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What do club members want to watch at demonstrations

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Philip Greenwood:
A question for club members, what do you like to watch at club demonstration night or days.

I know from my club that its hard to find out off members what they would like to see at club nights when a demonstrator comes, some want the most well known woodturners while other just come for a night out and are not to bothered who is demonstrating on the night or what.

Do you want to see the basics of turning from tool choice to using  each tool or not bothered that much about the basics, but want to see how to turn diffident items or just an item that would leave you saying i wish i could turn that.

Lets see some idles from all the members on here, and if your new to turning all the better.

Philip

Dave Atkinson:
Hi Philip

Good question. 

Last night we had a demonstration of French Polishing which was excellent.

We've also had people who collect old tools, maje rocking horses etc.

In terms of woodturning when I demonstrate I try to find something that is different from the norm and concentrate on techniques rather than getting to a finished item - I always have a Blue Peter version to show though.  I reckon if people can go away with some food for thought then it's a job well done.

One thing I don't like to watch is hollowing! Largely because there is nothing to see! :(

I also keep a record of what I've demonstrated to various clubs.  One of our members said about a demonstrator that came to our club "they did that last time they came, surely it's not hard to keep a record and avoid repetition" - That's a good point I thought so I've started a record! ;)

Having said that it's hard to come up with different ideas that you can do in a couple of hours.

Cheers Dave

John:
We had a committee meeting to discuss this subject on Monday.
Earlier this year we had a "hands on" evening. Five lathes were setup and one sharpening station,
We only had 30 members turn up normally we have 50ish. Most members just wanted to watch the minority learn and practice something they were having difficulty with. no one wasn interested with sharpening tools. The most popular table was set up for Hands on Pyrography.
At our Wednesday meeting this was brought up be the chairman who asked the membership what they wanted for Demo's etc.
In the main there was just blank faces.
The following Demo was by Chris and Rita Norton, they were making colouring fruit and onions, The comments at the conclusion was this is the best demo we have had in a while, As people were leaving they said they were inspired.
John

Bryan Milham:
As the person responsible for booking demonstrators for our club I like this question – I just wish I knew the answer.

Honestly, sometimes it’s finding an available demonstrator for the evening in question but as I like to work well in advance I try to vary the evenings between well the known turners and lesser known demonstrators from other clubs or their recommendations.

Basically everyone brings something to the pot and offers an individual insight to the evening.

Sometimes it’s the way they use a tool you had not considered, a special something they’ve made to make their turning easier, a review of some of the basic techniques or the simple repetitive methods turning on a spindle for production work (often forgotten in an individuals the thrust to making the big bowls).

Decorative techniques always go down well, colouring, piercing or adding texture.

Two one thing I personally dislike are the demonstrator who;

•   Whizz a piece of timber into something they’ve been working on lately and produce a nothing special piece, using no special techniques to see in action – we want to learn.
•   Demonstrators who insist on using the time we’ve given them to do nothing but advertise how much better it would be if we had them for a full day or were to attend one of their training sessions or buy their DVD!

We’ve also done the in-house demo nights, and for the size of our club you would not believe the reluctance of members to have a go on a Hands-to-Workstations nights and even more so to do a half evening demo to everyone. It’s nearly always the same few people who take up that challenge to do something.

I suppose to answer the question of ‘What Do I want’…

The one thing I’ve yet to see offered by a turner is an insight to their creative process. I know there are only a few people are naturally creative and can step well outside the (almost) engineering turning that most of us produce. The question I’d like to see explored though, is where did the idea come from, how did it develop and what processes did they go through from seeing a ‘something’ to realising the final piece on the lathe.

I’ve started trying to do this and to help me develop, I’ve taken to using my phone camera to snap anything with a shape I think has promise (ceramic, glass, jewellery etc) and also started sketching ideas and then pushing them in different directions to see what develops. How long it will be before I can turn what I can envisage remains to be seen.

Andy Coates:
"The one thing I’ve yet to see offered by a turner is an insight to their creative process."

This is an interesting one Dr4gonfly. I did a presentation and workshop for the Association based upon this broad idea. I started it with a powerpoint presentation - which shocked a few people I think - and went through ideas, processes, techniques, thoughts and ideas Etc., before getting into the hands-on work.

I think it went well on the day, and was even asked if I'd do a similar thing for an evening demonstration, but as I said then...I think  most clubs would see it as an "easy" evening for the demonstrator and perhaps feel they hadn't got value for money. It's a shame because I often think this approach would be far more constructive, and instructive, than the compromise demonstrators (me at least) often have to make in order to try to please the majority.

I also don't do "finished" pieces at demonstrations, feeling that ideas and techniques are far more valuable than start to finish projects.

But then that's just me...

We tried something very different at our club a couple of years ago, and brought in a presenter who offered something fresh and inspiring, but sadly most of the old guard found it baffling and failed to get the benefits. To the best of my knowledge the person in question hasn't given the presentation anywhere else since, which is a sad loss.

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