Notacon community meeting @ the Launchouse during regular hackerspace time?

[Paul "Froggy" Schneider]

I would like to throw a community meeting to help Tyger and I to figure out if we should do another Notacon and, if so, what the focus of the event should be.  Would the group mind if we had that discussion around the same time as regular Tuesday get togethers?

- Paul

[gs volt]

I sent you (froggy) an email earlier trying to understand why you think 2015 notacon wouldn't be scheduled following your blog post .. didn't get feedback even after the event.

Don't know if I will be able to make to the makers alliance meeting in person, but in the meantime, I'd like to get your thoughts on the matter remotely.

-G

On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 3:17 PM, Paul "Froggy" Schneider <fro...@notacon.org> wrote:

I would like to throw a community meeting to help Tyger and I to figure out if we should do another Notacon and, if so, what the focus of the event should be.  Would the group mind if we had that discussion around the same time as regular Tuesday get togethers?

- Paul

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[Paul "Froggy" Schneider]

Well the basics are this, we barely brought in enough money to cover costs.  We also have 1/2 the attendance we needed to really make it work.

At this point we're not saying we're doing another Notacon, but what we are saying is that we want to talk about it to see if it's at all viable.  At this point the company has enough funds to run for another 30 days, then we're bankrupt.  It has about $13,000 in credit liabilities, not including over $20,000 in money my wife and I have personally put in.

So the long story short, we need more people to pay to attend.  Both because we need the money and because that's the amount of people I believe need to attend to make the effort worthwhile.

Our plan is discuss changing and reorganizing the event from the ground up, getting rid of things that really aren't helping us (infosec) and putting more resources into fewer areas of interest (such as making/bulding/hacking).

With an idea of what we (including the community) WANT Notacon to look like, we may then be able to do some fundraising to enable us to make some plans.  

- Paul

[Joe O'Donnell]

 I think that would be fantastic. We have been seeing a big uptick in interest in 'Making' lately, both locally and nationwide.

In the past year we have had conversations with teachers from at least 5 different educational institutions on helping

them with their projects. A woodworking maker space opened in Sheffield. 

 I think there may currently be something of a mismatch and division in the creative tech community:

1. Older tech creatives of the Defcon/Notacon mold, who are more technical, electronics and computer skilled and focused.

2. Younger tech creatives and their teachers, and others new to 'Making', who are more focused on projects that are of a faster to build and more popular nature, like simpler woodworking and various kickstarter kit projects.

3. The largest division, which could be called art focused/ingenuity fest like.

 The 3 big creative tech events of the year each focus one of these groups-Notacon, Mini Maker Faire, and Ingenuity fest. It would be ideal if all 3 could be combined, because all 3 can benefit from each other. The event could be called 'Convergence.' In particular, groups 2 and 3 could benefit from the knowledge and experience of 1, but currently there seems to be something of a disconnect in various ways. This was especially striking at the last Notacon, which had multiple speakers in the highly in demand and highly paid security sector, yet relatively few younger attendees. If that disconnect could be solved both conceptually and marketing wise, than a large and significant event could be in the making.

 It may be good to have this meeting next week, and invite people from each of the groups above.

---

From: "Paul "Froggy" Schneider" <fro...@notacon.org>
To: makersa...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 3:17 PM
Subject: [makersalliance] Notacon community meeting @ the Launchouse during regular hackerspace time?

I would like to throw a community meeting to help Tyger and I to figure out if we should do another Notacon and, if so, what the focus of the event should be.  Would the group mind if we had that discussion around the same time as regular Tuesday get togethers?

- Paul

[Ross Bochnek]

I would love to be a part of this brainstorm.  

Joe made some interesting points too.

I love Mini Maker Faire, Notacon, and Ingenuity Fest.  Ingenuity is really strong on music and art, which are also interests of Notacon.  In the one year I went to Ingenuity (2013) so far, both the Maker Space and organization and presentation of speakers left a lot to be desired. In the future, I think Ingenuity could really get a major boost in its ability to offer lectures and perhaps workshops if they were organized as a mini Notacon at Ingenuity.  That could also expose more people and sponsors to Notacon.  Also, I think the Cleveland Mini Maker Faire could also really benefit from Notacon organizing speakers.  

Also, half of the parking lot at LaunchHouse is now grass- I'm thinking camping event :)