The regional demonstrators have now been named for this year’s symposium, thanks to the able work of Demonstrator Coordinator Craig Timmerman. They are:

Kevin Bassett - Double Natural Edge Bowl

Delbert Dowdy - Segmented Box with Insert Lid

Wayne Furr - Projects for the Beginning Turner

Dan Henry - Rose Engine Lathe

Bill Kloepping - Advanced Design Laminations

Ken Rogers - Turning an Open-Sided Hollow Vessel

John Solberg & Pete Tkacs - Building a Vacuum Chuck System

Bill Tilson - Flower Petal Bowls and Vases

Allan Tucker - Better Shape and Form

Larry Walrath - Turning a Bowl from Raw Material to Finished Product

Larry Zarra - Turning Miniatures – Learning to turn fine details with confidence

1st - John Horn - Making the Most of Your Mini-Lathe

In addition, several of the vendors will be demonstrating as well. Details on those demonstrations will be available later.

Speaking of vendors, they are one of the biggest attractions at the Symposium every year. It is a chance to actually see and try out all sorts of tools and buy them at a bit of a discount. While the vendor list isn’t finalized yet, we expect the following vendors to be there for this year’s show:

As with the demonstrator listings, the vendor list will be updated as we go along. Be sure to support the vendors. They support the Symposium by being there, even though it is not particularly profitable for them.

There will be an opportunity this year to see a number of different lathes in use in the demonstration runs. In addition to the usual Powermatics, we are expecting Stubby, Robust and Oneway to make an appearance as well. This is a great opportunity to check out your dream lathe.

There will be two headquarters hotels in Waco, the Waco Hilton and the Marriott Courtyard. Both are immediately adjacent to the Convention Center.

113 S. University Parks Dr.

Waco, Tx. 76701

$109 (king bed - single or double occupancy)

$119 (two queens - single or double occupancy)

Phone 254.754.8484 and use the full name "SouthWest Association of Turners" for these prices. We have ten rooms on Thursday night and thirty on Friday and Saturday reserved at these rates.

101 Washington Ave.

Waco, Tx. 76701

$95 (single or double occupancy)

one king bed code SWASWAA two queen beds code SWASWAB

Phone 254.752/8686 and use the name "SW Assn of Turners" for these prices.

We have twenty rooms on Thursday night, and fifty rooms on Friday and Saturday at these rates.

If these don’t fit your plans, there are numerous other hotels in Waco, as well as nearby RV facitlities.

SWATurners is in the final stages of preparing for for the 2008 Symposium in Waco, October 17 - 19, and we need some help to maximize the benefits to attendees this year as well as minimizing any cost overruns that would have to be made up in future years.

As you may be aware, a significant portion of our costs at the Waco Convention Center this year will be based on the number of people in attendance.  For instance, we will be charged a fee for each chair and each table we order in advance.  If we overestimate, money will be wasted.  If we underestimate and have to order more chairs or tables on short notice, the fee per chair or table is roughly doubled.

We are aware that the high costs of gasoline and the general economic situation may be causing folks to delay firming up their plans for attending the Symposium. Even if you aren’t ready to commit yet to attending the Symposium in October, we are trying to get an estimate of attendance so that we can minimize our costs. You can help by letting your Club SWATurners Representative know whether or not you plan to attend,