Forward Into the Past 27| Date | April 1, 2017 |
| Place | Wilfrid Laurier University |
| Adult Pre-Reg Price | $15.00 whole day |
| Student/Senior Pre-Reg Price | $10.00 whole day |
| Child Pre-Reg Price | $5.00 whole day |
| Adult Day-Reg Price | $20.00 whole day |
| Student/Senior Day-Reg Price | $15.00 whole day |
| Child Day-Reg Price | $10.00 whole day |
| Site Cost | $ 0.00 |
| Speakers Cost | $ 150.00 |
| Advertising Cost | $ 79.36 |
| Other Costs | $ 278.22 |
| Profit | $593.42 |
Interesting Stats Class Statistics Comments from Attendees
# - Session has attendance limits
$ - Session has a materials fee
| Class (Full List) | Speaker (Full List) | Time | Attendence |
| <PS> Beowabbit: new light on an ancient poetic tradition | Bruce Blackistone | 4:30 | 2 |
| <PS> The Viking Settlement of North America according to Ragnarr Njalsson | Neil Peterson | 2:30 | 16 |
| 50 Shades of History - a look at non-traditional sexual practices in history | Bernie Roehl | 11:30 | 3 |
| Advanced Embroidery | Larisa Kallaur-Telford | 3:30 | 11 |
| Advanced Glass Bead Making | Rob Schweitzer | 12:30 | 8 |
| Advanced Tablet Weaving | Rob Schweitzer | 2:30 | 5 |
| Anatomy of a steam engine through disaster and destruction | V.M. Roberts | 10:30 | 6 |
| Beginner's Egg Tempera | Heather Burger | 1:30 | 12 |
| Beginner's Egg Tempera (session2) | Heather Burger | 2:30 | 1 |
| Behind the Black Sails | John Wignall | 11:30 | 13 |
| Blow Me Down - Further Investigations of Human Powered Air | Darrell Markewitz | 3:30 | 10 |
| Braiding and Cords | Melanie Robbins, Jo Duke | 12:30 | 7 |
| Canadian History 1001: The Bloody Norse Arrive! | Richard Schweitzer | 4:30 | 11 |
| Chainmail - Beyond the Basics | Jerry Penner | 3:30 | 10 |
| Chainmail for Beginners | Jerry Penner | 10:30 | 10 |
| Climates of Change: Environmental History as Hands-On Pedagogy | Steven Bednarski, Michelle Serrano-Sandoval, Zack Macdonald | 9:00 | 41 |
| Diagonal Braiding | Jo Duke | 1:30 | 6 |
| Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived | Catherine Ollerhead DeSantis | 3:30 | 18 |
| Experiment and Experience | Neil Peterson | 11:30 | 11 |
| Feet firmly in the past - Shoes from the Viking Age 800 - 1050 | Marcus Burnham | 11:30 | 12 |
| First Experiments | Grant Ginson, Cassandra Brooks, Tina KacKinnon | 1:30 | 12 |
| Flint and Steel Fire Striking | Mark Patchett | 2:30 | 14 |
| Food and ambience, translating the medieval feast to the modern table | Janet Lloyd | 4:30 | 8 |
| Introduction to Embroidery | Larisa Kallaur-Telford, Eeva the Restless | 12:30 | 13 |
| Introduction to Glass Bead Making | Rob Schweitzer | 11:30 | 12 |
| Introduction to Tablet Weaving | Yvette Foster | 10:30 | 15 |
| King or Queen? Who really holds the power? An analysis of medieval chess | Stavros Stavroulias | 3:30 | 4 |
| Kumihimo - The Art of Japanese Cordmaking | Melanie Robbins | 2:30 | 14 |
| Let's talk food | Janet Lloyd | 2:30 | 8 |
| Lost Wax Demonstration | Corey Bott | 4:30 | 10 |
| Morris Dancing | Roy Underhill | 2:30 | 4 |
| Naalbinding 101 | Mark Patchett | 12:30 | 2 |
| Norse Practical Jokes | Richard Schweitzer | 10:30 | 16 |
| Sword Dances | Richard Schweitzer | 1:30 | 10 |
| Symmetry and asymmetry in Viking Age Dress | V.M. Roberts | 1:30 | 7 |
| The Mongol Art of War | Alicia McKenzie | 10:30 | 13 |
| The Shosoin Repository | Melanie Robbins | 10:30 | 2 |
| Topics on Climate Change | Sonya, Stephen Casta | 12:30 | 1 |
| Viking Submarine Navigation as a possible explanation for the Loch Ness Monster | Fred Blonder | 12:30 | 19 |
| Why Ancient Greece Was Really Kind of Terrible | Dylan McCorquodale | 4:30 | 9 |
Summary of 49 Feedback Forms (plus some email)
Spelling and grammar are that of the participants, editorial notes are in [these brackets]What session did you like the most?- Feet firmly in the past. Excellent and full rounded presentation, excellent knowledge of material, archeology inclusive, personable and entertaining instructor.
