Woodturners Worldwide will host a five-day online woodturning symposium, replacing many local events that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The conference runs September 22-26 and consists of 45 demonstrations from more than 30 demonstrators from around the world. Fourteen of these are live demonstrations, with the remaining being pre-recorded for quality. The pre-recorded demos will host the demonstrator on chat answering questions live. The demonstrator will then host a live Q&A afterward to answer questions more easily.

The symposium starts Tuesday, September 22, with a full day of “mini” demos. These are original videos filmed by official demonstrators and other professional woodturners to give more exposure to a variety of turners. This will be followed by Networking Wednesday where attendees can connect with the 1,000 other attendees on a variety of topics including hollow forms, tiny turning, pens and more.

Matthew Deighton organized the massive worldwide symposium. “I have a passion for woodturning, promotion, events and creating. It was only a matter of time before I built an online symposium,” he said. “I helped the Utah Woodturning Symposium for several years, and have spent the last five years building the Woodturners Worldwide Instagram page to a community of more than 125,000. That's what I want to do here. I want to build a global community of woodturners.”

The event is spread over five days, but it is impossible to watch everything, so all the videos will be available for attendees to watch for 30 days after the event. Live demonstrations will be posted within the hour for those who missed it.

“For many, we'll never see some of the great woodturners of the world demonstrate,” Deighton said. “With today's technology, we can. Selfishly, I want to see many of them demonstrate. Building this event allows me to rub shoulders with some of the greats, and I'm hoping you can rub shoulders with them too. Reach out if you have any suggestions on how to make this an amazing symposium. Hope to see you there.”

The symposium also boasts a full Expo hall with more than 30 vendors, each with their own dedicated vendor page full of videos, discounts, products, and the ability to chat via text and video.

The cost of the symposium is $89, which includes full access to all the show’s events and the demonstrations for a full 30 days following the live conference.

For more information, email [email protected] or visit woodturnersworldwide.com.