A note from Gary Burns:
I saw a few other members from the GVWG and FVWG, taking in the newest world Woodturners Symposium online. Demos started on Thursday September 24th, but you could sign in as early as Tuesday September 22. They started Tuesday with clips how to get around during the Symposium, plus added some short little demos, like making a one piece yo-yo.
Wednesday they set up a meet other turners around the world by picking topics you were interested in, then they linked you up and they gave you 5 minutes to chat with each other ( like in a zoom meeting), they found out shortly 5 minutes was not enough and quickly changed that to 10 minutes chat time.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday we’re all demonstrations days. Usually around1 to 1 1/2 hours. From 7AM till 7PM. Followed by a chat question and answer session.
Extremely well done. They had a list of links on the left side that would let you visit the vendors area. plus the vendors had a daily small turning challenge that they gave away great prizes . Or a link to any of the demos and join in, plus see what has happened previous and go watch that. Most of the demos were really good well worth the price of admission. Plus everything including the mini demos are available to go watch for an entire month.
They worked theirs butts off to cover every base they could. Considering this world of internet Symposiums is all new, they only had a few glitches they overcame very quickly.
Like any Symposium there is more to take in than possible and they made this into a 5 day event. It will probably take me the month to see the ones I missed, to watch the one I want to see again, and to get in the shop to try to make some of those pieces.
Worth doing, you bet.
– Gary Burns