P3D Re: NSA Auction ---Stereo Slides?????

[Bill Davis <bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>
>Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 20:00:29 -0700
>From: Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>

>
>[Warning: I'm going to vent some frustrations here!]
>
Vent away...

>Bill [Walton], I appreciate your efforts to drum up interest in donating
>stereo images to NSA, but I have two observations:  the timing
>of your post is all wrong; and, IMO, NSA really dropped the ball
>on this.  It's deja vu "all over again" as I remember reading
>something very similar here on the list *after* Seattle last year.
>That after-the-fact post was the first I'd ever heard of the
>auction or the donation of items to NSA for fund raising.
>
>I've been anticipating seeing this post for a couple months...ever
>since contacting NSA about some slides I wanted to submit for the
>auction at Richmond.

Let me provide my humble observations on the nature of the NSA.  I'm just
another dues-paying member, and when I first became involved in the
planning of NSA '96, I thought of the NSA as a tight, well organized
business with a nice home office building somewhere in the Midwest USA,
where you could call and a full-time receptionist would let you speak to
the Director or Chairman or VP or whomever. They would also have walls full
of filing cabinets  with all the info from past conventions, future
conventions, Stereo World issues etc.  I'm sure I got this impression from
the beautifully-done Stereo World and the well-run conventions I had attended.

Boy oh boy what a surprise I got!  *Everyone* involved with running the
activities of the NSA is a volunteer.  Everyone lives and works in their
own towns and cities across the country. (Note the A in NSA for
Association, not an O for Organization. Big difference.)  Very spread out,
run by self-motivated individuals.  

Everyone has a large workload due to the paucity of volunteers and so any
given individual may know very little about the activities or requirements
of the others.  They may not even know who else is responsible for what.
(Except maybe for John Dennis, Editor of Stereo World who always seemed to
know who to contact for something.)

So when you say you contacted the NSA, which sliver of the Association did
you reach?  Did you speak to someone on the phone or try to get a mail
response?  Some higher-ups in NSA are notoriously difficult to reach. 

Each year has a completely different team of Convention organizers, with
only a few higher-ups acting as the link or bridge between Conventions.  VP
Mary Ann Sell has been doing a great job, but comments, suggestions or
critiques directed to a just-over Convention team may not reach her or the
next-up Convention team.

The Auctions have been run (for a while at least) by the same gentleman
each year, but again independently of other Convention activities.  As one
of those volunteers with a heavy workload, I welcomed the fact that the
only thought I had to give the Auction in '96 was to ensure the Stereo
Theater would be free for several hours Friday night.  I didn't have to
worry about consignors, lots, catalogs or even money.  A relief, to be sure. 

As more and more 3D folks come online and on P3D, communication issues may
cease to be a problem.  Even now, there are enough principals and/or
knowledgable insiders from PSA, NSA, ISU, Stereoscopic Society, and SSA on
this list to answer most questions.

But you've got to ask.

>I'll say right up front that as an incurable procrastinator I

A man after my own heart! I like to say I put the "pro" in procrastinate! :--)

>managed to miss the auction deadline.  But I'll point out in my
>own defense that I hadn't seen the deadline mentioned anywhere.
>In fact, I didn't even see the auction itself discussed even *once*
>on P3D since the "why are there no slides" thread appeared on the
>list last year.  

Bob Duncan, the guy who handles the Auctions is *not* on this list.  Since
the Auctions are arranged independently of the rest of the Convention, no
P3D members on the rest of the convention team would have thought to post
anything here unless asked.  Hence no mention.

I can't say that I've ever seen anything in Stereo World about submission
guidelines for the auction, either.

I miss very little of P3D, though I was out of
>touch during a trip to the East Coast in May.  And who would have
>ever thought you have to make arrangements with NSA over 2 months
>in advance if you want to gift a few slides to them?

Wasn't all the information on the NSA '98 website?  I thought Gary Cowardin
had done an excellent job on that one.  Didn't realize anything had been
left out.  (Though I didn't specifically check for auction info)  

Just checked my archived copy of the Website.  A Consignment form only on
the Auction link, no guidelines.  Hmm... 

>... it is very frustrating to have
>spent 10 months preparing to donate slides for the auction and
>have the effort gone to waste.

Not to waste!  Here's your chance to break the procrastinator stereotype.
You're under the deadline for NSA '99 by nine months!  Call Bob Duncan today!!

>
>Now some of you might defend NSA by saying the auction was mentioned
>in the convention info packet in Stereo World.  Well, I did find
>that information...a week or two ago when I opened the envelope
>it came in.  That information was in the special "double issue."
>As was widely discussed here on the list, that was the 90% or
>more "history" double issue.  Obviously I was in no hurry to open
>it.

You actually waited months to open a Stereo World based on reports and
opinions from *this* list?  I take it back. *You* put the "pro" in
procrastinator.  I pale by comparison. :--)

  Now I wonder: does it make sense to a) send the convention
>info in an issue that ignores shooters; and b) discuss the auction
>only in the convention materials?

Who could have predicted that an NSA member would not at least open the
envelope and dump out the contents?  I'm sure they gave no thought to the
possibility that someone would have heard enough about the issue on the
Internet that they wouldn't even open it.  :--)

>It seems at the minimum
>that NSA doesn't consider the auction as a vehicle for selling
>contemporary stereo images.  If NSA has that attitude, it will
>continue to be difficult to successfully solicit contributions
>from contemporary photographers.

Not sure if NSA *as an entity* really has time to consider much of
anything.  I think the full Board and Officers only meet once a year for a
couple of hours at the Convention.  

>
>Just my observations, submitted in the hopes that next year's
>auction event handlers make an *advance* effort to bring in
>contributions of contemporary work...and that Bill doesn't
>have to scold us again next year after the fact.  (Yeah, yeah,
>and to get it off my chest, too!)

You've brought up some good points.  Perhaps someone (Mary Ann?) can find a
copy of the Auction guidelines and post them here or in Stereo World? 

Why don't you copy your post over to John Dennis at Stereo World
(stereoworld@xxxxxxxx)?  Publishing it would give the subject a much wider
exposure to the membership of NSA than this list. 

Harry Richards, (Coordinator for NSA '99 Green Bay) is on this list, so
your concern may already have been registered.   

>Paul Talbot




Best regards,
Bill Davis

mailto:bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx



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