The Texas Woodworking Festival is held in Austin, Texas each year. This year it is November 9th & 10th at the Palmer Events Center. Friday is our set up day and the event will run from 9am to 5pm on Saturday and 9am to 3pm on Sunday. There will be tool exhibitors, lumber yards, furniture makers, influencers, food, drinks and of course woodworking education. We are expecting this year to be our biggest and best so far!
Palmer Events Center is a beautiful venue in the heart of Austin just south of the river and downtown. We have over 25,000sf for the festival which includes space for 100 exhibitors, 3 stages, 2 bars and several food trucks.
When it comes to the Education at the festival, there are 3 spaces. On the ground floor in the exhibition hall is our Demo Stage. This is mainly where live music, announcements, product demos, panels and some classes will be held. Upstairs there is a separate conference room area that we have divided into the Theater (3,000sf) and the Classroom (2,000sf). The Theater is mainly for actual woodworking demonstrations and the Classroom is more for lectures and presentations.
TWF has several tickets that attendees can choose from:
General Admission – This gives attendees access to the exhibition hall and all the activities taking place on the demo stage. There is also a GA Sunday Only ticket.
EDUcation – This gives attendees access to the exhibition hall as well as the Theater and Classroom upstairs. The EDU ticket also includes the Digital Pass.
Digital Pass – New in 2024, this ticket gives attendees access to recorded digital content and courses that take place at TWF. More information on the Digital Pass below.
TWF prides itself on high quality lectures and demonstrations given by experts in their fields. Each year we look for structured, well-rehearsed presentations or demonstrations that are unique and interesting to the audience.
All presentations and demonstrations can be 30 – 90 minutes long and should include time for live audience questions and answers.
Demonstrations are considered to be anything where an action is taking place live. Example: Cutting dovetails or applying finish. They generally require material preparation, tools, and/or machines. Demonstrations will mostly take place in the theater and will have multiple cameras for wide and close up, microphones, and tv screens.
Presentations are similar to lectures and generally do not involve actions or tools. They would cover more theoretical topics such as business, design, social media, etc. Presentations will take place in the classroom and will have a small wide camera, a microphone and tvs.
Panels included multiple people generally in an interview or AMA style session.
Some classes may be more of a hybrid version of a presentation and demonstration and that is ok too.
For participating in the Texas Woodworking Festival we will compensate instructors in the following ways.
We highly encourage presenters to teach 2 different classes so we can offer one on Saturday and one on Sunday. It often works well to do one demonstration and one presentation.
The Demo Stage, Theater, and Classroom will all have audio and video equipment set up in order to make the experience at the event better for attendees. In 2024, we will begin to record and produce these sessions into video courses that will be sold online after the event. This is in an effort to share the educational content beyond just those attending the event that weekend and to increase our ability to financially compensate the presenters.
Presenters have the option to opt-in or opt-out of having their session recorded. If a presenter opts-in they will receive 50% of revenue from their courses in perpetuity. A Digital Pass (All Recorded Classes) will be sold at a discounted rate before the event, a full price Digital Pass (All Classes) will be sold after the event and individual courses will also be sold in perpetuity.
Digital Pass Revenue – 50% to be split among recording presenters and 50% to TWF.
Individual Class Revenue – 50% to the presenter and 50% to TWF.
We hope that all presenters will take the time to practice and mentally prepare for their sessions. TWF strives for EDU sessions to be high-quality and educational. An outline is highly recommended to stay within the time constraints. If a slide presentation is used, the text should be legible and photos should be high-definition. Demonstrations should be well thought out and fit within the time constraints. Rehearsal time will be available the Friday before the event.
Sometimes will require material and parts to be prepared ahead of time. TWF will send out a preparation survey before the event to get any material or tool requirements before the event.
Sessions form submitted – April 28th
Tickets go on sale – May 1st
EDU Schedule announced – June 1st
Rough outline due – Sep. 29th
Final outline due – Oct. 6th
Slide presentation due – Oct. 13th
Rehearsal – Nov. 8th
Texas Woodworking Festival – Nov. 9th-10th
