[TheForge] ABANA relevance

[Kathy]

Dann,
I thought your comments translated quite well.
Mikey

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Dann
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 7:27 AM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] ABANA relevance


For me every demonstration at an ABANA  Conference, has a   wow 
factor.   I see things that I have only read about, and dream that I 
might be able to do that too~ !

In my humble opinion,  the current ABANA members attending the bi 
-annual conferences, probably fall into  3 groups:  the retired, the 
full time blacksmith- metal smith, and the  semi-well healed 
"empty  nesters".   I'd  bet 90 percent attending in Seattle,  fell 
in the range of 45 years of age to 70 years of age.

I am also an EAA member. ( Experimental Aircraft Association ).   The 
EAA model of a Convention won't easily transfer to ABANA, but one 
idea should.  The vast numbers of people attending the annual event 
in Oshkosh don't pilot small planes, and won't build one,  BUT they 
share in the dream.  The costs to attend are relatively cheap, but 
there is something interesting to see for all levels  of interest.

Maybe there are consumer reasons to keep the public's interest in 
ABANA.   5 years  ago, my niece made a rail road spike knife at my 
forge.  Her tender hands got work blisters, but she wouldn't 
quite.  Now she tells me she really notices the iron  work on every 
structure that she sees.   She is now graduating  as a landscape 
architect... whatever that is <grins> .

Due to high costs, it is a bit more difficult for a person with a 
young family ( and interests of a  Wannabe Blacksmith ) to attend the 
ABANA conference.  BUT That is precisely the group that the EAA gets 
in numbers.   I joined the EAA  25 years ago, when my family was 
young.   I took them all to Oshkosh several years in a row.  Building 
my own,  was the only economic way that I could imagine owning my own 
airplane.

Keeping the public's interest in small aviation is important for a 
bunch of reasons.  One big one:
Right now the EAA is struggling with the 9/11  protectionist 
mentality Bush Adm, to keep the sky open to small planes.   It wasn't 
a pair of  Cessna 150s that took out the world trade centers, but 
that doesn't stop the regulators.

Dann

At 07:48 AM 3/3/2007, you wrote:
>I think the issue of relevance is at the heart of ABANA's
>difficulties. ABANA does two things that the membership sees- puts out
>a couple magazines, and runs a conference every couple years- and
>they've just decided to cut half of that.
>
>ABANA Board members, I'm going to ask you a favor. I want you to sit
>down, and write down what the benefits are that YOU see yourselves
>providing.


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