By Caitlin McDiarmid
Even though it’s been quite a while since I wrote for The Point, I haven’t gone anywhere; I am still right here in the office. It’s my 12th year with the APP, and I feel a bit like the mom of a graduating teenager. Our organization has grown and matured so much during this period, and this growth is reflected in our fiscal health, our expanded Conference offerings, and our exploding membership.
Fiscally, the organization is healthier than it’s ever been. The APP has weathered difficult financial periods over the last 12 years. (When I first started, Board Members were paying for their own travel, food, hotel bills, and office supplies, etc.) The economy has had fluctuations that have affected our entire industry, and the Association tightened its belt when prudent. As a team, the Board, Officers, and myself have critically evaluated every expense and program over the years—even during flush times—and I pride myself on doing effective and comprehensive cost comparisons (whether shopping for supplies, a provider of exhibitor services, or a new laptop).
Treasurer Paul King keeps us on track and knows when the Association can spend more on outreach efforts and perks at Conference, and when the budget does not allow it. The rewards of these efforts are being felt now, and will continue to be felt in the future. While those responsible for the Association’s financial well-being will continue to watch pennies, we are pleased to say that we have arrived at a place where we can stretch our reach a bit and offer a few of the programs and projects that have been in the wings—waiting until we had the economic resources.
Our annual Conference is bigger and better than ever! Attendance grew by 18% last year. (Eighteen percent!) For years our numbers grew by 1% or 2%, but last year we jumped by 18%. Individual class attendance also grew by 26%. And this year seems to be panning out much like last. We are are offering over 100 hours of classes, roundtable discussions, and workshops. (To put that in perspective, in 2003—my first year—we offered 43 hours of classes.) We will have 70 people volunteering at Conference. (My first year we had 9.) Our growth will continue. As such, we are already working hard to figure out new ways to structure scheduling, attendee classification, and badging for 2015, and we will continue to push ourselves and our systems to keep Conference exciting and cutting edge.
Membership is exploding. A number of years ago I remember reading in The Tipping Point (by Malcolm Gladwell) about the number 150 in the context of social/work groups. He discussed the research and findings that support the idea that functional social groups should and do remain in the 150 – 200 range. I paid attention because, at that time, I had noticed this pattern occurring with our Business Membership (our piercers). We would grow each year with new members, but then over the year we would lose members—negating significant growth. We always seemed to hover just under 200 business members. One year ago (June 2013) we were over 200, but just slightly. Right now we have 247 business members; we’ve added 39 new business members (June 2013 to May 2014). (Last year we added 32 new business members; the year prior we only added 16.) Better yet: There’s a good chance that by Conference we will have over 55 new business members. That would be an increase of 26%!
There are a lot of reasons all of this growth is happening. Many people are giving their time to help make this change, and there are a lot of piercers, both members and not, who are doing what is necessary to change what the public sees as professional, safe, and important when they get a piercing. I have never been so proud of our organization and our Association as I am these days, and I have never been so proud to be a part of this industry.
This kid isn’t a kid anymore; this kid has grown up and is graduating to the next level. Yes, we have—and still will—suffer growing pains, and those of us who have been around the longest (and around longer than I)—the Mommas and the Poppas of our industry—may have a hard time letting go during this transition. It doesn’t mean we aren’t proud, or excited. It doesn’t mean we don’t want it to grow and change, develop and find new ways to do things and new possibilities. It just means we care deeply about its success, and know how far we’ve come—and how hard it was—to get here.