Sign up thread for Casey Stack's Laser Safey Seminar (Monday after SELEM 2010)

[Stuka]

OK, now that everyone is ready to file their variance paperwork ()...

How was it?

[flecom]

It was excellent, was definately worth it... We bombarded Casey with questions and I think everyone has a better understanding of the fun and excitement that is the CDRH

[taggalucci]

I am soooo gutted!

I managed to catch the first 3 hours or so before the lack of sleep and tiredness from my snowboarding weekend, which included driving to and from the mountains, caught up with me! Not even the very interesting subject matter could keep me from basically passing out in front of my laptop last night (well technically this morning)! Had it not been for Casey's engaging and fascinating talk, I probably wouldn't have lasted more than 10 minutes!!

Regardless of my disappointment, I wanted to thank Adam for organising the whole thing and Jim for setting up the WebEx session which was really successful (well the few hours I managed to stay awake for anyway)!

Although we don't have the same level of regulation here in Australia, we do have the same standards. So much of what was covered was very relevant and my opinion is that even though we may not (yet) have the regulation, there are good reasons to employ the working practices that would comply with such regulation. It's common sense and demonstrates a duty of care to your fellow crew and audience.

Thanks again guys, hopefully I'll get another chance to catch Casey.

[loopee]

Many thanks to Adam and Jim for getting this arranged and setup

and a big thanks goes out to Casey for agreeing to do it


Troy

[blowfly]

HUGE THANKS to Casey and Buffo for the Safety Seminar. I learned a ton, definitily worth the cost of the trip. We sucked Casey's brain on a 12-hour information transfer marathon, not counting the midnight to 1:30am impromtu pre-seminar the night before. Casey was super cool about it and kept up the energy longer than any of us. It was obvious that he really enjoys his job and knows his material. His viewport is a somewhat conservative intereptation of the law, which is what I was hoping for. I wouldn't hestitate to take a training seminar from him again.

For anyone who attended personally or online, I have some very rough notes i can share. Send me a PM if you are interested. Like the slides, I don't think he would want the notes shared broadly.

My big take away from the day can be summed up with a single word: liability. This is my observation not anything Casey said explicitly. Yes the variance process is about public safety and following it will minimize risk to the audience. The reason the process is so convoluted and beaurocratic is because at the end of the day, no one wants to be liable for accidents, not the government, not the insurance companies, not the venues, not the LSO's, not the safety instructors, not the hardware makers, not the software vendors, and not us . Following the variance process to the best of your ability, along with other precautions, is the safest way to prevent accidents and ensure that you are not wrongfully found negligent.

If you get a chance to take one of Casey's classes, do it!

Mike

[MisterWilling]

Definentaly a very informative meeting, glad I attended.


Was there anything major about the variance filing process that I missed since I left early?

I would like to propose that anyone who attended the meeting and starts a variance process maybe share the information with others in the meeting. I'm very hesitant to start my own without having some other examples to look at and I'm sure many others are too. If we could collaborate together and maybe get a template to follow along that would help everyone out.

[JohnYayas]

Someone should create a "TurboTax" type variance filing program.

[-=Jim=-]

Someone should create a "TurboTax" type variance filing program.

They have it.... eSub

[mophead]

I found Casey's talk to be very informative. Knowing what I know now, I'm not scared to file the paperwork. Surely it won't be easy but not near as difficult as I had imagined.

I hate it that had to leave early and miss some things, but things came up and we had to go early. Didn't want to interrupt the meeting to say bye.

Had a great time.

[buffo]

Gotta agree with everyone here. Casey is awesome! And even when he wasn't teaching us in the seminar, he was still teaching us at the "fireside chats" in the lobby of the hotel. (Damn... We have *got* to get this guy back for SELEM 2011, no matter the cost!)

I think the best measure of the success of the safety seminar was the overflow-capacity crowd that showed up. We had 21 people! (Plus several more live via Webex.)

I have copies of the slides that I will be sending out to the folks who tuned in for the Webex broadcast. But my schedule is rather crazy right now (I'm actually on the road again and won't be home 'til next week), so it will be a while before I can mail them.

Mike;

With regard to people sharing their experience once they get a variance approved... That has always been my intention. I don't know how long it will take me, but once I'm done, I *will* share my knowledge with the group. In time, I'd like to see this become a routine task, instead of the daunting one we now believe it to be. (Well, maybe not so daunting after all, now that we've seen Casey's presentation, right? )

Adam