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 Partners' Update, Vol 4, No 11A, August 29, 2006

ACC Has Busy Summer; Followed by Full Autumn Agenda
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ACC produces two electronic newsletters each month for the leadership of our ACC member clubs. We spent four of these newsletters devoted to club promotion, membership recruitment and membership retention. We discussed developing a promotion program, a promotion schedule and promotion tools. We talked about recruitment incentives, making membership renewals easy, serving new members, the management of membership and a look at membership categories. Also, topics like Affiliate memberships, non-members attending club conventions, offering club commemorative items as a membership incentive, and use of PayPal for membership dues. Many of these are "hot" topics for our clubs and will be a continuing focus in the future.

We also created several sets of the new ACC Club Promotion Traveling Loan Library which clubs can borrow free of charge. The "library" consists of dozens of samples of club promotional or membership recruitment leaflets and fliers, along with an 8-page guideline for producing club promotional leaflets.

We had the opportunity of attending several club conventions and events this summer and hope to get to more this fall and winter. We plan on conducting another Club Convention Survey this fall, updating the survey done two years ago. Remember, for Club Convention dates, visit the Club Convention Calendar on Collectors.Org This year we have had over 250 conventions listed for various clubs and associations. We will be starting the 2007 Calendar in the near future.

Collecting Club Event Guides, Working with CVB's
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The drafts of two new ACC Collecting Club Event Guides - Working with CVB's (Convention & Visitors Bureaus) and Facility Checklist, are currently out for review with a group of professionals representing nearly 20 convention & visitors bureaus who volunteered to work on this project. We anticipate having their responses back right after Labor Day and will have the guides available for club use in September. These pieces are a direct result of what came out of the first Club Convention Survey as a need by club convention chairmen and show managers.

Atlantique City Show Coming Soon - October 14-15
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The October 2006 Atlantique City Antique & Collectible Show is only a matter of weeks away - Saturday, October 14 and Sunday, October 15 at the Atlantic City Convention Center. This is the world's largest indoor antiques & collectibles show.

ACC is pleased that, working with Eric Bradley and the rest of the show management team, we are able to represent collecting groups of all kinds at this show. We will have the largest and most comprehensive representation of collecting clubs ever assembled in the antiques and collectibles industry - Booth 1995 - directly across from the major food court. Hundreds of clubs send brochures and fliers on their clubs for us to use in this 350 square foot booth area. The ACC booth is traditionally a well-visited area by the show-goers.

Global Marketing Guidelines Near Completion
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The results of a global marketing survey done with club leadership some months ago is now completed and the final report and guidelines will be ready for distribution before the end of the year.

Thanks to the Internet our world has grown much larger from a communications standpoint. We can now take note of dedicated collectors in other countries - collecting the same things we are collecting. We can communicate with them and buy, sell and trade around the world. Although a number of collecting clubs are already heavily involved in serving "international" members, others are seeking assistance in how to best reach this new audience and how to serve them.

Several hundred of our ACC member clubs are from outside the United States, representing six continents, and we have a growing number of Partners from other countries.

ACC & Website Buttons & Banners Available
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We urge each of you to help promote collectors and collecting clubs through providing links on your site to Collectors.Org or directly to the Collectors Trade Show, the ACC News Service, the Club Directory, or Flea Market Directory. Check the link images under both Collectors.Org and Association of Collecting Clubs. There are a couple of variations of "Proud Partner of the Association of Collecting Clubs" buttons.

If your webmaster has any problem in getting the links to work on your site, please have them contact Rick Moses at: TechSupport@Collectors.Org

Antiques/Collectibles Industry - Low Support for Collecting Clubs =================================================================

Collecting groups are a very important segment of our antiques, art & collectibles community. They exist to help collectors. For many collecting areas, these clubs - and their members - represent the knowledge base for the collecting area that group supports. They provide connections to other collectors, and friendships that can last a lifetime.

Many of our clubs are having serious problems with declining participation, and they are experiencing aging memberships. On the other hand, we have more new collectors...and young collectors...today than ever before - many who are unfamiliar with collecting clubs and what they have to offer.

Our collecting clubs need to reach new audiences of collectors. They need to experiment with creative networking between clubs. They need to take a serious look at their club management structure, their publications, conventions and shows and membership servicing. To reach new collecting audiences, they just can't continue to operate "as usual" in our rapidly changing collecting world.

