[TheForge] "Official" news from ABANA

[tristerk at aol.com]

Here are a few thoughts that I hope will stir up some discussion - I'm 
not married to all of 'em but wanted to throw them out there. .. .

Seems to me the ABANA conference's problem is an identity issue. Just 
what is the ABANA conference?

1. Is it a professional conference?
There are lots of these, designed for full time professionals, 
basically owners or high ranking employees in small businesses. The 
target audience for a metal version of this would be the owner of a 
small fab (the dog) or blacksmithing (the tail) shop, with maybe 3 - 20 
employees, grossing half a mill to five million annually. These guys 
would drop a few grand (tax deductible) to attend a conference and 
network, see new equipment and demos with no problem. A $600 gate would 
be cheap for them.

A conference like this would be run by full time professionals, for 
profit, in a damn hotel with demo's set up in a nearby stadium or 
something. I've got no interest in it, but it's one way ABANA could go. 
I'd like to think that there were a thousand real blacksmithing shops 
big enough to support a show/conference like this, but I'm afraid 
that's a fantasy.

2. An academic conference?
Like the MLA (modern language association) held by and for academics, 
most of the attendees having at least their 
gate/registration/attendance fee and many of their expenses paid for by 
an institution (university). Conferences like this mostly require an 
intuitional affiliation to attend, and consist largely of day time 
paper presentations and night time networking and grab-assing around.

My understanding is that the early ABANA membership had a lot of 
academic connections, which explains the preference for holding the 
conferences on university campuses, which are conveniently underused 
during the summer when outdoor blacksmithing is possible. If one has 
some pull inside the university this makes sense, because an academic 
event that makes sense to the administration (and brings prestige to 
the university) will get cut a lot of breaks that a bunch of sweaty, 
working class outsiders will not get.

This is another way to go, but I think these conferences would be 
small, and the number of blacksmithing/academics with enough inside 
pull to put them together would be vanishingly small.

3. An enthusiasts event.
Like the SCA events or a model rocketing meet, or a science fiction 
convention, or the big punkin chuckin' meet. These events are put 
together by amateur volunteers for their peers. This is how the local 
events run and I think it's obviously the model that ABANA should be 
looking at. These events run on people power, not money (there's plenty 
of money involved, ghu knows, but leveraged by volunteer labor). The 
trick is to motivate, inspire and empower the volunteers.

I think the key here is identity again - ABANA needs to figure out who 
the people who are going to attend/volunteer are - and what  they want 
 from the conference. I want to suggest that typical potential attendee 
is -

1 Not an artist - in the sense that they have no artistic credentials 
(MFA) and no contact with the academic/artistic community. These guys 
aren't applying for grants or getting fellowships. They aren't featured 
in galleries or putting together one man shows. There may be a few in 
touch with that stuff, but the vast majority just aren't.

2. Not a blacksmith - don't get excited I just mean not a professional, 
full time blacksmith. There are a few full time pros, no mistake, some 
of them even on this list - but if you don't count the guys who really 
make a living from welding, fab work, horse shoeing, machining and 
other metal working arts that are not blacksmithing, I think the number 
gets real small. And even the metal working professionals are vastly 
outnumbered by the hobby/weekend folks.

OK, I could go on, but this is getting pretty long - how about some 
quick brain storming type suggestions -

1. GET OFF CAMPUS - campuses are nice places but full of restrictions, 
conflicting interests (you have to use our food services - physical 
plant wants in on the action etc etc) and are infested with suits, 
lawyers, insurance salesmen, stray cats and other undesirables. We 
ain't professors. We should find places who want our business and will 
work to find a way to get what we need/want. If we grow, this will be 
easier.

2. Cut back on paid demonstrators - Plenty of talented folks would demo 
just for the prestige (and comp their memberships, buy 'em lunch etc) 
Have one or two featured demos from superstars if you must, but the 
rest should be invited volunteers. If we want to bring folks from 
overseas, why not set up funds for that purpose, take donations auction 
stuff, apply for grants etc, but get the plane fares etc. off the 
conference budget.

Set up more events that can just be dropped in on as they run all day, 
rather then scheduled hammer and talk lectures - quick example: These 
five guys in tent 4 will be building an x over two days drop by and 
watch/talk/help (where X is something interesting/ difficult/ 
unusually, like a Damascus gun barrel or a steam engine or something)..

3. Bid further in advance, have locations/committees vying for the 
conference i.e. in 2006, we should be picking the location of the 2010 
conference giving both more planning/prep time but also two groups 
2008/2010 going at the same time, so the guys running 2010 could get 
some inside experience volunteering at 2008, and lend a hand to the 
2012 guys in their turn.

4. Decentralize democratize, let the membership vote on things like the 
conference location - dispel the appearance that ABANA is the Clair 
Yellen club.

OK, enough for now - just a quick effort at some constructive 
suggestions - I hope they are received in the spirit in which they are 
intended,

.




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