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From: Association of Collecting Clubs
18222 Flower Hill Way #299
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
301.926.8663
Info@Collectors.Org

To: Digital Reprieve, Inc.
From: Association of Collecting Clubs

Subject: ACC Update, Vol 3, No 10, November 4, 2005

Atlantique City Show - ACC Report
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The October Atlantique City Antiques & Collectibles Show is now history. The Association of Collecting Clubs had 3 booths where we were representing nearly 250 clubs which had sent us materials for distribution. As always, show-goers were very interested in the booth and hearing about clubs representing their areas of collecting.

In addition to the club materials, we had special displays featuring the Collectors Trade Show, Collectors Insurance Program, the Role of Collecting Clubs, and the launch of the Join A Club program.

We had a large number of club officers stop by the booth. One of the over-riding themes was their concern for recruiting new members. Some clubs have had a reduction of membership over the past couple of years of more than 50 percent. They were pleased to see the materials developed for the new Join A Club program which is "all about" member recruitment. Assisting clubs with membership recruitment, membership retention and reaching new audiences will undoubtedly continue to be a major focus for ACC in the future. During the upcoming months We will be pulling together a number of advisory groups representing clubs to focus on these challenges.

At this October show we seemed to also have a much greater interest in the collector insurance program. Following the recent hurricanes, protecting our collections seems to be a hot issue. We were glad to have Rob Tucker, representing Association Insurance Administrators, our insurance provider, with us in the booth for the duration of the show. If your club has an interest in offering collector insurance...or a need for liability insurance for your sponsored events...call AIA at 800.287.7127

Currently, ACC plans to be back at the Atlantique City Antiques & Collectibles Show scheduled for March 25-26, 2006. If your collecting club has not been represented in the past, simply send us an e-mail at: AtlantiqueCity@collectors.org and let us know you are interested.

This is the largest representation of information from collecting clubs in the antiques & collectibles industry. Make sure you are represented.

Join A Club - Update
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The Join A Club program is now launched and ready to be used. The http://JoinAClub.Org website is active and most of our ACC member clubs are listed. Interested collectors can either use the check-off sheets to request more information on a club, or can pull up the club information and contact the club directly.

For even more exposure we urge all ACC clubs to place a link on your website directly to the Join A Club website. Have your webmaster go to the Join A Club Logo Store on the site and use the "Participating Club" logo/link.

Partners are urged to consider a link, as well, using the "Supporting Partner" logo/link.

If you require logos in a different format, let us know at: info@JoinAClub.org and we'll make them for you. The more exposure we get to the JoinAClub.org website the more potential members for your club...and all other participating clubs.

Join A Club - Participate
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ACC's Join A Club program is all about membership recruitment. We certainly do not intend for this program to replace your own club's recruitment activities, but to simply add to it. This is particularly true in perhaps reaching new audiences of potential members who you may not now be reaching. Our Join A Club display at a paper show may well recruit new members for a model train club or a coin club or a gem & mineral club. Who knows?

It's easy for you to add a Join A Club link to your own website as mentioned above. Remember, most participating clubs already have direct links from the JoinAClub.Org website to your club website in the listing of Participating Clubs.

Also, if your club sets up at any shows, i.e. glass shows, stamp shows, general collector shows...or sponsor your own shows...we would be happy to send you Join A Club displays. Just let us know where to send it via postal mail and how many you need. Send your request to: info@JoinAClub.Org or call 301.926.8663 The display includes a full color Join A Club poster (in two sizes - 12" x 18" & 24" x 36"), quantities of check-off sheets, tent cards, buttons, instructions, re-order sheet, etc.

If you have special relationships with antique malls, galleries or auction houses which you feel would use a Join A Club display, we welcome this information, too. Particularly help in reaching the managers of specialty shows such as glass shows, paper shows, military shows, doll shows, train shows, toy shows and more.

Remember, in addition to the general check-off sheets listing most of the clubs, we also have subject-area check-off sheets listing just glass clubs or just porcelain clubs or just advertising clubs, etc.

This is a major program for ACC in support of our member clubs but to get the most mileage for the program, we encourage all our clubs to actively participate by promoting the program, as well. Remember, all clubs have members who have collections that go beyond your area of collecting, or who have friends who collect in other areas. This is a good service for supporting membership recruitment of all collecting clubs.

If you have not yet taken the opportunity to visit the new Join A Club website - http://JoinAClub.Org - we urge you to do so.

