[TheForge] ABANA Poll

[Saint Phlip]

On 3/2/07, Terry <mail4t at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I finally got fed up enough with the apparent attitude of the ABANA
> board to weigh in on this discussion. I met Philipa in Seattle, and
> don't think she's getting a fair shake here.

Thanks, Terry, for your support. But, one thing I've learned over the
years, is if you want a fair shake, you better check the dice yourself
;-)

> I attended the Seattle conference, and had many of the same
> complaints / observations of others on this list so I'm not going to
> list all of them here.
>
> 1.  There was no poll in my packet for Seattle.
>
> 2.  I almost didn't go to the Seattle conference because of the cost
> - and I live 30 minutes away.  I'm a hobbyist, not a professional.
> The cost of the conference needs to get a lot lower - and this means
> the basic cost.  I  didn't sign up for the food or lodging, and would
> not at a conference that was farther  away.

OK. How would you feel about camping, if that was included as part of
a reasonable Conference fee?

And, how far would you be willing to go for a conference?

> 3.  Don't bother with the poll until the ABANA Board agrees that they
> will do something with it.  IF you can't use the ABANA name whatever
> conference is run will be a "regional" conference.  Not that it is a
> bad thing, but one of the purposes of this discussion is to revive ABANA.

So far, I've gotten some feedback that I need to keep private, that is
positive towards the poll. Maybe could be Dave started the idea to get
me out of his hair, but maybe could be that other folks will be
looking at this seriously, too. Ain't gonna find out until I try. And,
after all, the heart of any organization is its members/volunteers.
So, I volunteered, I'm a member, maybe I can help change things for
the better. And, if not, I, and we all, will have learned something.

> 4.  As far as number of responses to whatever poll is used: my
> company has a "usability group".  They regularly do studies with 12
> to 15 people and assign "confidence levels" of 80% or so to the
> results - even though the final population is in the hundreds of
> thousands. Something about statistics which I never understood.

Yeah, statistics can be interesting, if your choice is watching paint
dry ;-) But, used properly, they can at least give a bit of insight.

> Yes, if the poll is done electronically, you will have a bias towards
> non-luddite blacksmiths. But if you don't want to wait 6 months for
> the results, it's something you will have to live with.  (My
> understanding is that 6 months is too long to get moving on a 2008
> conference.)
>
> Terry

Actually, I'm thinking of going both ways. Electronic results will
give us quick results, which can be supplemented later by snail mail
results. Any differences between the two will be interesting in
themselves.

-- 
Saint Phlip

Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Priorities:

It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.