Spread the Word

"Our fields of endeavor are so diverse and far reaching, that the APMM truly is the ONLY way we are able to come together as a profession." 

submitted by Jill Kenik, APMM PRESIDENT 

Back in 2007, I was working on a small job for a product development engineering company. In the course of the project, I reviewed their website and found a membership seal of an organization that I was unfamiliar with, but sounded like a good fit for my growing company. Of course that seal belonged to the Association of Professional Model Makers. I quickly determined that this was a far better fit for my trade association needs than several other groups put together. As many members of the APMM are, I was impressed by the wealth of peer-to-peer information available, and the speed at which members would jump in to lend problem solving assistance.

The 2010 conference landed in what was then my backyard, just an hour up the road to Boston, so I just had to see this group in person. The Conference did not disappoint. I came away from that weekend believing, as I still do, that this is the most brilliant and passionate group of fun-loving professionals that could ever be found.  

A dozen years later, I find myself at the end of my first year as President of the APMM, tasked with a messaging challenge. How do we reach those solitary model makers working in small businesses, and the little groups of model makers working within the engineering or product development departments of large companies? Where do we find lists of architectural model making specialists, and the model makers that build museum displays? Surely, in this age of computer technology, we can simply go on the web, punch in a few search terms and proceed to purchase a mailing list for a few pennies per name, right? In short: nope!

After much discussion among the Board, hours of researching NAIC codes, SIC codes, census data, trade association lists and several other classifying systems looking for little pockets of model makers here and there that we could reach out to, we have learned our skill set is far too broad to fit neatly into a pigeon-hole like “carpenter” or “computer designer”. Our educational experiences have shown us that we can work nearly anywhere, doing pretty much anything. While models are a crucial part of every development process, our fields of endeavor are so diverse and far reaching, that the APMM truly is the ONLY way we are able to come together as a profession.     

What this really means is that it is up to each one of us to keep the APMM and the future of model making strong. If your cohorts within our membership have contributed to your success as a model maker, helped you solve a technical problem, bailed you out of an eleventh-hour machine malfunction on a project that could end your career, or just provided some camaraderie during a late-night deadline chase, your association has proved its worth to you. Payback time, folks!  What I am asking is for you to simply share. Shout the APMM message from the highest mountain or rooftop, or more practically, just mention us to another model maker or to one of your vendors. Take 3 minutes and let someone else know why you are a member of the APMM.  

Thanks, 

EDITOR'S NOTE: SEE RELATED ARTICLE ENTITLED "MEMBERSHIP DRIVE WITH A TWIST" FOR INFORMATION ON HOW YOU CAN HELP SPREAD THE WORD.

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