What's New - ACC News Service: You're the Editor
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IMPORTANT. We have just completed some major changes in the ACC News Service which should be of interest to both our member clubs and to partners.

The ACC News Service was started over a year ago and over 700 articles have been posted. The service is now more streamlined, making it easier to locate articles without "scrolling" forever. Additionally, it will now be easier for both clubs and partners to submit articles.

Here are some of our most recent enhancements:

1. All stories can now be printed in a size for copying, along with instructions for how to "Cut and Paste" the article. When an article is pulled up, simply "click" on the Format for Printing button at the upper right.

2. There is quicker access to articles through direct links to the various zones within the News Service. For example, a Topical listing of collecting areas will allow visitors to go directly to the collecting area of their interest without having to "scroll down" through the entire alphabetical listing. No matter if your interest is advertising, coins, insulators, glassware or automobiles...you can go directly to that topic area and pull down the current articles.

In additional to the Topical listings of club areas, there are three other broad areas.

A General Club News area allows you to pull down club convention articles, club show articles or articles announcing new clubs, etc. Most of these articles will also be found in the appropriate topical area.

An entire new section of the ACC News Service features articles from our ACC partners and affiliates. This is a service for our partners. If you are a show promoter or auction house, antique mall or supplier of collector products, you can have your news articles listed in this section.

The fourth area relates generally to the antiques, art & collectibles industry. General articles from ACC, international news, Hobby Protection Act, Collecting Issues & Trends, will be found here. We will carry only those articles and features we feel are appropriate to include in this section.

3. Links to ACC News Service - Another new feature. When you go into any zone of the News Service, at the upper left you will see a button marked ACC RSS. Your webmaster can easily add the ACC News Service, or specific segments of the News Service, to your own website. If your webmaster has a question or problem, he or she can contact info@collectors.org and we'll try to help.

4. ALL MEMBER CLUBS now have a single ID and password for designated editors instead of each club having your own.

The instructions for your designated editor is as follows:

- Go to: http://news.collectors.org and place your cursor on editor/publisher login at top center of screen.
- A blue and a red block should appear.
Click on the blue block "If you are authorized to add articles to this system, you can log in here".

- Enter the following information:
Username: ACCClubEd
Password: clubnews

- Click on Login.
- Click on "New Article" in top row of buttons.
- Type in your article headline, current date,
name of club (source), starting date and ending date for article.
- Click on the "-- New Story Submission: Clubs" line under 'Zones'
- Click on the "Save Article" button at the bottom.
- If you have any images associated with your article, you can add them by clicking on the "Images & Files" button.

We will review your article, create an appropriate summary and assign it to the proper news department and zone. You may also send us your article via E-Mail or postal mail using the following:
E-Mail: NewsService@Collectors.Org
Postal Mail:
ACC News Service
18222 Flower Hill Way #299
Gaithersburg, MD 20879.

Please note that it will take longer for articles coming through these methods to be posted on the site.

Make sure that ACC is on your media list to receive all releases.

All articles are retained in the fully searchable Article Archive.

We are interested in articles about all your club activities - upcoming shows, conventions, auctions, club anniversaries, projects, new officers, new website enhancements and other special features. We also suggest that every club submit a generic article of 200-300 words that explains the role and goals of your organization. This article will be kept up as a "live" article until you say otherwise.

5. TO OUR BUSINESS PARTNERS. For the first time, partners are also eligible to use the ACC News Service and are issued a generic ID and password. As a partner, follow all of the same instructions as given to member clubs above, with the following changes:

- A blue and a red block should appear. Click on the blue block "If you are authorized to add articles to this system, you can log in here".

- Enter the following information:
Username: ACCPartner
Password: partnernews

- Click on the "-- New Story Submission: Partner" line under 'Zones'

6. Remember, in addition to site visitors being able to access the ACC News Service directly from Collectors.Org, ACC sends out a regular electronic news brief to nearly 900 media outlets informing them of new articles appearing on the news service. These are media contacts with an interest in news from the antiques, art and collectibles industry, and particularly collecting clubs. The ACC News Service is the only free news service with emphasis on providing news from collecting clubs.

Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions.

That's all for now. Let us know any time that we can be of assistance.

Larry Krug & Rick Moses
Association of Collecting Clubs
18222 Flower Hill Way #299
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
301.926.8663
info@collectors.org
http://collectors.org

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