clevermanka | KC's first Maker Faire

For Kansas City's first attempt, it wasn't bad. I was sad to see how many people didn't show up to staff their tables. There were a lot (probably a quarter) of the tables that were just sitting empty. They could've moved all the outside vendors to the indoors where the foot traffic was better and there was a lack of horrible music.

One group I tried to talk to was disappointing in that it seemed I knew more about their project (an electric car built on an Indy car body) than they did. I asked what the engine specs were and the kid just looked at me. The adult adviser guy started talking to me and I asked what sort of power did it make. You know, basic stuff (which is all I know) like torque vs. horsepower. Adviser Guy said "Well, it's an electric engine." "It still has torque!" I said, and he started rambling about how their goal was to get 500 miles per tank off it. Whatever. I walked off. It's one thing to put efficiency above power for a project (that's totally cool), but to not even know (or want to tell) about one's engine capabilities? On something that looks like a racecar? Bah.

I also stopped to look at a booth that had wee electronics sewn into the clothing, but they weren't offering up any trade secrets. They had a video of their fashion show from earlier in the year (which showed one photo of a garment that was actually turned on), and a couple of other garments on display which were not functioning. One girl was wearing a shirt that had little lights in it, but because she was wearing it, nobody could get a close look at it. Lame.

Reading

stuology's description of her day there, I think my problem was I didn't expect or understand that it was heavily marketed toward kids. I should have been able to figure it out, since the reason I didn't approach many of the booths was that they were surrounded by small persons. That fact didn't occur to me, though, until I read what an awesome time Stu and Ada had. Oh well.

Thanks to

miischelle for slogging through it with me. I'm glad that I got a free pass from Yelp. I would've been ticked off to pay $10 f for my experience. I didn't get enough out of it to justify the drive and a ten-buck ticket (oh, plus $5 for parking). I hope next year they have things a little better arranged, with more exhibits for adults--and maybe have areas separated by function: Kid's exhibits, Vendors, Demos, Hands-on, etc.

The highlight of the day for me (besides hanging with Miss M, which is always a delight) was a spontaneous stop at a garage sale where I picked up eight sliding-top cigar boxes for super cheap. I should have bought the whole damn stack of them even though I didn't know where I'd put them once I got them home. Today I'm having "should have bought more" buyer's remorse. Does anyone else ever get that?

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Sad to hear about the car. Was that KU's project? If so Lou will be mad, that was his baby while he was there.

For cool electronic garments and textile technology follow

fashioningtech. It's awesome and has updates about cool stuff almost daily.

No, this was an actual kid (like, maybe 13 or 14) and what looked like a high school teacher adviser. Definitely not KU's group.

Thank you for the link to that blog!!!

I think I would have thought the same thing had Ada not been with me. But taking *her* there? That was awesome.

Friends and I noticed the empty booths, but I just figured they didn't fill them at all, not that people just didn't show up. Hmmm...

A co-worker of mine was manning a booth in the robot section, and he let her stick her fingers in his contraption so she could help him do tension adjustments. She lives in a world where people look at her and say "DO NOT TOUCH THAT." She needs to have places where adults let her touch things. And yesterday, they let her touch stuff. I hope they work out the kinks and do it again next year.

I tried to get Ada over to

bestill's booth, but she did not want to, and I know it was because she was right by the very loud music. Ada wanted to dance to the music, but she would not stand near the stage. We had to go sit over by the art car.

Yeah, people just didn't show up. As far as I could tell, they didn't show up at the last minute, too. Traci was told that if there was a cancellation, she could move her booth to an indoor spot, which didn't happen. Poor Traci. I think she lost some business due to her shitty location. Major suck.

I hope they do it again next year, too. I wonder how I can file my suggestions about booth arrangements.

I hated having to miss this. I might want to participate next year.

Great minds think alike. M and I were discussing the possibilities of having a booth, too.

My younger girls went with their dad and, by the pictures, looked to have had a great time. So I think you're right on with the marketing. :)

I'm really happy to hear that the kids and parents I know had a good time! If I do get involved with the event next year, I'll definitely pass that along.

I had a lot of fun. I learned a few things about diaphragm valves, gave some college kid the third degree about some hydrogen car he was shilling for (he actually did a really good job of answering my intentionally difficult questions), saw a three stage Whimshurst machine, and learned how to improve my pasta roller for use with epoxy putty. I also collected a lot of interesting literature about various hacker spaces. All in all I had a good time, it was worth the 12 bucks I paid.

Good! Glad to hear it. Next time I'm going with you since you seem to know all the right booths to approach. Hydrogen Car guy did look like he knew what he was talking about, and I appreciated his taste in design.

I wanted to talk to the guys with the print-making set-up, but I couldn't even get them to notice that I was there. Ugh. Maybe I just smelled bad that day? You totally should have said something.

I talked with the guys about the printmaking setup, but I had a nine year old with me and a BFA in printmaking. In the end, I think it's just a matter of timing and who you happen to approach.

Glad to hear you had a better experience with them.

famfataleatron got a very different vibe off the guys.

The print-making dudes looked kind of surly, so I didn't go talk to them about anything.

No kidding. They looked super unhappy to be there. Didn't even look up, even when they were walking around their area.

If you went today, there were way, way fewer booths staffed than there were yesterday. I wonder if people intentionally wanted to be there for one day or if they were just ticked about sales, or if they were burnt out from the incredibly long day yesterday. There was an entire section of large robotics missing from outside (schools, so probably intentionally one-day only) and lots of interior/exterior displays that just suddenly weren't there. Odd. I think I'd be super ticked if I'd picked Sunday only as the day to visit. Yesterday, there were a few missing booths, but it didn't seem like a significant number.

Pari had the most amazing time. I think she's inspired to check to see if she can start a robotics club at her school. She had a million questions and wanted to touch everything, and she just thrives when people will answer her questions and let her mess with things.

I didn't go today, no. I didn't think it was worth another drive to KC. That's really too bad that even fewer people showed today. =(

Somebody else told me that the entire row of large robotics actually was just moved to an area that had a fire engine the first day, so not as bad as I'd thought.

KC's first Maker Faire

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