The Benefits for a Beginner Taking a Workshop?

[Apex37]

First of all, thank you all so much for your sharing your experiences.

I’ve pondered over all of this the past couple days and reached out to a few senior members to offer assistance on anything they might need help on. I do agree that I think I can probably learn the most by working with someone on every day tasks within bonsai while getting their expertise on stuff I’ve never thought of before. I am a hands on learner so the more I do, the more I learn.

I looked more into the upcoming LSBF exhibition/seminar coming up. While I am limited on funds, I still thought a more affordable workshop would be a nice intro and allow me an opportunity to work with a professional, which I’ve never done before. Unfortunately, the workshop I was interested in (the Sweetgum workshop with Sergio) is on Saturday and saw this, which was disheartening.



Maybe somebody more experienced can shed some light on why this stipulation would be in place? I’ve looked into other exhibition workshops and never seen something like this before, but essentially I would be at the will of whatever workshop has open availability day of the event.

 

[Apex37]

I looked more into the upcoming LSBF exhibition/seminar coming up. While I am limited on funds, I still thought a more affordable workshop would be a nice intro and allow me an opportunity to work with a professional, which I’ve never done before. Unfortunately, the workshop I was interested in (the Sweetgum workshop with Sergio) is on Saturday and saw this, which was disheartening.

View attachment 516520

Maybe somebody more experienced can shed some light on why this stipulation would be in place? I’ve looked into other exhibition workshops and never seen something like this before, but essentially I would be at the will of whatever workshop has open availability day of the event.

I found out this was a typo after reaching out about it, so please ignore this.

 

[brentwood]

The suggestion about being a silent observer Is a good one - pay the $10 and follow the artist around, watch the decisions he's making, watch the technique. Try at home on cheap material, watch another....

B

 

[Kanorin]

I'll add that it's a great place to make some bonsai friends/connections. Maybe you can even get the number or email of someone a bit more experienced than you (or even better the pro leading the workshop) to follow up with them - how's their tree doing, what is the next scope of work that they are planning on that material, etc.

 

[BrianBay9]

I'll add that it's a great place to make some bonsai friends/connections. Maybe you can even get the number or email of someone a bit more experienced than you (or even better the pro leading the workshop) to follow up with them - how's their tree doing, what is the next scope of work that they are planning on that material, etc.

Some clubs set up mentors with each new, inexperience member so they can connect outside of club meetings.