A Brief History of Kamloops Makerspace Workshops (2017-2019)
During the period between 2017 and 2019 the Kamloops Makerspace hosted many workshops and 101’s to share knowledge, attract new people and encourage Members who wished to hold these events. The system proved to be an effective and mutually beneficial strategy for the benefit of the Members, the collective and the community.
These events were very successful overall – there was 100’s of fresh faces coming in, lots of activity on social media, strong pushes to upgrade spaces to support the endeavors and a general sense that the Makerspace was a fun, interesting and accessible place. During this time, the Makerspace had over 50 members, many who signed up as a direct result of attending a workshop or 101, and the number of facebook page followers quadrupled.
Because of the enlarged Membership driven by the workshops, the Makerspace had a ‘deeper bench’ of potential volunteers and ‘doers’ to meet the requirements of running the Space on a volunteer basis – this is proven by the outcomes: updated organization, improved capabilities and spaces, and a general sense that the Space was growing.
Covid de-railed this successful program, unfortunately, but there was a direct correlation between the frequent hosting of workshops and the improved Membership numbers. It was a fun time, as well!
The framework during that time was very open-source, inclusive, accessible, and successful:
• The person hosting (Member or non-Member) would contact a board member and express interest,
• A date and work space were arranged that avoided cross-booking and met some simple criteria,
• A facebook event was created by a Makerspace Member with access to the fb page, outlining the details, which could be shared on other pages,
• The person(s) hosting would handle prep, teaching and cleaning up with minimal support and guidance from a handy board or veteran Member.
• The fees, materials and costs were handled by the instructor, using their own preferred methods of payment, etc.
• The workshop was FREE for Members, which was an awesome sales point for attracting new Members.
• The workshop host would often make a donation (cash, materials, a tool, etc) to the Space, if successful.
There were very few problems with this arrangement and the benefits to the Space far outweighed them, but some issues did arise:
• If the workshop was multi-week and in-depth (such as a 6 week foundation course in pottery), it was determined that the fees must cover Makerspace membership for participants and the weekly use of the Space (ie, some percentage should go to Makerspace coffers).
• It was important to ensure that the workshops did not monopolize or overuse a Space, but this never really occurred.
The benefits of this easily accessible framework for hosting workshops were many:
• Increased attendance of Members and non-Members at the Makerspace, leading to improved Membership numbers, volunteer base, network opportunities, etc.
• Much increased ‘actionable’ content on KMS social media, giving the sense that the Space is an accessible, vibrant and dynamic place to be.
• An ongoing justification and incentive to upgrade and improve the capabilities and spaces of the KMS.
• A way for Members to more fully engage the Space and feel they are part of it, leading to increased volunteering and participation.
• The framework required almost no additional work for the board or volunteers.
• Excellent sales points for potential Members, including:
o FREE workshops!!
o The opportunity to host workshops with little red tape and modest remuneration.
o A method of ‘ramping’ new Members into new tools, techniques, etc.
o An exciting and dynamic environment with lots of accessible programs.
For reference and context, here is an incomplete list of workshops, 101’s and assorted events hosted at Kamloops Makerspace using the open format guidelines prior to Covid (apologies for any missed here):
Acrylic Pouring Jean
Arduino 101 Aras and Ron Ron
Airbrushing 101 Vaughn and Les Carty
Automata Lilly
Build Your Own PC Darren N0pe +
Chainmail Dave
Christmas Crates Jean
Christmas Diffuser Janet
Clay Alchemy 101 janet
Cosplay 101’s Megan
CNC Router 101 Grant
Crafternoon ?
Encaustic Cards Jean
Froggy Mill 101 Rob Stodola
Fusion 360 Garret
Gamers Club Corey the Red
Gem Chang Cue Pottery 101’s
Halloween Hack Dave?
Illuminame LED Mike Savage and Vaughn
3D printing Jason Hogue
Laser 101 Vaughn, Kyle, Jim +
LED 101’s Mike Savage
Logo design Vaughn +
Maker Crepes Vogel’s
Mandala Workshop Yvette
MeArm Aras +
Mighty Makers Vaughn
Motanka Dolls Ukrainian Club
Ocilloscopes 202 ?
Open to Source Mike Savage
Prussa MK 2.5 Build Grant +
Prussa MK 3 Build Vaughn +
Pysanka Ukrainian Club
Repair Café Nick +
Roadsign Workshop Vaughn
Sewing 101 Beth? Kirsten?
Sourdough Sunday Margaret Huff
Steam Engine Build Vaughn +
Taco Night Che
Tie Dye Dan Girrard
Vectors 101 Vaughn
Vinyl 101 Vaughn
VR January All Round Gamers
Watercolors Jean
Pottery Wheel with Liz Sax
Kathleen Raven pottery 101’s
Amanda Eccleston Wheel 101’s
Work Chop Pottery 101 Vaughn +
Resin Pouring Kyle
LiveEdge Sign engraving Vaughn
During this time period, there was also arrangements made for schools, service groups and other organizations to attend the Makerspace in larger groups (paying fees for access), including:
Four Directions School
TREK Learning Center
Skeetchestn School
Girlguides
Engineers
Christian School
ICE Club
TRU TEDX
Insight Support Services
Big Little Science Center
(Importantly, the large number of people doing the other workshops and 101's provided the human resources to host these larger programmes)
It is pretty clear that a vibrant, accessible and dynamic Kamloops Makerspace includes as many workshops and 101’s as possible (without unduly impeding Members general access, of course) is one ingredient of the Kamloops Makerspace Recipe for Success. Therefore, the framework of guidelines should be as free of red tape and restrictions as possible which we know from experience and our history leads to the outcomes we want: frequent workshops and 101’s that create a well attended Makerspace with ample Members and lots of interesting activity.