Would anyone like to be a quest-speaker at a coin club?

jessecarlk

The Atlantic County Numismatic Society is looking for guest speakers to speak at their coin club. If you feel like you have any numismatic knowledge you would like to share with fellow numismatists, we would very much enjoy listening. We've already had three very informative presentations by ambro51 on $1 gold pieces, Feuchtwanger tokens, and coin photography, and also one on counterfeit coins by Chris Pilliod. Meetings are held at the Atlantic County Library in Linwood, New Jersey, the first Wednesday of every month. Send a message if interested.

blu62vette

I have spoken at my coin club before and have another coin club talk later this year. For those in the are of the OP's request it is great to share some knowledge.

coindeuce

And what is the proximity to the Atlantic City Casino ?

jessecarlk

<< <i>And what is the proximity to the Atlantic City Casino ? >>



10.17 miles.

coindeuce

<< <i>

<< <i>And what is the proximity to the Atlantic City Casino ? >>



10.17 miles. >>



I shall proceed to engage Longacre in negotiations for a rare presentation. Of course his chauffeur must be amenable to standing at the Casino curb, mind you.

BigE

Long ago, I heard that Longacre spoke in Long Island and was very longwinded, but its a long story------------BigE

clackamas

<< <i>And what is the proximity to the Atlantic City Casino ? >>



That's a coin guy, taking a potentially break even deal and making it a sure looser.

illini420

I did a presentation for the first time at my local coin club last month. It was really fun and I encourage anyone who is thinking about to go for it!!!

jessecarlk

anyone?

coindeuce

I will suggest that you contact Jim Majoros through Garden State Numismatic Association. Jim is a very active A.N.A. representative, and is an eloquent speaker.

jessecarlk

<< <i>I will suggest that you contact Jim Majoros through Garden State Numismatic Association. Jim is a very active A.N.A. representative, and is an eloquent speaker. >>



Thanks, we've actually had him to our club 2 or 3 times. He'd be a good person to contact to try and find someone who is definitely local. Thanks for the advice.

BigE

"Ambro51 and The Feutchwangers, coming to a club meeting near you"------------------------BigE

WTCG

Most importantly, coin club guest speakers need to talk about subjects that the rest of the people actually care about and would be willing to stick around and listen to. A talk needs to be informative, entertaining and relevant. Rant on about something obscure and boring and you'd be surprised how many people need a long "cigarette break" outside.

Over the years I've given about a dozen talks at various coin clubs, usually about subjects that pertain to the business side of the industry such as grading, negotiating with dealers, pricing and even about show security. I've noticed these topics do in fact draw a lot of attention from club attendees.

ambro51

I dont think anything 'on topic' regarding coins is 'boring' to coin club members. Presentations like the ones Ive given widen the scope of knowledge and that is a good thing for all collectors. We have the presentations first, then the auction, so no one goes anywhere. We keep them short, have a computer/projector which gets nice images up on the screen, and also members bring in their collections for exhibition and field questions from members.


BTW, the Atlantic County Numismatic Association is a Great Club, we have a large membership and welcome new members. If you are in the south jersey area, feel free to drop in on a meeting. In fact, we meet tonight! social hour is 6 PM, meeting starts at 7 and runs to 9. We are in the Linwood Public Library.

RedTiger

Unfortunately, a lot of presentations are on the boring side. At my club in El Segundo, CA, even top numismatists with prepared material, had a difficult time holding the attention of the younger members (ages 10-12). The average club member talking about his collection often rambled off into too much detail about single coins.

I was planning to give at least one talk at my club this year. Unfortunately, the officers have decided to eliminate the presentation segment all together, perhaps with exceptions for big name visitor speakers. Part of this is because of schedule and a shorter meeting, part due to the difficulty in getting folks to speak, part probably due to the boredom. Most members prefer more time for chit chat, viewing auction lots, raflle jokes and eating snacks to more of the average presentations.

