James

John, I was talking more about what we can do at local levels. I understand that Nationals is the pinnacle of our organization and that nothing happens quickly. I actually agree with the approach we have about adding for categories at the Nats. The thing is that the Nats have a process for change. It may seem slow but at least its in place. I don't know if we have that on the local levels. Your club had success by adding members by word of mouth. I think that is great. You obviously had members that were trying to recruit others. Other than by word of mouth how else can you guys see us being able to bring new people in? I am actually curious about the different though processes and what people have seen as a success and as failures.

Our hobby is strong but changing. I recently went to a great show in Alabama. It had almost 500 entries. A large turnout by any means. The thing that caught my eye was that were probably 100 or so entries in the Sci Fi categories. There was only 3 planned categories for all of Sci Fi. The club made some quick decisions and made a bunch of splits. I am planning on attending another show in the same region in a couple of months and they only have 1 planned category for Sci Fi. The vast majority of us cut our teeth on a jet or a tank. Many of us were ecstatic when our first candle apple paint job turned out on our first roadster. I just don't see why we are having such a hard time embracing the new categories on the block. You will not find a show with less than a half a dozen pre determined armor, aircraft and car categories. We always talk about growing the hobby. About embracing the next generation. We have to understand that the next generation may be more interested in building a Gundam than a Panzer. The shows that we put on are for fellowship and some light hearted competition. I think that we might just be ignoring a section of builders that are waiting to join us. I bet I could drag most of you into a room full of armor aircraft or cars and ask you to quickly split them up into logical categories. But if you were looking at 50 Gundam or Mechs, would you know where to start? How to do guys feel that the Sci Fi community is being represented? What can we do to encourage participation from modelers from the non traditional subjects?