Long Term(ish) planning September Anniversary - What are we doing for it?

DMS General
#21

I’m familiar with your first suggestion. The printed parts in the picture are from an app called “Autodesk Tinkerplay” that’s free(Itunes) on(Android) mobile(Win-phone) platforms(Win-tablet). It used to be called Modio, but Autodesk bought them out and expanded their model selection considerably.

If you’re doing this, it’d be a good idea to produce a very large amount of parts. (The public demo of this app had 100+ sample parts for the public to play with, for comparison.)

Thingiverse had a contest based around only using parts out of Modio and it worked out very well.

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#22

Do we know anyone with an infrared camera? Giving people infrared portraits of themselves (which look really odd, BTW) is a fun activity, especially for kids. (I used to work for a large defense contractor and when we would set up the FLIRs at trade shows and do this, people would wait in line to get their IR portrait)

Chris

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#23

In an effort to learn what significance “September” holds for us, I did some poking around a bit to see what I could dig up… :smile:

Below are some of the highlights / special events I pulled up…
('n Yes ~ there are more! I was just focusing on the big / annual ‘Open House’ type events…)

ESTABLISHING A DALLAS MAKER SPACE
January 2010, by Ed Paradis and Steve Rainwater
http://www.dprg.org/projects/2010-01a

  • Interesting article from Dallas Personal Robotics Group (DPRG) members documenting plans on creating a hackerspace (aka makerspace or a shared community workshop) in the Dallas area.

Dallas Makerspace Wiki | Talk:Main Page
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Talk:Main_Page

  • Check out the “Quick timeline of the space”!
  • Peter notes… “First big event on Saturday, September 18, 2010” (Which I discovered was: “Software Freedom Day 2010”)

Software Freedom Day 2010
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Software_Freedom_Day_2010
When: Saturday, September 18, 2010, from 1 PM until 6 PM
Where: Dallas Makerspace, 11020 Audelia Rd, Suite C103, Dallas, TX 75243

Open House 2010
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Open_House_2010
First Annual Open House (2010)
When: Saturday, November 20, 2010, from Noon until Midnight
Where: Dallas Makerspace, 11020 Audelia Rd, Suite C103, Dallas, TX 75243

  • Check out the Videos!

Open House 2011
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Open_House_2011
Second Annual Open House (2011)
When: Saturday, November 5, 2011, from Noon until Midnight
Where: Dallas Makerspace, 2995 Ladybird Ln, Dallas, TX 75220

Dallas Makerspace Wiki | Talk:Open House 2011
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Talk:Open_House_2011

  • We should totally do the blinking robots again!

Open House 2012
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Open_House_2012
Third Annual Open House (2012)
When: Saturday, November 10, 2012, starting at noon and will go the whole day (Events on the wiki were scheduled beginning at 1 PM and the last one was scheduled to begin at 5 PM)
Where: Dallas Makerspace, 2995 Ladybird Ln, Dallas, TX 75220

  • The Dizzy Fling – a carnival type game which was featured on Good Morning Texas!!

Open House 2013
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Open_House_2013
Fourth Annual Open House (2013)
When: Saturday, November 9, 2013, starting at noon and will go the whole day (Events on the wiki were scheduled beginning at 1 PM and the last one was scheduled to begin at 6 PM)
Where: Dallas Makerspace, 2995 Ladybird Ln, Dallas, TX 75220

  • Need Pix or Vids or Stories or something… Cuz, I’m sure it was most awesome!

Grand Opening (BIG Open House)
http://dallasmakerspace.org/grandopening
Fifth Annual Open House / Grand Opening at New Location on Monetary Lane (January 2015)
When: Saturday, January 24, 2015, starting at 10 AM until 6 PM
Where: Dallas Makerspace, 1825 Monetary Lane, Suite #104, Carrollton, TX 75006

  • Originally scheduled to be held on: November 8, 2014, from 7 AM until 11 PM; but, rescheduled until after the new year to allow more time to build out and settle in after the move.
  • It was BIG!

