One of the of best ways to share your experiences with and/or learn more about forests, trees and their wood from botanists, dendrologists, wood collectors, woodworkers, and other wood lovers, is to attend a local, regional, or international meeting (also called "woodfest") of the Society.
Members and guests come to hear or see programs about wood, talk about wood, view demonstrations on woodworking, tour interesting woodlands and/or wood-related operations, and choose from hundreds of wood specimens at the auction.
If a meeting in your area is not listed below, please volunteer to host one - you can learn the procedures from experienced hosts listed on this page. Meetings can be planned on a small scale. Even so, do not be surprised if members from other countries attend your meeting. IWCS members include botanists, dendrologists, wood technologists, wood collectors, wood workers, and people who just admire the beauty and versatility of wood. Everyone is welcome to join us!
June 27, - July 1, 2012, 2012 ANNUAL MEETING, Springfield, Illinois USA, Downtown Hilton Hotel
As of this printing time, Sept/Oct 2011, some of the programs will be:
Identification and technical program
Winter twig ID
Leaf ID
Walnut cancer disease
Cell and tree structure
Craft demonstrations:
Winsor chair making
Turning bells
Turning bowls
Turning tops
Carving classes
Flint knapping
Hands on area:
Spinning completion for tops, mechanical and hand powered for longest spinning time Lathe and carving.
There will be tours and a Ladies program anyone interested in doing a demo are class please let me know.
My e-mail addresses is
More information and registration in the next journals.
IWCS Events by Countries with Active Chapters
AustralAsian Click map images to enlarge New Zealand
2012 AustralAsian Annual Meeting Busselton, Western Australia 14-21 October, 2012
A meeting you seriously need to place on your calander. Busselton, located in the south west of Western Australia, in the Top 10 plant diversity areas of the world. The town is built around the Vasse and Wonnerup Wetlands, listed as Wetlands of International Importance for its water birds.
Planned coach trips will take you inland and along the coast between Cape Naturalists and Cape Leeuwin. You will see karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) and tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala), and jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forests. Plus more—whales, wildflowers, and a train trip on the longest timber piledjetty in the southern hemisphere
Hosted by Charles and Lalleen Broadbent, retired forestry educational officer, and the rapidly growing group of Western Australian IWCS members.
May 6 - 11, 2013 IWCS Meeting South Africa, The first time IWCS has met on the African continent—an opportunity not to be missed. Put this conference in you diary. The conference consist of two days of presentations, two days of field visits and an open day which will include displays by south African craftsmen.
There are optional 7- and 9-day tours before and after the conference, so you can take the opportunity to see more of the African wonders.
Registration includes 6 nights accommodation, and meals at Hebron Haven, plus coach trips and entertainment. Contact Barry and Danielle James E-mail: brousse@sai.co.za
Please feel free to contact me at my cell phone 630-667-8468 or my home phone 352-237-3114. You can also email me at .
Tom and Linda Kinney
PO Box 770536
Ocala, FL 34477
Southwest Region
Other Events of Interest
Statement on IWCS Liability for members traveling to Society activities
(As found in the December 2003 issue of World of Wood )
The following, written by an attorney, and reviewed in 1998 by the Board of Trustees, has been edited so the information applies to all meetings, wood collecting trips, tours, and other IWCS activities, domestic and international.
"The International Wood Collectors Society has limited resources and cannot afford a liability insurance policy. Therefore, anyone who attends an IWCS meeting, and/or any pre-meeting and post-meeting activities, by attending such events and activities hereby agrees to the following: "
"1) Travel has risk and those who attend meetings and any related activities assume any and all risks involved, including, without limitation, the risk of bodily injury, death and/or property damage; and 2) To release the IWCS and its officers, trustees, employees, and agents, including the meeting hosts, trip coordinators, and leaders from, and agree not to sue any or all of them on account of or in connection with any claims, causes of action, injuries, damages, costs or expenses arising out of attending the meeting and any related activities, whether or not caused by the negligence or other fault of the IWCS."
