I started turning about 18 months ago, and had a few days of tuition from Mark Hancock and George Foweraker. When I heard about the seminar, I asked Mark whether this would make any sense for me as a novice (I had similar doubts to Chris), and got back a resounding "absolutely, this will take your wood turning to the next level". And he was right.
Although I am a member of two clubs, I did not go as part of a party or "clique". And I had absolutely no problem making contact with a lot of people, learning a lot, getting ideas and inspiration.
I was also initially concerned about the cost, but I soon realized that this should not be a concern for anybody. If you consider the cost of a three day seminar in my line of work (I work in IT), charges of £400 PER DAY !!! are on the cheap side of things. My wife keeps 2 horses, and with all the insurance, vet charges, feed, and what not, my hobby is actually comparatively cheap. Her horse trainer told us the other day that he goes shooting every now and then and pays up to £1000 for a day of shooting game birds. So for all those who bemoan the cost, please put this into some perspective.
OK, I understand that for a production turner the seminar may hold little interest. After all, they have got all the experience anyway, and many of them don't do a lot of artistic/crafty work. But even then, the exposure to so many other good turners and the opportunity to have them all at the same place at the same time should be worth something!
I hear all around that wood turning is booming in the UK, but at the same time we (as a community) failed to get more than 200 delegates to the seminar. This makes no sense to me at all. I think there needs to be a serious re-think about the marketing for this event.