It was so neat to read up on some of the history of Dallas Makerspace! :smile:

Now back to the Original Post… :wink: :slight_smile:

While looking at the previous replies in this thread, along with some of the dates 'n other info that I grabbed from the previous big events, I would like to propose something along these lines:

  1. Have a Big Day of Fun in September, as originally planned (I’m leaning against using the wording “anniversary” for this one… Perhaps we can have a Pirate Themed ‘end of summer, let’s bring in the fall’ party? International Talk Like a Pirate Day is on a Saturday this year, so it’d be perfect!)

  2. While tossing ideas around on what to do for upcoming Big Events, start putting together ideas for Open House 2015, Autumn Edition (since our last Big Open House was pushed from Nov '14 to Jan '15 to give us time to get moved in and ready to party! :wink: :slight_smile: ). Let’s pick a Saturday in November 2015 for this now! 'n while we are at it… Can we please consider going back to the “Noon until Midnight” model - like the first couple were? Especially as big as we are now - it would give us more time to have a wider variety of things to do! (Unless there was a reason that has already been discussed as to why it’d be better to have shorter time frame???).

A touch of Dallas Makerspace History, Highlights & Special Events
#24

I have the FLIR ONE.

#25

Just as a side note, I’m wanting to request Saturday, October 3rd as a day for a 'space-wide event/mini convention, themed around costume and prop making. I’m in the midst of writing up the proposal and sample schedule and will be putting it on the next BoD meeting agenda once it is ready.

#26

Life-sized human Foosball in the back parking lot :smile:

#27

Heck we could get @Opcode to use that nuero muscular control tech to allow actual control of the operators!

#28

So no really…should we have a big blow out party of some significance in September or not? I wouldn’t mind pushing some energy into it if you would like.
@AndrewLeCody? @BenjaminGroves? Thoughts

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#29

Personally, I think a big open house would be awesome.

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#30

Game on.

Darn it my power of simplicity is crushed by 20 character requirements.

2 Likes
#31

Hi Nicole (@uglyknees) With all due respect… other than a handful of fun/silly posts, there has been feedback from others as well as myself… I can’t really tell if you are being silly in return, discounting the suggestions posted so far, ultimately only wanted to get feedback from Andrew LeCody, or perhaps just simply missed the ideas we’ve posted… I hope it was an oversight; but, regardless ~ your enthusiasm shines! :slight_smile:

I do have a few questions (mostly out of curiosity; partially for clarification… )

  • Nicole (@uglyknees): I’m still sort of curious about where the idea of a September “Anniversary” came from? If you look at my post with all the links, the only thing ‘BIG’ in September was the very first big event held at the 'Space; but, it wasn’t an “Open House” type of event… It seems as if the Big Open House events have all been held in November - except for the last one (due to the move, etc…).
  • Paul (@Hardsuit): Is the October event you mentioned something you were wanting to bill as an “Open House” type event? Or maybe a better question would be, if you had your ‘rathers’, would you hope to have the event you are planning “in addition to” a Big Open House, or in conjunction with, or ???
  • Andrew (@AndrewLeCody): Since you have been around for a few moons… Could you enlighten us as to whether there was a specific reason almost all the previous Big “Open House” events have been held in November?

After reading over all the responses (so many fun things!)… and taking a few things into consideration, such as:

  • Suggestion by Ben (@BenjaminGroves) that September is the beginning of a wonderful time of year in Texas, good stuff, BBQ theme, etc…
  • Reminder by Nic (@nickdangerous) that there are many potential conflicts that time of the year…
  • Mention by Paul (@Hardsuit) that he has something in the works for something big in October
  • Research by Me (@LisaSelk) confirming that most our Big Open House events have historically been held in November (for reasons yet to be discovered; but, hopefully will be enlighten soon by Andrew (@AndrewLeCody)

… and, taking into consideration how much we’ve grown ~ not only in size of our membership; but, in variety of interests, etc…

