Feedback Requested – Gizmos and Gadgets at AAW Symposium

[Rob Wallace]

If you attended the "Gizmos and Gadgets" activity during Special Interest Night at the AAW Symposium in St. Paul last month, I would like to know whether it was a worthwhile session, and if participants got useful information from the presentations. It was estimated that there were at least 120 meeting participants in the audience (....perhaps up to 150 or more??), and I am hoping there are at least a few in this group that attended the session who can provide some evaluation and recommendations about this SIN activity.

Unlike demonstrators of regular rotations (who get evaluated by symposium participants) and receive a summary of responses for their demonstration, those organizing Special Interest Night sessions do not get any formal feedback as to the content, interest in, and value of the sessions they organize.

Some have asked me if we will do another "Gizmos and Gadgets" session next year at the 2012 AAW Symposium in San Jose. Before committing to organize another of these sessions, I would like to know if those in attendance this year found the session useful, what was "good" about it, how it can be improved, and other recommendations.

Your feedback can be posted here on this forum, or sent to me directly at: rwallace@iastate.edu

I appreciate all replies and thank you in advance for whatever feedback you can provide!

Rob Wallace

 

[Thomas Stegall]

I thought the premise of it was excellent. I would guess you had at least 200 people. A few of the guys that came up front were not well organized or maybe just not concise in speaking, which led them to taking excessive time to explain simple concepts. Others that were well organized were very helpful and informative. I can't remember the specifics, but it did seem that some of the less organized people were presenting information already covered more than once in the AA journal. (i.e. spindle lock ideas for a powermatic).

Since you may have slides and contact info for the various resources mentioned, I think providing them here on the forum might be helpful for those that couldn't see or hear from the back? Overall, I think this was a great idea, and one that would be of benefit to many in the future.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

i enjoyed it. the particapation by individual turners was unique that Mr/Mrs/Ms could have an opportunity to teach part in rotation.

 

[Ron Solfest]

Similar comments to above from me. I enjoyed it but found some of the presenters tended to go on and on instead of quickly showing the concept, explaining nuances, providing some tips etc and then moving on to the next one. To me the ideas are what was important (and may or may not be applicable to anyone in the audience), talking about implementation details of fairly simple concepts didn't hold my interest.

I suspect any single idea was inspirational to a few, and few ideas were of significant interest to more than 30-40%. Therefore best to cover ideas fairly quickly and provide hand-outs for people to use on the ideas that appealed to them.

With that said, I'd recommend doing it again. Maybe providing some presentation pointers to those talking up front, and preferably having a hand-out.

Thanks for doing it.
Ron

 

[John Brown]

In reply to Ron Solfest, I was one of the presenters and had considered handouts but then thought, how many? No one had any idea how many might attend, or how well the event, or any of the presentations, would be received. I do a number of demonstrations throughout the year and, at one time gave handouts, but rarely any more. The cost is prohibitive and who pays for it? It is discouraging to see them discarded in the demo area or in the trash can. I think in this day of computers an email address is sufficient for someone to contact the presenter and if a person doesn't have email surely a close friend does. My email address was on the screen during my presentation and no one has contacted me regarding any of the items I presented. Or, if you are interested in a particular demo you could give your address to the presenter and I'm sure they would be more than willing to mail one to you. I guess you can tell I am against handouts.

I think Rob Wallace did an excellent job hosting, especially since this was the first attempt at a program of this type.

Jack Brown

 

[Timothy Rowe]

me too

I did find it helpful on some of the items discussed but I was on Info overload and it was late.

Rob you did a good job at trying to keep it moving. Maybe at the next one it should be divided up by categories. ie: lathe tips-- tool tips--jigs ect.

Just my 2 cents, and they aren't worth the copper

Tim Rowe