Hands on.

[fuzzyturns]

Not wanting to sound offensive, but I think in most clubs with your average team of four, you'd be lucky to get the first stage completed in 20 minutes.
From observation I'd say about 30-50% of club members don't turn much at all, and mostly come along for the show. They wouldn't want to do any turning in public, much less under time pressure and this sort of thing will just make them stay away.

[Paul Hannaby]

Four our club hands on sessions, we aim to show members a technique or process they might not have tried  before - either due to not having the equipment or because it's something that is more difficult to master.

The idea of a team challenge is interesting but I think it would probably result in the better turners doing most if not all the turning but I guess this could be managed by choosing a task all levels could get involved with and perhaps stipulating that all team members had a go.

[TONY MALIN]

Yes I slipped up on the time. It should be longer to suit the time available. Whoever gets the job of organising it should have a dummy run. There is scope for ideas on the features on the uprights. Another variant is to produce some discs to use as cash to purchase the components. Tests the team's ability to plan and work together.

I assume the use of the string was obvious.

20 minutes was to turn a bottle stopper!

[Graham]

I was waiting for our October meeting before I commented, didn't want to put the kybosh on it.

We have 5 lathes in use at our hands on meetings and we could do with more. I have always felt that Oxfordshire was a rather reserved sort of place ( I am with Didcot & District )  but there is never any hesitation in people getting on the lathes, we have to form an orderly queue

[Bryan Milham]

We do a Christmas 'Strictly Come Wood turning competition'.

2 lathes, 8 persons (mostly press-ganged by me)

Each round has a certain amount of time and a piece of wood, (normally green for ease of turning and to remove the sanding)

First round is drawn, 8 to 4 persons, the 4 winners then draw again, the 2 winners face off for a slightly larger and harder challenge, a Bowl or somesuch with a degree of decoration (colour or texture) in 15 minutes. There is a prize for the winner of course.

Also press-ganged are the judges, who not only have to pick, but also critique and say why they made their choice.

Still the hard part is getting people to cheer the participants on.