Alamogordo & the HSNM Conference
May 02, 2018 12:15 Book stuff | Food for Thought
Congrats to all the Winners at the NM History Conference!
Alamogordo & the HSNM Conference
Yes, I have never been to Alamogordo and the Historical Society of New Mexico Conference was there last week. So, maybe a little work and play?
We traditionally sell the LPD/Rio Grande books at the HSNM Conference along with Museums of NM Press, UNM Press, and others. Frankly, it is a good venue but not this one!
The minute we got to the location – The Glass House at NMSU Alamogordo, we knew something was wrong. Set-up was to start at noon and we got there at 12:10pm. It was locked, no one around, and not set up. So we went to lunch. Bad start.
When we got back it was still not set-up furniture wise. And never would be. The correct number of tables for vendors were not in the room but a lot of extra, out-dated furniture was. We claimed our two tables and put them together. The seven+ tables for UNM Press, Museums, and the Tularosa Basin Historical Society were not in evidence and in fact they were the last to arrive and had to move to another room. Most people who set-up know you have to have all vendors in one place. Don Bullis asked that tables be brought in and the ugly furniture removed but that would not happen for hours. Universities move slowly at best!
Oh, I have to tell you about access for unloading. If there was a parking space nearby you were in luck then haul your stuff uphill. It was not professional and books are HEAVY! There was no consideration for vendors.
This uphill access was the same problem for Conference attendees. The sessions were spread out, up and down hills and across the main street. Yes, there was a shuttle but no one knew where it was. It was a problem because the majority of the membership are senior citizens, in walkers or wheelchairs, and can’t walk the distance. HSNM should have known who their membership is. People didn’t want to buy books because they didn’t want to lug them around and it was a hike to their cars to put the books in.
But here is this bizarre problem. None of the vendors could use their squares to process book charge sales. HSNM FORGOT or made a decision not to ask for it. So, I went into the Administration Office to DEMAND that it happen. We already had one sale we could not process. In this day and age who does that? Just because you are in the History Society it doesn’t mean you have to act like you are in the 1950s.
The entire Conference, few people came into the vendor area to look at books. They usually come a lot because coffee breaks were nearby. But the coffee breaks were in a dark, windy hall that no one knew where it was. The last day, Janet Saiers move the coffee inside the vendor room hoping people would come in but the damage was done.
Sessions cancelled and people had to trek to another location to see a last, few minutes of another session. HSNM never was aware that session presenters were a no-show.
The Awards Banquet at the end of the Conference was a vision in plastic inside a gym. Can you say prom night? Plastic tablecloths covered the same 6 foot tables that we sold on. So only four people could sit at the table.
Traditionally the Banquet has round tables that can sit eight to ten people. But that didn’t slow down HSNM Treasurer Roberta Scott. Her party was five people and we had the unfortunate luck to sit next to her table. She proceeded to take one of our seats without even asking. We yelled at her to stop because we had people sitting with us. Being a HSNM Board member has its privileges or lack of manners.
There was more plastic: utensils (have you tried to cut meat with a plastic knife?) and plates. And rocks at every place – long story that I don’t really understand.
HSNM President Dennis Reinhartz doesn’t drink coffee so he thought no one else should either. Janet Saiers, past HSNM President, said all vendors should be reimbursed their table fees and in the future HSNM should not sell books. Such a limited view – some history researchers actually read books. And why can she unilaterally make a decision to refund fees and not sell books? Isn’t she the President of the infamous Las Vegas Conference that goes down as the absolute worst? No food, burnt food, bikers, and locked in room vendors. She shouldn’t talk!
Our authors expect us to show and sell their history books at HSNM. They want others to see what they have done. Historians who read, want to buy books about subjects of interest.
Speaking of Reinhartz, he showed up once on the third day in the vendor area and left. Most Presidents make a point to saying to each vendor, “Thanks for coming, spending your money for tables, and I hope you will be back next year.” Never. He looked uncomfortable and who wants to be told of all the problems he oversaw?
Let’s talk trash. By the third day the trash was overflowing in the vendor room. I was told that HSNM did think they had to say in the contract, empty the trash. Obviously, NMSU doesn’t do trash. Thanks to Gloria Bullis and Janet Saiers who stole big, outdoor cans when the others were filled.
A solution for HSNM. They need to hire a PART-TIME meeting planner who can scout and budget expenses. HSNM is planning the next Conference in Albuquerque at a hotel so that might run smoothly – hotel conferences have all been in one place with everything handled by the hotel. But the next year they are talking Silver City. Don’t get me wrong, Silver City is a beautiful LITTLE town. HSNM wants to have sessions all over town at even greater distances than Alamogordo. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? And some locations will have little parking.
It would be ugly for me to not say what went well:
The Conference Program and Banquet Dinner programs were very attractive, Robert Torrez always does a great job putting together the program, and sorry to see Don Bullis hanging up his hat wrangling the book vendors. And I don’t drink coffee but the coffee and afternoon breaks are necessary and I enjoy them. The name tags are great especially when I forget names. But I remember when vendors had name tags and got registration bags. No more. The NM Space History Museum is beautiful on the hill and it was fun to go there for the reception. But why was the Gift Shop closed? Didn’t they realize there would be a captive audience? And the medals given to winners were great again.
Oh, by the way, we have exhibited at about ten conferences so I know of what I speak. I don’t need to ever go back to Alamogordo! When it is windy the White Sands blow into town – not healthy!
Changing the subject, these were the award winners at the HSNM Conference Banquet:
Lansing B. Bloom Award - John Taylor & Richard Melzer, editors, Tragic Trails & Enchanted Journeys
Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Award – Glenn Fye, compiler, Albuquerque Museum Photo Archives Collection: Images in Silver
Pablita Velarde Award- Sue Houser – The Corn Whisperer
Ralph Emerson Twitchel Award- Josie Lopez, the Carved Line: Print Making in New Mexico
Fray Francisco Atanasio Domingues Award – Linda Tigges, editor & J. Richard Salazar, translator, Spanish Colonial Woman and the Law
Gaspar Perez de Villagra Award – William S. Kiser, Borderlands of Slavery
L. Bradford Price Award – New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society
Dorothy Woodward Award – Dorothy Cave
Paul A. F. Walter Award – Robert Torrez
Edgar Lee Hewitt Award – Craig Newbill
Gilberto Espinosa Award – James E. Dory – Garduno
Lansing B. Bloom Family Award – Ricardo Gonzales
All well deserved.
Barbe Awalt