ANA Board Names Chicago as the site of the summer ANA World’s Fair of Money® in 2013, 2014 and 2015

By American Numismatic Association on Saturday, April 3, 2010
Filed Under: ANA Money Show, American Numismatic Association, Clubs & Associations, Coin Show News, Press Releases

Board Also Approves Fall Show and Spring 2012 Location

The American Numismatic Association Board of Governors, on March 27, approved a recommendation from Executive Director Larry Shepherd to name Chicago as the site of the summer ANA World’s Fair of Money® in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and to launch a fall show in 2011.

A third annual ANA convention will be scheduled between late September and mid-October, and will rotate among major cities like Pittsburgh, Boston and Denver. The ANA will continue to hold annual spring and summer shows.

The Board named Denver as the site of the 2012 spring ANA National Money Show™, scheduled for May to avoid Colorado’s unpredictable early spring weather.

“Successful conventions and auction contracts are critical to our future,” ANA Executive Director Larry Shepherd said. “We can now move immediately to ‘brand’ Chicago as an ANA city.”

Shepherd stressed the importance of branding Chicago as the home of the summer ANA World’s Fair of Money, noting the success FUN has had branding Orlando as its home, and Whitman establishing Baltimore as a show destination.

“By selecting a single good location, the ANA will brand its summer convention as an annual ‘coin show destination’ that all collectors and dealers will strive to attend. The dates will be tightly fixed, the location well known and easily accessible at a reasonable cost. But most importantly, it will give us an opportunity to expand our show and set it apart from all others.”

Shepherd said the convention hall space available at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center (formerly the Rosemont Convention Center) in Chicago allows the ANA to increase bourse space, create more room for museum-quality exhibits, provide free space for clubs and professional organizations to meet, and provide more table options to attract new dealers and first-time buyer tables.

By encouraging specialty numismatic organizations to gather for the World’s Fair of Money, those organizations could make the summer ANA the destination for all of their annual meetings, symposiums and educational programs. Specialty numismatic organizations would be encouraged to offer educational content to all ANA members, with the ANA coordinating its presentations with those of specialty organizations, thus making it possible to further expand educational offerings. In addition, the time slot between the “Official Pre-Show” and the World’s Fair of Money could be used to add educational classes and tie-ins to Summer Seminar.

In a report to the Board of Governors, Shepherd cited several reasons why Chicago is an ideal site for the World’s Fair of Money:

It is home to a large and dedicated collector base
It is consistently one of the top two choices among members as a show site
It is centrally located and has the single best airport in the country
It is a prime vacation and recreation destination
It is the most convenient location for all ANA members nationwide
Previous ANA shows in Chicago have been extremely successful
No other major coin organization has branded Chicago as its location for a major show.

In addition, having one venue for the summer show allows the ANA to make more efficient use of its convention preparation efforts, to negotiate multi-year convention and hotel contracts, work with familiar vendors and save significantly on signage and decorating costs.

Shepherd said the Chicago location would be evaluated after each year to ensure it would be the right choice for a longer term commitment.

“The most important benefit is that we can change the dynamics of the ANA World’s Fair of Money so that it sets this show apart from every other coin show and establishes this show as the numismatic event of the year, that all must attend,” Shepherd said.

A spring and fall show rotation in major U.S. cities allows the ANA to provide large, high-quality events in geographically diverse areas. Shepherd said once a spring show rotation is determined, the majority of hobbyists and ANA members will have convenient access to ANA shows, wherever they live. “A third show in the fall allows us to extend our educational outreach and take our conventions to more parts of the country, where we can be accessible to a greater number of ANA members and hobbyists,” he said.

The ANA has held summer conventions since 1891 and added a spring convention in 1978.

The American Numismatic Association is a Congressionally chartered nonprofit educational organization dedicated to encouraging people to study and collect money and related items. The ANA helps its 32,000 members and the public discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of education and outreach programs, as well as its museum, library, publications, conventions and seminars. For more information, call 719-632-2646 or visit www.money.org.

About the Author

The American Numismatic Association is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect money and related items. With nearly 33,000 members, the Association serves the academic community, collectors and the general public with an interest in numismatics. The ANA helps all people discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of programs including its education and outreach, museum, library, publications, conventions and seminars.

2 Comment(s)

Paul J. Bosco | Apr 6, 2010 | Reply

This is an extraordinary decision, reflecting a willingness to critically examine ANA practises and –more significantly– a willingness to act boldly. For this I commend the board and the Executive Director. Doubtless Larry Shepherd is the main mover-and-shaker here.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How unfortunate that the decision made is a bad one. I wonder how much input was sought from the rank-&-file dealer and collector members?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Years ago, ANA President Ken Bressett got the board to adopt a recommendation, limiting the annual summer convention location to five cities, used in rotation. (It was quickly forgotten.) I have always criticized locating the world’s #1 coin show, 6-8 years out of 10, in smaller cities: Denver, Cincinnati, Portland… A show in Chicago will always make more sense than one in nearby Milwaukee. Dealers make more money in Baltimore than in Atlanta. Collector members have more exciting evenings with spouses in New York than in San Diego. With the addition of the Spring ANA show, the smaller-market cities retain the opportunity to be host cities and “show their stuff.”