- All the sessions I took this year I really enjoyed. Especially had a good time at the embroidery class and the lamp work bead class.
- Keynote insightful
- Experiment / experience (or whatever) - interesting, well delivered
- Neil's pseudo session. That was amusing, reminded me of too many people, some of which I know personally.
- Divorced, Beheaded, Died - engaging presentation
- Peterson on Ragnar / Norse America - animation, delivery method
- Lampwork and Advanced Embroidery - very hands-on, very well taught, the teachers' enthusiasm was contagious
- Iron Smelting talk
- All great - Mongols, Pirates, Henry VIII
- Shosain
- Keynote - interesting, informative
- Ragnar Njallson's Viking Settlement at North America. Good that the establishment's falsehoods are being contested.
- Braids
- Feet firmly in the Past - very well taught
- Topics on Medieval Climate Change - speakers were knowledgable
- Viking Settlement of North America - it was funny, yet insightful take on pseudo science and being aware of it
- Can't say
- Keynote - multidisciplinary approach, wonderful enthusiasm
- Mel had pretty museum pictures, but too much kumihimo and not enough tablet weaving
- Egg Tempura class - new information. However, also very much enjoyed keynote address & Experiment/Experience
- Historic Air & Iron Smelting
- How to make glass beads, hands on can learn at home
- Medieval chess - original topic
- Morris Dancing - because it was highly interactive and friendly
- final food class - very interactive
- bead making - made beads!
- Climate change - very professional & well done
- Beyond Black Sails - good combination of history with fun aspect of the TV show, great presenter!
- Black Sails! Excellent in presentation of history & interesting. Slide show was spot on. Great job!!
- Umm really? All of them!
- Art of Mongol Warfare
- I was a day long volunteer and did not attend a session
- Beowabbit - enlightening / how true heritage should be learned
- Hands-on stuff - naalbinding, pewter casting
- Experiment and Experience - Overview, combination of scholarship and experimental archaeology
- Kumihimo - learned a lot!
- That's a hard one. I liked advanced glass bead making, the one about pirates and the keynote
- Sword dancing - it was super fun!
- Keynote: Dr. Bednarski - excellent speaker/interesting talk
- Beads
- All
- Keynote - climate tie-in & undergrad involvement, Sword dancing - physical activity, 50 Shades - wide-ranging coverage
- Mongol Tactics - well presented, good thoughts
- Lost wax casting
- Other then mine? Mongol Art of War - well presented, very knowledge, fun topic
- Mongol Warfare - very well presented & interesting
- Advanced Embroidery - knowledge teacher and hands on
- Egg Tempera - hands on and I did good, very enjoyable, nice teacher who allowed extra people to join in (had extra materials available)
- The session 'The Viking Settlements' was a brilliant presentation! So much fun!
What session did you like the least? Why?
- Lost Wax - the instructor tried and was enthusiastic but lacked flow, clarity of information. Technical information and safety was appalling.
- There wasn't a session that I didn't like.
- None
- I failed miserably at the diagonal braiding, but that's me, not the teachers or the class
- none
- Metal Casting - very poor understanding of technology or method. Safety totally absent = dangerous!
