[Harp-L] The New Era of SPAH Conventions...



With less than three weeks to go until SPAH's 46th Anniversary Convention I
wanted to share some thoughts with all of you harmonica lovers. First off I
am pleased to say that the registrations, which started off a little slow
this year, have now started to head off of the charts! This good news for
everyone. This proves that the interest and love of the harmonica is strong.
The challenging economy and a far west location has not hurt us. Some may
not have been able to plan the trip this year as in years past but many are
taking their place instead. New faces are critical for the growth of any
organization. This validates why an organization like SPAH exists. The
harmonica is surely worthy of being preserved and advanced!

We are anticipating a greater than usual flow of "pay at the door" attendees
this year due to our location in Sacramento. There are a lot of people
within driving distance. There is always room for more conventioneers! The
hotel rooms might eventually sell out but we will always have room for
participants in the convention itself. I am told that there are a number of
fairly priced hotels in the area as a back-up if someone takes the drive and
gets shut out for a room at the Radisson (where in case you haven't heard
the $99.00 convention rate is still in effect until show time!) I also
encourage folks that come into town at the last minute to wander around the
hotel a bit before booking a room somewhere else. The hotel allows up to 4
people in a room. Many will like the idea of saving some cash by sharing
their room. That money can be better spent on the great group of vendors
that are exhibiting throughout the week or on meals or on adult beverages
(yes indeed some harp players enjoy a cocktail or three :-))!

I use the expression "New Era of SPAH Conventions" because this year some
new things are in place that have not been in the past. While we have had a
website for a number of years (thank you Roger Bale) this is the first
year that we have our new updated site with a dedicated webmaster at the
wheel (please take a bow Bob Cohen). SPAH.org is now an interactive and much
more informative destination. This has helped us to better promote the
convention and soon will be chock full of post-convention stories/news/pics
etc. Moving forward each year the convention stories will be documented and
archived providing a great place to reminisce if you were there and to see
what you missed if you weren't! The website is our living and breathing
window into the world of SPAH. Jp Pagan has "modernized" our quarterly
magazine and taken it to a new level. Last year started the new era of
"plenty of color pictures" to share the convention experience. SPAH members
that can't make it to the convention now have a hard copy way of keeping up
with what happened. Both the website and Harmonica Happenings Magazine are
great places for convention participants to share their experiences with
their writing skills and photographs. We encourage anyone interested in
helping us with content for the website and magazine to submit their work.
We can't promise what will make the final edits but the more material we
have to choose from the better. In fact, year round, submissions that are
not convention related will be appreciated by Jp and Bob as well. If it has
to do with the  harmonica then please send it on over! The magazine is
somewhat limited for space each issue but the website sure isn't! Don't
forget to check out our new forums section on www.spah.org. This is a great
place to share your thoughts, stories, suggestions and questions that are
SPAH related.

The other "New Era" thing is me! This is the first year that SPAH has had
someone dedicated to leading the publicity efforts of the organization.
Besides spreading the word here on the message boards my job is to draw
media attention to our convention. I am pleased to say that so far we have
two TV stations, and NPR Radio committing to some live coverage and a number
of print publications writing articles. We put out a formal press release
via PR Newswire at the end of June that hit every media outlet in California
and Oregon and all music related media nationwide. We have a "media alert"
release scheduled to go out the week before the convention that will hit all
of northern California media outlets again. Now that we are close to
showtime I should be hearing from others. Some stations/publications don't
notify that they are covering an event and just show up. I am hoping for
some surprises! Most all coverage we get will also include Internet exposure
as well. These entities all have websites that will archive their coverage.
We will have links to anything and everything we can on our site as they
become available. If anyone has a idea of someone that I should contact that
would have an interest in covering our convention please let me know.

The bottom line is that our line-up of performers, teachers and world class
harmonica player attendees this year is incredible. Many are coming from
overseas. The international flavor will be magnificent. This is going to be
one heck of a convention and with the "New Era" of exposure that we have in
place it will help to insure spectacular and even bigger and better events
every year into the future. It will also make it easier for us to share the
"SPAH Convention Experience" with those that can't attend. In case you
haven't heard Minnesota is next years convention location. Steve Watne and
company will be riding the wave that we start in Sacramento. Surf's up!

WB
-- 
Warren "Bee" Bachman
SPAH Publicity Director
631-981-1241 / 631-521-0472
www.spah.org



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