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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

Florida symposium

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Florida symposium

#1

Florida symposium

David Galloway

>I am at the hotel after the second day of the Fla. symposium. This is a superb gathering, well planned, hosted by a great group of folks. I basically sat in Mahoney's seminars all day today.What an amazing turner! I have added several things to my arsenal as a result of this workshop.

One thing to mention: the importance of good video operators. I was in two seminars yesterday that were virtually unwatchable due to the laziness/lack of concern of the volunteers. Today, we had an agressive camera person who put us right in the action. He worked the entire time. At the end, he and I agreed that the way to do this is to have a live cameraman who is moving, several set cameras, and a director who plays with the switcher. I have come to clarity that the video folks are almost as important as the demonstators. It is irresponsible to have untrained video operators who do a bad job so that the majority of the attendees can not see the cut. I hope that we all will be more thoughtful about this. I am going to volunteer for camera duty for the AAW symposium next summer. Great job Florida!

David Galloway

GAW

Re: Florida symposium

#2

Re: Florida symposium

Gary in Zirconia,NC

>I agree. Demonstrations I have been to with poor camera men were not half as good as those with a good camera man. I watched them just stand there with the camera pointing at space for half the demonstration!

Re: Florida symposium

#3

Keith Tompkins

Re: Florida symposium

Keith Tompkins

>Hi David, I,m glad you enjoyed the symposium. I was a demonstrator in Orlando, where I encountered the same problem. We actually had to stop my program at one point and replace the camera person. Training?

AAW hands an evaluation sheet to those who attend the seminars, and forwards them to the demonstrators to review. My only negative comments were concerning the poor camera operations.

I agree, assisting at a symposium is more than a free pass to a demonstration.

Re: Florida symposium

#4

Re: Florida symposium

Russ Fairfield

>There seems to be only 2 solutions to the continuing camera and monitor problem, either the demonstrator provides their own equipment and crew, or we go back to a presentation style that doesn't require a camera to observe that action.

Re: Florida symposium

#5

Re: Florida symposium

john Lucas

>Nobody can argue that a good camera person makes all the difference in the world. I've been lucky to have some very good people at my last 2 demos. The problem is getting good volunteers. Heck the problem is getting volunteers at all. Usually someone comes in at the last minute and agrees to help out. This is great. It's far better than none but in reality most people aren't trained to do a decent video presentation. I'll admit I don't think I do the best job either. Your afraid to move the camera around to get a better view because your blocking someone elses view.

At the AAW symposium they had 3 fixed cameras and one that could be moved this worked very well. At our club we have one fixed and one moving. If the operator is on the ball, "AND" the demonstrator works with the camera man this works really well. It's hard to be a demonstrator, answer all the questions and remember the camera too. It takes practice. I think it's up to the demonstrator to help the camera person along. Again they are just volunteers who agreed to help out. Everyone else is sitting in the audience. My hat goes off to these people who volunteer. At least they are trying to help.

Oops that sounded harsh. I didn't mean for it to be. I understand where you all are coming from. Money is hard to come by for me and when I go to a demonstration that I pay for I want to see and learn and it's really frustrating to have poor camera work. However if we had professional camera operators the price of the symposium would have to be much higher.

My suggestion is if you happen to be comfortable operating a camera, volunteer. It's the best seat in the house and believe me the demonstrator really appreciates it.

Re: Florida symposium

#6

Re: Florida symposium

David Galloway

>Turns out that the "aggressive" camera guy is the one that is in charge of the vidoe work for our national symposium this coming year. I volunteered and hope we can really do an excellent job. I will tell you that Mike Mahoney, the demonstator, did a great job of prompting lazy camera folk and would goad them into doing better work, with his superb sense of humor. I am generally impressed with the work that is done at my local club, GAW, but the symposiums seem amazingly uneven.

I had a great time at Lake Yale. The Florida folks did a great job putting the thing together. Thanks!

David Galloway