Mindat Conference 2011 - Conference and Workshops
The final four days of the Mindat Conference (Thursday to Sunday) were the conference sessions and workshops - and Friday to Sunday was also the town's Crystal Days festival.
View over the town
Thursday was the start of the Conference - the conference centre was a sports hall converted specially for the event.
The Conference Hall
Conference Ahead
The conference starts on Thursday with formal presentations. The first is by me
Mindat Conference 2011 - Conference again
"Agates from Kaczawskie Mts, Poland", by Jacek Bogdanski
more from Jacek
"Pegmatite minerals from Strzegom granitic massif, Poland", by Tomasz Praszkier 
From Tomasz's presentation - Strzegom Coins
"Theories of Agate formation" Brian Jackson
Brian answers questions
"Native gold from Round Mt, USA", by Scott Werschky
And in the evening, food, drinks and slideshows (with beer)
Tomasz's Slideshow about Madagascar
On friday morning, the presentations continued
"Exploring classic Japanese mineralogical sites", by Alfredo Petrov
"The cavity minerals from the spilite basalts in Mumbai, India", by Berthold Ottens
During gaps in the presentation people could visit the mineral show and the mindat booth.
The Mindat booth
At 4pm we left the conference to return to the town center for the official opening ceremony of the Town Center Mineral fair:
The Crystal Days mineral fair opening ceremony
The Folk singers return - with Miro Ng
The mayor officially opens the mineral fair, and receives a Strzegom smoky quartz
Everyone looks up at the tower...
because trumpets are playing
Jeff Scovil makes a short speech on behalf of the Mindat Conference
Bread and Salt, traditional Polish welcoming gifts are presented
The mayor distribute bread to exhibitors and special guests
Guess we are special guests
Mindatians watching the ceremony, Liam Schofield, Chris Stanley, Jessica Macfarlane and Leslie Albin
Now we have a little time to look through the town mineral fair
The Mineral Fair
Minerals on sale in the Mineral Fair
More minerals for sale
More from the mineral show
Agates on sale
Not just minerals - baskets too
Mike Rumsey had to get a basket, which he then filled with rocks and gave to me to drive back to the UK
And music
Johannes Keilman visits the mineral fair
Amber necklaces on sale at the mineral fair
Meanwhile, the stage is being prepared for the grand opening parade
And is Reiner Bode selling ice creams?
Another view of the town show
Meanwhile, in the town hall, some more mineral exhibition cases. This one is mine
Some of my personal collection of UK minerals
And Ida Chau's minature mineral display is also on show
Andrzej Korzekwa's collection of Lubin minerals
We return for more presentations, including
"Minerals of the lead-zinc mine Mežica, Slovenia", by Aleksander Recnik
After dinner, I ask for volunteers to follow the mindat.org sign as part of the town parade - I was most impressed to see almost everyone want to take part! So, grasping the sign, we march proudly into the town center to find our place on the parade.
Team Mindat get ready to join the town parade.
Preparing to parade
And we're off
Team Mindat are go
The parade starts
With some noisy bikers
Another biker
And belly dancers
More belly dancers
and people dressed as teapots
I'm invited on stage during the parade, along with Tom and Amir
On the stage
Meanwhile, the mindatites are having fun.
And comparing photographs
and yes, that's really Terry Huizing and Van King dancing
Somehow Rob Woodside catches a flower hurled from the passing parade
The sun catches the Town Hall tower
In the evening, in the town center, some of the mindat folk have cornered the mayor again
Saturday we move the conference to the Hall of Culture
We start with some technical sessions, including a talk from Mike Rumsey on new Lead Oxychloride minerals from the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England
Mike discussing Mendip mineralogy
Mike Rumsey's presentation
This is followed by the first half of Jeff Scovil's Photography workshop
Jeff's photography workshop
More photography workshop
That evening, we have a large party for polish collectors and mineral show exhibitors.
The saturday evening meal
Brian Jackson, Penny Williamson and Van King
Brian and Penny both bought bubble guns
Is Reiner dancing, or is he trying to hail a taxi?
Workshops continued on Sunday:
My workshop
Explaining how to create articles like this one
Almost over - Asia has a non-alcoholic drink to celebrate
The crowds gather in town for the rock concert
This Polish band are very popular, but I have no idea who they are
More from the concert
And it's time for me to go on stage yet again
And make a speech to thank everyone for their support in the conference
And finally, fireworks!
More fireworks
After the fireworks, those who have been working on the conference are invited to a private party with the Mayor in the town hall
A toast to the town hall carvings
And the Agate Summer decorated bread is finally no longer needed
And so gets demolished by hungry mindateers
Monday. it's time to go home. Everyone has left or is packing up to go
even the stage is dismantled in record time.
And following a most successful conference, I get in my car to drive the 1,298km home.
The 2nd Mindat.org Conference will be in Midelt, Morocco in October or November 2012. As soon as dates are confirmed they will be published on mindat!
Thank you to everyone who helped with the conference, who came to the conference, and who provided photos for these reports. Photos came from myself, Rainer Bode, Ida Chau, Kate Davydenko, Roger Lang, Slamowir Szlinke, Miranda Yu and possibly others - thank you!
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Mineral and Locality Search
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afromental
Some awesome photo's there- I guess I should really pull my finger out and get my report done, eh?
Liam Schofield
25th Jul 2011 8:14am