Meetings

As part of the Membership Growth and Enhancement committee I was at both Set Collector meetings. One was done with people who were on Poker Chip Forum and one from people on PokerChipper.com (Dan: I don't have notes, but I'm thinking you would have been there, I think).

This was done as part of an outreach we were doing with Set Collectors, mostly listening sessions to understand what the club could offer them.

We brought up the topic of the ChipGuide being free and all features being available to everyone, including non-members. In both meetings the sentiment was expressed that they were surprised we would give everything away to everyone for free. When we talked about reserving some parts of the CG for members, no one seemed to think it was unreasonable. They understood why the club would made full access be a member benefit.

One caveat: the people at the meetings were self-selected, they wanted to be there and talk with us. They were likely not a representative of ALL set collectors and their attitude toward the club. If you read postings on both boards (and I strongly suggest you do), you can see opinions and attitudes vary wildly.

Some thoughts

No one asked, but this may be a good place to give my opinion on how we have the CG set up for members vs the public. As Ed said below what Greg created is still available (seeing a map, drilling into a state then casino and seeing ALL items) to everyone.

It seems to me 'reasonable' that advanced functions that club members poured blood, sweat and tears into would be a benefit for club members. I actually do think it's the crown jewel of the club. Think of it this way: eliminate the ChipGuide all together and what tangible things does the club offer the hobby?

It goes back to the question 'why should I join the club'? It's a fundamental question we ask ourselves a lot in the MG&E committee. For many of us old-timers 'the magazine' is a key answer. Well talk to anyone under 50 and ask how much they value printed magazines. Their answer will be 'not much'. And it's not just them: who amongst us used to have subscriptions to Time magazine and TV Guide? How many still do?

So if we left the entire ChipGuide and all functionality open to everyone, for people who don't value the magazine, what is their reason to join the club? They literally have NO reason to join. Some people (repeatedly) say that letting non-members see everything will show them what a great hobby we have and encourage them to join the club. That logic makes zero sense to me.

I think the introduction of the e-Magazine platform will help entice younger collectors who are used to getting their information electronically. I'm working on some ideas on how to make the ChipGuide more valuable for some members. Small steps.

If you are interested in actually helping the Club I urge you to volunteer. There are a lot of things that need to be done, with Social Media and Magazine Editing be the most urgent.

But those things take actual dedication and work. Doing things. Not just posting 'good ideas' and giving opinions (repeatedly) on what you think the club should be doing.