[TheForge] from abana.org

[Jerry Smith]

Why not some place like Wheeling W.V.? The hotels are
a little cheaper, the Highlands has great shopping and
a Carbellas. Lots of steel in Wheeling waiting to be
heat up and beat into shape.

I would prefer Somerton, Ohio, but most people would
be staying in Wheeling if we had it in Somerton.

What is in Somerton, a lot of nice people. A Fire
department that would help out. Lots of steel just up
the hill at Buddy's.

Make these conferences an economical home town venue,
instead of a city thing.

Jerry

--- April & Bill Clemens <newky2 at dejazzd.com> wrote:

> 
> Roger,
> 
> It's under Latest News on the main page.  Here's the
> text:
> 
> February 17, 2007
> 
> Updated President's Message - 2008 Conference
> 
>     Whoever said "the more things change . the more
> they stay the same"
> doesn't know the plights of non-profit
> organizations. Because what I want to
> talk about is this - ABANA must change its focus to
> be relevant for another
> 34 years. ABANA has come to that fork in the road -
> where do we go from
> here? Or as Yogi Berra would say - "When you come to
> a fork in the road,
> take it." We are taking it, grasping it and coming
> up with some difficult
> decisions.
> 
>     ABANA has been producing conferences every other
> year for decades now.
> Well the time has come to reevaluate how we do these
> events. We, the ABANA
> Board, have decided not to have a conference for
> 2008. This decision did not
> come overnight. After months of discussions and
> negotiating a formal motion
> was made on February 9 "that ABANA not have its
> biennial conference in
> 2008." On February 13, the motion passed by a vote
> of 14-0.
> 
>     As painful as this decision was I know it cannot
> compare to the
> disappointment of individuals of the Northeast
> Blacksmith Association (NBA).
> Since the Fall of 2004 the NBA put a great deal of
> time and energy into the
> possibility of having the conference at the State
> University of New York at
> New Paltz. Jonathan Nedbor and the Steering
> Committee of NBA are to be
> commended for all the work they have done.
> 
>     So why aren't we having a Conference? What's the
> deal? Is ABANA going
> bankrupt? Let me start by answering the last
> question first - NO. Though I
> wish the financial situation were stronger, we are
> not going bankrupt. To
> put things in a simple nutshell here is a quick
> summary of the conferences.
> They have become too expensive. They cost hundreds
> of thousands of dollars,
> which is too much! That doesn't even include the
> thousands of hours from all
> of the volunteers. For many years ABANA has
> supplemented its budget by
> living off the profit from previous Conferences. We
> can no longer do that.
> The Seattle Conference was not the financial success
> of previous
> Conferences. It probably lost money. We still do not
> know the final tally,
> because there is an outstanding invoice from the
> University of Washington.
> When we do know the accounting figures, they will be
> posted on the ABANA
> website.
> 
>     So why no Conference.
> 
>     First there is the Money -
>     The costs to put on a Conference have
> skyrocketed to somewhere in the
> vicinity of $400,000. With those figures the average
> conference expense
> including transportation would be in the $1,000 per
> person range. The
> majority of our members cannot afford to pay that.
> Of course we all agree
> that costs must be trimmed. We need to look at other
> locations such as
> fairgrounds. The college campus environment has
> gotten too expensive. The
> number of demonstrators has gone through the roof.
> 
>     Second there is the Conference Chair -
>     Every Conference needs to have someone in charge
> to do the negotiations,
> troubleshoot, make decisions, etc. This is a
> full-time job! Past Chairs who
> have held this position have burned out - just ask
> Dave Koenig and Bill
> Callaway. And did I mention that this job pays
> nothing?! No one wanted to
> step up and be Chairman for the 2008 Conference.
> 
>     Third there is the Membership -
>     The membership has declined in recent months. A
> year ago the number
> totaled 4815. Today it is 4468. Our budget figures
> are based on a membership
> of approximately 5000. Without that number there
> would be practically no
> funds to pay for seed money or pre-conference
> expenses. Another factor to
> consider regarding membership is the number of
> attendees to our biennial
> Conferences. Seattle had 575 paid attendees, which
> equates to less than 14%
> of our membership. This has been a consistent
> percentage over the last
> several Conferences. That low figure is another
> indication that we are
> definitely not meeting the needs of our members.
> 
>     Fourth there is the Central Office -
>     LeeAnn Mitchell performed many duties on the
> three previous conferences
> - La Crosse, Richmond, and Seattle. She worked
> tirelessly at each of these
> events putting in many hours of "volunteer" work.
> Much was asked of her and
> she did it - beautifully. There is new a Central
> Office Administrator,
> Heather Hutton of Knoxville, Tennessee. She has many
> strengths and will be a
> valuable asset to ABANA, but her experience in
> working with large
> conferences has not been tested. Without a
> Conference Chair this would be an
> impossible task for the new Central Office.
> 
>     So where do we go from here? This is a question
> that I asked in my
> message to the affiliates. I know that many of you
> like me look forward to
> getting together with old friends. For that reason
> alone the idea of not
> having the Conference will be a great
> disappointment. The first ABANA
> Conference I attended was Birmingham in 1988 - Sloss
> Furnace. The sharing
> and camaraderie alone won me over. There will be
> other Conferences, but we
> need a new model. I want to continue this dialog in
> future letters. Please
> let me know your thoughts. ALL suggestions are
> germane. There are no stupid
> ideas.
> 
>     The more things change . the more we need to
> change .
> 
>     Clare Yellin, ABANA President
>     clyellin at mac.com
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
> 
> 
>