NAQP Owner's Conference - Last Hurrah!

Rumors are rampant that NAQP/NAPL is already seriously considering dropping its annual NAQP Owner's Conference in 2013. The reasons are simple - a dismal turnout of only 79 NAQP members. If you count spouses and partners the number comes in at 89. In either case a number that is so poor that it will clearly lead to a lot of finger pointing within the association.
Even if you included vendors, officers, suppliers, speakers and even janitors, the total list of attendees was only 141 - put simply it was a miserable turn-out!
You know things are getting bad when you include six officers from the sponsoring organization in your "Official" attendance Roster.
Some folks both within the organization and without are already calling for "throwing in the towel" while others are questioning the experience or lack thereof of Mitch Evans, NAQP's Managing Director. Some folks claim Mitch is simply riding the gravy train while it lasts, while others say he means well, but is just in over his head.
Nonetheless, the numbers don't lie. NAQP had a turnout twice as large at its first meeting in Denver in the early 1980's.
The turnout for 2012 in Chicago is a pathetic reflection on how poorly the association is doing under the NAPL umbrella.
More thoughts on this later, as well some options you might want to consider in 2013.