Q&A  

Regional symposiums and conferences have experienced a noticeable growth in popularity and professional relevance with speakers, demos, and exhibitions of an impressive caliber.   How can SNAG better support, collaborate with, and learn from these events and the leaders that organize them?

Nicole: These regional symposiums are just large enough that they are not intimidating; they provide many points of view from various makers - not just metalsmithing or jewelry, and they are a great experience for anyone who is willing to travel at an affordable cost. They are truly galvanizing.  

Having been one of the attendees and most recently an organizer of a regional symposium, I think I can speak directly to this point. Our symposium developed after the students from Indiana University returned from East Carolina University's symposium Material Topics. Energized by what they had seen, what they had learned, how welcoming the event was and the diversity of the speakers/workshops - our students wanted to provide this experience in the Midwest and began to plan their own at IU in Bloomington.

I know over the years I have heard from many people that SNAG was simply becoming too large, impersonal, expensive and out of touch with the members. In some ways I too have felt some of these statements to be true and wondered if my membership was necessary for the organization. However, I do think that SNAG has an opportunity to partner as well as capture some of this spirit in order to provide some similar experiences. I believe there is much to learn and fortunately we have a talented diverse community in which to pull from in order to help regional events continue and how they can become a part of SNAG's program and mission. Here some ideas that I have been thinking about since I first attended my symposium at ECU in 2011.

The Smaller Regional Conferences

• On the odd years that SNAG is not hosting the large conference, provide a grant for smaller regional conferences - perhaps 2-3 in order to cover the coasts and Midwest regions. Grants could cover speakers and workshops or just general support.
• Provide competitive funding for the regional symposiums to host an exhibition
• SNAG hosting their own membership exhibition at one of the regional conferences
• Provide funding for travel to one of the regional conferences

National SNAG Conference

• A general push to make them more intimate and getting people connected - rethink the overall format of the SNAG conference
• Provide demonstrations and even possible workshops in break out sessions - a lot of information can be shared with little or no hands-on component
• Providing a reduced fee for those who cannot travel to the conference so they can view videos of events online or stream them live
• Poll members for ideas on what issues they would like to see addressed in:

1. Small topical discussions
2. Main speakers
3. Professional development strategies

** Member ideas for all of these could be some of the best ideas not yet realized

Tedd McDonah

Q&A

Regional symposiums and conferences have experienced a noticeable growth in popularity and professional relevance with speakers, demos, and exhibitions of an impressive caliber. How can SNAG better support, collaborate with, and learn from these events and the leaders that organize them?

Tedd: I believe SNAG has to consider itself as having to set the bar for conferences of their genre - especially considering the magnitude of programming and planning involved. Although I understand why, and that, the smaller events are popular, the SNAG annual conference has the benefit of being a completely different animal, the likes of which have three or more heads. The Forging Entrepreneurs symposium is a super addition for SNAG programming, in that, it offers a smaller experience, which I hope continues to thrive.