User Tools

Site Tools


miscellaneous:ajnmmf7jan2014

Attendees: Colleen Jim Alexia Deboralynn Scott Lance Alexia Mike Kathy C Adam Carrie Brant Tom Gr.

Notes: Introductions of individuals at the table

  1. Alexia - Event Coordination, and cattle prodding people
  2. Lance - Volunteer Coordinator
  3. Jim - 3D printing and helping with the fest in general
  4. Mike- Betty Brin Children's museum
  5. Carrie - Betty Brin Children's museum
  6. Kathy - Betty Brin Children's museum
  7. DL - Safety Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator Assistant
  8. Scott - Helped
  9. Brant - President of MMS, and helped when possible
  10. Colleen - helped Alexia with Event Coordination and assisted where possible
  11. Adam - Organized the event (with assistance)
  12. Tom Gr - represented the owners of the building, and handled the Power Wheels events, had contacts for printing posters and t-shirts, and the electric car club

Recap -

  1. Summerfest Grounds would like to host in 2015, so why not do a smaller version at Summerfest grounds in 2014.
  2. They want to make sure it's a huge marketing splash
  3. We need to come with them with dates that we want
  4. We will be going with the Maker Faire people

The idea is that if Summerfest people work on the facilities portion of this

  1. Ticket sales
  2. Physical logistics
  3. Etc…

We can concentrate on content and making things cool

What is the numeric expectations for the SF grounds.

  1. They are ok with this being a smaller event to start with
  2. They are not asking for people or dollar commitments up front to start with
  3. There are financial obligations for the Maker Faire moniker
  4. Fees - or cuts for the whole thing

○ They will do it as a percentage of the ticket sales

	○ Their vendors will be able to see food a the fair
- What is the Maker Faire fascination?  
	○ Regionally this may make it stronger
	○ They will provide some marketing
	○ They will broadcast it
	○ It is a brand name thing and recognition
- Is there a way to say this is a "Makerfest brought to you by Maker Faire"
	○ This is a question we need to ask the Maker Faire people to see if this will fly
	○ Let them know what we want to retrain and why we want to go this route
	○ Adam - doesn't agree that it is worth it to go with Maker Faire
		§ Cost 
		§ Do they bring much to the table past advertising to the Maker Community that follows them?
	○ It will help, they do have a good penetration with the Maker Community
		§ We want to penetrate the markets we know that we will get
		§ These are not the only avenues that are out there that we can focus on
		§ We need to identify what markets we want to focus on as primary targets and go for them
	○ Summerfest will scatter shot to get as many people to come to the festival grounds and see this
	○ The Summerfest people may have some reservation on the Maker Faire idea --> Should we go with Maker Faire or continue with the Makerfest branding
	○ Milwaukee World Festivals Incorporated seems to own all the festivals names
		§ We may not really own this, and need to check if we can get this name
		§ Do we want to fight for this name or relinquish it 
- SFG knows that they cannot make the festival go, they are providing the physical location and administration, and assistance with marketing
	○ They are excited and want to diversify their audience
- Who Owns the Makerfest?
	○ The Milwaukee Makerspace technically owns it because they came up with it
	○ But really what would it be broadcasted as?
		§ Milwaukee Makerfest brought to you by the Milwaukee World Festivals in partnership with Milwaukee Makerspace and Betty Brin's Children Museum 
	
- How do we deal with bad weather - 
	○ They do have a building or two that can be used
	○ It is outside, but they do have partitions that can be put up
	○ There is always concern with the later the festival is in the year with weather
	

What do we really want?

  1. Fundamentally

○ Convince the world that they don't have to buy everything

	○ Show them how you can make neat things
	○ Bring people who make it together
	○ Bring like minds together

Concern -

  1. Will our goals line up with them
  2. SFG will obviously want to bring bodies in the door and make money ultimately
  3. What do we want - what we do and what our goals will affect future Makerfests
  4. Sponsors and getting sponsorship from outside companies

○ Who do we want and what do we want to sponsor

	○ What will the BBCM want to have and not have as sponsors
	○ The SFG are in for a ride and know this
- They want opportunities to present to their loyal sponsors 
	○ There are groups that will be able to approach that they normally wouldn't want to sponsor a stage for a music festival.
	○ New opportunities
- Jim - Perhaps it would be wise for a board to own the event that would span multiple groups, so that control and ownership would not be in the hands of one group

Who is responsible for what? (division of duties)

Adult Content

  1. Alcohol
  2. Tobacco
  3. Nudity

We need to know what our do's and don'ts are for this event

  1. What will we not allow
  2. What will we allow
  3. Guidelines

○ Need to be acceptable for the groups involved

	○ Idea - be more assertive in what we want, and not just use Maker Faire or SFG

We need to talk about dates that we can do this.

  1. September 13 or September 27 are the best dates

○ The 13th is better

	○ They have the first weekend booked for September
- The timeline for Maker Faire for application is minimum is 6 months. They don't like that. 
	○ They want 9 months
- Primary Choice is September 13th & 14th
- Secondary Choice is September 27th & 28th
- Do we do 1 day or 2 days
	○ 1 day for Mini Faires typically
	○ 2 days for Larger Faires
- It may be better that for now we stick to 1 day

How do we deal with set up for people?

  1. With a two day festival it is typically one to two days before the festival
  2. Take down is a day or two afterwards
  3. Security for the vendors
  4. Do we need indoor space for vendors (or tent space)
  5. The Craft Population
  6. The Artist population

Cost for vendors and makers

  1. How do we do this?
  2. Sponsorships to subsidize the cost for vendors and makers (who are just showing)

○ Many of our vendors only made 1000 or less

	○ People showing has to be free if they are not selling
	○  The cost for the maker-sellers for entry as a 'booth' 

Are we cool with not getting paid for curating the event

  1. Do we want to have a goal of funds and money that we want
  2. What are our financial goals
  3. We need enough revenue to cover our costs
  4. Barriers for power wheels
  5. How much do we have to pay and what is SFG covering
  6. We need to know what we want $$$
  7. This has to be on the table when we go to the SFG

We need to have a conversation with Don and the SFG people about what their expectations

  1. Example - tickets were $5.00 for people 13 and over

Sponsors

  1. Avnet
  2. Exacta Staffing
  3. American Science and Surplus (soft of)
  4. Mike Davey (discounts on printing and shirts)
  5. Individual members
  6. Donation Boxes
  7. Harbor Freight

Are there any lines in the sand that SFG has in regards to what they won't negotiate in regards to the event.

  1. And example MIGHT be: “NO weapons will be seen, talked about, hinted on, or displayed in any form”

Insurance

  1. Who takes care of it
  2. How much do we need
  3. Who takes care of it

What are our goals and mission of Milwaukee Makerfest overall Who are our key people who should represent the group and make decisions 3 or 4 people from each group who will keep in mind our key goals when representing the group

Next Steps -

  1. Come up with goals and a mission statement for the festival
  2. Who are the key representatives

○ MakerSpace and Makerfest

	○ This is something the MakerSpace needs to talk about internally to ensure it's longevity 
- What is our direction (ultimately)

Time Frame for the meeting with SFG

  1. That will help move things forward
  2. If the dates are available, will they jump on it?

How long to determine the core representative for Milwaukee Makerspace/Makerfest

  1. Next week Tuesday, we should have this set

○ Representatives

	○ Direction / goals / mission 
miscellaneous/ajnmmf7jan2014.txt · Last modified: 2014/01/10 01:17 by lexie