Ben Leduc-Mills and I, day 1 setup

I had a great time at Maker Faire showing projects from Making Things Move and was shocked by the number of people that came to the table and had heard of the book and/or me! It was exciting and exhausting all in one. I loved all the inquisitive kids too – the mousetrap powered car was a big hit with them. Now that I’ve recovered, I wanted to post some tips for Makers at other Faires and recap some highlights:

Tips for makers:
1) Bring earplugs. The kind that are attached by a string are ideal so you can remove and replace them easily without losing or stepping on them. You might get put next to Madagascar Institute’s jet powered ponies, and after the 25th time they run them, your hearing loss and headache will max out. However, if you’re lucky, you may get to ride said jet powered ponies, like Becky Stern and I did:

2) Get help. Even though Ben had started a PhD out in Colorado at the Craft Technology Lab, he was able to fly in for the weekend and help out. We worked on SADbot together so it was super great and helpful that he was there to setup and talk to everyone about it. It also means we could each wander off from time to time to check out the rest of the Faire, attend talks/shows, etc. My partner Lorena was also there and was awesome to have the company and someone to make the table look nice! Between the three of us it was manageable, but would have been very tough to do alone.

3) Setup time follows the rule of pi – that is, it will take you approximately 3 times as long to setup as you initially estimate. Bring your whole toolbox if you’re installing anything and you *think* all you’ll need is some duct tape.

4) Bring your lunch. The lines for food were super long. The more time you can spend at your booth while sneaking bites of a sandwich, the more people you get to meet and talk to.

5) Manage your caffeine. I was surprised how tiring just standing around talking to people was! A couple sugar-free Red Bulls throughout the day did the trick. If you lose energy, your enthusiasm for your work will not transfer to your audience.

6) Wear comfy shoes! I wore some skimpy sandals the first day just planning for the heat, and my feet were on fire by the end of the day. You’ll be doing a lot of standing and talking. The 2nd day I wore squishier sandals and my cozy feet thanked me.

7) Say hi to your heroes. Maker Faire is a great equalizer, and everyone is there to have some fun and show their stuff. I got to meet Massimo Banzi of the Arduino team by saying something lame like “we have an Arduino here” when he strolled past my table. I was also introduced to Leah Buechley of the High-Low Tech group at MIT’s media lab by Tom Igoe. I had been a fan for a while and seen her talk at the Open Hardware Summit the day before and it was great to get the chance to meet.

Towards the end of the second day my friend Becky Stern rolled by on her scooter and gave Making Things Move (featuring SADbot) a blue Editor’s Choice ribbon! Ben and I were very proud – we’re working out joint custody of the ribbon.

Can’t wait for next year!