buffo
For the social aspect of the event, I completely agree. But in order to capture the presentation portions of SELEM, it would need to be a scheduled event that is coordinated. And no, I'm not talking about a week-long schedule. More like a series of 1-day schedules with perhaps 2 or 3 presentations each, along with the aforementioned chat channel to go with it. Thinking like maybe 3 Saturdays in a row or something...Originally Posted by JohnYayas
Agreed. Although the "social hour" style meetings are far easier to set up than the ones where people have prepared demos ready. The presentation style meetings are harder to schedule, and you need people to volunteer.It would be quite interesting and entertaining if we had regular virtual "MeetUps" on here where we schedule an hour or two meetings once a month and one or more people can talk about something and give demos.
SELEM is lots of things to different people, but I feel that the social aspect is a big part of the event. A virtual meet won't take the place of all the pieces that go into making SELEM whole, but it might satisfy the social aspect - at least in part. It also allows for something similar to the classroom presentations, assuming we have enough volunteers who are willing to prepare a demo to be broadcast.It seems like a big part of SELEM is hanging out and pretending to be lighting technicians for a few days. Not to mention drone flying and tinkering. The presentations seemed secondary, although getting the free Pangolin swag was probably a big draw for some. Oh yea, door prizes, too. I think I must have scored close to $1000 in door prizes from my trips there.None of that translates over to a virtual lem, other than possibly getting some simultaneous web cam face time, which you can already do with Skype meetings if desired.
Assuming we do try to do a virtual event, it's likely to be even more chaotic and ad-hoc than SELEM ever was. But there's a certain charm in that. (Spec once called it "The glory of a free-range clusterfuck", and that phrase has stuck with me ever since.) And obviously there's no cost associated with virtual events, so there's no reason we couldn't do them on a recurring basis - provided there are enough people willing to participate. I'm not sure if you can record a Zoom meeting or not, but if you can that would be ideal.
I know dude, I know. I have the same voice inside my head. On the one hand, I really want SELEM to happen. So many people look forward to it (including me!) and it brings a great deal of joy to everyone. I also don't want the event to lose momentum because we skipped a year.The voice of reasoning in me would just tell you to pull the plug this year. There is a chance that it might work out but more than likely it isn't going to and it brings risk that really isn't worth it.
But on the other hand I have to consider how we would feel if one of our own got sick as a result of the event. We've got several SELEM regulars who are at high risk for serious complications from COVID-19. And that voice inside my head is telling me that I need to stop being selfish and start thinking about the good of the entire community.
I've thought about that as well. We could do FLEM on a larger scale. Aaron (allthatwhichis) found a venue that is only 30 miles or so from the boat club that we used to use. The one Aaron found is much bigger, and there are options to rent cabins nearby to stay overnight, or we could camp on site and even roll out sleeping bags in the main room if we wanted. It's also located in a more remote area, so no worries about noise or anything. It would have to wait until the fall of course, but it's an option worth considering...Maybe you can make FLEM a little larger, or find some other place for a LEM later in the year, even if it isn't a full blown thing.
Another thing to consider is that the annual ILDA conference will be at the Executive Banquet and Conference Center in Delaware this year. That's the place that Brad (bradfo69) has been managing for many years. As such, I know that the event is going to be different from past conferences, both because of the venue and because Brad is going to be hosting it. It won't be SELEM, but I'm still planning to attend as I suspect it will have at least a hint of the SELEM feel to it. I've also toyed with the idea of trying to do something here in Charleston at some point. Of course, the problem is always the venue, but with the downturn in the entertainment business there might be an opening later in the year.
One final thing to consider is the next Caribb-LEM, which should happen in March of next year. It's a bigger commitment than SELEM, both in terms of time away from work and cost, but it's also much, much more than SELEM could ever be. True, there's less focus on the equipment - simply because it's not practical to ship 20 projectors to the island - but we still share stories and experiences, we still put on several shows (so everyone gets to participate in the "lighting designer" role as we set up, operate, and tear down), and we also geek out with other hobbies, like quad copters and SCUBA diving. Plus it's a vacation in the tropics in March, which is always a plus.
So yeah, there are options for the future. But until then, having some "virtual meets" might be just enough to satisfy our social interaction needs so we don't all go completely nuts.
Adam
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