Board Zoom Link There is a new Board meeting Zoom link to use for all board meetings: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86703686612?pwd=UM3tuQe3HBtBNycGvI1icThZsfVvl7.1 The board meets every 3rd Thursday of the month for 90 minutes @ 8PM Eastern. Each meeting is posted to the event’s calendar on the home page in case you forget when or lose the link. Every member is welcome to attend and observe. The meeting agenda is published a week in advance and can be found on the Board Meeting Records webpage. Meeting minutes, the Zoom call recording, and the transcription of the call will be posted within a week of the call to the same page. Directors and officers reports as well as committee reports used to be available only to board members in the “board packet” These reports are now available to all members and can be found on the Board Reports webpage. I think an organization is much healthier when all members have direct access to all the information. If you’ve never attended a BOD meeting know that the meeting starts and ends on time and sticks to the agenda. Meetings are 90 minutes long and always open to all members. Executive committee meetings which used to be how the society conducted it’s business are now reserved for emergency events relating to Personnel or legal issues which are so delicate they should not be shared. If such an unusual situation were to occur the meeting would be noted as having taken place but it’s content not divulged until it was deemed appropriate to do so.
2026 Symposium follow-up. The first virtual symposium is now in the record books. We had 4 days of events including 17 presentations ranging from how to make a tungsten to boro seal without uranium transition glass, to a variation on a toffolo style goblet done in boro on the lathe. There was socializing time at the end of each call with an “open mic” style Glass Happy Hour. Even though it was the first time we tried a virtual format we had nearly as many registrants as last year’s in person symposium. Those registered for the symposium can watch the call recordings which include Q&A with each presenter for the next month as not everyone was able to make it to every call. This way no-one misses out on any content. The follow up survey results were striking in how positive they were. Many suggested we hold a virtual event every year even if we have an in-person that year. Time will tell what we can manage with limited volunteer time and limited funds. The virtual and the in-person symposia target two different demographics. Some of us don’t have the funds to take time off of work and pay for travel expenses, or we’ve got kids at home and can’t leave for 4 days. Others love to meet their friends in person for a relaxing week away and maybe learn something new in-person. It would be ideal to serve the needs of both populations. Planning for the June 2027 Denver area in-person is underway. Once that’s a bit more built out, let’s see if there’s enough interest to create a virtual event as well.
Fusion Index Thanks to Andy Gibb, Gary Coyne and several others, we’ve recovered from the dustbin of old things no longer available, two indexes of Fusion Articles from 1954 – 2009. I’ve loaded them onto the Fusion page of the library. One index is sorted by Author, the other is sorted by title. While not complete, and not as easy to use as the video library searches (more about that in a minute) they are worth your time to look at. Gary has done an amazing job of collecting a vast list of subjects that might help you find what you’re looking for in the Fusion archives. Take a look. A similar index will be posted soon for the proceedings.
Video Library The ASGS video library was officially opened to members during the business meeting at the symposium. We are finally done with needing outside help from Maureen and The Flow Magazine to watch our own videos. We spent many months developing the video search functions which will let you find what you’re looking for. Jill Korgimagi-Clarke is the lead editor for the project. I’m building out an editorial review committee to screen each video before posting. At present we’ve published videos from the Vancouver and Raleigh symposia. In Sept we’ll release the vids from this year’s symposium. As time permits the editors and review committee will release more videos working backwards in time to the very oldest we’ve got. It’s a big project and will likely take more than a year to complete. Our sizable video collection will be different from all other video content you will find elsewhere online, because every ASGS library video will have been screened by a group of established, well regarded, senior scientific glassblowers for accuracy, appropriateness, safety and professionalism. You will be able to trust what you see in our library as rock solid information that’s correct and which will work properly for you. That’s not the case for a lot of what you find online. The video library is here.
