[Robotgroup] Maker Faire town hall - Recap

[Def Egge]

At 16:49  2008-07-21, you wrote:
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As JP (and some others) asked, the MF town hall 
was kinda like "second verse, same as the first" IMHO. ;)

The Major players were there (Dale, Sherry etc.) 
and they did the "break into groups and write 
stuff on paper" thing. The entire room was 
(again) urged to put stuff "on the wiki" and to 
share it with the MF facebook page...

Salona (sp?) then asked how many people used the 
MF facebook and ONE person raised their hand... 
this brought a general laugh.. then someone in 
front raised their hand and said "Whats a 
WIKI..?" (yes, they were serious..)



Silona Bonewald ... she even has a Wikipedia stub 
/ orphan 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silona_Bonewald) in 
addition to http://www.silona.com/ ....


Always remember that we, TRG, Inc., are in both 
the education and entertainment arenas.  There 
will ALWAYS be folks that don't know what a wiki 
is ... or what facebook is ... or what myspace is 
... or how to get their iPhone, iPod, or other 
technology to work for them.



So, it seems to me the real value was we had the 
opportunity to chat with Dale and Sherry and all 
the Make folks and meet other Makers. Some things 
Dale said that involve TRG:

1)-- This year they will have Battlebots (well, 
robot combat really, "Battlebots is a trademark.. 
I think the group they're getting is "Combots"). 
The "Battlebox" will be set up in the middle of 
the arena (i.e. the "target zone" for ponginator from last year).

For those who don't know, battle robots are LOUD 
and take a lot of space. So, it seems we have 
been summarily evicted from the arena space we 
enjoyed last year. :( There was discussion about 
putting us outside and/or under a tent (think HOT and HUMID). :(



This puts a wrinkle in our suite of offerings, 
doesn't it.  Consider that it took a couple of 
days to move tools, equipment, parts, etc. INTO 
the arena and set up the Ponginator.  The 
insecurity and discomfort issues (don't even 
mention the possibility of inclement weather) 
will not work in our favor.



2)-- Dale encouraged everyone to bring new people 
and new things to the Faire. Though he pointed 
out the TRG had been great supporters and done a 
great job, and he said some exhibits would be 
re-featured (he singled out the Life-Sized 
mousetrap for example) he asked that all Austin 
Makers create new things and also look for new 
folks. He wants all Makers to encouraged other 
Makers to submit their ideas for inclusion in 
Maker Faire as they are trying grow the event 
(The cynical side of me wondered if this wasn't 
the nicest way we had ever been asked to find our replacements... ;)



I only have a cynical side.  ;-)  Their show ... 
their rules ... their decision to invite whomever 
they wish to ....  The projects which might (or 
might not) be funded by First Night Austin grants 
have to take precedence over those gigs which do 
not feed the bulldog.

We do not have infinite financial resources to 
throw into new projects any more than we have 
infinite personnel to dream, plan, build, and 
staff them.  In between, Vern has packing / 
moving /selling / building / moving again issues 
to deal with in addition to his normal daily 
routine.  Denise and I have to deal with the 
daughter getting married two weeks after Maker 
Faire (getting the house in order for family 
and  friends from out of state is going to eat 
more of my time than any of you an 
imagine).  [Use this space to fill in your 
favorite time- consuming needs over the next 12-weeks.]



3) -- I met up with Dave from First Night. Only 
had a few moments to chat. Seems he's very 
focused on making First Night into a serious 
event. Seems to be aware that the "flower of art" 
is nourished with the "manure of money" so he's 
gunna be chasing down the big bux. ;) He's been 
involved with First Night since 1976 so hes got a 
helluva C.V. He said he would be interested in 
working with TRG on all sorts of artistic 
endeavors including trying to go for NEA grant 
level monies! :) We only had a few moments to 
talk and the venue was non-optimal, but we'll see 
how things progress.

Anyway, thats my impression of how the MF Towne 
Hall went so remember my opinions are.

;)

Vern

-- 
Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course, if the network
http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we obviously don't need
Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" ©VLG
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My cynical comments aside, thanks for attending 
the Maker Faire Town Hall, Vern.  If you had 
asked, I would have come on out to join you.



-- 

All the best....

Mike