SELEM 2009 Info and Sign-up Thread

[daedal]

Seriously... how long are the presentations going to be? 3 or so hours all together? And how long is the longest one? maybe 45 minutes? I mean... you can go have a hotdog, a beer, and a smoke and kill that!

--DDL

[Stuka]

Very nice idea!

"Stuka" is spelled wrong on the sign...

[Stuka]

Seriously... how long are the presentations going to be? 3 or so hours all together? And how long is the longest one? maybe 45 minutes? I mean... you can go have a hotdog, a beer, and a smoke and kill that!

--DDL

* Rules of the venue *

Any breaks for eating, drinking, smoking or bathroom visits shall be taken
(1.) Prior to official start of the day's activities
(2.) After the day's close of business

[Docjohn]

Adam:

Should I bring this? (If we only have 1 sound system) Runs off a large motorcycle battery and is totally wireless.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._Wireless.html

[buffo]

Well, it appears we have an issue to discuss! I was working on a time schedule for the presentations, but maybe we should discuss this a bit first.

Before we start, here's some history for people who haven't been to SELEM before: The presentations typically last around an hour each, and we usually have 3-4 on Saturday and 1-2 on Sunday. Some presentations are shorter (some as short as 30 min), but most are roughly an hour long.

Last year we did have a problem in that we got behind schedule (because we were playing with our lasers instead of watching the clock), and towards the end of the day on Sunday we were running dangerously short on time. Then one of the presentations ran long, and I made the painful decision to cut that person off so that another presenter could give his final talk before he had to catch a plane. As most people are aware, the person who got cut off was James Lehman, and that hurt him deeply. I'd like to avoid anything like that in the future.

But there is more to the story than just this. Some people came to SELEM with prepared, rehearsed presentations that were timed to last exactly 50 minutes. Other people came with a loose idea of what they wanted to talk about and just winged it. This made keeping to a schedule very difficult.

For example, Steve Roberts started out by showing everyone how to walk the mirrors on the Lexel 95, and then switched gears by giving a demonstration on how to clean optics. He then switched gears again and finished up by talking about laser safety in general. It was a great presentation, but it was also quite a bit longer than expected.

In fact, his presentation ran so long that the battery in the wireless mic died! But he was also in the backstage area at the time (where we had the Lexel 95 set up) so it wasn't a big deal. People in the auditorium were still free to tinker with their projectors if they wanted. (Though we didn't have any music.) Note that some people stayed for Steve's entire presentation, while others only stayed for part of it, and some people skipped it altogether.

On the other hand, one of Patrick Murphy's presentations dealt with the Aquamarine rave in Russia last summer where several patrons were injured by the pulsed laser that was used to scan the crowd at the event. He said that his presentation would last between 20 and 30 minutes, and he was correct - it lasted exactly 25 minutes including the question and answer period afterwards. It was held in the auditorium (he needed the LCD projector and the mic), and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

So here is the issue. Right now I have a fairly short list of presenters, and based on feedback from the group I'm inclined to keep it that way. (Most people seem to feel that we need more time for laser shows.)

Patrick Murphy has a presentation about ILDA's efforts to increase the allowed power level for audience scanning that will probably last for 45 minutes. Patrick and Bill together have an accompanying presentaion about how to measure power levels for an audience scanning show that should take another 30 minutes or so, including the demonstration of how to take the measurement.

Bill Benner has several topics that he'd like to share. One is information on the new LASORB device, which I believe has nearly universal appeal. That presentation should take about 30 minutes. But Bill also has a presentation about the new Pangolin Beyond concept (which includes some video), plus some info about the new QuickShow software and the Beam Brush hardware. I expect that each of these topics will last for 30 to 45 minutes.

Now, while these presentations may sound like an extended sales pitch (to use Dr Lava's words), I do think it's still going to be quite interesting. More to the point, Bill was one of the first people to contact me about presenting at SELEM, so I'm inclined to allow him to present everything he has. If there is disagreement, then I'm open to your ideas. (Not saying that I'll automatically change my mind, but I will listen...)

Beyond these two people, I do not have firm commitments from anyone else as to whether they would like to present anything to the group. I know that Marc (GottaLuvLasers) has mentioned that he'd be willing to talk about CDRH variances, but I don't think he's got anything official prepared. My understanding is that it would be more of a question and answer session, assuming there is interest in it. (I haven't spoken with Marc about it since it was mentioned in passing in the forums a couple weeks ago.)

Likewise, I know that Andrew (DrLava) mentioned that he'd be willing to talk about his ILDA SOS software, but again, I don't know if he has a formal presentation put together or if he's just going to have it up and running for people to check out during the day...

