Date and Schedule
The target date for the event is October 21-22, in Dayton, OH, and a rough schedule for the weekend includes:
Friday, 10/21:
- 3 rotating groups for: Factory Tour, Product Demonstration, Panel Q&A (timeframe TBD)
- In-factory surplus and product sale event (Friday afternoon)
- Welcome reception and keynote from Bob Folkerth, President of Shopsmith, Inc. (Friday evening)
- [repeat of] 3 rotating groups for: Factory Tour, Product Demonstration, Panel Q&A (Saturday morning)
- Group Outing (TBD based on interest/availability – possibly visit to https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/)
- Closing banquet (Saturday evening)
- Departure and return travel
The Shopsmith team is not charging for any of the in-factory events (unless of course you’re shopping for in-factory bargains!).
There will be charges for social events (welcome reception, closing banquet, outing) and hotel accommodations for those who require them. I’ll be seeking input from participants as to what they’re comfortable contributing to the reception and banquet, and likely will suggest cash bar for both.
Logistics
The Shopsmith team indicated they’d need to limit the Friday and Saturday rotating events to 3 groups of 10, for a total of 60 participants over the two days. That’s about the number I would expect would commit to the event, based on interest expressed in my prior posts.
We are going to need some indication from the community around how many people will require hotel accommodations, and for how many nights, so that we can look into group rates at a local hotel.
The Shopsmith team unfortunately is not willing to help with any sort of registration, so we’re on our own for this. I’m not really well versed in the best mechanisms to do this (some have suggested a dedicated Facebook group for the event), so would like to lean on the community for some suggestions and expertise here. Since we have limited slots on each day to get into the factory, we’ll need to register people into specific groups for those rotating sessions.
Shopsmith has offered to host the welcome reception on Friday evening in the factory, but I think we’d be better off hosting this offsite for a couple of reasons: (a) we’ll only be able to have a “vendor showcase” for those who are creating add-ons and replacement parts if we do this outside the factory, and (b) the Friday tours would have be conducted in the morning (rather than afternoon) to give the Shopsmith team time to set up for the reception at the factory during the afternoon.
So, if you’re interested, block the weekend on your calendar, and I’ll have some more information shortly. Please comment back if you have expertise that you’d be willing to share to help with registration and communication to the participants.