As many of you know, one of the organized events at the AAW Symposium for the past few years has been “Special Interest Night†(SIN), held on Friday evening during the Symposium. While there have been a few diverse topics organized for some recent symposia, unless you were interested in Pen Turning, Ornamental Turning, Segmented Turning, or Collecting Wood Art, the past few symposia have not had many other topics represented by SIN discussions. If you were a turner at the Symposium and not particularly interested in these four topics, you probably didn’t attend any SIN activities…. I found myself in this situation for the past two symposia.
I am proposing to organize and moderate a SIN session at the 2011 St. Paul AAW Symposium, entitled “Woodturner’s Gizmos and Gadgets†which would highlight various jigs, specialized tools, repurposed items, and creative solutions developed by woodturners.
This would essentially be a specialized “Show and Tell†session for the exchange of ideas on how woodturners have solved problems through creative “tinkering†and development of practical solutions to common woodturning problems. I know that for many woodturning clubs where “Show and Tell†is a part of the typical meeting, this is often a popular and well-received activity. I certainly enjoy it as one of my favorite meeting activities, and have benefited from participating in it too! These kinds of items also evoke a high level of interest on Internet forums as well.
For those who are planning on attending the Symposium and can bring their ‘gizmo' or ‘gadget’ item to show, they would get about 5 minutes to present their item to the group, demonstrate how it works, and give some idea about how it was made, from what items, and how it performs. If others have an interest in contributing to this SIN discussion but can’t bring the item to demonstrate, we can generate a few Powerpoint slides in advance of the meeting for you to present the item or idea to the group. Depending on how many want to participate, we may even be able to show innovations from members who can’t attend the Symposium but who would be willing to have their item shown to the SIN group with Powerpoint images sent to me in advance. This would allow many members to contribute and participate in the symposium, even if only for a few minutes, and would contribute to the goal of sharing practical woodturning information and ideas. My hope is that participants would come away from this SIN session with lots of ideas they can take home and try themselves, and tell others about them at their Chapter meetings.
For those that plan on attending the AAW Symposium in St. Paul this coming June, I would like to ask whether there is interest in having such a ‘Gizmos and Gadgets’ SIN session:
Would you be interested enough to attend the session and/or participate in it?
Do you have any ideas or comments about an activity of this kind, or can you contribute any experience from similar activities you’ve done at local meetings?
I am trying to gauge the level of interest before formally moving ahead with this proposal, and any feedback you could provide whether this is a good idea or not, whether you would attend such a SIN session, or whether you would be willing to make a brief presentation about one or more of your innovations would help me in planning and decision making!
Thanks in advance for your help!
Rob Wallace
I am proposing to organize and moderate a SIN session at the 2011 St. Paul AAW Symposium, entitled “Woodturner’s Gizmos and Gadgets†which would highlight various jigs, specialized tools, repurposed items, and creative solutions developed by woodturners.
This would essentially be a specialized “Show and Tell†session for the exchange of ideas on how woodturners have solved problems through creative “tinkering†and development of practical solutions to common woodturning problems. I know that for many woodturning clubs where “Show and Tell†is a part of the typical meeting, this is often a popular and well-received activity. I certainly enjoy it as one of my favorite meeting activities, and have benefited from participating in it too! These kinds of items also evoke a high level of interest on Internet forums as well.
For those who are planning on attending the Symposium and can bring their ‘gizmo' or ‘gadget’ item to show, they would get about 5 minutes to present their item to the group, demonstrate how it works, and give some idea about how it was made, from what items, and how it performs. If others have an interest in contributing to this SIN discussion but can’t bring the item to demonstrate, we can generate a few Powerpoint slides in advance of the meeting for you to present the item or idea to the group. Depending on how many want to participate, we may even be able to show innovations from members who can’t attend the Symposium but who would be willing to have their item shown to the SIN group with Powerpoint images sent to me in advance. This would allow many members to contribute and participate in the symposium, even if only for a few minutes, and would contribute to the goal of sharing practical woodturning information and ideas. My hope is that participants would come away from this SIN session with lots of ideas they can take home and try themselves, and tell others about them at their Chapter meetings.
For those that plan on attending the AAW Symposium in St. Paul this coming June, I would like to ask whether there is interest in having such a ‘Gizmos and Gadgets’ SIN session:
Would you be interested enough to attend the session and/or participate in it?
Do you have any ideas or comments about an activity of this kind, or can you contribute any experience from similar activities you’ve done at local meetings?
I am trying to gauge the level of interest before formally moving ahead with this proposal, and any feedback you could provide whether this is a good idea or not, whether you would attend such a SIN session, or whether you would be willing to make a brief presentation about one or more of your innovations would help me in planning and decision making!
Thanks in advance for your help!
Rob Wallace
