[TheForge] Abana conference

Sat Mar 3 08:24:06 EST 2007

Chuck, I don't see the equipment being the issue. You have to have 
people who are willing to run the equipment and people to edit the tape 
into something useful. To make a good video of a demo, I think you need 
two cameras and tripods, two people on those cameras, an extra person 
capable of setting up the sound and running errands. If instead you duct 
tape a camera to a spare anvil, what you'll end up with is a video that 
nobody watches. Just my opinion. For an example of the best conference 
videos I've ever seen, get one from Rocky Mountain Smiths. The budget 
won't break (much), but finding the volunteers is tough.

Roger's videos are decent, I have a stack of them. For all I know, he 
just duct tapes his camera down, contrary to what I say above. He 
clearly knows what he's doing, however, and is only working on one 
demonstrator with one angle of view.

I agree that conferences are too expensive for most people. Good videos 
would help spread the word.

I don't mean to be picking your comments apart, Chuck, but I've got one 
more thing to point out. You say: "They tell me that ABANA has no 
relevance for them as far as blacksmithing is concerned." I notice this 
doesn't say anything about too expensive, rather that the offering isn't 
of interest.

Something's out of whack, but I'm not sure what it is. I think the AR 
and HB are great publications, with AR admittedly getting a bit weird 
and off center at times. I'd love to see ABANA continue to put on 
conferences in some altered form to make them more useful/accessible to 
the membership.

Steve

Chuck Robinson wrote:

> Hey Ries,
> 
> My suggestion for video recording the regional conferences should be 
> possible without breaking the ABANA Budget.
> I believe that several years after recording as many conferences as 
> possible, they would be a revenue you making activity for ABANA.
> 
> The basic problem that I see is that the present way of holding large 
> expensive conferences isn't working anymore. The  fact that only about 
> 10% of our ABANA membership are willing or able to attend means that 90% 
> of our membership don't support or receive any benefit from the 
> conferences.
> 
> I am the ABANA affiliate liaison on the Gulf coast blacksmith's 
> Association. The GCBA  has 125 members, of which including myself, only 
> three are members of ABANA. One of these ABANA members does not plan to 
> renew his membership.
> 
> When I question my members  as to why they don't want to be ABANA 
> members. They tell me that ABANA has no relevance for them as far as 
> blacksmithing is concerned.
> 
> ABANA membership is too expensive for the benefits they receive from it. 
> Most of The articles in the Anvils Ring show projects that are well 
> beyond their capabilities to make.
> 
> I first joined ABANA in 1973.  The earlier newsletters  weren't nearly 
> as polished as the current ones are, but they presented a lot of useful 
> information and tips that the average blacksmith would be interested in.
> 
> The conferences are generally, too far away and way too expensive for 
> them to attend.  So they basically get zero benefit from the ABANA 
> conferences.
> Our library however, has most of Roger's Conference Videos, and they are 
> very popular with our members.
> Chuck
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "ries" <ries at riesniemi.com>
> To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 11:00 AM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Abana conference
> 
> 
>>
>> On Mar 1, 2007, at 8:52 AM, Chuck Robinson wrote:
>>
>> I would like to make any alternate proposal to having a 2008 ABANA 
>> conference.
>>
>> Since the last few ABANA conferences have been extremely expensive,  
>> and under attended by the it's members,  I would suggest ABANA use  
>> some of the funds it intended to use for the next conference, to  
>> instead purchase high-quality video making equipment.
>> It would be used to make DVDs of the regional conferences put on by 
>> affiliate groups throughout the country. It might also be possible to 
>> send several people to international blacksmith and conferences to  
>> record them .
>> I have been extremely impressed with the  wonderful job that Roger  
>> Degner of the Upper Midwest Blacksmith's Association has done in  
>> recording the conferences that he has attended and produced DVDs of,  
>> that have valuable instructional material in them.  They are  
>> available to individuals for a very nominal cost.
>> Granted the videos aren't the same as being there, but they are  
>> orders of magnitude better than missing the Demos, when you can't  
>> attend in person.
>> I would strongly suggest that ABANA contact Rodger for advice on how  
>> he does it.
>> Chuck
>>
>>
>> Chuck- the whole problem is they dont have the seed money- the  
>> general idea of how it usually works is that the conference makes a  
>> slight profit- say 50 grand or so- then that gets used for deposits,  
>> startup costs, and so on for the next one.
>> The conference itself is supposed to be self supporting- the fees  
>> coming in pay for the expenses going out.
>> But this time, Seattle didnt make any money- in fact, it probably  
>> lost money.
>> So there is no pot of money to buy video equipment.
>> Roger does indeed work closely with Abana, and he does great things.  
>> Long term, it would be great if Abana helped Roger more, and Roger  
>> made more Abana videos available- in addition to the ones from abana  
>> conferences he already has.
>>
>>
>> Ries Niemi
>> Industrial Artist
>> http://www.riesniemi.com/
>>
>>
>>
>>
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