We are indeed lucky to have so many excellent conventions within our chapter. We have excellent games hosted by talented and hard working GMs and a host of fine dealers that regularly attend our shows. However, that is not to say things couldn't get better. Many of you have voiced your concerns to us particularly about out involvement with the Historicals at Origins Team (HOT). What do we do? How do we show dealers that our events and venues are just as worthy of their attendance as are the "big" venues of the East? What can we use to show the dealers who regularly attend HMGS East's "Big Three" conventions to maybe once -- just once -- give HMGS Great Lakes a try?

I've pondered this now for about a year, right after attending last year's Origins, and seeing practically no historical dealers and several HUNDRED wonderful historical miniatures events showcased in a perfect venue. The idea I came up with is a "Prospectus Document," of sorts, to "sell" prospective vendors on the idea of attending or supporting a Great Lakes show or sponsored event. What would this "Prospectus Document" include? Here's a brief list of things:

• A brief history of HMGS and Great Lakes.
• Some historical information on our convention programs, including involvement with Origins and HOT.
• Demographic information: You know, the Who, What, When and Where of our chapter.
• Detailed Breakdowns of events run at our conventions. This would include such information as period, scale, rules, miniatures used, number of players, etc.
• Some basic information on how well HMGS Great Lakes did at these events. What kind of membership growth did we get, did we make or lose money, attendance figures, etc.
• Any comments of positive feedback from attendees, dealers, or venue staff that can be published as well.

Ideally, what I'd like to be able to do is get data going all the way back to every "formal" HMGS Great Lakes event, or sponsored event, and get as much information as possible. This information would break down according to the above categories and be used to "sell" our chapter's events to new dealers and vendors.

Now for the big question that has lingered on all of your minds, "What can I do to help out in the noble endeavor?" Glad you asked, my friends! For starters, PLEASE fill out the information on the membership form for our Membership Directory when you renew. It's been ages (what, about seven years now?) since we've printed a Directory and this is one way we can get an accurate picture of who is interested in what, and who plays which games where. It will also speed my work along in generating a picture of what the membership is interested in for prospective vendors.

Another thing you can do is, if you ran events at any of the earlier conventions like "Rally 'Round the Flag," or Drums 1, let us know what events you ran, scale, miniatures used, etc., as per the list above. If there are any Convention Directors from that period that wish to help out, please do. As I said earlier, I would like to present as complete a picture as possible to vendors and dealers as to who we are and how good our events really are. Thank you again for making this year so spectacular, and with your help on this and other projects like the Membership Directory, I'm sure we will go onward to event greater things in the following years.

Now back to the gaming!

The new member information section

The Board urges members to update their gaming information for the Membership Directory, which David van Hoose will undertake when he becomes Membership Secretary in January. Feel free to send information about favorite period and scale, as well as if you would like to volunteer to run games or help at a show by mail or e-mail. This will also have the benefit of helping out Tom Bryant's dealer recruiting project.