A few questions for you.

1. If you were going to hold an L1® workshop what topics would you cover?
   Examples (assume "with the L1®" at the end):
   - stage layout
   - arranging live music on the stage
   - acoustics
   - feedback
   - what is different about playing
   - Playing Better (Cliff Goodwin videos)
   - tips and tricks (physical aspects of working with the L1® equipment)
   
   
2. Who would you invite?
   Examples:
   - L1® owners only
   - Performing musicians only?
   - L1® owner or invited by one?
   - People who sell L1® equipment?
   - People who sell instruments and equipment that works well with the L1®?
   
   
3. What would that workshop look like?
   - Where would you do it?
   - How many people would you hope to see?
   - What admission requirements would you have if any?
   - Would you recruit a big-name artist to do some performing?
   - Would you have a jam session?
   - Would you do it for profit?
   
   

If you were going to attend an L1® workshop what topics would you like to see covered?

Background
Why I would consider holding an L1® Workshop.

I Love Playing with Other L1® Owners
I love playing with other L1® owners. That's it. Period.
We could get into all kinds of self-congratulatory things about what it takes to be an L1® owner, but let me give you some really simple reasons.

• An L1® owner has his/her own L1®. That seems obvious, but it also means that I don't have to bring gear for anyone else.
  
  
• L1® owners take responsibility for their sound.
  
  An L1® owner has probably invested some serious time to understand how it works and how to work with it. I have known plenty of people who are happy to perform in front of an L1®, but unless they actually own it, they tend to look to the owner (or sound guy, or me) to take responsibility for the sound. The L1® owners that I know take responsibility for their sound.
  

Other reasons that come to mind

• There is still so much to learn about the L1®, getting together with other L1® owners could be a great way to share ideas and keep learning.
  
  
• I love to play with like minded people. This could be a way to meet some.
  
  
• It's a challenge to play with people with different musical styles and tastes. This could be a way to meet some.
  
  
• It could be an interesting alternative to holding a jam session or open stage event in hopes of stimulating interest in live music at a venue.
  
  
• It could be a way to introduce L1® sound to a specific venue.
  
  
• Some altruistic stuff
  I could go on for days about why I think the L1® is good for live music so I won't do that here.
  
  But quite selfishly I keep asking Are We There Yet?
  

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ST,

[moved comment to Are We There Yet?]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JohnNell,

Sorry John,

I just moved the poster related post back to the original discussion: Are We There Yet?

You could join me over there.

Hi ST,

I just spent an hour writing some thoughts down and then deleted them when I read back through and they seemed negative.

An effective workshop can be a very difficult endeavor.

I think you have to answer #2 above before you can answer 1 and 3.

I think any workshop has to include demos by experienced L1 users, proven to have a style and sound that is pleasing to a wide variety of listeners. Good music played tastefully.

One of the greatest things about the L1 is; when it is used to its greatest advantage, it disappears. That can be a difficult phenomenon to demonstrate or explain to someone who is intent on making their PA the star of the show.

O..

Hi Oldghm,

Thanks for joining this discussion Oldghm. I value your thinking.

quote:

Originally posted by Oldghm:
Hi ST,

I just spent an hour writing some thoughts down and then deleted them when I read back through and they seemed negative.

Did you really delete it? I'd love to read your thoughts, negative, positive, and things that don't wear either label easily.

quote:

An effective workshop can be a very difficult endeavor.

I think you have to answer #2 above before you can answer 1 and 3.

I think you could easily go round and round through the lists in various ways.

Certainly, you could start with 2.

That going round and round could go on for a long time until you have decided exactly what you want to accomplish.

quote:

I think any workshop has to include demos by experienced L1 users, proven to have a style and sound that is pleasing to a wide variety of listeners. Good music played tastefully.

That would certainly add credibility, but thinking back to Cliff Goodwin's presentation at Ashland (video referenced above). He did not play a note, but to me he had great credibility.

quote:

One of the greatest things about the L1 is; when it is used to its greatest advantage, it disappears. That can be a difficult phenomenon to demonstrate or explain to someone who is intent on making their PA the star of the show.

O..

I think (hope) it would be easy to explain that to an L1® owner.

ST -

You present several reasons for an L1® Workshop, but I don't think I read any answer(s) to this question?

What goal(s) do you, personally, hope to accomplish with an L1® Workshop?

I believe the answer to that question will guide you to answers with these:

If you were going to hold an L1® workshop what topics would you cover?

Who would you invite?

What would that workshop look like?

Besides playing music, one of my other hobbies is ham radio. Back in the mid-80's I use to organize "packet radio workshops" to introduce other amateur radio operators to the technology and help them "get on the air!" My goal was to help others enjoy the technology along with me, at the time. It was never work, and my reward was seeing others share in the excitement of the hobby. Although some of us wanted to talk about the AX.25 packet radio protocol, the majority of hams just wanted the "basic" information about what it was and how to make it work.

Where am I going with all of this? Well, as I discovered back then, one workshop trying to satisfy everyone's interest, was too complicated and time consuming to be totally successful. We had much better attendance and results when we specialized in mini-workshops in the different areas of packet radio. By the way, we measured our results by getting more hams into packet radio and on-the-air. That was our ultimate goal!

So, I'm thinking, having a definite goal or set of goals in mind, will lead you to a successful L1® Workshop or series of workshops. And, the answers to your questions will be in front of you, once you answer the "goal" question.

Comments?

www.thelodgebrothers.com

Hi John,

Thank you for thinking about this with me.

I'm not certain that a workshop is a good vehicle to get me where I want to go, but I am hoping that we can talk a bit and see where that leads. I was hoping that my questions would serve as a catalyst. Just something to get some of us going.

