Part A

ABANA NEEDS YOU

Well it's happened … the kids (ABANA Affiliates) are showing the old folks (ABANA) how it should be done. Yes, I am admitting that you put on more efficient conferences than we do.

Some of you have already known this and are probably saying right now, "Hey, we've been trying to tell you this for years." And again you'd be right. All I can say at this point is this - the straw hit the camel's back … and it broke.

No longer can ABANA sponsor conferences as before. They have become too cost prohibitive to produce and attend. Now is the time for us to learn from you. Here are just a few fine examples -

Quadstate RoundUp in Troy, Ohio
Southern Blacksmith Association Conference in Madison, Georgia
IronFest in Grapevine, Texas
CanIron in a different Canadian Province every two years
California Blacksmith Association Conferences in California

So where do we go from here? What I would like to start is a dialog with you. I will be getting in touch over the next several months with many of you to discuss conferences and ABANA. In the meantime you can get in touch with me, clareyellin@abana.org

Our ears are open and with your help and guidance the parent can learn a thing or two from the kids.

Clare Yellin, President
721 Moore Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
(610) 527-2334
clareyellin@abana.org

Part B

February 17, 2007
Updated President's Message - 2008 Conference

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 15-0.

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 in to 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 some where 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 figures is another indication that we are definitely not meeting the needs of our members.

Fourth there 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 a new Central Office Administrator, Heather Hutton of Knoxville, Tennessee. 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, ABABA President
clyellin@mac.com
Artist-Blacksmith's Association of North America, Inc.
PO Box 816 Farmington, GA 30638 USA
706-310-1030 tel 706-769-7147 fax
abana@abana.org www.abana.org