- Tempera - more geared to a younger audience
- n/a
- Ancient Greece - interesting ideas, but underdeveloped. Speaker & topic need "seasoning". Also, leg slapping nervous tic
- n/a
- n/a
- Beowabbit - It was very good and illuminating, but was the only other one I saw
- Braids
- Viking Submarine - presenter did not seem organized
- Loved them all
- ?
- Advanced glass beads - torches kept cutting out
- Ancient Greece
- Why Ancient Greece was awful - mostly because the speaker was very bias in his focus despite other evidence
- Keynote student segments - some were too much like an interview or sales pitch for more funding
- Norse theory - you confused me with false facts!
- The talk on submarines could've been better prepared but good job!
- Viking Submarine Navigation - not a very prepared presenter, terrible AV. No real connection to Session title, just a few facts read from a sheet
- Vikings using submarines in Loch Ness. Horrible! Where do I start? The instructor (he didn't introduce himself) read in a low monotonic voice for 45 min. Not prepared, boring subject all over the map - never explained his Viking theory, slideshow poorly done (sometimes just blank screen & silence), or scrolling to find things, mumbling. It was the worst session ever. 3 people actually walked out. My partner went on his phone to not fall asleep and I struggled. Please don't ask this man to come back - I hope he isn't a "teacher" because there was no instruction. Very poorly done - so bad I thought it was an April Fools joke.
- None!
- Same as above. (I was a day long volunteer and did not attend a session.)
- All enlightening - who knew Viking history is so oppressed!
- Experimental area (sorry Neil) - repeat of last year, no new information
- Canadian history room - nice idea with were (?) potential
- Ancient Greece is Awful - speaker did not know his topic at all, was just a mostly unsubstantiated rant
- Lost Wax was scattered and unorganized, which is too bad because it was interestin
- I guess Naalbinding, but only cause I have to pick one and I liked the others more
- enjoyed all
- Submarines - the material was great but the presentation was pretty inept - would have been good with more rehearsal
- The one that needed the long walk - oh that was most of them!
- none - all pretty enjoyable
- Viking Submarine - knowledgable but disorganized
- Viking Submarine - poorly organized
- Symmetry and Asymmetry in Viking Age Dress - speaker was not prepared and only got through half his material
- Ancient Greece - speaker was disorganized and ranted, his dislike of Ancient Greece seemed personal rather then intellectual, and not backed up by any real scholarship. Also, and unfortunately, he has a nervous tic of throwing up his hands and letting them fall (slapping) to his legs. It was quite irritating.
What other sessions would you like to see?
- uncertain
- woodworking
- I like hands-on, practical
- more classes like the 'First Experiments' one. Place to compare notes, share thoughts, discuss what went wrong
- Rhonda Bathurst as keynote?
- woodworking would be fantastic, something like carving, etc.
- I'd like to have time to attend classes
- I'm not that creative
- yes
- silk flag painting
- longer embroidery class
- comparative mythology
- feed the teachers
- probably more hands on classes
- medieval industries & commerce technology
- soap stone
- battle re-enactments
- something involving games of the times
- 1780 - 1820s society, class, daily life
- History of different kings / Viking Wars / Rulers / Outlaws / Settlement of Iceland
- Chainmail
- Celts
- Love history but some folklore would be interesting or a blend of the 2
- stone carving, baking with fire
- Chainmail Basics, behind the black Sails, Why Ancient Greece was Terrible, Flint and Steel Fire Striking, The Mongol Art of War (*this is the day long volunteer who did not attend sessions)
- Archery
- Advanced Kumihimo
- More on clothing and fabric
- more hands-on sessions. Not that there aren't lots, but that's what I like the most
- Cartography
- More student experiments / experiences
- Fighting
- Medieval weapons, Chinese military
- the variety is always good, nothing particular
- I would love to hear on illuminations, perhaps on plants and animals, or on pigments, pick any topic here, really. There's some magnificent pieces out there!
