As much of a disruption to all areas of our lives, I think the Covid did give us one thing: the emergence of the Zoom demos. As others have said, I like having the close-up look, managed by the demonstrators who are skilled at them. Somebody else also mentioned how it can be uncomfortable being crammed into a room to see a popular demonstrator and being 2" away from people on either side. And did I mention how nice it was not to have to disturb other people in order to run down the hall for a nature call, trying not to miss too much? In this Symposium, we were lucky to see some people who, good turners by virtue of the selection process, had also perfected control of the technology. I think Cindy Drozda is still the reigning champ at this. Public speaking is a skill to master. Then overlay that with having to attend to your turning - in many cases, intricate or challenging pieces. Pay attention to the sounds of your turning and to what the wood is doing. Oh, yeah, then be aware of what angles might be best for your viewers and know how to manipulate the settings for your cameras and other gizmos. It must be like patting your head and rubbing your stomach while standing on one foot on a beach ball! When it all comes together, it's impressive! Beyond that, we now have the technology for small clubs to have demonstrations by turners whom they could not afford to import, feed, and pay. The only thing you're missing is the camaraderie of other turners. Of course, that's a big loss. I would love to know what the vendors' experiences were for this. The format cut out my usual impulse buying, but I DID give them a good look-over. I don't think the checkbook is quite safe yet . . .
These Zoom demos are better for me than the actual symposium. If you are there to learn you see so much more in the Zoom demo and you don't have to sit 2" away from people on either side on an uncomfortable chair. I still hate that Zoom chat popup and the hints earlier in this thread did not stop them.
