Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
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Re: Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
#2This is such an epic, annual celebration of learning and creativity. Losing it would be a tragedy.
How do the economics not work out here? 100-150K visitors/year, each dropping (on average? $20 for entrance ticket)?
Don't they require commercial presenters to pay for their space?
How much does it cost to rent the San Mateo Fairgrounds?
Re: Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
#3This is such an epic, annual celebration of learning and creativity. Losing it would be a tragedy. How do the economics not work out here? 100-150K visitors/year, each dropping (on average? $20 for entrance ticket)? Don't they require commercial presenters to pay for their space? How much does it cost to rent the San Mateo Fairgrounds?
I can't find any info on how much the event space actually costs, but based a few tidbits from the article it sounds more like the organization that runs the faire let expenses get out of control. If they laid off 8-10 people, that means they had significantly more than that, all of whom were ostensibly drawing a salary on top of likely increasing event space costs.
Re: Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
#4This is such an epic, annual celebration of learning and creativity. Losing it would be a tragedy. How do the economics not work out here? 100-150K visitors/year, each dropping (on average? $20 for entrance ticket)? Don't they require commercial presenters to pay for their space? How much does it cost to rent the San Mateo Fairgrounds?
I can't find any info on how much the event space actually costs, but based a few tidbits from the article it sounds more like the organization that runs the faire let expenses get out of control. If they laid off 8-10 people, that means they had significantly more than that, all of whom were ostensibly drawing a salary on top of likely increasing event space costs.
There’s actually tons of other costs besides renting the space. Many exhibits require large amounts of electricity and space. Not every exhibitor can fit within a small booth. Not to mention liability insurance, since some exhibits have things like fire.
As a exhibitor myself, I've seen how the event has changed over the past few years, and the loss of sponsors such as Intel have definitely hit them. I just hope the event can continue, it's really the highlight of the school year for me and my peers.
Re: Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
#5I first went to Maker Faire in 2012 or so, and it was incredible - the variety I saw was unreal, with so many smaller and interesting projects. I've gone three more times since then, and each time it's been less and less inspiring.
More uniformity, more emphasis on unrelated consumer products like pre-prepared food offerings, less emphasis on interesting electronics kits. Maybe I became jaded, but maybe Maker Faire has tried to target a lower and lower common denominator in an effort to boost revenues.
Re: Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
#6I first went to Maker Faire in 2012 or so, and it was incredible - the variety I saw was unreal, with so many smaller and interesting projects. I've gone three more times since then, and each time it's been less and less inspiring. More uniformity, more emphasis on unrelated consumer products like pre-prepared food offerings, less emphasis on interesting electronics kits. Maybe I became jaded, but maybe Maker Faire h…
It seems geared towards foodies and kids.
Re: Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
#7I helped present a Tesla coil demo at one of the first Maker Faires (maybe 2006 or 2007?) and it was an absolute blast. It was also decidedly no frills, focused on the artsy, crazy, creative projects. I don't recall much, if anything, in the way of commercial products.
I wonder if it would be financially tenable if they scale it down and get back that home grown feel. Then again the bay area is a very different place now.
Re: Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
#8It's a shame - in 2008/9/10 it was really something to see, but as a few other commenters have said, it's (and a lot of the maker movement for that matter) have declined a bit.
I personally think this is due to the infantilization in part of a lot of media outlets, where the emphasis has been placed on getting the ideas into the most hands possible instead of folks who'd actually benefit. Focusing the faires around 3D printing geegaws and cosplay items is fine if you want to make numbers, but you get consumers and the followons, and not creators from that.
You can think of it in the same vein as Marvel movies or Harry Potter books - low content, low thinking media that raises insane amounts of money based on appealing to the mass market and the wannabe 'geek' crowd that doesn't tend to do much innovating except in consumption methods.
Re: Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
#9I'm heartbroken that Halted closed. Is tinkering with physical stuff in the bay area dead?
Or well, scaled back significantly in comparison to a decade ago.
Re: Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last
#10I'm heartbroken that Halted closed. Is tinkering with physical stuff in the bay area dead? Or well, scaled back significantly in comparison to a decade ago.
Definitely a trend. There's also the TechShop bankruptcy and the subsequent "TheShop.build" clusterfuck, MotoGuild shutting down, etc.