- Cartography is something I know nothing on and would love to hear about.
- tools that were used in the middle Ages by black smith's.
- glass making?! Cathedrals have some wonderfully painted stained glass. How was this done? Why? Do many questions!
- Trench Art?
How did you hear about us?
- Neil
- through email
- SCA
- Neil!
- How did you hear about me?
- SCA / wife
- You kidding...
- friends who attended in the past
- SCA
- Neil and Karen
- Neil for years
- Rumour
- Neil
- Neil
- SCA
- Dr.Bednarski
- attended last year & SCA
- SCA
- a friend, many years ago
- once upon a time when rocks were soft and households ruled the Kingdom...
- through SCA some years ago - have attended and enjoyed several FITPs
- friends
- 2nd year attending
- repeat visitor
- facebook as well as being here last year
- Neil
- SCA
- a friend
- friend
- came last year from a facebook invite, 2 year for me.
- last year - Jo Duke
- Wilfrid Laurier Archaeology Society
- Archaeology Society
- went last year
- Neil at the Dragon Lab
- 3rd time here
- I was here last year
- I know people?
- previous years
- SCA
- SCA friends
- been coming for several years
- Neil - just can't seem to get him off my tail
- I go to Laurier
- Neil and Karen
- mailing list
- SCA
Other Comments- the keynote address was absolutely fantastic
- enjoyed them all, great teachers
- A lighter selection of sessions, when it came for ME to choose, but that vary from year to year. As we move into more 'based in an educational institution' will we be talking more about education, impact on education, and more on these lines. Not so interesting to me, who is done with all the stuff!
- looking forward to possible upgrade of content level next year, addition of X-Arch workshops if facilities permit
- bribe people with candy to fill out feedback forms
- I had a fantastic time and look forward to coming next year
- the Egg Tempura painting was lots of fun
- Shosain class needs 2 hours
- the receptionists were really helpful and extremely competent
- Candy
- Thank you for all your hard work!
- Thank you for your continuing effort to educate the masses.
- Thank you for an informative and entertaining day!
- Very nicely done! Thank you for hosting us.
- Keep up the good work
- Were there signs for directing people to the main table?
- Shades of Grey could use more pictures esp. pre 1950
- Good job!
- Food was great!
- Really enjoy this event, we come from Toronto we like it so much.
- Can you do this at least twice a year!
- too bad Laurier won't attempt to keep it up
- expand the community and topics (Roman?)
- This is awesome! I love the variety!
- So. Much. Fun.
- Put speaker's name or schedules - many are shy or mumble their names once when self introducing
- Great time - Henry VIII was excellent, Ragnar Njalson was hilarious
- nice to come back, love the location
- Looking forward to next year's changes!
- The Ragnarr Viking deserves a mention - well done!!
- I went to several sessions, not all of which are things that I will do (I am not a historical re-enactor or SCA member), but they were interesting nevertheless. Viking shoes? Cool! Viking humour? Very weird! The diagonal finger-weaving supplies weren't the best set up, and definitely not easy to handle at the workshop -- this could be fun and interesting, but we need a more solid set-up with heavier yarns (so we're not fumbling around while we're trying to learn). The instructor had a good attitude and the best intentions, and I'm sure she'll do a fantastic job next time she presents this, with the benefit of some experience. She was very patient with us, too. I will, in any case, probably set this up at home with better fibre and a more secure frame/attachment, and see how it goes. The kumihimo presenter did a terrific job -- my problem was that I did a basic weave because I couldn't find my frame to bring along. But she imparted lots of useful info so that when I do find my frame (which I've never used) I will have a good idea on how to balance things out using proper weighting and so on, and avoid some pitfalls. The keynote prof was interesting. the comment I have about the larger presentations is that the presenters should have a laser light or a cursor to be able to point to what they are talking about. I didn't follow a number of things in several presentations because I couldn't immediately recognize the feature they were talking about. As always, I had a very enjoyable day and a very positive experience. Thank you again for providing a non-historian some insight into nooks and crannies that I might otherwise not think to explore.
