Is the APMM's Future in Jeopardy?
President's Letter
SUBMITTED BY MICHAEL SCRIBNER
I’m sending a letter that no organization president wants to write, much less send. Despite the best efforts of this incredible Board of Directors, registrations for our rapidly-approaching Dayton conference are lagging, as I explain below. I understand that for some the cost to attend, in time and/or money, is too high. This message is for the rest of you.
As many who are longtime members realize, we run this non-profit organization on a shoestring budget. Your membership dues cover only a portion of what is needed to keep us going. Without a critical mass of members attending our usual in-real-life biennial conferences, your APMM will cease to exist. In the past, drawing the necessary number of attendees has rarely been an issue.
This time, it is. You’ve been seeing some changes in schedules and venues lately, but this is what you can expect no matter what:
• We WILL be holding an excellent live conference in Dayton, Ohio the weekend of March 3-6.
• It WILL benefit you, as you can see by viewing the conference page. We are touring some fantastic model shops and venues, and our workshops can definitely help you with professional and business growth.
• Our outstanding vendors WILL be worth your time to visit and get acquainted with their latest offerings of products and services.
• You WILL be among the best and most dedicated group of professionals - who work in your own area of expertise - to learn with, talk shop with, and enjoy fellowship with.
• The question I ask you is: WILL you register to attend, and help ensure these opportunities for learning, career development, and professional networking are still available for us and future model makers?
I’m not asking you to hope that others attend. I’m not asking for your well-wishes. I’m asking YOU to consider whether the APMM has ever helped you find a job, or contract work. Ever helped you find an employee? Ever helped you save money buying, or time finding, equipment or materials or a service provider by being able to ask the right people on the MILE or our Forums? Ever helped you master skills that advanced your career?
The truth is COVID nearly broke us. It DID destroy many other organizations, a lot of which were far larger than we are. We persevered, though only through members like you who believed in the APMM and “paid it forward”, letting us apply their 2020 Seattle conference registration fees toward the 2021 virtual conference. We’re still suffering reverberations from the pandemic, with many tentative to travel or feeling unsure about attending for other reasons. Bottom line is: if you and many other members don’t make the choice to join us in Dayton, the APMM as you know it will be gone in a matter of months.
If you’ve ever attended a conference and hoped to someday do it again... if you’ve never attended a conference but thought you’d like to someday... this is the one. The location is convenient for many, the price is reasonable and the APMM’s need is great! Worst case scenario, you get to make some new friends or spend time catching up with old ones, and make some memories at the VERY LAST APMM CONFERENCE. Best case, you get to do all of that, but it isn't the last one, AND this organization continues providing benefits to model makers for years to come.
The Board, Samanthi, and I have done everything we can, offered you all we can, all through this term and all the terms before.
Now, it’s up to you.
Michael Scribner
APMM President
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