©2006 On The Wire Billiards and Billiards & Barstools

Colorado Springs, CO – The Billiard Congress of America [BCA] successfully hosted its 21st Annual International Billiard & Home Recreation Expo, posting strong early numbers of pre-registered buyers and sellers in Las Vegas last week. Prior to the official ribbon-cutting, 2,253 early registrants had exceeded the previous year’s confirmed buyers by 8%. Numbers tracked steadily through Saturday to end at 2,725.

Among exhibitors, a 13% jump (from 275 to 310) set another record and included 85 first-time exhibitors. The new participants made up 28% of the total, and 1,281 booths were reserved at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the run of the show.

In conjunction with the event, the BCA “Business of Billiards” seminar series offered professional advice from industry experts in a variety of areas – from a keynote address by comedian David Brenner (who is part-owner of the Amsterdam Billiard Club in New York, in addition to being a Vegas headliner) to a panel of room owners and operators discussing highly specialized operational issues.

Other BCA business for the week included the induction of Hall of Famers Robin Bell Dodson and Mike Massey at a special ceremony, the election and presentation of new board members and officers, annual special recognitions and continuing education sessions for instructors.

For full details on the activities of the week, follow links from BCA-Pool.com to the Industry > Trade Expo tabs. Copies of event-specific “Expo Online” and “Expo Onsite” newsletters chronicled the special events as they happened, and the Expo “Attendee Guide” contains detailed descriptions of the many programs offered by the BCA at the annual Expo. The April 15, 2005 edition of BCA Member Update also contains expanded information, linked from BCA-Pool.com > Marketing > Member Updates.

Next year’s event will be held April 6-8, 2006, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Contracts, regulations and floor plans are available by calling the BCA office at 719-264-8300, or online at BCA-Pool.com. Make your reservations early!






	Colorado Springs, CO – The Billiard Congress of America [BCA] successfully hosted its 21st Annual International Billiard & Home Recreation Expo, posting strong early numbers of pre-registered buyers and sellers in Las Vegas last week. Prior to the official ribbon-cutting, 2,253 early registrants had exceeded the previous year’s confirmed buyers by 8%. Numbers tracked steadily through Saturday to end at 2,725. Among exhibitors, a 13% jump (from 275 to 310) set another record and included 85 first-time exhibitors. The new participants made up 28% of the total, and 1,281 booths were reserved at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the run of the show. In conjunction with the event, the BCA “Business of Billiards” seminar series offered professional advice from industry experts in a variety of areas – from a keynote address by comedian David Brenner (who is part-owner of the Amsterdam Billiard Club in New York, in addition to being a Vegas headliner) to a panel of room owners and operators discussing highly specialized operational issues. Other BCA business for the week included the induction of Hall of Famers Robin Bell Dodson and Mike Massey at a special ceremony, the election and presentation of new board members and officers, annual special recognitions and continuing education sessions for instructors. For full details on the activities of the week, follow links from BCA-Pool.com to the Industry > Trade Expo tabs. Copies of event-specific “Expo Online” and “Expo Onsite” newsletters chronicled the special events as they happened, and the Expo “Attendee Guide” contains detailed descriptions of the many programs offered by the BCA at the annual Expo. The April 15, 2005 edition of BCA Member Update also contains expanded information, linked from BCA-Pool.com > Marketing > Member Updates. Next year’s event will be held April 6-8, 2006, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Contracts, regulations and floor plans are available by calling the BCA office at 719-264-8300, or online at BCA-Pool.com. Make your reservations early!

	Colorado Springs, CO – Following audited board elections finalized at the BCA Expo in Las Vegas, Gregg Hovey of Olhausen Billiard Mfg., Inc. was selected by the newly seated Board of Directors to serve as its President for a one-year term. Mr. Hovey was elected to the board in 2004 and previously served as Second Vice President and Chair of the Long Range Planning Committee. Also elected to the board’s Executive Committee were: Roger Blank of Connelly Billiards as First Vice President, Mike Baggett of Cue & Case Sales as Second Vice President, Pat Conners of AMF Billiards as Treasurer and Reneé Poehlman of the American Poolplayers Association as Secretary. Newly or re-elected board members in the Voting category to serve three-year terms are: Roger Blank of Connelly Billiards, Mark Griffin of BCA Pool League, John Nusser of J-S Sales Co., Inc. and Ivan Lee of Iwan Simonis, Inc. Eric Weber of CueStix International, Inc. was also tapped to fill a vacated position with one year remaining on its term. Elected as Retail representatives were: Kathy Vegh of Danny Vegh’s Billiards & Home to serve a three-year term and Jeri Brown of American Games to serve a two-year term. Jim McDermott of Magoo’s Billiards will serve a three-year term as a Room Operator representative, and Nick Alexander of Clicks Billiards will serve a two-year term in this category. Serving out the remainder of current terms are at-large voting members Dan Dishaw of the American Cuemakers Assn, Clay Etheridge of Showcase Billiards and Barry Hart of Viking Cue Mfg., Inc. Mr. Hovey will now begin the task of naming BCA committee chairs and appointing committee members. Committee membership is also open to those not currently serving on the BCA Board of Directors. If you would like to be considered for committee service, please send an email to BCA Executive Director Stephen Ducoff (Steve@bca-pool.com) by Friday, April 22, 2005.