This is what the Association of Collecting Clubs(ACC) is all about - supporting clubs and club leadership in areas like club promotion, membership recruitment, membership retention, reaching new audiences, global marketing, strengthening conventions, improving club publications and websites, new leadership models, networking, working with younger collectors. and club management.

ACC works with over 2400 collecting clubs and associations on 6 continents. The ACC Partnership Program is the backbone of the Association of Collecting Clubs - soliciting partners who have an interest in collecting clubs, and in collectors, who are willing to contribute to ACC to help develop and operate these programs.

The millions of collectors and investors who belong to these clubs comprise a sizeable portion of the buyers... and sellers... for auction houses, for malls and galleries, and for shows.

With the strong promotion of the Collectors Trade Show over the past 12-15 weeks, ACC has brought in over 100 new partners with booths in the Trade Show. Most of these new friends have had little experience working with clubs before... businesses dealing with collector software packages, club management systems, security systems, collector & dealer buying tours, club logo merchandise, display cases and stands, resource books, collector publications, restoration services, shipping supplies, & convention and Visitors Bureaus.

Lacking from this list appears to be what we traditionally figured to be some of collecting clubs' strongest supporters.

Earlier this month ACC solicited a hand-selected group of antique malls and galleries, auction houses and show managers - some of the largest and most prosperous in our industry. We didn't rely on e-mail. We sent a letter about the Partners Program out via postal mail to nearly 150 people, along with a self-stamped, self-addressed return envelope and a response form. Partnerships cost $100-500. One of the incentives was that the partner would receive a free complimentary display booth in the virtual Collectors Trade Show... in the Auction Aisle, Antique Mall Aisle or Show Aisle. These booths normally cost $100/year so for a $100 Partner contribution, the letter recipient would get their total value back through the booth if they gave the minimal amount. ACC would develop the booth based on the Partners' website - at no additional cost. Response has been dismal.

It seems rather ironic that these areas - auctions, shows and malls, who should be the strongest supporters of collecting clubs... and we would like to think, strong supporters of the Association of Collecting Clubs... display quite the opposite reaction. We don't feel there was anything wrong with the letter. It was pretty straight forward. There was even an "out" - "We support the contributions made by collecting clubs and the work of the Association of Collecting Clubs but cannot become a Partner at this time." Still no response.

Yes, we find it frustrating. The operations of ACC is basically handled by the two of us, with some additional contract help on special projects. The club leadership often assist on advisory groups or committees but are not solicited as partners. When we observe in the publications of the trade the millions of dollars being generated by auction houses, from high-end galleries and malls, and at shows, we really didn't think $100 would be such a big deal to help collectors and collecting clubs.

Collectors Trade Show - Serving Clubs and Collectors
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During the past two months over 120 new booths have either been added, or are in the development/production process. We are actively reaching out to new partners every day. This is exciting because many of these new partners have never marketed to collecting clubs before.

If you are a vendor with collector needs... from shipping supplies to display cases... alarm systems to price guides... collector software to training courses, appraisal or restoration services, you should have a booth in the Trade Show. contact: Info@Collectors.Org

If you have services of interest to club leadership such as club customized logo merchandise, membership incentives and club management tools, event planning, convention sites or meeting facilities, printing options and internet services, you should have a booth in the Trade Show. Info@Collectors.Org

If you are an antiques mall or gallery manager, a show promoter, flea market owner, auctioneer, appraiser or have an Internet business of interest to collectors, you should have a booth in the Trade Show. We can promise you will be reaching collectors you are not reaching in any other way. Ninety percent of collecting club members do not subscribe to any type of collecting publication whatsoever.

We look forward to hearing from you and having you as a Collectors Trade Show partner. Contact us at Info@Collectors.Org or call 301.926.8663.

ACC News Service - Available to Partners
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The ACC News Service on the Collectors.Org website is the only major news service developed exclusively for promoting the news and events of collecting clubs. Club news is list by category, such as club-sponsored shows, club conventions, new books, and special projects. Also, news is listed topically in some 80 categories - everything from bottles to marbles, from food collectibles to trains & models.

There is also a section on the News Service for use by ACC Partners - collector books, auctions, shows, tours, radio & TV programs, and more. We welcome any of our ACC partners to send us releases for consideration. Remember, it must have news value. Releases can be sent to: NewsService@Collectors.Org

We are continually promoting this free News Service to the media, special Internet networks and to all of our collecting clubs. During the past 12 months we have had over 1,000 articles added to the News Service. Since all articles are permanently archived and easily searchable, this is becoming a valuable resource.

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