The Concord Library Planning Meeting We held a large planning meeting on March 21 in the Concord library, chaired very skillfully by Chris Haeni. We had 35 people register for the meeting, Ultimately, about 38 members participated. Our total membership currently stands at 132, so 38 is almost 29% of the entire membership, and slightly above our typical attendance on a Saturday morning.

Chris organized attendee randomly into 5 tables, with one virtual group. He explained that our purpose for the afternoon was to Identify opportunities to maximize member value, now and in the future, through the effective use of our resources (money, time, activities). He then reviewed our mission statement and summarized the results of our recent “values” survey.

The Eastern Massachusetts Guild of Woodworkers (EMGW) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of excellence in the woodworking community through the sharing of information in the art, technique, and business of woodworking. We aspire to these goals in order to promote and foster interest in our craft for both the aspiring and skilled woodworker. 

Chris created an informative “radar chart” showing how respondents value the 11 Guild activities and attributes listed in the survey. Monthly meetings and fellowship/community were most highly rated while selling work had the lowest ratings.

He asked each small group to deliberate over 7 prompts, and report back to the full meeting. The prompts were these:

1. Review and react to the survey data - are there any guild activities missing or not represented that you think are more important and valuable than those listed?
2. Monthly meetings and community were highly valued - what ideas does the group have to make those meetings more valuable, while strengthening our community?
3. “Sharing your woodworking knowledge with others” was also highly valued. How might we facilitate more knowledge sharing amongst members?
4. How does your group feel about build projects?  Has your group participated, and how valuable were they?  Does the group have ideas for future builds they’d like to lead?  What are some challenges to overcome with group builds?
5. Community service and marketing/selling your work both scored lower on the survey. How would your group recommend we incorporate that feedback into our future plans?
6. Guild size: discuss “optimal” membership size for the guild (currently at ~130, with average meeting attendees around 30) - what are the trade-offs with bigger vs. smaller membership as it relates to our value drivers? 
7. Guild funding: discuss pros/cons of expanding funding for guild activities. What level of funding should we target? What would you do with the addt’l money? How should we generate those funds?

In the discussion that followed, numerous potential action items were identified. The Board, accompanied by several invited members, met a few days later to prioritize action items. We selected 5 areas for initial action, based on the discussions in Concord. We also created small working groups charged with researching the topics and returning to the Board with recommendations:

• Identify and evaluate amplification, close-up video, and hybrid meeting requirements. WORKING GROUP: AV team of Chris Haeni, Neal Carey, and Mark Holland.
• Upgrade our website to improve user experience. Review content and capabilities to see if our site meets current and anticipated future needs and look at ways of modernizing the interface. WORKING GROUP: Tom Shirley, James Goodwin, John LeJeune, Vic Kelman
• Substantive discussion of costs and benefits of conversion from 501(c)(3) from 501(c)(7). This has numerous implications and deserves research and thoughtful consideration. WORKING GROUP: Rob Carver, Mike Bossin, John LeJeune, Vincent Valvo, with Stephen Conlin consulting.
• Establish partnerships with one or more maker-spaces in the region. This has the potential for stabilirs.zing meeting locations and enhancing educational opportunities for members. WORKING GROUP: Mike Roughan and program committee members.
• Investigate ways the Guild can help members who want to take woodworking courses, either by negotiating discounts with schools (e.g. NBSS, EPIC, Conn. Valley, Woodcraft) or offering limited financial assistance, as the Atlanta Guild does. WORKING GROUP is TBD at this point and open to volunteer.

Committee Positions. (Rob Carver)  We are still in need of volunteers to team up with committee members already on staff.  Committees are short staffed so please consider joining a committee in order to ease the effort to maintain successful outcomes.  Any amount of time you volunteer is helpful.  Here are the ways you can become a bigger part of the guild. One of the most rewarding ways to connect with other EMGW members is volunteering to help on a committee. Many tasks are very light lifting and can be fun and lead to long-term friendships.

• Newcomer Committee: Make a phone call or otherwise contact a new member after they join, and become the first person they meet. We'll provide guidelines for that first conversation. newly elected VP Mike Bossin is the person to contact.
• Program Committee: Help plan the Saturday programs a year in advance. We meet about quarterly on Zoom for 60-90 minutes. Shape the substance of our meetings and make personal contact with cool presenters. Let Rob Carver know if interested. 

• Presenters: Long-time guild members remember the good old days when more presentations were given by guild members. Is there a topic or technique that you are willing and able to present to the group on a Saturday morning? Don't be shy. Raising your hand is another huge way to help the Program Committee.
• Development Committee: We're starting to get more serious about fundraising and soliciting & collecting tool donations for auction. Mike Bossin is leading the charge. Anyone is welcome, and people with backgrounds in non-profit finance or marketing/advertising are especially welcome. We anticipate needing to gather and move tools, so a truck and healthy back are assets.

John LeJeune reports the photo  (L to R) of Ray Tice, Vic Kelman, Carl Tappan, Michael Bossin and John LeJeune is from the Woodcraft of Woburn October 25, 2025 Tool Swap.  They are standing in front of our new wood banner that Vic Kelman made with her wood burning tool for guild events such as these.  Other items on the table are recent guild projects. (Shaker stool, wavy cutting board, hand made brush and dustpan and hand carved owl and bear.  Additional volunteer/participants at Walpole Woodcraft on 10/18/25 were Dan Sichel, Cindy Forkner, and Matt Forkner.  Money raised from the tool sales from members and the public totaled $443.00. There are still some tools left if members are interested.  Thanks to all who participated and who bought tools. The event has also yielded the recruitment of several new members. We welcome them to the guild. 

A popular topic among woodworkers is what to do with the scrap.  By now most of you have a location designated for such material - corner in the shop, fireplace, dumpster, wood fired stove/oven, cutting boards, and others.  You've heard the phrase, one person's trash is another person's treasure.  Well, when I visited the Smith College Art Museum in Northampton a few weeks ago, I discovered an art installation that could paraphrase of the original.  Someone's trash is another person's art.  See the pictures below for what I witnessed - One Half Log Divided into a Chair and Scraps by Gina Siepel.  Maybe we are too close to our work to see the art.

The image at the right reveals the description on the wall-mounted museum label by Brooklyn Quallen about the installation.  I've copied it here in case your eyesight of tiny words is as bad as mine.

In November 2020, Gina Siepel salvaged a downed red oak tree from a park in Greenfield, MA and used the wood to learn green woodworking.  Green woodworking relies on hand-splitting and shaving freshly harvested "green" logs, which are pieces of recently cut wood that have not yet dried out.  Siepel's installation demonstrates not only the result of green woodworking, but her process of learning by doing.  The installation exists as a sort of frozen explosion, with the finished chair surrounded by the scraps and shavings that she removed from the log to make it.  Siepel puts on display every remnant from the multistep process of chairmaking, embracing what is usually discarded.

Considering getting into woodworking?  A team of members of EMGW has written a guidebook targeted for new woodworkers and a refresher for other woodworkers.