Mike,
NOW YOU’RE TALKING!!
Actually, we already have SAPFM conferences in the Midwest. They are the Local Chapter Meetings. As you know with your Minnesota Chapter and me with my Ohio River Valley Chapter, they basically cost you time, because we run them on a shoe string budget. But, that doesn’t diminish the educational value of the meeting. They are great!!
The major problem with the official SAPFM Mid-Year Conferences is money. They have to attract 75-100 people to pay for a place to hold the conference, the food, the professional presenters, etc. Therefore, they have to be in locations that will attract enough people to balance revenue to expenses. And being non-profit, we just want to balance the money.
The other issue is: where do the members live? The originally SAPFM members were the ones who attended Colonial Williamsburg/FWW Conference. Thus, the bulk of the original members lived close by, and as you move further away, the numbers thin out. The membership has expanded a lot since then. We are now starting to see clusters form around the Local Chapters. We are still a young organization and are expanding.
In my previous post to this thread, I mentioned that Missouri has about 10 members. Also, Minnesota has about 10 members. West Virginia with 1/3 of the population of either state has 15 members. Thus, there is a great potential to form successful Local Chapters in St. Louis, St Paul, or Kansas City.
I also would like to see a Mid-Year Conference be a little closer to home. And as the membership grows, I think you will start seeing the Mid-Year move around the country. I think the Ohio River Valley Chapter is close to being able to host the Mid-Year in Columbus, OH. Our last meeting attracted about 35 members, and with the Great Lakes and Indiana Chapters being close by, we could possibly send 50 members to the conference. Add in those who normally attend the Mid-Year and we are close to being able to host it.
Cheers,
David