WESTPAC PTG
A HISTORY
A LIST OF WESTPACS
THE FUTURE OF WESTPAC
A regional conference organization (RCO) of the Piano Technicians Guild is created of the chapter representatives (mostly chapter presidents) of their respective regions, their regional vice presidents, and the officers of the RCO, in order to produce a periodical educational event often called a technical institute.
The purpose of this page is to review the history of the RCO in the combined Western and Pacific Northwest regions, “WESTPAC,” in order to inform, encourage and inspire future WESTPAC or WESTPAC-supported learning experiences in regional PTG communities. A new generation of fine piano technicians has little knowledge of these excellent events, and we hope to encourage some to take the leadership of future piano technical education at regional conferences. Online learning is an incredible resource, but face-to-face contact remains the primary vehicle for maintaining and improving a technical community’s gravitas.
In 2008 the Piano Technicans Guild regional boards of the Pacific Northwest Conference and the California State Conference committed to a plan to create a larger conference body for the combined Pacific Northwestern and the Western Regions of the Piano Technicians Guild. Neither wanted to compete with the other, and both thought that the combined resources could result in annual conferences of greater product and attendance. So after some planning, in 2009 a large meeting of the two regions was called at the PTG convention headed by the respective Regional Vice-Presidents, Michael Reiter and Bill Shull, to inaugurate this new regional conference.
A board was created with membership drawn from all the chapters, bylaws were drawn up, and the first conference took place in 2011, with Lisa Weller as the Institute Director, and her South Bay chapter as host chapter.
Funds from each of the predecessor conferences was given to the new bi-regional conference to provide the necessary leverage to pay for hotel room blocks, hotel deposits, etc.
Volunteers from each region with previous experience joined together to lead the first conference. Experienced leadership from the previous RCO’s, especially the California State Conference and the Pacific Northwest Conference, comprised the leadership of the new combined RCO.
A previous model of a “host chapter” was adopted. The host chapter was to do most of the planning and execution, with assistance from the conference director, and the chapter was to receive all of the profits of the conference after the bills had been paid.
With the more ambitious programming, this model proved challenging for the host chapter, and required more human resources from the board leadership than the smaller conferences; at some point an experienced and highly organized former California State conference director, Bruce Stevens, took on and expanded the conference director role to provide the needed resources. Then after 5 successful conferences, an arrangement was made contractually with another experienced regional conference director from the east, Steve Taylor, who had successfully led the MARC, and he agreed to alternate years with MARC and WESTPAC leadership, beginning in 2016. He also trained an understudy, Greg Cheng, who was to take over upon his retirement, but COVID hit, resulting in cancelled plans and knocking out WESTPAC completely. One reason the ball didn’t get picked up after COVID was that the board had handed over all decisionmaking to Steve Taylor, and after his retirement and after COVID the board was no longer involved in detailed oversight of the mission or ready to step in immediately to resume hosting conferences. So the time has come to consider whether to do just that.
WESTPAC had 8 years of regional conference performance, from 2011 to 2018, with some good years and some low attendance ones. Locations which proved to result in low attendance continued: Phoenix netted 84 paid (though the revenue loss was only $639). The worry of low attendance caused the Puget Sound Chapter to locate their WESTPAC IV conference the following year in the San Francisco Bay, a proven attendance getter.
Today some believe that WESTPAC slighted the Pacific Northwest in venue choices, but, for example, the sponsoring Puget Sound Chapter supported the more regionally central San Francisco venue.
Memories of California State Conventions with nearly 200 attendees, and one with over 300, were the basis for some hope that WESTPAC could return those numbers, but the world has changed, and conference attendance numbers are universally lower. It is probably unrealistic to expect those high numbers again.
A history of the conferences was created from the historic web pages which are still live, due to the fact that the the WESTPAC web designer, Barb Barasa, created sites that were updated for 5 consecutive years, and then were continued to be paid by WESTPAC. After 2016 the web URL and web hosting was managed by the contracted institute leader, Steve Taylor, and these websites are no longer active or accessible.
Below are a listing of the WESTPAC Conferences
WESTPAC I - San Francisco Bay
Here is a web page from WESTPAC I
PTG Pacific Northwest Conference : Instructors
The Institute Director for WESTPAC I was Lisa Weller
The event, which took place at the Marriott San Francisco Airport Hotel in Burlingame, CA from March 3-6, 2011, saw an attendance of over 130 and was regarded as quite successful. Host chapter was South Bay.
