[Cob] have a seminar?

[Shannon Dealy]

On Sat, 30 May 2009, Tys Sniffen wrote:

> So,
>
> How do people feel about having a building seminar on their project, to help
> get a bunch of people to help put some volume on the walls?  I was getting
> ready to have one up here, but then the logistics started to feel like just
> as much work as slinging mud myself.
[snip]

A lot will depend on the experience, the size and physical conditioning 
of the people who come to help, how many days they come to help and how 
fast you are when working alone.

To give a couple examples:

Some friends wanted to come out and help me with a building I was working 
on so they could learn a bit about cob.  This resulted in seven people of 
all ages coming out for one day to work on my building.  Of course I had 
to teach them some basics and keep an eye on what they were doing, so at 
the end of the day, me with seven people helping completed slightly less 
than I would have done working alone.  Of course it was more fun than 
working alone and I don't regret doing it, but for one day of "help" it 
didn't do anything for me.  Had they come back a second day, there would 
have been less need of supervision, no initial training, and probably 
would have more than made up for the first day, though not massively so.

I teach cob workshops and generally figure that on the first day, for up 
to ten students, they will produce at most about what I could working 
alone (note in the previous example I was working with them, when I teach
workshops I do less actual building work).  By the fourth day of class I 
figure about three to four students to match my output, and by the end of 
the week two to three students.

This is what I typically see, however, I am much faster than most at cob 
building and this just gives the typical case.  I had one workshop with 
three brothers, one 13 years old and two in their mid-20's.  The older 
brothers were both something like 6'4" to 6'6" tall (two meters to those 
of you who think metric) and in extremely good physical condition, the 
younger one was almost my size.  Needless to say, they completely blew my 
general rules for how much output.  While the older brothers individually 
weren't as fast as I was, by the end of the workshop they were getting 
close, and together, they were definitely faster.

FWIW.

Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
dealy at deatech.com     |          - Custom Software Development -
Phone: (800) 467-5820 |          - Natural Building Instruction -
    or: (541) 929-4089 |                  www.deatech.com