Hi All;
I'm surprised that no one has made any mention of the AAW
symposium in KC this year. I am one of the members of the local club
and would be interested in feedback from those of you who attended. I
was only able to make it one day because of other obligations, but I
thought it seemed like a pretty good time. I know it was hot, but
since we can't control that...

Thanks....Alex Garcia
KC Woodturners

Ok, ...

I was there as a vendor. I found the convention center staff to be
helpful, good natured and good to work with while moving machines in and
out. As hot as it was, people could have easily been out-of-sorts and
they weren't.

I thought the facility was first rate except that my wife who was with
me would have liked it to have been not quite so isolated. She reported
that there was easy access to the one shopping center but everything
else was pretty far away.

We stayed at the Sheraton and had no complaints except that the guy
running the little news stand (USA Today is NOT a newspaper!) seemed to
be opening up late pretty regularly (or irregularly). A minor problem.
To make up for it... We stayed over Sunday night and ordered room
service so we could watch a ball game. The deal -- if it takes more
than 30 minutes it's free. It took 37 minutes so we ate cheap.

I thought that the banquet being served buffet was going to be a
disaster with that many people. It wasn't -- it worked well and the
food was very good. On the other hand, the food at the concession in
the trade show room was pretty poor. I didn't try any of the other
stands. Also the trade show room was COLD.

I thought that the breakfast could have been better thought out. I
cannot eat a lot of sugar in the morning and there was usually just one
type of coffee cake or muffin. A bagel or just plain bread or rolls
would have been helpful. I suspect that dieters also would have
appreciated a better selection.

Overall I thought that the symposium was very well done and the folks in
Louisville will have some work to do. KC's central location I'm sure
was very helpful in drawing the large number of people. It will be
interesting to see what happens to the numbers in Louisville.

Bill


Alex wrote:
Hi All;
I'm surprised that no one has made any mention of the AAW
symposium in KC this year. I am one of the members of the local club
and would be interested in feedback from those of you who attended. I
was only able to make it one day because of other obligations, but I
thought it seemed like a pretty good time. I know it was hot, but
since we can't control that...

Thanks....Alex Garcia
KC Woodturners

I was there. I thought the symposium was very good. All of the
facilities were first rate. All of the events ran very well. No
complaints from me. It was not clear to me where the local club left
off and the national picked up. It was seemless to me. That is a good
thing.

I stayed off-site to cut down costs. The convention center did seem a
bit far from other places to go, but that didn't really matter. Too
hot, of course, which is why I live in San Diego now instead of Des
Moines.

Joe Fleming - SAn Diego

OK - I got a few complaints that I didn't review the conference
adequately. My previous post was targeted toward the KC turners who
were the hosts. Many of the features of the symposium are out of their
control, so I didn't comment on them.

First of all, this symposium was great. I enjoyed the whole
experience. All of the rotations I attended were very well done with
only one technical difficulty in one session. Topics were relevant to
my turning needs.

The trade show had a very good variety of vendors. There were a number
of new lathes on the market. All the major vendors were there,
although Packard didn't have any inventory there.

The instant gallery was outstanding. I am always humbled by the number
of outstanding pieces and turners. If you surf the web, you will find
a number of people who have posted photos.

The surrounding events were good too. The banquet was very nice. The
benefit auction raised about $68,000 from around 80 pieces.

The Kansas City turners that hosted the WOW dinner on Friday evening
found a very good steakhouse (Jess and Jim's?).

The best part of these events is meeting new friends and reaquainting
with old friends. Lots of familiar faces were there. I even had the
opportunity to meet up with a scout leader from my youth (30 years ago)
who is a turner in Des Moines, IA.

I was the only registered participant from San Diego. I think more
turners should be going to these events to expand their turning
horizons. I encourage all of you to consider the regional and national
symposia available in your neighborhoods.

Joe Fleming - San Diego