I'm the youngest active adult collector that I have seen on this board at 30 years old. I have been collecting for about 4-5 years now and honestly believe that the club and the hobby are in trouble because we are losing more collectors and members than we are gaining. People are right when they say that younger people aren't collecting anything and the main reason is the cost of living now days and lack of funds available. People have a hard time putting money into something that they will most likely never be able to get back. I love collecting chips and looking at them but it is hard knowing that you are more than likely throwing your money away and will have a very hard time liquidating your collection if the need ever arises. That being said, I believe that a lot of changes need to be made and here are some of my opinions on what they are.

***Note: some of these may not be popular ideas and nothing here is meant to be an attack on any individuals or the club***

1 - I think the biggest thing we need to work on is a bigger presence an social media and the internet in general. Our club and hobby in general has really missed the boat on the social media and internet front. This is our cheapest way of advertising and at the same time the way that we are most likely to touch the largest audience.

2 - Come up with a better and easier name to attach to the club. The CC>CC is fine but nobody that sees it outside of the club will know what it means. A catchy name that people can associate with should make a big difference.

3- Welcome and help new members or people that just stumble onto The Chip Board. when I first found the chip board I couldn't believe how helpful and welcoming fellow collectors were. Heck, when I first signed up for the club lots of people offered to send me free chips to help get me started. Now days, all to often I have seen new people post on here that receive no response, a smart ass response, or get attacked from fellow members for not posting with a real name. This is a really bad first impression for people who may have just found the hobby and are thinking about starting a collection.

4 - Change the layout of The Chip Board. I know this has been mentioned in the past and was always shot down because this is the way that Greg Susong wanted it to be but the site is obsolete and it is time for a change now. I understand wanting to honor past members of the hobby but at the same time if those members were still with us I think they would want us to do what is best for the hobby and not continue to live in the past. This site needs a layout where when someone comments on an older post it pops back to the top with the whole thread. So often now if someone comments on an older post you don't even know it.

5 - The club needs to take the opinions of it's members seriously. So often good ideas are brought up that seem to have lots of support from club members and then you never hear anything about it or the BOD shoots it down. I do believe in membership having a larger role in decisions rather than the BOD having all of the say. The last thing I want to see is something of a "Good Ol' Boys group making all of the decisions based strictly on how they feel.

6 - BRING BACK TRADING. The best part of this hobby for me when I started was being able to trade for other chips I needed without having to put out any money. this has all but disappeared from the hobby (on the chipboard at least) and at this point maybe 3-5 people actively try to trade. Especially for the younger people in this hobby money isn't always easy to come by but we have chips to trade which is one of the few ways I add chips to my collection anymore. This is a crucial part for our hobby and one that we need to keep going. Also, I don't want to hear the shipping cost as an excuse because $2 in shipping is nothing when it helps both members add chips they need to their collection.

7- Attract more current members or collectors to The Chip Board. It seems that we have a small group of our hobby on The Chip Board and it would be nice to attract more collectors. Maybe an ad in the club magazine or something for it could help and just advertise it as a place for fellow collectors to stay in touch and to buy, sell, and trade chips.

8 - When members give ideas to the BOD to be considered they can't take 6, 9, 12 or more months to be talked about. It just seems like all to often good ideas are brought up and then nothing more is ever heard about them or a year later you hear something.

9 - Find more ways to advertise the club and get our name out their. I know some of these may no be feasible because of cost but newspapers, magazines, TV, internet, etc... Maybe around the time of the conventions or other chip shows local radio stations would welcome in club members to talk about the hobby, shows, etc...

These are just a few ideas off of the top of my head and I'm sure I will think of more shortly. Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts. Dan R-8220