If a person is serious about furthering his/her knowledge about orchids, I feel it is truly important to affiliate with an orchid society. I know, there are those who feel they can learn everything there is to learn about orchids without this experience and they can try that, but for the novice who really wants to get serious about growing orchids, they need to brush shoulders with others pursuing the same knowledge and goals. Besides, it is fun to share ideas one-on-one with people with the plants actually in front of them.