Convention Panel

[tugrik]

I'm hoping that folks share ideas on this one, even if they're not going to FC this year.

Revar and I have been asked to give a panel on, to quote, "TechShop Introduction: Hi Tech Tools in Artistic Expression / Building the Hi tech Studio" The short name on the schedule is "High Tech tools in artistic expression". It's to be held from 11:00AM to 12:30PM in the Fairfield room on Saturday the 23rd.

While I've got a basic idea of what to share about our little workshop setup, what would you want to hear us talk about? What would make such a panel worth you attending it?

Also -- this fandom is full of other quite wonderful Maker types. Are any of you out there willing to join us, so it can be more of a panel and less of a presentation? There are folks who dwarf our skills (like foofers) and other far-more-creative-than-us types who'd be great for this kind of thing.

Comments

[menkure.livejournal.com]

I'd love to get in on a panel like that. Sadly I'm not in the area (and with closing costs from buying a house, financially it's not feasible to do so on such a short notice) Otherwise I'd jump at this!

As for what I'd be interested in getting out of your panel, specifically? How did you set up your workshop? What were the things you ran into with your equipment? Were there problems involving building code/industrial zoning/leasing/insurance issues? How did you work around those?

Now granted, my questions are rather specific... And since I've been running my own business (and have ran into similar issues), these are questions I'm most curious about. For a more generalized panel, you might get some basic questions like: How did your interests lead you into your profession? Was it hard acquiring the equipment? (financing, saving and purchasing, etc) I can see an emphasis on encouraging and promoting setting up a business to the general attendees who may have an interest in this but just don't know where to start.

And you probably will want to consider both aspects. Usually these kinds of panels have a good even mix of people, both professionals and those who have an interest in it but haven't taken the first step. Having a good firm grasp on what you want to say to both camps will allow you to easily switch between the two when it is needed. There's nothing worse than preparing for a panel which you think is for those that consider themselves professionals, only to be caught off-guard by having the most basic and simplest of questions asked.

Just my random thoughts..

-Menkure

[foofers.livejournal.com]

Hi!

Well poop, that overlaps the Masquerade sign-in, which I'll be working. If it was right next door, maybe I could pop in for a few, but it looks like they've been scheduled in the two farthest-apart meeting rooms possible. Heh.

Some thoughts:

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

1. Present your ideas on the progress of tools coming down--digital printers, etc, showing that the industry is changing.
2. Note "Maker" culture for the artists there, and especially the availability of newer services based on the technology and reduced tool cost. Mention Techshop and HackerDojo and ...
3. Outline how you bought the god printer, and show Revar's homemade 3d printer.
4. Perhaps get a techshhopper to speak?

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

Per online conversation, pamphlets listing tools and resources for people to set up their own fabrication workshops wuld be handy! Putting this on paper means that a) I'd remember it, and b) you can include the boring list-type material without bogging down the presentation with such things.

-Deuce

[foofers.livejournal.com]

Though I most likely can't make the panel, there's something I'd be interested in, even if we have to discuss it elsewhere another time. It has nothing to do with the nuts-and-bolts tech itself, but rather with the social dynamic...

The few times I've been there and seen you and Revar and Dusty working together, the thing I'm most taken by is that I have never seen you guys cut each other down*. When collaborating or just working in the same space, it's always a constructive, "That's cool, and...", never "That's cool, but..."

Have you guys just hit upon a fortunate natural group chemistry, or do you actively work at it to maintain this atmosphere? If the latter, what sorts of things do you do?

This, more than anything to do with tools, has been the undoing of most of my own collaborative attempts. Where there's tools and tech, there's testosterone, and where there's testosterone, there's egos. Get a group together, and progress seems to throttle to the least constructive attitude, rather than being elevated to the most constructive.

How do you nurture positive collaboration in a group?

* Maybe it does happen, I dunno, but I've certainly never witnessed it there.