On my mind …

PSA Journal, Jan, 2008 by Fred Greene

Over the last four years, the annual Photographic Society of America (PSA) Exhibition, under the chairmanship of Wade W. Clutton, FPSA, EPSA, grew to 39 sections while almost doubling the number of entrants. In 2007, the chairman worked full time for more than 8 months to produce the largest exhibition ever. All would agree that is simply too much to expect from a volunteer.

Many will know that Wade announced at the Conference that he would no longer chair the PSA International Exhibition, because of the massive amount of time and effort involved with statistics that indicate that numbers would increase again in 2008. An effort was made to find another general chairman to no avail. The future of a PSA exhibition was not looking good.

After discussions at length with Terry Carroll (Exhibition Services Vice President), Wade Clutton, and with input from others, an operating procedure that would not only allow the PSA Exhibition to continue, but to grow and prosper was conceived. I am pleased to inform you that after a lengthy discussion period and deliberations, the PSA Board of Directors has unanimously approved the new operating procedures as follows:

* Beginning in 2008 all PSA Divisions will be responsible for the managerial, financial and operational control of their own Exhibition Sections.

* The General Chairman will retain some central control in order to take advantage of functions like the use of the Exhibition website, charge card entry fees, etc.

* The Divisions will now control the number of sections they offer. They will receive a spreadsheet from the General Chairman that is programmed to assist them in budgeting revenues and expenses. Entry fees will now go to the Divisions and, if budgeted correctly, there should be profits for the divisions.

* There will be a downloadable and printable web catalog (no CD/DVD or hard copy catalog) available on the PSA Exhibition website. One advantage to exhibitors is that soon after each Section has been judged the web catalog should be available. (For those exhibitors who cannot print the downloadable web catalog there will be a "plain printed paper copy" of the Section web catalog available for the cost of copying, handling and mailing.)

* As an incentive to entering, the PSA Board of Directors agreed that the Exhibition entry fee for PSA members would be reduced by $1.00 per section.

The elimination of the catalog, its mailing cost, plus the reduced entry fee for members, will be reflected in substantially lower entry fees for most exhibitors and especially those who enter multiple sections.

Distributing the work among more volunteers will prove to benefit PSA in many ways. The experience gained by those involved will trickle down to benefit the divisions, camera clubs, chapters, etc.

The best news of all is, that after making the above changes Wade Clutton has agreed to chair the PSA Exhibition for 2008, with the capable Dan Charbonnet, FPSA, to assist him.

As I write this in late October, I am pleased to tell you that Wade has already confirmed Exhibition Chairmen for 20 Sections of the 2008 Exhibition. There is much work yet to be accomplished and those interested in taking part are invited to contact the chairman as there are a number of opportunities open at this time.

These changes and innovative procedures will ensure the PSA International Exhibition will continue. The former method of operation could no longer exist due to size and methods but the new plan outline will allow expected growth in the future, making the PSA International, the exhibition with the leading edge that will set the standard for exhibitions worldwide.

Fred Greene, FPSA, EPSA * President