@Aries M: The conference was Monday - Saturday noon. There was one class a day Monday - Friday (you could pick which class you wanted from 3 or 4 choices) & a class for 1/2 a day on Saturday. Some of the classes during the week were what I call "drawing" classes, where you learned how to illuminate documents that you have calligraphed with flowers, vines & etc. I don't have an artistic bone in my body & I will leave all of those classes to
@schin &
@Erica McPhee ! I have very basic Italic and Uncial, and I am not very interested in broad-edged calligraphy. So, I tend to gravitate to the pointed pen classes. The half-day class on Saturday was very well instructed, but should have been a full day, if not 2 days. It was on a low-cost graphic design software, the name of which presently escapes me. But, I will check my iPad & post the name tomorrow. It is a one-time fee program which is a much cheaper alternative than Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. The problem that I had with the class was that the instructor threw a semester's worth of instruction at us in 3 hours. It was very well organized and clearly stated, but we flew through it so fast that no one could actually keep up or learn anything. I plan on revisiting it soon, so that maybe I can actually learn the program. Overall, it was a very, very good conference & I am glad that I went, even though I came away humbled. If you can get yourself to a conference, you need to do it!
One of my very best classes was on flourishing. I am a newbie at flourishing & this was my second class with Suzanne Cunningham, who is a master at flourishing. I came away from the class much more confident in my flourishing skills.
With regards to meeting people, everyone was trying to social distance, so you generally only met the people who were sitting around you. You could invite those sitting around you to go to lunch or dinner & generally your invitation was accepted, so that you didn't have to sit/eat alone. The "experts" (master penmen) are generally very friendly & caring & will help you with a specific problem. But, even they were in short supply at this conference, due to the pandemic. Normally, you see them around all week, but this year they generally came to teach for their one day & then left. I can't say that I blame them. We are in the midst of a pandemic, as we all know.
There is an annual business meeting held on one of the nights & it is world-class boring. There is a night where people can sell things that they have made (pens, nibs, t-shirts, paper, aprons, hand-thrown pottery, & etc.) & that is very interesting. All-in-all it is always a good experience and I do recommend attending, if you can!
Janis
