Well it's convention time again and time for me to be frustrated. Each November the Paper Model Convention is held and I find my self not in a position to go. It's not that I do not have the time as I am retired, the problem is that I can not afford to go. Traditionaly the convention has been out east, either in Dayton Ohio or Washington D.C. Living in Tucson Arizona it would take me three days to drive to either of these places and the air fare is just too expensive.
I posted to the mailing list and asked if we held a convention in Tucson Arizona, how many people would be interested in attending. From the response I received, I think this would be viable if not for the following problems. First of all the people living on the east coast would then be in the same position that I am in now. The other problem is that as far as I know I am the only card modeler in Tucson. Chip Fyn is the closest card modeler to me and he lives in Phoenix which is about 100 miles from Tucson.
If the convention was held in Tucson, who would have to set it up? Me? At this time I spend two days a week as a volunteer at the Pima Air and Space Museum and publish this magazine. I am afraid if I take the responsibility for setting a convention up here in Tucson, I would not have the time to do it justice. At this time we have a team out east that is doing an outstanding job in setting the convention up each month. What we need is such a team who is willing to do this out west.
The big thing that bothers me is that even if we had a convention out here it would not solve the problem. Card modelers are not a bunch of rich people and quite a lot of us are retired on a fixed income. Therefore we can not afford to go to the convention if it is longer than a days drive. In this case it appears to me that we have two choices, first to have a series of conventions across the country or to rotate the location of the convention every year.
My concern with having three conventions every year is that it might dilute the effect of even having a convention. We are having designers and dealers from all over the world attend the convention but if we had three which one would the go to? Or would they just not go to any of them because it would be too confusing. I think having one convention every year is much more effective. Assuming that I am correct then what we need is to move the convention around the country every year.
An attempt to have the convention out west has been attempted several times but this has not come to fruition as of now. What we need is a dedicated team who is willing to spend the time in setting the convention out west. Any volunteers?
Saul
