Thanks to Nate... who did a good job chairing the unofficial Saturday morning club meeting, and for bringing everybody up to date on the Orleans vs. Tropicana news-breaking story that was unfolding only days before our meeting.

The announced attendance for this years ANA convention in Philadelhia set an all-time record of 20,000+ visitors to the show (which was free and open to the public). I brought over 200 club membership applications with me to the Philly convention and ran out of them on Sunday. These applications were not just laying on a publications table, they were handed out individually for the most part from the club booth. The club's big red banner could be seen from just about all over the cavernous bourse floor. While only a handful of new members signed up at the convention, our organization was exposed to thousands of convention visitors. Nate's fine exhibit on Atlantic City Casino Chips was his first-effort at exhibiting and he was rewarded for his efforts by capturing the First Place Award in the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens category (which is category #23 out of 23 categories).

The club needs to put a more serious emphasis on exibiting in the future. Not only at our own convention in Las Vegas but at the annual ANA conventions and other large regional coin shows throughout the country. The adage; "a picture is worth a thousand words" certainly applies to exhibiting. Just to listen to comments that exhibit-viewers make while examining a well laid-out display promotes our hobby more than one can imagine. I know that there are several club members who have exhibited before. Most will tell you that it is an enjoyable rewarding experience. Try it sometime; you may like it equally as well.

Next year the ANA summer convention will be held in Atlanta, Georgia. It would be nice if more of our southern club members would consider entering an exhibit in category #23. Bob Hoadley and John Benedict have already inidcated to me they are planning to do so. I could probably convince Mark Lighterman and Cindy Grellman to enter a case or two as well. It's time for CCGTCC to act like we are a 2,300 member strong organization by demonstrating our existance through exhibitions. Numismatic organizations with far more fewer members than CCGTCC put up many, many, more cases of displays than we do.

I hear recently the call of how important it is for the club to develop and to educate our members... sometimes at a potential great cost. There is no better way to educate at relatively little cost, than by displaying portions of our collections and hobby materials and telling a story to those who thirst for such knowledge.... or by exposing portions of our collections to the uniniatiated through exhibiting.