[TheForge] "Official" news from ABANA

Sun Feb 18 11:52:33 EST 2007

Dave, in regard to the 06 financials being closed out and the dispute
over billing.  There were several cases of food borne illness, I know
of several personally.  My Mother, Bob Fredel both had contacted
food poisoning like symtoms. Perhaps this would be the opportunity
to comfront the UW services in regard to this and get the billing
straightened out.  Then the 06 financials could be closed and ABANA
can how badly they lost at Seattle.

Rome H. Hutchings
The Prairie Forge
13633 Ferman Ave NW
Clearwater, MN 55320
(763) 878-1694

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Mudge" <dave at magichammer.net>
To: "theforge mailist" <TheForge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 11:52 PM
Subject: [TheForge] "Official" news from ABANA

I have been following the conversations about ABANA and the '08
Conference, but was bound by corporate bologna to wait for the
"OFFICIAL" news release before I could talk about it. Some of your
questions are hitting the mark and some are way off base but all are
valid. As vice president, affiliate liaison, and chairman of member
services, I will be happy to answer questions now.
dave mudge
The following is the "official" word on ABANA's position.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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, TN.  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, President of ABANA

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