2002 - Year in Review

Page Created: 09/23/10. Last Update: 09/23/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 05/27/08.

2002: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Newsletter Recap:

2002: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

PROGRAMS & ATTENDANCE

The past year was generally a good one for the Association. It is somewhat of a paradox that per meeting attendance was up while membership declined. It appears that core members are attending more frequenly while fringe members are dropping by the wayside.

Several developments helped to entice members to show up more frequently. Programming was particularly strong this year. We had several blockbuster names like the Brothers Hildebrandt and Denny O' Neil. We also drew guests from a wide spectra of science fiction: radio, video, comics, YA, art, and publishing. We were also lucky that we had no last minute cancellations by our guests. The revival of the Final Frontier as a pre meeting activity also added to the luster of the evening, even if it did siphon some people away from the anime videos.

Association membership took a hit despite this. Recruitment of new and former members must be a high priority for the coming year. Please ask yourself if there is anything you can do in this regard.

Meeing attendance continued to climb, although we are still below our glory years of 1995 - 1997. A list of our Year 2002 speakers appears below, along with the Attendance Totals of the past five years. Not that figures are for officially attending adults, it does not include children, people who left before the meeting was formally called to order or arrived after the meeting had officially concluded. The total includes the speaker and any guest (s)he brought.

Date Type Speaker/Program Attendance

(A=Artist, E=Editor, F=Filmmaker, M=Media, P=Publisher, V=Video, W=Wrtier)

2002 2001 2000 1999 1998

01/12/02 F Russin & Hagelins / Videos 35 21 32 23 37

02/09/02 W Paul Levinson 41 30 29 22 15

03/09/02 M Larry Weinber / Radio 37 42 34 32 38

04/13/02 E/W Denny O' Neil 52 42 30 29 25

05/11/02 P/W Gary Lovisi 43 38 36 41 31

06/10/02 A Greg & Tim Hildebrandt 43 33 31 41 37

07/13/02 W Glenn Hauman 32 42 33 40 28

08/10/02 W Pauline Alama 30 26 27 30 37

09/14/02 V/* Videos / Discussions 39 32 34 39 41

10/12/02 E Sharyn November 32 41 22 38 28

11/09/02 W Ann Lewis 43 35 30 33 21

12/14/02 V Videos / Holiday Party 21 35 35 32 33

Total: 448 417 373 400 371

Per Meeting Average: 37.3 34.7 31.0 33.3 30.9

NON MEETING EVENTS

Generally speaking, our LIvingston and Paramus based events are drawing well. The other groups are muddling by. The Voice of Science Fiction is being sabotaged by Borders' incompetence and the Fantasy Gamers are dealing with a change in venue and format. Two of our longest running activiites, the Writers' Critique Group and the Monsters of Horror are showing tiredness and in need of new blood.

The following table shows the attendance at the various S F A B C non meeting events of the past year. The Anime Associates and Bergen County Final Frontier are not listed as they are effected by the meeting attendance.

C = Canceled Event

Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

Monsters of Horror 9 7 8 C 7 5 C C 7 6 5 C

Final Frontier 12 10 13 11 9 12 8 8 8 8 11 6

Classics of Science F 8 12 7 7 8 11 9 8 6 11 7 C

That's Science Fiction! 10 9 7 10 11 9 11 10 7 5 7 3

Media Tie In 9 6 7 9 8 5 7 7 7 8 8 C

Fantasy Gamers 6 6 7 7 5 5 C 5 5 5 4 5

Special Activity 5 4 6/20 C 5 6 5 3 8 54 7 8

Art of the Fantastic 11 7 8 7 8 8 8 5 9 7 5 C

Voice of Science Fict 5 6 7 5 5 6 3 6 4 3 5 C

Writers' Critique 6 8 4 C 9 5 4 C 4 4 4 C

Author Discussion 3 5 7 8 6 8 6 9 8 4 8 5

Topic Discussion 11 9 5 9 6 7 8 6 6 5 9 C

One of the club's biggest difficulties was the inablility of the newsletter editor to get out THE STARSHIP EXPRESS on a timely basis, especially in the second half of the year. He hopes to do better in 2003.