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- JHE LASTWORD Rounding up the wayward flock I t was all set. The Pennsylvania Amusement and Music Machine Association (p AMMAl was going to make room for three other state associations - New Jersey , New York, and New York City- to join it in mid-July for an expanded convention. Business seminars? Check. Randy Fromm technical seminars? Check. "Man of the Year" honorees? Check. The first annual golf tournament? Check. Look out Hershey, Pa., for an onslaught of operators . Right? Wrong. Letters went out a few weeks before the show telling the prospective attendees that , regrettably, it had to be cancelled for lack of operator interest. PAMMA, long considered the host of one of the best state shows in the country, has been reduced to this . What about the poor associations that were ready to hook up with PAMMA? A few years back, as a result of the abysmal attendance at their individual shows, AMOA-New Jersey, AMOA-New York (City), and the New York State Coin Machine Association figured it was a good idea to pool their resources and stage the Northeast Regional trade show. It was a good idea, but the turnout was not appreciably better than when the three flew solo. This year, faced with another indifferent response from their operator members, they approached PAMMA with the idea of a show with even broader participation. Now that this show got cancelled, what are they supposed to do next year-latch on with Massachusetts? Ohio? I had made plans in May to attend the California Coin Machine Association (CCMAl convention, held in Monterey late June . Upon mentioning this to Jerry and Sue Monday of California's Century Vending , who I encountered at the Washington Conference, Jerry responded dryly, "Well, that'll make three of us ." An obvious exaggeration, I thought. Surely with a state the size of California, there would easily be 1 oo operators in attendance. Jerry wasn 't too far off. Not counting spouses , distributors , guest speakers, CCMA staff, etc., I don't think there could've been more than 20 operators in Monterey-and that number may be high. Those who did attend spent a couple of hours pulling their hair out, desperate for ideas to drum up membership . Unfortunately, there were probably more ideas in that room than operators. This, folks, is an alarming trend. What's the problem? Why won't operators join their associations, participate in them , and- perhaps most importantly- support them financially? We 've heard the laundry list ofreasons: "The associations don't do anything" ; "They're dominated by the big guys "; "They focus PLAYMETER 186 AUGUST 1993 on issues that aren't important to me"; "I don't have time to get involved"; 'Tm such a small operator that no body will listen to me "; blah, blah, blah. Even if some of these reasons had a grain of truth to them, that's still no excuse to turn your back on your state association. It 's a s ymbiotic relationship: they need you and you need them-especially with the coinop industry facing high-tech intrusion and state governments evereager to tax you into oblivion. Do you think you can fight the telephone companies and the legislature by yourself? Don't forget to bring Lois Lane with you for backup. If you have an annoying habit of joining your state association when a crisis arises , dropping out when things get resolved, joining when the next crisis pops up , only to drop out again, please stop it. Join and stay in, once and for all. You see, if you keep playing membership yo-yo , one day you might show up at the state association's door and find it gone. You waited one crisis too long. D Christopher Caire Features Editor