Duration of the Moot

[Tripitaka]

I don't really understand why people would opt for less tha 10 days but then, I suppose I don't have to.

The moot was oversubscribed this year and will be even more oversubscribed for 2009. I'm 100% with Wayland here; make it a 10 day event and allow people to choose whether they want to attend some or all of it. To facilitate this, make it a daily rate rather than a package but by all means offer say a 5 day and a full event pack at a discount.

From my point of view, a 10 day event is 6 days off work; it will be different for others though.

Also, how about grouping workshops into beginners, inetrmediate and advanced? I'm no expert at all but I can show people what makes good tinder, how to start a fire, cooking tips etc etc. I could teach beginners stuff and would be happy to do so on a longer event.

the trick will be in the slot bookings to maximise attendance for the full event.

 

[ganstey]

I haven't made it to a Moot yet, but I voted for 5 days...

Unfortunately that week clashes with a T'ai Chi study week I attend every year as part of my professional development. There is also a QiGong camp the same week in Devon that I'd love to go to but can't. The Moot makes it 3 things on that week

So, I'd vote for 2x 5days, spread through the year, and perhaps at different locations.

Also, as one who is fairly knew to this stuff, the prospect of being thrown in at the deep end, as it were, for 10 days feels a bit scary Even though I know there'd be loads of people willing to help out, it seems an awful long time for a first-timer. Having the option of attending for some of the days might work for some, but I for one would feel like I was missing out on some of the camaraderie, as well as some of the workshops etc. Also, the cost of a 10 day event would be prohibitive for me at the moment, but being able to split it into two payments 6 months apart, might be doable.

I have been attending my Tai Chi holidays for 10 years now, and at the end of each one I always feel like it should be twice as long. However, as the next one comes around, I always struggle to fit in the time away and to justify the expense in an increasingly tricky financial situation.

Just some thoughts from an 'independent'.
G

 

[Tony]

When it comes to the workshops i'd not expect any more commitment from people than we have now, we probably would not do the same workshops at two ends of say 7 days. It's more likely that we'd run workshops based on the days that people were available, if someone came and did a workshop say, twice, then they relax and that's that, unless of course they want to run more, I know that a few i've spoken to like the idea of coming to the Moot, doing a few workshops and enjoying the rest of the time there relaxing and using it as a holiday for them as well.

We had about 60 workshops over this Moot, they could be spread and we could have free days where we have fun, we could run competitions, have big cooking sessions together, tell stories etc etc

Keep the ideas and thoughts coming, something great will grow out of this

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

i voted for 7 days, id love 10 but its hard for my day to take a week of work. i would rather have two 5 day meets, one summer and one winter as mentioned earlier.
George

 

[-Switch-]

There's nothing to say that only one person has to run a particular workshop.
For example if someone taught bowdrill for 2 days running then they could have the rest of the time off or go home or whatever they wanted. Then someone else may like to run a bow drill class for the next 2 days and so on. That way people don't miss a class and no one feels obliged to run a class 6 days on the trot.
I'm sure you get more than one person asking if they can teach a certain subject at the moots?



I voted for 10 days by the way. My company are very flexible with my holiday so I don't have that problem. Also I have no SWMBO to give me a blank stare every time I mention a 10 day Bushmoot, so there's no problem there either
I love the Bushmoots (2008 was my 3rd) and have no problem with a prolonged stay in the woods so 10 days is great as far as I'm concerned.

May have to cut down on the though....

 

[drewdunnrespect]

the longer the better thats why i vote for ten days

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

Ten days would be good.

 

[spamel]

The thing with ten days is that you'd have to go back to the world for provisions. There is no way you could eek out ten days with shop bought kit, half of it would rot by then. I managed the whole Moot without having to go for resupply, my cool box was not cold anymore by the end though! It lasted most of the Moot though, and nothing did go off in the five days it was sat around so a good bit of kit. I would hate to have to go down town halfway through, just getting tuned in to the land and away from the hustle and bustle, to have to go back to that for a pack of bacon would be a nightmare for me!

I reckon I could do 7 days without needing resupply of any kind in a fixed camp, no problems. Most of the stuff I had didn't need refrigeration.

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

the run to the shops are not so bad, the good thing about 10 days as mentioned before it gives people with work commitments the choice of 2 weekends and the rare opportunity to be in the woods for 10 days being able to have a fire etc..

You may be able to go 10 days If you brought lots of rice, flour, milk powder, jerky maybe at a push.

 

[spamel]

It's nice to have fresh though. I do think the ten days is great to have a split though, but I would be loathe to leave if I knew the opportunity was there to spend another five days! ten days does give a myriad of options for those not wanting to stay for the full Moot.

 

[Wayland]

There's a farm shop down the coast near Ogmore.......

 

[Tony]

people need to realise that IF it was 10 days they don't have to go to it all, they could do a part of the period. friday to week Sat would allow people to get home and sorted, thu-Sun...there's all sorts of combinations from one day to the 10, whatever fits.

Spamel, there's loads of us that can pick up fresh stuff for you, we can just slide it into your cool box and praise those pixies

We would have to work out a pricing structure that allowed for a lot of choice but again, that's logistics and do-able.

 

[scanker]

Just give them the postcode, I'm sure Tesco will deliver from Bridgend!

 

[Womble]

I've voted for the increase to 7 day option, BUT I think the concept of a Friday to next Sunday moot (the 10 day option) would also work well - Possibly better.

When it comes down to it, the days of the week simply don't seem to matter at the moot - and why should they, that's an outside world thing (except for Tesco opening times...) - but they might do when trying to sort out leave. Personally I wouldn't be thinking about going back to work on a Friday after a 7 day moot - and that's another days leave gone.

 

[Longstrider]

10 days
For :
Only one event for Tone and the guys and gals to organise.
Opportunity for those who cannot make the whole duration to attend for shorter stays.
Workshops spread across the days to allow better attendance.
More time for bimbling and exploring in between workshops and 'happenings'.
More opportunity for impromptu 'stuff' to happen on quiet days.
10 nights of sitting by the fire of an evening in good company.

Against:
Nowt

10 days. SOLD !

 

[-Switch-]

10 days
For :
Only one event for Tone and the guys and gals to organise.
Opportunity for those who cannot make the whole duration to attend for shorter stays.
Workshops spread across the days to allow better attendance.
More time for bimbling and exploring in between workshops and 'happenings'.
More opportunity for impromptu 'stuff' to happen on quiet days.
10 nights of sitting by the fire of an evening in good company.

Against:
Nowt

10 days. SOLD !

And more time to get to know people too. I've been to 3 Bushmoots now and I still didn't recognise 95% of the people there this year

 

[spamel]

To be fair, if it were to be a ten dayer, I'd probably do the whole thing!

 

[andy_e]

To be fair, if it were to be a ten dayer, I'd probably do the whole thing!

Likewise

 

[stooboy]

I voted 7 days.

It would definitely make it more worthwhile for people traveling from further afield, and some free time to view the local area be great.

This was my first moot and i thoroughly enjoyed it, there was so many courses that I glad to be back again to do the ones i didn't manage but i think people loose sight of the fact that you can only absorb a certain amount of information at one time, and its often good to go home practice think hrmm howz that work and then return to the moot again the following year to ask questions.

Stoo.

 

[Elder]

Could allow for people tied up one week to come for a w/e at least.