their own dealio and leave us out of it.
7. Disdain for drama - I'm a bit torn on this one. On the one hand, I see younger people doing everything possible to be inclusive and non-confrontational with their friends and peers. On the other hand, if they feel slighted, they "ghost" their offenders and people they feel are offensive (and even ones who are aggressively defensive). The recent (and not-so-recent) public spats found on this discussion board will absolutely (IMHO) alienate every single younger person. First reason, they don't know any of us, so they aren't going to chime in and support one side or another. Second, they will fear posting questions or comments here because it is viewed as a combative playing field. Third, one doesn't have to read through too many posts to realize the average age is not 20-40 year olds, and it will be unusual for those in that age group to want to engage with those who are a generation or two above their pay grade. Certainly there are exceptions.

Notable (and generalized) differences (like 'em or not):

1. Geezers like printed magazines, kids like instagram.
2. Geezers like trading like-for-like, kids like trading value-for-value (book value, perceived value, etc).
3. Geezers like writing checks by hand, kids use venmo/cashapp, and in a pinch will use zelle (if they MUST have a bank account)
4. Geezers enjoy getting together in person, kids are happy to connect virtually
5. Geezers like full length feature movies, kids like tik tok, vine, reels, and insta.
6. Geezers like presentations, kids like 3 minute or less youtube videos.
7. Geezers buy print ads, make flyers, distribute postcards, buy radio/tv time, etc. Kids create content that goes viral.
8. Geezers fill out paper forms using neat (albeit shaky) calligraphy and penmanship and send them through the US Postal Service with actual stamps (some of which have pictures of George Washington on them and require licking and sticking up to 12 on an envelope, which also requires licking and sticking). Kids auto-fill online forms with a couple of taps and click "send".

Anyway, I don't know what the average age of the overall membership is, but at 58, I am guessing I'm (well?) below average. I also don't know the average number of years people have been collecting, but at ~3 years, I'm guessing I'm again (well?) below average. My focus is on collecting one $5 chip from each Nevada casino that ever existed (96 to go!). Most of the older members I talk to seem to have no end to what they collect. "Kids These Days"(tm), for the most part, are not collectors, hoarders, investors in rarities, and don't even want my grandma's beautiful Noritake china (what?!). So, if there's any hope in getting a younger crowd involved, there needs to be a younger crowd representing the club as a whole. And finding ways to get them to collect something... anything... that's related to our hobby in hopes of it catching on with their peers.

Now, with all of that said, the geezers in this club who have been collecting for 20, 30, 40, and even 50 years have a wealth of knowledge that needs to be documented, archived, and preserved for future generations. Think of all the UFCs that exist because the only people who know where those chips came from and were used have passed on, taking any chance of getting answers to those questions with them. Anecdotal stories, biographical references, history, and so on is SO important and the club has many avenues for those contributions to be stored. But they're not stored in the easiest, most searchable ways. Some is in books (kids don't read "books"), some is in the chip guide (but very little, in my opinion), some is in the chip board and CCA chat archives, and the bulk of it is stories told among members, all of whom will be deceased at some point. The club would do well to consider the best methods of storage and dissemination to make its content go viral, be more appealing to younger crowds, and be more searchable and cross-referenced. That requires an investment in technology, and those best suited to develop and maintain that technology are... you guessed it... younger people.

If you read this far without taking a nap or taking a hit of geritol, congratulations and thanks for listening. I hope you all found it entertaining AND enlightening and useful.

-- barry