My perspective on some of these items -- I could care less about a convention "theme". There are probably as many members that don't like the "theme" idea as there are those that do like it. The huge majority, I believes, lies with the "Who cares??" vote. If it costs the club anything extra, I'd be against it -- but I've been told that there are no significant costs associated with having a "theme", so c'est la vie.

The idea of having a wine & cheese / finger food gathering versus our current sit down dinner appeals to me. Most people come to the convention to see & visit with friends that they only see once a year. Instead of a sit-down dinner where you are at a table where you are only visiting with those few at the table, this other format would allow everyone to mingle & get together with many more people. And at a lower cost to participate, I believe that we would have more attendees.

I would like to see the awards in their present state remain as being presented at this "Early Bird" gathering. To me, it's important that we recognize those persons that have contributed & continue to contribute to the club and that we do not just relegate these awards to the convention floor. They take just a few minutes & most members show the courtesy of recognizing those winners with justly deserved applause. If, in fact, the winner of the last few "Recruiter of the Year" awards just decided, "Well, if they don't care, why should I?", our club would be less many, MANY new & contributing members.

And you are correct, Archie -- Sheldon worked very hard in getting our name, our convention out there. While numbers were down in almost every category (pre-registration, banquet, dealers), the one place that we did see an increase was in the "walk-ins", which may correlate directly with the effort put forth in advertising. Whether that equates to greater sales or greater membership, I don't know -- but it does equate to greater exposure for our club & our hobby which is very important to sustain our future.

Steve B