[TheForge] copied from forgemagic.com

[schade at acegroup.cc]

Letter Posting - Sat 24 Mar 2007 10:01:58 #0
BAM, ABANA & 2008

To the ABANA board, and other interested parties,

After seeing some of the email fallout on this issue, I realize I made a
mistake in not writing sooner. Doing so might have eased some of the
tensions in these interchanges. My apologies to all.

I first started thinking about persuading BAM to host another ABANA
conference about a year before the Seattle conference, but only 
discussed
it with a few people. I began pursuing the matter in earnest at the
Seattle conference, hoping my fellow BAMers would be interested in doing
the 2010. The feedback I got from my friends at the conference was very
positive, and I introduced the subject to more and more people as the 
year
progressed.

When Tom asked me to step up the pace to try to resolve some of the
troubles the NY venue presented, it scared me, but I knew BAM could do 
it
because of all the conference experience we have in this group. I put 
the
word out to as many as possible, and we had a meeting at Pat McCarty's 
New
Year's Day Hammer-in. While one person said no, he wouldn't be involved
again after working so hard on the '94 conference, and another expressed
some misgivings but not an unwillingness to help, the overall response 
was
overwhelmingly positive, enough so that they voted to volunteer to step 
in
for 2008 if that was what ABANA needed from us.

Right after that meeting, I had a very positive conversation with 
Dorothy,
where we decided together that BAM would wait and give a proposal for 
the
2010 conference for the following reasons:

1. It WOULD have been a slap in the NY groups face to have the 
conference
yanked out from under them and handed to BAM, and neither ABANA nor BAM
nor I would want that.

2. It gave BAM a longer time to prepare a proposal, plan and budget.

ABANA never got a plan or budget proposal for the 2008 conference from 
BAM
because there was no reason to make one up under these circumstances. I
believe this was probably discussed when Dorothy reported the results of
our conversation to the conference committee and the board. Since I
thought my involvement with a 2008 conference ended with my conversation
with Dorothy (except to be an observer of the NY conference) I saw no
reason to make further contact with the board.

I do want to say that BAM's response has been far from lukewarm. I've
gotten enthusiastic pledges of support from all directions, within BAM 
and
from outside, and continue to do so. As for a chairperson, I would never
volunteer someone else for something I wouldn't do myself, so I was
volunteering to fill that role.

Why would I do such a foolish thing, especially in the midst of all this
politicking? Because, though we may not love each other, we ALL love the
craft! In the end, whether you're a traditionalist or a cutting edge
artist, it's the craft that keeps us all going, that inspires us, that
puts the fire in our hearts! I'm on fire, guys! I hate my job, but I 
love
my work. ABANA conferences, especially my first one where I met many of
you, are pivotal experiences for me, and I want others to have the same
opportunity.

ABANA cancelled the '08 conference, and I'm sure they had good reason to
do so. We elected them to the board because we trusted them, so I have 
to
trust that they made the best decision they could with the information
available to them. Where do we go from here? BAM is considering putting 
on
an international conference in '08, not to replace the ABANA conference,
but to keep the rhythm of the biennial conferences until ABANA is ready 
to
go again in 2010. I want to do it on Tom Clark's plan of a scaled-back,
less costly conference within the means of a greater percentage of 
ABANA's
membership than has previously been possible.

Notice the time-frame of the decline in attendence. It began in '02, and
we haven't managed better than 14 % in the three conferences since. The
conference fees have been high, but that's not the only reason 
attendence
has been down. The disastrous effects of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks are
still being felt in the form of high gas prices and reduced domestic
travel. Economic factors hit us in more ways than just high conference
fees. That's another reason those fees need to come down. Otherwise,
travel costs are deal killers for many of us.

In talking with Clare and Eric Ryser, I've gotten pledges of support 
from
them personally, and suggestions that ABANA would support us by 
sponsoring
an international demonstrator, and possibly helping with seed money. BAM
would welcome that support. This would not be an ABANA conference, or 
even
a BAM conference, though BAM would host it. This conference would be For
Love of the Craft. BAM will decide officially at our general meeting at
the Ozark Conference, the first weekend of May, whether we'll undertake
this project or not. I'd welcome support from all of you. I'm not
interested in your politics. I just want to make stuff.

For Love of the Craft,
Kirk Sullens,
aka El Presidente Raoul
BAM President