[fiedlerh]

• I joined in 1978 and let it lapse around 2005 or so.
• Been to a few conventions: Gettysburg, Buffalo, Springfield IL, Bloomington MN, Dayton OH, Quad Cities IL, Grand Rapids MI, St Louis MO, St. Charles IL, maybe a few others
  Some random thoughts.
• At first it was run by young enthusiastic guys. Many of those same guys still seem to run it, but now they are part of the lawn chair crowd. I'm not far behind.
• It was probably the first magazine dedicated to the Pontiac hobby.
• Pre-Internet, I couldn't wait to get my Smoke Signals. It was a valuable publication for information and above all, ads.
• I tried a few local chapter meetings, but mostly got ignored by the "in crowd", so I quit going. The Badger chapter folks were pretty friendly though.
• Always had a blast at the annual conventions. Many memorable road trips, people, and seminars.
• It was always about older restored cars, so they ignored drag racing and newer models for years.
• Our local cruise nights attract more cars than the St. Louis convention did. Good memories of chatting with John Sawruk though.
• The internet made much of the information and ads available for free.
• Slickly produced magazines like PE and HPP were light years ahead of Smoke Signals.
• Smoke Signals turned into a 5 minute magazine.
• The website was badly outdated with a dead forum.
• AFAIK, people won't pay money to see a car website. Larry Kummer, the guy who used to print Smoke Signals, tried to start a pay-to-see Pontiac website. I think it is history, as people won't pay to get information they can find for free.
• I believe they struggled for years to get membership above 10,000. I believe adding GMC was one to be one of the answers.
• Much of what POCI did or does is now available for free on the Internet or via $20/yr HPP.
• The conventions are unique, but I don't need to be a member to see the cars or the swap meet.
• What is POCI's value proposition these days? 10,000 members wont support a slick magazine with paid authors. The convention competes with other shows open to the general public. I wish I had an answer.