More to the point, I know that one of the coolest things about past SELEM's was when people got together in small groups and started talking shop. Bill Benner showed a small group of us how to repair a broken scanner mirror at SELEM 2007, and DZ re-wired Aaron's early RGB projector while answering several questions about projector design and wiring posed to him by onlookers. So I'd like to keep that possibility open for this event.

I'm torn on the whole idea of presentations. On the one hand, it's great to hear from someone that has a lot of knowledge, but it's also great to see 10+ projectors running at the same time. I'd like to think we'll have enough time over a 2-day event to do both, but there needs to be a balance.

Ok - that's my opinion... What's yours? Reply below, and do it fast, because SELEM is less than 2 weeks away!

Adam

PS: Docjohn - please bring that mobile PA system! That would certainly help!

[daedal]

Hmm... okay... that sheds some more light to the situation... I'm seeing close to 5+ hours of presentations in the above post...

--DDL

[allthatwhichis]

As for presentations; I am torn. I am not sure what I want to sit through, but I am also here for the full "ride". Whatever the group prefers I want to help make it so and make if enjoyable. I recorded a couple of the presenations last year and can bring copy to rip and burn for anyone who want a copy. I say Evil Adam gets to record them this year; he got a better camera.

I say we have a rotation; beams, presentation, beams, presentation... beams, beams, o, we need to eat in here somewhere, , and maybe ...

[Pangolin]

Hi Adam,

A few points.

1. I think you might have it just a bit incorrect. I don't think I mentioned wanting to present about BEYOND proper, but did mention wanting to present about what will be the 3D portion of BEYOND as well as QuickShow.

2. In most cases, the presentations that I have, are already ones that I have given at ILDA. As such, these presentations are tuned to take around 15 minutes each, not 45 or longer. However, I do anticipate -- especially from SELEM attendees -- that there will be a lot of questions about each topic, and thus this could extend the time.

3. When I originally wrote to Adam about this, I specifically stated that I did not want to "hog the floor". And if there are those among us that believe that the only thing I ever do is make "extended sales pitches"
(of course, the only people ever assuming such a thing would be people who have never seen me present, and, as an aside, I look forward to seeing if their own presentations are themselves extended sales pitches...), then I have a suggestion:

What we could do is have a "show of hands" from the attendees about each topic. If the majority of attendees want to hear about a particular topic, then I suppose we can hear about that topic in the auditorium. If it turns out that a particular topic is "on the fringe", and relatively few want to hear about it, then I suppose that topic can be presented in a smaller room.

On a personal level, I am prepared to make the presentations anywhere, including in one of the smaller rooms. This would be no problem for me and might seem more democratic than an "all presentations in the auditorium" approach. HOWEVER, I will point out that -- if we use this "show of hands" approach, it means it should be applied universally -- to all presentations.

Bill

[Stuka]

Hi Adam,

....
What we could do is have a "show of hands" from the attendees about each topic. If the majority of attendees want to hear about a particular topic, then I suppose we can hear about that topic in the auditorium. If it turns out that a particular topic is "on the fringe", and relatively few want to hear about it, then I suppose that topic can be presented in a smaller room.

....

Bill

I'll second that motion - doesn't get more democratic than that!!!

Simple majority takes the stage, others use alternate presentation space.
Very open decision, everybody knows who really wants to see which topics...

*********************************************

I'll go out on a limb and throw in another 10-cents worth while I'm here, and this is definitely NOT "bashing" anyone that isn't using the same gear

I think Adam is doing a great job trying to coordinate eveything, and puts a lot of effort towards making sure everyone gets a chance to participate.
At the same time, for many of us, the draw of the SELEM venue is the fact that is is such an AWESOME venue to run laser shows (especially multi-projector beams ) and gives us the opportunity to enjoy our time & financial efforts in ways we might not experience anywhere else.

Along with that is the fact many - perhaps a majority - of us in attendance run similar products, which enables us to link the gear and run some incredible, choreographed multi-projector shows that we wouldn't be able to pull off anywhere else. Similarly, when the company that makes these products offers to provide presentations on upcoming enhancements to that same equipment, there is going to be a lot of interest, not because it is captive-audience oppportunity to run a commercial, but because many of us have a vested interest in what is being offered.

I would hope that anyone who may not be interested in the choreographed beam shows, product presentations, etc. will realize ahead of time that these things are a HUGE part of the draw of SELEM. At the same time, even if your particular interest or presentation doesn't wind up "center stage", what you offer is an important part of the event, and will definitely be appreciated by those in attendance!

[drlava]

Sounds good to me. From talking with Adam a week or so ago it sounded like there wouldn't be time for any talk about OLD SIS, so none is planned. However come up and talk to me I can show you what it's about.

Bill, if point 3 is to me, don't worry I did not expect that to happen, only feared it as a remote possibility as it could happen with anyone if there aren't specific presentation times.