Thursday meetups so far

The past 5 months I’ve held regular Thursday evening meetups in my garage. Some notes about things and trends I’ve noticed.

Consistency counts

My way of announcing this does not reach everyone interested, but since I’ve been doing this consistently every Thursday evening, people pitch up. I’ve only missed a few weeks while away on vacation in June/July.

Make it easy

It takes me about 20 minutes to transform my garage from car storage to makercave, and about 15 minutes to move it back again. I used to move lots of things off the floor and had all kinds of extra tweaks. Not anymore. Tables, chairs, power, light and tools. All we need.

Core group

We seem to have turned into a core group of collaborators. Of course, I’m there every time. Steph (A learner, son of friends) is a regular, as are Otto and Jan (2 electronics guys from a local tech business). Apart from that, we’ve had a few semi-regulars who pop in. On average, we’re about 3-5 people.

Getting things done

Setting aside a few hours every week and setting a goal for those hours really helps the projects along. There’s always some other things to do, so having focused time is really useful.

Idea generation

Having people to bounce ideas off of is very helpful. No one has all the answers, and hearing different perspectives is very valuable.

Long-term collaborative projects

We have started order parts and materials to build a Maslow CNC. This would have been a lot more difficult if we did not have this regular face-to-face to hammer out the details.

Visibility

I think I’ve gained a lot of visibility in the local maker community. I’m terrible at putting my projects out there, but this gives me some nice exposure.

All in all, a huge win. Come join us! Contact me for the location.