Why not hold a monthly mini-celebration?! Once per month on a Saturday? And maybe… Just maybe… Start holding the Monthly Membership Meeting that same day, too!! :smiley:

  • There has already been talk about having food at membership meetings to encourage members to show up…
  • More members would likely be able to show up to a meeting on a Saturday (vs evening during the week…)
  • Along with the rapid growth, and such a strong learning/teaching culture, meeting in a friendly setting will encourage members to get to know each other and help foster community and collaboration! :slight_smile:

All these ideas can easily co-exist and be brought together to strengthen what we already have and help keep us grounded in our roots, while continuing to enlarge our reach into the greater Dallas area community of makers (and makers-to-be)!. :smile:

ps… Life-sized Human Foosball in the back parking lot = WIN!!! (Thx for the most awesome suggestion, Mike (@HankCowdog)!!! :slight_smile: )

#32

ooooh 'n along with the suggestion of monthly mini-celebrations, I would still hope to have an Annual BIG Open House each year! Are we keeping the big Open House events in November, like they have been, or ???

#33

My idea was for a totally separate event. The reasoning for the specific date in October was to grab some of the Halloween influence relating to costumes. For a one day mini con a four month lead time should be plenty for planning, PR, etc. I really do mean to set it up as a mini-convention, with panels, hopefully sponsors, and possibly a couple vendors. Debating merits of actual paid badges (leaning towards suggested donation which gets you a nice badge instead of nametag, etc). Need to set up a meeting time some evening to see who (if anyone) is also interested in the idea and is willing to help.

I had actually said at one PR meeting that I thought having one “big” event every 3 months or so would be a good idea, with rotating themes/subject matter/topics.

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#34

Makes sense and Sounds fun!

'n yeah… quarterly big events or monthly mini events… we can def pull it off and I think it would be a great thing for the 'Space! :smile:

#35

A concern with quarterly events. In my experience events like this can become fairly expensive. I don’t know how much is spent on these in the past, but we should be cautious if we do these more frequently to be extremely fiscally conservative.

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#36

That’s a great point! I’d still prefer one “BIG” Annual event - which is the one where the bulk of the money would go into…

If we held other events on a reasonably predictable schedule, we could put aside a bit each month for them - not much, just enough to cover basics… we wouldn’t have to go all out on expenses… “word of mouth” and a few posts on social media and such will go far ~ especially after word gets out that we are doing things (quarterly/monthly/etc…)… 'n as for things to do, we can do like we’ve done in the past with demos 'n all… visitors can purchase a kit (like the blinky kits) which would help alleviate the expenses… dunno… just tossing ideas around! Thanks again! :smile:

#37

I do get excited about things - it is true. I’m not trying to blow of or discount your (and others suggestions) The so no really…is in regard to “are we doing this in September or another time” I see all the suggestions and they get me excited - the research you did is amazing. It just seems many months are being thrown around as possible dates. I overheard the wrong month as an anniversary - so what works better?

A more direct question- would it be better to have a big open house celebration in September, October or November? Once that has been picked the planning can begin.

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#38

The reason most of our big open houses happened in November is because most of our big open houses happened in November. :smile:

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#39

Kewlness! Thanks, y’all!!! :smiley:
So… I do like narrowing it down to three months so far! :smile:

I wish I had a solid suggestion floating on top of my head; but, I really don’t… The same reasons these months are good for us, are the same reasons that so many other festivals 'n fun things are going on ~ we can reasonably anticipate two digit temps (for the most part)… :wink:

I don’t have the time at the moment to scroll through online resources to see what’s already being planned in the greater DFW metroplex during those months; but, will poke around online over the weekend to see what I can find out…

In the meantime, it would be most awesome if others will contribute with suggestions of weekends to “AVOID” with a tidbit on why… (major geek event going on, etc…).

Just my 2¢

Thanks again to Everyone who has and/or will contribute to making this happen!!!
:smile:

#40

holy smokes. how did i not see this thread until now?

#such fail…