[Noisebridge-discuss] Presence at Maker Faire - what to expect?

[Michael Shiloh]

Prepare to be overwhelmed. Have plenty of volunteers to take turns and 
give each other breaks, and be onhand when suddenly you are surrounded 
by 30 interested people.

Forget about meeting people for meaningful conversations. Expect most 
conversations to be brief and disrupted early and often.

Prepare to be distracted constantly by friends old and new, interesting 
stories, techniques, and projects, and tons of eye candy.

Bring food and water. The lines are long, and most of the food is pretty 
bad, although they did MUCH, MUCH better this year. And of course the 
best food will have the longest lines.

Did they tell you not to bring outside food and drinks? Ignore that, but 
be discreet. Some day I plan to build a robot that has a cooler hidden 
inside. Meanwhile, I just bury my food under my junk. There is always 
plenty of junk.

In San Mateo, they provided water coolers near every door, but it sure 
was nice having a bottle to refill rather than the dinky little paper cups.

The Make staff is great, but they are completely overwhelmed. Sometimes 
you'll barely get a wave as they rush by, and other times Dale will have 
time for an hour long conversation.

Above all, have fun!

On 07/12/2010 06:57 PM, Alex Handy wrote:
> So, the biggest thing to remember is that you are completely on your
> own. The Maker Faire Staff will not reply to your emails at all, but
> rest assured, they're reading them. They are, indeed, swamped.
> Basically, plan to have 1 table full of fun stuff, print some very big
> pictures or signs with info, and have some stickers or pamphlets to hand
> out to people who want to know more about your space.
>
> Don't anticipate working wireless. Don't expect any help from Maker
> Faire staff in setup or tear down. Really, the biggest thing I can say
> is that, despite the lack of response from Maker Faire staff, they
> really are on top of things. They just aren't communicative.
>
> On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 6:31 PM, Ben Brown <ben at kwartzlab.ca
> <mailto:ben at kwartzlab.ca>> wrote:
>
>     Hey folks, not sure who specifically to ask, so figured I'd post here.
>     Kwartzlab has a booth at Maker Faire Detroit. While a bunch of us were
>     in San Mateo in May, It's our first time on the maker side of the table
>     and was hoping to draw off Noisebridge's illustrious experience at
>     previous Maker Faires ;)
>
>     What should we be expecting? Was there anything in particular that
>     worked out/didn't work/didn't plan for (either for setup or during the
>     event)? Response has been a little light from some of the Maker Faire
>     organizers (Not their fault -- I'm sure they're swamped) but if anyone
>     can share some insight here (or contact me off list), we'd be most
>     grateful!
>
>     Cheers!
>
>     Ben Brown
>     Treasurer, Kwartzlab Society Inc.
>     http://www.kwartzlab.ca
>
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