[TheForge] "Official" news from ABANA / Dave

[Riverbend Blacksmiths]

The 2006 in Seattle was my first ABANA Conference, and I'm an  
enthusiastic newbie (hobbiest) just starting out; and from what I  
experienced (or ended up missing) because of too many demonstrators  
to see and no rotational repeating time slots, too fancy foo-foo meal  
packages (meals that made me very sick), I'd be dammed if I'm gonna  
pay $600 a head, and it's closer to where I live! I'm not experienced  
enough to know what the answers are, but it sure seemed like over- 
kill if an event would cost so much for so few attendees. Keep it  
simple, affordable, fun and inclusive, and I know members will  
return. Am I naive about this?

Another point. I know individuals who did not renewed their ABANA  
memberships because the magazines, in their eyes, seem to be tilted  
to feature mostly US artists only. Isn't ABANA supposed to be North  
American? Perhaps I'm too new to know if things have changed, but I  
thought I'd share what others were feeling (excluded from ABANA was  
the key message here).
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On Feb 20, 2007, at 12:04 PM, dann at wctatel.net wrote:

>
> I still can't imagine a $250 gate fee, much less a $600 gate fee  
> proposed
> for New York.