[TheForge] ABANA conference program problems

[Robert J Hill]

Just an observation;
The demo schedule listed on the web page was tedious to locate.  I 
printed it out, marked off who I wanted to see and brought that with me 
to the conference.  I wish I could show you all the changes I made.  
Having missed something I started checking the boards anytime I walked 
by one.  It was the only way to keep on top of things.  Even then I 
wasn't totally successful.  To plan and organize something like this is 
well beyond my abilities.  So I can't judge too harshly.  More signs 
and general announcements may have helped.  A few tents would list who 
was doing what for the day.  That was a plus.  In keeping with the 
Seattle coffee culture idea an espresso stand to serve drinks and 
snacks probably would have done really well.  There was a few days 
where an iced coffee, maybe even a decent sandwich would have been the 
perfect thing.  Speaking of sandwich it's time for dinner.  I'm still 
organizing the photos I took.  I am on a MAC so hopefully there won't 
be issues trying to post them.
Rob Hill

On Jul 13, 2006, at 15:50, Steve Smith wrote:

So why didn't you folks host it? I haven't heard that part of things.

I have to disagree with some of your complaints. Each demo pavillion 
was clearly marked as to which one it was, and the listing of demos and 
classes was given out in our tote bags. If you didn't look at the 
listings online in advance, it would be hard to figure out what sort of 
demo to expect from a given name, but they were almost all available. 
The web page could have been organized a lot better, but it was all 
there. It even got updated with a couple of last minute changes in the 
final week.

More flexibility in meals is a great idea. I suspect the hungry ate 
somewhere...

Steve

Gladish Family wrote:

> Just a note: this was NOT organized by the local people, though there 
> was some great participation by a couple. We were looking forward to 
> hosting it but were not allowed that opportunity.
> The demonstrators were wonderful- I was especially impressed by the 
> great attitude and philosophy of the people from Japan, Chile, Mexico, 
> Holland, England, and Australia.
> It would be difficult to convey even a taste of what was passed on 
> there, but I really enjoyed the Design and Business seminars- lots of 
> info in a very short time.
> For me, Medwedeff's statement that "we are not our customers' banker" 
> was worth the price of entry just by itself- a light went on when I 
> thought of how many times I've bought materials and provided labor as 
> an interest-free loan to the customer- not to mention design work done 
> on faith...but there were many moments like that.
> You can go and just learn techniques, but the attitude of the 
> presenters was the greatest part, for me.
> Complaints: It was difficult to figure out where demos and events were 
> and what was being presented- the signage was scanty and not very 
> helpful, and there was only one very late demo on Friday eve, though I 
> don't know if that's usual practice- it's just that it was the only 
> night I could be there and it pretty much shut down by 6. Maybe 
> they're all like that, this was my first ABANA. Also, we make a 
> practice of feeding everyone at least one meal at every local 
> conference, and at this one that wasn't done- you bought a meal ticket 
> in advance or you didn't eat, and to make it worse the food was served 
> right in front of a lot of hungry folks who didn't have and couldn't 
> get a ticket. I feel strongly that there should be at least one 
> catered meal for ALL attendees, so everyone feels welcomed and 
> included- there's something about eating together that brings people 
> closer. Maybe that happened the first night- anyone know?
> Bruce Freeman wrote:
>> I realize these conferences are organized largely by the local 
>> section,
>> but REALLY it's about time these organizational problems were fixed.  
>> It
>> really should be up to ABANA to evaluate and log these problems, and 
>> to
>> come up with better ways of doing things.
>>
>> I attended the 1998 conference, and missed SO MUCH because the
>> available information was so poorly presented that I found it 
>> difficult
>> to get to the demos most interesting to me. Since then I've attended 
>> as many of the local conferences and demos as
>> I've been able to, and find they provide much more bang for the buck
>> (counting ALL the bucks - travel, lodging, conference fees, food).
>>
>> I have not been tempted to go to another ABANA conference.  I'll go to
>> the New Paltz one (2008?) because it's so close by, but maybe my
>> contribution (time permitting) will be to present the program in a
>> manner to allow people to actually attend the demos they most want to
>> see, instead of spending megahours figuring out what will be where, 
>> then
>> finding the schedule was changed anyway.
>>
>> Bruce
>> NJ
>>
>>
>>>>> mpaietta at iglide.net 7/13/2006 1:20:31 AM >>>
>>>>>
>>
>> <snip>
>> I really enjoyed the classes, but it was not organized well. They had
>> four different lists that seamed hidden on the website. The demo list
>> with
>> times, locations, and demonstrator did not say what they were
>> demonstrating,
>> that was on another list. The list changed and was not updated very
>> well. My
>> friend wanted to go on the UW metal lab tour the people who were
>> volunteering their time were not informed of the different tours. 
>> There
>> had
>> been an issue long before with the local chapter and the person in
>> charge of
>> the conference.  <snip>
>>
>> Regards
>> Martin
>>
>>
>>
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