From Angelo J. Iafrate
Conference Committee - Chair
It is hard to believe that more than a month has passed since the Orlando
Symposium, yet we find our friends in Orlando smack in the middle of a
disastrous hurricane season. Our thoughts and prayers are with them
throughout their trials. (For future reference, Florida was hit by 2 large hurricanes
within during August and September 2004).
The Orlando Symposium was my first Symposium behind the scenes. I can tell
you that it was an incredible experience. It has been a long time since I
have worked that hard or have been that frustrated and have experienced
such joy or shared such camaraderie.
Attendance and Food Consumption
I would like to share with you some little known but mildly interesting
facts from our time in Orlando.
We had
775 pre-registered attendees
110 on-site registrations (the most ever) for a
total of 885 attendees.
These numbers place Orlando in
the top 10 largest Symposium for attendance. These 885 attendees took up
over 1,442 room nights over a four-day period.
Over the three-day period our members consumed an astonishing amount of
food. At the Symposium site, alone:
we drank 1823 soft drinks (including bottled water and juice)
we drank 337 cups of coffee and 92 cups of tea
we ate 285 hot dogs (not including Sunday as none were available)
298 salads
205 roast beef sandwiches
399 turkey sandwiches
431 ham sandwiches
and for those that missed the continental breakfast 111 muffins
These figures only
represent food purchased at the Convention Center. It's anyone's guess how
much was consumed elsewhere.
The Continental Breakfast was a new feature this year (one that we hope to
repeat). Its inclusion was a last minute negotiation and was not properly
advertised. We hope to make everyone aware when it is available in the future.
Demonstrations
The 885 attendees were able to see 130 rotations from 32 presenters from
different 8 countries, including our EOG Exchange students from Japan,
Minako Suzuki, and her American counterpart Lucas Hundley. The biggest
difficulty, I think, was choosing which ones to see and which ones to
miss. One helpful hint is to see which of the presenters will be
videotaped for the AAW. These presenters will be shown as featured
demonstrators on the Orlando Tape. We will try to make this information
available to you ahead of time.
This year was our first year with the new 4-camera set up in each demo
room. This set up used 3 stationary cameras and 1 movable video camera. We
have high expectations for this system as the room of attendees grows and
experience handling them broadens. It is a welcome change for those
attending the demo, as you should not have to miss a single cut!
Trade Show
Any one who visited the Trade Show (I cannot imagine there was someone
that did not visit there) were bombarded with new machinery, new turning
tools and wood, wood, wood from 43 vendors occupying 94 booths over a
total of 20,000 square feet of floor space! It was akin to a feeding
frenzy as turners bought, sold and traded all manner of turning related items.
Instant Gallery
Our instant Gallery featured over 500 entrants from those who attended,
including samples of work from all of our demonstrators. The Instant
Gallery covered an additional 9,000 square feet of space. To make the
demonstrators more identifiable, next year we will feature the work of our
demonstrators on a special demonstrator's table inside the Instant Gallery.
Chapter Collaborative Challenge and Juried Exhibition
We had only SIX (count 'em SIX) entrants into the Chapter Collaborative
out of 222 Chapters. This year we have released the rules for the 2005
Collaborative roughly 6 months ahead of the same announcement last year.
(For future reference, the 2005 rules were published on 9/1/04 in the AW Journal,
the AAW website, the AAW text forum, and the AAW email list (on Yahoo)); and the
2005 Symposium is in July 2005.
Additionally, we will hold the rules for the Collaborative for the next
Symposium (2006) so that Chapters needing two years to complete a project
can have them and know that they will still be eligible to compete. We
NEED your participation in order to continue this important aspect of the
Symposium! For me, it would be sorely missed if it were not held at all.
So c'mon chapter Presidents get you clubs motivated. Let's make Kansas the
strongest showing yet for the Chapter Collaborative!
In addition to all of this, our juried show, "Sea to Odyssey" showcased 53
works from 40 artists from 6 countries. If you took the time to visit,
these works were the cream of the crop and showcased the diversity of
possibility in woodturning. In case you missed it in Orlando the show has
traveled to our new AAW office and Gallery. The show can be viewed there
from September 9th through December 17th.
Banquet and Summary
Our Saturday night banquet included 1,015 pre-registered and 50 on site
registrants for a total of 1,095 participants. After the banquet, at our
annual EOG fund-raising auction, we auctioned a total of 78 pieces for a
record setting $48,488! Our hats are off to the effort put forward by our
own John Hill who was the auctioneer. We also thank all of the successful
bidders for an extraordinary show of generosity.
If you think these statistics are impressive, you should have been there
to experience the rush, first hand. Overland Park, Kansas promises to be
yet another extraordinary event. Mark your calendars now and join us for
an unforgettable first hand experience. You will never forget it. Details for the 2005
Symposium will be posted in the American Woodturner Journal and updated
on the AAW website on the 2005 Symposium page.
Respectfully submitted,
Angelo J. Iafrate
Conference Committee - Chair
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