Gearing Up for 2020 National Beta Club Conference
Trading pins come in just about every shape and size you can imagine, and you can find them just about everywhere. Theme parks like Walt Disney World and Universal Studios have custom trading pins available for visitors, fans and followers, and baseball trading pins are popular all over the country.
Today, however, we wanted to shed some light on a different kind of trading pin: National Beta Club trading pins to be exact.
While it may sound like a fraternity or sorority, National Beta Club has nothing to do with Greek life. It’s a youth leadership organization that’s open to students in fourth grade through twelfth grade. Every year, the club hosts a conference where Beta Club members meet up for scholarship and networking opportunities, as well as leadership classes.
On top of this, there is a lot of pin trading happening on the convention floor and a custom pin design contest that will decide who brought the best pin to the show. Here is how it all works:
Beta Club Trading Pins: Rules of the Trade
The tradition of pin trading during the National Beta Club convention goes back a long time. It provides young members with a great opportunity to meet kids their own age from all over the nation and to collect memorable tokens from each year they’ve been in the club.
The practice of pin trading at the National Beta Club convention only has a few rules that you need to know. The first is that you can’t create Beta Club pins that endorse or promote a candidate running for office in the organization. Another important rule is that Beta Club pins cannot be traded for anything other than Beta Club pins.
The last important rule to know is that all Beta Club pins must be commercially created. This ensures the quality of all pins brought to the event and encourages fair trades. Other than that, pin traders are encouraged to be careful with the sharp ends of each pin when removing or adding different Beta Club pins to their lanyard and to be polite and courteous with other club members and pin traders.
For a more complete breakdown of the Beta Club trading pin rules, you can visit the club’s website.
The design of the pins is not restricted to any theme. Students are encouraged to get creative and think of something fun and exciting for their team’s trading pin. The artwork doesn’t need to promote their team, but it needs to be related to Beta Club.
This freedom results in some truly spectacular designs that make use of some of the flashiest custom pin design options available. A team can bring as many different pins designs as they want to the conference, but only one pin may be submitted for consideration in the contest that will decide who brought the best pin to the show.
So, How Do You Design a Beta Club Trading Pin?
If the name of the game is winning the custom pin design contest, it’s important to think about different ways to make a pin stand out from the crowd. That’s why so many Beta Club trading pins make use of things like blinkers, sliders, danglers and glitter enamel.
These types of custom options make artwork pop and create enticing pins that any pin trader would want to add to their collection. After helping a bunch of teams create their own National Beta Club trading pins, we’ve noticed that the only things they share in common are things like dates and references to the National Beta Club convention. Other than that, the variety of designs is immense.
We’ve designed pins shaped like sunglasses, pins featuring famous film characters, and pins shaped like popular things carried by convention-goers like water bottles and backpacks.
If you’re planning on attending this year’s convention, the best way to start a design is with pen and paper. Get your team together and sketch out a few ideas before contacting any custom pin maker. Trading pins don’t have to be round or square. They can be just about any custom shape you can imagine.
Once you have a general idea ready, submit a request for free artwork and pricing online. Here at Signature Pins, we offer free artwork, free pricing quotes and free revisions, but not all custom pin makers offer the same services. We accept hand-drawn sketches, written descriptions, and just about any other resource you might have. And if you’re working on a tight budget, that doesn’t mean you have to avoid more expensive options like glitter enamel, cut outs or gemstones. Be sure to check out our guide on how to create a budget-friendly pin design before getting started.
Get Started on Your Beta Club Trading Pins Today!
The 2020 National Beta Club convention will take place on June 15th through the 18th, for senior members, and June 19th through the 22nd, for junior members, at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Texas. Custom Beta Club trading pins are ordered throughout the entire year, but as the convention gets closer, it’s harder to have a pin designed, manufactured and shipped in time to make it to the show.
We offer free overnight shipping and a turnaround time of 10 days or fewer, but it’s never to early to get started on your Beta Pins. Give us a call today, and we’ll help you design something special for your club to share at this year's convention and cherish for years to come.