I recently posted a poll asking folks if they would like to attend a seminar only event, basically a coin show with no bourse, just presentations and exhibits. 73% expressed litte to no interest in that kind of event. At the major shows, the club meetings and presentations I go to are poorly attended. At the recent Long Beach show, six people showed for the silver dollar club, and the So-called dollar club had only one person the presenter show up. For every ten show reports on the forum, perhaps one might even mention a presentation or exhibit at one of the big shows. The reality is that many if not most collectors are voting with their feet.
http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=805817&highlight_key=y&keyword1=poll
link to poll thread

messydesk

<< <i>Most members prefer more time for chit chat, viewing auction lots, raflle jokes and eating snacks to more of the average presentations. >>


Although I haven't attend any local club meetings for a Long Time, it's my impression that this, along with preferring to be out of the house one night per month, is the main reason many people go to them. A presentation of any sort would cut into the time allotted for their preferred club meeting format, so you're going to lose them, anyway. Knowing that, the question then becomes one of how much time should a proposed presentation take. My gut tells me 20 minutes is a good target for developing a presentation that can be taken to any club meeting and then lengthened or shortened a little to fit a time allotment of between 15 and 30 minutes.

ScarsdaleCoin

We have had a lot of good talks from Village Historians and such.... they always have been nice in offereing to send a speaker and they are very interesting!

Pistareen

<< <i>Rant on about something obscure and boring and you'd be surprised how many people need a long "cigarette break" outside. >>



I talk to a lot of coin clubs and always enjoy it. My talks tend to be about numismatic obscurata -- medals, colonials, that sort of stuff. I always assumed they needed a cigarette afterwards because the talk was just that satisfying

Wei is right though. Inside baseball kind of topics do well -- talking about how auctions work, famous numismatists you've known, that sort of thing. But anything based in history, even if the topic is only barely numismatic, tends to do well. Coin nerds like history, especially if it has some relationship to the stuff they collect.

If all else fails, bring donuts. They'll love you.

RWB

Bring donuts and give a presentation of holed coins.

If you bring your club closer to my place, I'd be happy to speak to them.

TPRC

<< <i>And what is the proximity to the Atlantic City Casino ? >>



Now that is the type of insight I was looking for!

ambro51

We had a 'surprise' Guest Speaker last night, and what a Prize it Was!

Kevin Flynn stopped down, brought a few boxes of the books he's written...stood up before a packed room and gave a very nice presentation on varied subjects, and took a boat load of quite focused numismatic questions from the club members.

I think we all would have liked another hour to ask questions, since its not often a well versed author is in our presence.

A few questions concerned 'how many MPLs Dave Bowers threw away'...and an excellent discussion of the 1964 D peace dollar and the 1958 DDo cent.

All in All, a wonderful time at the meeting, and I would like to extend a big !!!!! THANKS !!!! to Mr. Flynn for coming down~!

jessecarlk

<< <i>We had a 'surprise' Guest Speaker last night, and what a Prize it Was!

Kevin Flynn stopped down, brought a few boxes of the books he's written...stood up before a packed room and gave a very nice presentation on varied subjects, and took a boat load of quite focused numismatic questions from the club members.

I think we all would have liked another hour to ask questions, since its not often a well versed author is in our presence.

A few questions concerned 'how many MPLs Dave Bowers threw away'...and an excellent discussion of the 1964 D peace dollar and the 1958 DDo cent.

All in All, a wonderful time at the meeting, and I would like to extend a big !!!!! THANKS !!!! to Mr. Flynn for coming down~! >>



I too would like to thank Kevin Flynn for coming down. That really was a great treat. He gave me some key insights for writing books on coins, something that I will keep in the back of my mind when I write anything.

lava

May I have your attention please. Today we are going to be looking at the subtle differences between grades of au53 and au55.............................. of medals and tokens............................ struck before 1800 ............................. from Southeast Asia.

Who would like to start us off?

(No offense intended to anyone who is passionate about numismatic material within this category.)

lava

I was hoping someone might have enjoyed my joke yesterday.

jessecarlk

<< <i>May I have your attention please. Today we are going to be looking at the subtle differences between grades of au53 and au55.............................. of medals and tokens............................ struck before 1800 ............................. from Southeast Asia.

Who would like to start us off?

(No offense intended to anyone who is passionate about numismatic material within this category.) >>



Come down to our coin club and you can talk all about them...