I led off with the idea of a workshop because that seemed like a familiar starting place. I didn't think that my personal motives would be of as much interest, but if you were still reading at the end of the post - that's what you got.

Stepping back a bit, looking at personal motives (before goals) let me lead with

Playing with other L1® Owners
- at a single event
- at a recurring but infrequent event
- to make connections to form more formal ensembles

A step that follows that: Get a bunch of L1® owners together in an environment that is conducive to making some joyful noise.

The promise of some musical fun and potential connections might be enough or a reward to get a bunch of L1® owners to load up their gear and meet somewhere. It would be for me. And if that would be enough of a motive, then I maybe should just find a place and advertise an L1® Owners Jam.

My nature is to look at any physical meeting of people as

• A very precious collection of non-renewable resources. Tick-tock, none of us gets to pass this way again.
  
• As an opportunity to deliver and/or share some value.
  

A workshop seemed like a familiar concept that would honour the resources, and could deliver or share some value.

I tossed out these questions to our community (the questions in the first post) to get a feel for what would be of interest to potential participants. Call it research.

If I were actually planning an event I would be very structured about how I went about it (Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives, Implementation, Assessment, wash-rinse-repeat; or some similar structure). But at this point I hope I'm just chatting with a bunch of great people full of ideas, looking for some insights.

Over to you guys.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ST,

I've got access to a place with 3 L1's, and I've been simmering the idea of starting a family-friendly** "concert series" to feature local performers (such as those who participated in the SongSisters event).

I haven't taken concrete steps to make it happen yet ... and I think that maybe I've been too concerned about "making it successful" ... worrying perhaps too much about how to advertise it and if/how to compensate the performers, etc.

Maybe I should just start it as a jam session, perhaps where the evening would start with a featured performer, and then open it to a jam session, rather than a more formal 'concert'-type event (since I've sort of been leaning toward it being at least free to attendees, with perhaps sponsors to compensate the 'featured performer').

Or, perhaps it could be a musical workshop, featuring performers and songwriters who would talk about and demonstrate their 'craft'.

.... that's where my mind has been for the past 4 months ....

Thanks, ST, for expanding my thinking, too, about how to encourage better live music in this area.

**p.s.: I recently saw an ad in a newspaper for a "family-friendly" concert. In some ways, it's good to know that with regard to an 'unknown' group -- but it also got me thinking that I doubt we'd have seen any concert ads with that tag 40-50 years ago.

I'm having a hard time differentiating between "conference" and "workshop". I will use St. Louis as my example. We ended up calling it a conference, but I can easily refer to it as a workshop, too. It was one day, which in itself makes it different from the other 4 conferences. It was full of non-L1 users, which falls somewhere between a workshop and sales seminar (which, of course, it was not). It was full of education, which says "workshop" to me.

I'm pretty sure this was originally billed as a midwest L1 user jam.

Hmm...well, now I'm troubled again (or still). How can I look at a workshop as being different from a conference when a conference is basically a series of workshops? Or the Road Show coming up? Unless I'm just messed up with the verbiage. That's possible .

Still thinking...

Hi Nathan,

quote:

Originally posted by BabyBlueEyes
How can I look at a workshop as being different from a conference when a conference is basically a series of workshops? Or the Road Show coming up? Unless I'm just messed up with the verbiage.

Some folks like to decide on a title (including terms like workshop, conference, clinic, ...) and then decide what will happen there.

You could also decide what will happen and then decide what labels to apply to that.

If I was having trouble with one approach, I might just turn around and try the other.

If you were holding a L1 workshop.....

and me as an L1 owner from a foreign country (where L1's were so sparse that I personally do not know another L1 owner)....would love to pay money and sign up for an L1 owners conference. I would plan it as an overseas holiday.

I would expect to meet with other experienced L1 owners and I would hope to have a chance to rent or borrow quality gear (since I cant bring my own from Australia).

The highlight for me would be to jam other musicians....not on big stages but just small jam in enclosed practice rooms, with the chance of a concert at the end. If I didnt have the opportunity to play I would go stir crazy.

If I found it was a sales promotion event for non L1 owners - Id feel cheated.

quote:

If I found it was a sales promotion event for non L1 owners - Id feel cheated.

Hi, Valvenerd,

Adding just a bit more insight to the previous conferences/workshops, no way in the world are these sales promotions. The common themes are community, music and education - mostly in that order. Since they're owner-initiated, sales never enters the picture (but Bose wouldn't bring it up, anyway; when they attend and help out at conferences, sales is not their agenda).

Since I alluded to "sales" in my post above, I thought I should clarify after I read yours this morning.

I think the only way you would feel cheated is the fact that they are over too soon. Those two days really fly.

Hi Dan,

quote:

Originally posted by Dan Cornett:
I've got access to a place with 3 L1's, and I've been simmering the idea of starting a family-friendly** "concert series" to feature local performers (such as those who participated in the SongSisters event).

...
Maybe I should just start it as a jam session, perhaps where the evening would start with a featured performer, and then open it to a jam session, rather than a more formal 'concert'-type event (since I've sort of been leaning toward it being at least free to attendees, with perhaps sponsors to compensate the 'featured performer').

Dan,
If I had semi-permanent, performance friendly environment, already equipped with 3 L1®s, I'd be all over this.

I made some notes about Jam Sessions. I hope there is something there for you.

Please see: Jam Sessions

Topic suggested by Oldghm


How to integrate the L1 into a conventional setup.

source: Are We There Yet

Or topics with similar concerns might be

Hybrid Bands
L1® when you are not the lead

Workshop demonstration - show, listen, tell
Hybrid band
- on the stage (players' perspective)
- at different distances from the stage (listeners' perspective)