It seems to me there are things we could do to make our decision more successful.
First let me say that every year I wind up buying calendars, not because I want them but because our club or the national has unsold calendars left. It is sort of penance for allowing us to print too many to begin with. I suspect there are others around the country that buy calendars not because they want or need them but just out of support of AIS. It would be great if we could get the numbers right.
I would like to see us defer our decision for just a few weeks until we could collect the data I am about to suggest.
Presently News & Notes goes to 3224 members. That is a very high percentage of our 3999 print members. And the majority read it. Why not cast a survey in the next N&N (the start of March) and ask if they would commit to buying calendars early in Spring for their club and/or themselves. We would know in three weeks what the market would be. I do not believe a printing in Mid March would be a terrible delay, since you would still have them available for the April shows. It also would provide a sort of commitment on the part of a those members voting for printing now, to follow through and order. If we include a handsome discount for early ordering we would have advertised the offer and can know how many to expect. And best of all it would give our membership a voice in the running of the organization.