Below are listed the ensuing WESTPAC conferences:
WESTPAC II – 2012 Salt lake City Institute Director Jim Busby
https://www.westpac-ptg.org/2012/registration.shtml
WESTPAC : PTG Western and Pacific Regional Conference
WESTPAC III – 2013 Phoenix Institute Director Nick Gravagne
Hyatt Regency Downtown Phoenix March 7-10
https://www.westpac-ptg.org/2013/classes/
WESTPAC IV- 2014 Co-Directors Phil Glenn and Mike Reiter
https://www.westpac-ptg.org/2014/classes/index.shtml
WESTPAC : PTG Western and Pacific Regional Conference
WESTPAC V – 2015 - Director Bruce Stevens
WESTPAC : PTG Western and Pacific Regional Conference
Ontario, CA
WESTPAC VI 2016 Seattle, WA
March 31-April 3, 2016
PTGWESTPAC.ORG
FIRST WESTPAC with Institute Director
STEVE TAYLOR
WESTPAC VII – Anaheim 2018
Ptgwestpac:ﾠPTGﾠAnaheim 2018 |ﾠWestPacﾠVII
THE FUTURE OF WESTPAC
The sudden occurrence of COVID in 2000 prevented any further WESTPAC conferences for several years. Additional factors were of concern too: Since 2014 the conference board had been concerned with sustaining itself, due to the challenges of lower than expected attendance and the difficulty of finding willing leadership. Then Steve Taylor, who successfully managed an east coast combined regional conference - MARC, short for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, was retained to be the institute directore every two years, alternately with the MARC. He retired and his successor no longer continued the role after COVID.
There is some agitation within both regions - mostly well intentioned but short-sighted - to shut down the WESTPAC organization without calling a board meeting to explore WESTPAC’s future. Given the conditions which caused the temporary interruption of WESTPAC, given the vibrant and active PTG membership in the region, and especially given the ongoing existence of the default trustees, the legal composition of the board of WESTPAC, the officers of WESTPAC have a duty to properly call the board of WESTPAC to a session, or sessions which brainstorm the future and mission of WESTPAC and explore how it might be relevant and able to achieve its mission in the future. Therefore the default board membership must be called to a meeting in order to properly fulfill the bylaws of WESTPAC.
Given the extraordinary technological changes through ZOOM that have taken place, it is possible to conduct a board meeting online, with full give-and-take participation of all board membership.
Given the value of a real face-to-face meeting, it might be desirable to plan a regional conference event which would also provide the opportunity for a vibrant face-to-face board meeting as well.
A new generation of PTG leaders is emerging, some who have never attended a WESTPAC or MARC event; now is the opportunity to introduce them to the remarkable regional experience and include them in regional conference leadership.
Reasons for closing down WESTPAC have to do with both the desire to prioritize smaller, more seminar-like local events, and on the other hand, the argument that a downsized PTG doesn’t have the resources or gravitas to support more than an annual event.
Reasons not to close down WESTPAC have to do with the lack of availability of substantial technical institute learning opportunities at events sufficiently local and frequent enough to meet learning needs of the PTG membership. The Annual Technical Institute is mostly attended by members more proximate to the event, so 2 to 3 years may go by until the institute is close enough for many members to be willing to attend.
In addition, WESTPAC’s leadership might also see a way to expand its mission to support off-year smaller seminars through technical and leadership support and financial leverage. These events have been successfully held by both the Pomona Valley Chapter (2017, 2019) and the Washington State Seminar in 2025. Neither received regional conference-leveraged financial assistance, and had to use the limited resources of the chapter (Pomona Valley) or of the personal funds of the director (Washington State Seminar). Neither is advantageous, and the precedent set by Washington State is actually harmful to the PTG. Both events took place in an RCO-led vacuum which might want to consider a new way forward that incorporates a “parent” role for smaller seminars. For Pomona Valley the technical and equipment resources of past WESTPAC were gladly provided by Bruce Stevens and his mentee, and a quick look at the Washington State Seminar website reveals a wide support by experienced WESTPAC leaders and teachers as well.
The existence of WESTPAC include financial strength of approximately $25,000 which will retain its viability if WESTPAC includes in its mission the support of both a bi-regional conference every other year, and of smaller regional events in the off year. And this could result in a more coordinated scheduling of the regions that would ensure the best success in education and attendance.
Other notes:
The bylaws include a dissolution plan that returns financial assets to the member chapters. If the board of WESTPAC chose to close, it should consider the probability of the re-formation of regional conferences, and return the funds to those organizations instead. The funds from WESTPAC should not merely fill the coffers of existing chapters. In this way the larger and richest chapters become richer, while the smaller chapters, who might also have seminar ambitions, are insufficiently leveraged.
Both regions had leadership awards which were presented at their conference events; this continued with WESTPAC. The Washington State Seminar actually presented the Jim Burton Award for Pacific Northwest Conference leadership in 2025; this indicates the kind of vacuum that exists and needs to be filled by an active WESTPAC board
Many of the extraordinary leaders of WESTPAC and its ancestor organizations are with us today. They and those who have passed or are no longer with the trade should be recognized. A list of the remarkable people is being built, and your contribution to this list is helpful. Send suggestions to bdshull@aol.com