The advantage of selecting a single location, rather than a rotation of several, is unclear (apart from “signage and decoration’). A national organization should have meetings around the nation. Will collectors be as excited by the ANA convention if it is stuck in one place? How long before the show is actually referred to as “Chicago” instead of “the ANA”?

I can’t ask my wife to help me at the ANA year after year if it is always in the same place.

And what is that place? Chicago? Hardly. It is Rosemont, a community invented to be near an airport. I believe the zoning designation was not Residential or Mixed Use; I believe it was a new classification: Suburban Boring. How many collectors dare stick their spouses in the Illinois sticks for 5 days, year after year? What will an annual Rosemont show do to divorce rates among the membership, after multiple nights of “haute cuisine” at Red Lobster? How much less exciting will the hobby be, when travel –the great perk of the successfully retired– is reduced to a formula? Who needs a homogenized hobby?

Disadvantages of Chicago:

a) distance from California, home to what, 20% of the membership?

b) half the dealers will be permanently unable to drive to the show, limiting the selection of goods they can transport;

c) most of the collectors who are most willing and able to spend are in the Boston-D.C. corridor, or near it;

d) Foreigners prefer New York, and by a lot;

e) the “Chicago International”, held in Rosemont, while a good show, is a shadow of its former self (when it was held in downtown Chi);

f) having an immobilized location means you don’t meet as many new people each year.

g) as mentioned above, the true location, Rosemont, is a cultural desert. No: a black hole.

h) Who can expect collectors to go to the same black hole every year, forever?

i)That the ANA conventions in Chi have been good, in 1991 and 1999, is true, but when have Baltimore, Boston New York or Florida bombed?? Even San Francisco was good. (Los Angeles, as we know, was detestable.)

j) Convenience is overrated. A modicum of trouble and a bit of extra expense is expected, if a trip is to be a vacation and an experience. The guys who fret over $10 parking are not the same customers as those who shrug off a $50 cab ride. After all $50 is only 1/10 of a per cent of a High Relief in 65.

k) Attendance is not everything! Over a decade, would it be better to have 200,000 attendees, representing 100,000 different persons, or 250,000, representing 65,000 different?

l) Harping a bit more on Rosemont: having shows outside of major urban centers dilutes the perception that ours is a hobby for persons of high sophistication.

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I am at least encouraged that Mr. Shepherd says the location will be reviewed each year. However. I would urge him, and the board, to review the actual concept, immediately, and to seek wide input and feedback.

–Paul J Bosco
Manhattan
(Coin Store owner; ANA Life Member 4422; double-corner tables at Chicago ANA 1991 & 1999, and Boston 2010)
Andrew Woodruff | Apr 26, 2010 | Reply

As an ANA life member and life long resident of So. Cal, Chicago is not by any means convenient for this ANA member. This new venue may be centrally located for Mid West collectors, but is a long plane ride from San Diego. By the way, I would like to point out that whereas San Diego and Los Angeles may not have been favorite venues for the show, the last time we had a summer show in San Diego (1983) we were in a recession, as was the case in 1990 when San Diego was host to the then styled Mid-Winter Convention. The recently held 2010 Los Angeles Convention was also held during what will undoubtedly be marked as the worst recession in decades. Overall economic factors warrant consideration as well as the actual location of a venue when making a measured determination as to what is a good convention location. Five years ago, when the show was in San Francisco, little wonder it was well attended. We were in boom times. For those who haven’t been to San Diego since the ANA in 1990, the downtown area has drastically modernized. We’ve since added the Convention Center, Petco Park, numerous luxurious hotels and lots of amenities for tourists. Downtown San Diego has been completely redeveloped in the last 20 years, and frankly, were it not possibly for some of the less than advantageous tax laws, I think this city would make a great venue. Notwithstanding the unlikely chance we will get to host an ANA convention again, in short, I concur with Mr. Bosco that I too am glad the decision will be reviewed each year. Although I might make the journey to attend the Chicago show once, we do have the regularly held Long Beach Show in So. Cal. Ooops, did I say Chicago Show? Let’s keep the big show a truly National event, a rotating venue that doesn’t bias itself towards only the affluent Chicago base. If the ANA wants to host other shows around the country, or establish a separate Chicago show, let them feel free to do so. I will look forwad to when the World’s Fair of Money hits the road again.