Meetings/FamilyMakers12-05-2014

Attendees Nigel Brian Steve Rick Rod

Agenda

• Organisation
• Advertising
• Projects
• AoB

Organisation

• Event coordinator

We have projects for this month but after that we will again run out. Since Christmas Brian and Steve have been working to populate the calendar but this could be a role in itself. This person wouldnt need to run all of the sessions but would be responsible for chasing others to rrange sessions and for following up with people identified outside of family Makers to schedule sessions. Role to be posted on the google group for volunteers.

• We should use meetup for announcements of events as this is open and has a wider audience than the google group.

• Page on the makespace.org site

We should have a page on the main website but depending on how this is structured we may need to link to our own site.

• Family Makers website

Only if we need to as it will require administration

*Meetup does a list of scheduled Family Maker events but currently they all just say 'Family Makers'. If possible we need to change the title of each to include details. On the description the first part of the visible text should contain the details of the session, rather than the same text for every week. Updated title for next few sessions and altered description so details shown, rolled these changes into the MeetUp template. --Rodw (talk) 18:04, 18 May 2014 (BST)

• The Makespace page should have a link to a Meetup view of all pending projects
• It's currently difficult to upload photos after a session we need a shared area for easily uploading photos
• We should have a blog on which we write up sessions
• As far as possible we need these systems to require minimal administration
• We should check RSVPs for contact details of attendees, as previous attendees are more likely to return if they know what's coming up
• Can we create a mailing list for announcements that we add all collected email addresses to
• Monthy committee session to keep ourselves organised
• Wiki is a hassle to maintain and the calendar currently duplicates what is on meetup
• Google groups not allowing email response is a pain
• We should write how to's for all of our processes so that anyone who wants to help has access to the details of how to do things
• We may need to split sessions by age in order to keep older children interested
• We now have a bank account to which Steve and Brian both have access
• Should we reconsider sponsorship?
  • This could fund equipment for more complex sessions: Lego Mindstorms, Raspberry Pi sets
  • We should document our current restrictions and why can't we do certain things?
  • Build a portfolio to show what we have done and the benefits
• We could organise a paid project event weekend to make some money, or maybe maker sessions in the science centre
  • Water rockets
  • Cardboard helmets
  • Lollipop sticks and glue guns
  • Eggs
  • Reuse previous successful projects
  • LED badges

Advertising

• We could have a poster and possibly some sample projects in the Science Centre
• People who have attended are likely to return so we should make use of the email addresses we capture
• Update the register format to better capture email addresses
• Quarterly newsletter
  • Key highlights
  • Listed calendar of key events for the year
  • Links to meetup and photo pages
• Business cards
• Posters
• A table at Makefaires is an option but we decided it would be too much at this point. However maybe we could organise a group trip to the next one.

Projects

• Rod will schedule 2 sessions in the next couple of months
• Other project ideas were:
  • Shadow puppets
  • Some form of small chain reaction
  • Chain reaction this year - do a table not a complex machine. possibly do one figurehead piece
  • OOBB
  • Screen printing
    • T Shirts
    • Polystyrene tiles
  • Line following robots - Adrian
  • Chocolate names
  • Mindcraft
    • Code modifications
    • GPIO interaction on RPi
  • Working volcano
  • Hacking nightlites
  • Rubber stamps
  • Origami lamps with LEDs
  • Paper skulls
  • Laser cutter based projects
  • 3D object design and print
  • Papier mache or plaster molds
  • Pneumatic robot tentacle
  • Vacuum formed masks