• Many people report how great it is to have a week-long holiday and have the opportunity to earn Talents which they use to spend on the many workshops, talks and goods available

• While the Festival contributed to the highest amount of transactions ever on the Talent Exchange, it also sadly increased the net deficit by a large amount

• This is because quite a few people were happy to buy things for Talents, but have not bothered to balance their accounts by earning Talents in some way

• Others didn’t take the time to fully understand how the system works, and forgot their numbers, or used wrong numbers to buy things. This means some sellers supplied goods and were not able to receive their Talents, which amounts to theft.

• This unbalanced deficit, eventually contributes to the decline of the Exchange over time as it means more people are taking and not giving and Talents become worthless

• Some feel that perhaps being allowed to go into T500 debit before earning any Talents should be stopped as some people are abusing it and not offering anything to earn Talents

• Some find it more difficult to earn than others and some offerings on the Exchange are not responded to

• Children should be encouraged to earn Talents somehow so they have something to spend at the Gathering

So… yes, it does take a bit more effort to use the Talent Exchange and it is not as convenient as money. But once you get the hang of it, and the inputs and outputs start flowing, we can easily correct all these problems. Alternatively, we could drop the idea and give up on establishing a money-free way to trade, and become just another party and learn nothing. But, the rewards are great if we get it right.