Where Do We Go From Here?
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mica.cardillo
Oct 12, 2014, 12:37:27 AM10/12/14
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Dear Members,
We had a quite a serious Board/Member meeting on Wednesday. I want to make sure you know what's happening, and that you get some input in how we move forward.
Only six months ago, things were looking pretty good. We were on a pretty healthy trajectory and our financial picture seemed like it was on an upswing. We thought we could just slowly work our way to supporting the wider range of activities and equipment. Not to mention shop space, more reliable internet, better electrical wiring and capacity, more computer lab for the kids coming in, and more space for hosting the larger events.
But Chicken & egg problem with our space is becoming more acute than ever. And we've had a drop-off in Membership over the summer. Life happens. Things change for people. And most of our membership is in our 30s and 40s are working the equivalent of 50+ hours, some working on startup roller coaster, and most have young children to attend to. Every day seems equally challenging as the previous day.
If you look at the makerspaces that are growing and thriving today, they have equipment that individuals cannot afford on their own and/or offer services that are absolutely critical to needs.
In my discussions with other thriving hackerspaces and makerspaces, there are two main sources that drive the business model. The first is the ability to accomidate a wide range of activity and interests, and to capitalize on that by offering plenty of paid workshops, reservations on equipment, and incubator / co-working activity. This allows many people to pool resources in a way that provides a broad range of expertise, shared space, and at the same time provides dedicated space for the more specialized shop equipment.
Related to that, it has been difficult to follow through on some of the more more complex, visually impressive, challenging projects ideas we've started. We know how much impact those projects on our ability to raise awareness, help the larger community, and get more people involved. But we haven't yet pulled off those things that would make it effortless for us to promote. Part of this could be lack of focus. Now that we have a community, maybe we should just shut down our space and see if we can get some of these projects done in our sheds or a shop-like space and then re-open later with a bigger space. Of course, in the meantime, that would really bum the middle and high school kids currently utilizing our space. And we lose that friendly place for families to gather during the evenings to share and do stuff together.
The folks who were at the Board meeting don't necessarily need to chime in here, since they already have. But for those of you who couldn't make the meeting, here's your opportunity.
We had a quite a serious Board/Member meeting on Wednesday. I want to make sure you know what's happening, and that you get some input in how we move forward.
Only six months ago, things were looking pretty good. We were on a pretty healthy trajectory and our financial picture seemed like it was on an upswing. We thought we could just slowly work our way to supporting the wider range of activities and equipment. Not to mention shop space, more reliable internet, better electrical wiring and capacity, more computer lab for the kids coming in, and more space for hosting the larger events.
But Chicken & egg problem with our space is becoming more acute than ever. And we've had a drop-off in Membership over the summer. Life happens. Things change for people. And most of our membership is in our 30s and 40s are working the equivalent of 50+ hours, some working on startup roller coaster, and most have young children to attend to. Every day seems equally challenging as the previous day.
If you look at the makerspaces that are growing and thriving today, they have equipment that individuals cannot afford on their own and/or offer services that are absolutely critical to needs.
In my discussions with other thriving hackerspaces and makerspaces, there are two main sources that drive the business model. The first is the ability to accomidate a wide range of activity and interests, and to capitalize on that by offering plenty of paid workshops, reservations on equipment, and incubator / co-working activity. This allows many people to pool resources in a way that provides a broad range of expertise, shared space, and at the same time provides dedicated space for the more specialized shop equipment.
Related to that, it has been difficult to follow through on some of the more more complex, visually impressive, challenging projects ideas we've started. We know how much impact those projects on our ability to raise awareness, help the larger community, and get more people involved. But we haven't yet pulled off those things that would make it effortless for us to promote. Part of this could be lack of focus. Now that we have a community, maybe we should just shut down our space and see if we can get some of these projects done in our sheds or a shop-like space and then re-open later with a bigger space. Of course, in the meantime, that would really bum the middle and high school kids currently utilizing our space. And we lose that friendly place for families to gather during the evenings to share and do stuff together.
The folks who were at the Board meeting don't necessarily need to chime in here, since they already have. But for those of you who couldn't make the meeting, here's your opportunity.
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