Convention Chariman's
Summer 2011 Message
Kevin Foley
Convention Chairman
Our 72nd Anniversary Convention is now history. Our last visit to the Chicagoland area had been in 2008, when we were also at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. Our 2011 event there marks a real watershed for the Central States Numismatic Society. 2011 is the first in a six year commitment to be in the Chicago community. Next year we'll be moving to suburban Schaumburg, only 10 miles from O'Hare Airport, where our event will be held at the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center, a facility that offers complimentary parking for hotel guests and day visitors. I know that parking charges are a chronic sore point for numismatic show attendees. Our board hopes that the availability of free parking at our new site will be viewed as a welcome enhancement that will boost attendance and help provide an even more active bourse than we experienced this year in Rosemont, where we recognize that parking charges can be a disincentive to attend in the first place.
One of our booth holders remarked in post-event paperwork he submitted to us that this was his second-best show in 31 years. Coming from someone who I know does multiple major events throughout the year I considered that quite a compliment for our overall effort.
This year in Rosemont we were able to offer what I felt was the highest level of educational presentations we've ever had. Our education director, Ray Lockwood, worked with our board to upgrade the quality of our efforts in this regard. The program "The Threat of Counterfeit Coins from China" was especially well attended. While my other duties prevented me from stopping in for more than 15 minutes, that short visit left me feeling that I was really missing something that was particularly informative and valuable by not being able to remain. Ray Lockwood and I will be cooperating together for 2012 in an effort to continue to provide a roster of programs that you won't want to miss, so be sure to periodically visit our website in the months ahead to see programs and lectures added to the schedule of events. As these nascent programs are developed they'll be listed there, so please check www.centralstates.info from time to time to keep abreast of plans for our 2012 Schaumburg event.
Our board meeting in Rosemont expanded two initiatives previously authorized to enhance our convention and the associated bourse area. The discount voucher that we offer to our booth holders who stay until near the end of the event on Saturday that they can then apply to their booth fee for the following year's event will move up from the $100 figure that will be awarded to 2011 booth holders to $150 for booth holders at the 2012 event. They'll then be able to apply this $150 discount to their 2013 space. We know that a depopulated bourse area on the final day of any convention is a chronic annoyance to attendees. By increasing this positive incentive for our booth holders to stay later our intention is to enhance the bourse for our attendees by providing a fuller complement of dealers than might have otherwise been the case.
The board also voted, effective with our 2012 convention, to increase to $250 the rebate we pay to booth holders who stay three or more nights at our headquarters hotel. Again, this incentive is designed to encourage a wider participation by dealers at different levels of economic capability and to encourage them to stay longer at the convention in order to afford our participants a wider choice of dealers present and operating their booths during all the advertised public hours. In addition, our attendees and booth holders are simply safer by staying at the host hotel and not being exposed to the potential mischief that can befall them by traveling back and forth to other lodging facilities in the area.
I've remarked before that I believe the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center is the highest quality site that any numismatic show or convention will be held at anywhere in the United States. I recall that at a previous event I once managed there for another show sponsor, one of the more prominent dealers inquired if Central States would be coming to the Schaumburg facility. When I acknowledged that we had recently signed a contract to do just that his immediate and enthusiastic response was, “Sign me the (expletive deleted) up!” Bourse Chairman Jerry Lebo will be mailing 2012 bourse applications in three waves. First, on or about July 1, to those with 2011 booths who stayed and operated their Rosemont space until 3 pm. Saturday. Next, roughly 21 days later, to those with 2011 stands who left prior to that time. Third, to new dealers. By having this mailing-and-booth-assignment pattern we hope to encourage dealers to remain well into the final day of our bourse and incentivize them to do so by giving location preference to those who do stay late. One of the most often heard complaints from our public attendees on the final day of the convention bourse is the fact that some of the dealers elect to depart prior to the actual close of the convention. Rather than imposing any sort of sanction against those who depart early, our board has elected to create a system of positive incentives to reward those who stay late.
Subsequent to our 2011 event I was contacted by three collectors inquiring about being part of our educational exhibit area in 2012. All three remarked on how impressed they were with our educational exhibits and were anxious to participate next year. CSNS encourages a top-quality exhibit area by establishing a generous program of awards for competitive exhibits. While I never seem to have the time to spend that I’d like reviewing the content of the exhibit area, the three or four exhibits I did find the time to view in depth left me feeling somewhere between very impressed and blown away by their quality. Exhibit Chair Fran Lockwood does an especially good job in maintaining and improving the quality of our educational exhibits. She deserves my thanks and yours.
For those who were able to attend in 2011, I hope our event lived up to your expectations. Please join us in 2012 at our new site in Schaumburg, when our bourse dates will be April 18-21, as we enter into the second year of a multiyear commitment to be in Chicago, the most Central of the Central States cities.
Kevin
