5 ms·

Next Week’s Maker Faire in San Mateo Could Be Bay Area’s Last

81 points by ctulek 7y ago

mceachen 7y ago
This is such an epic, annual celebration of learning and creativity. Losing it would be a tragedy. How do the economics not work out here? 100-150K visitors/year, each dropping (on average? $20 for entrance ticket)? Don't they require commercial presenters to pay for their space? How much does it cost to rent the San Mateo Fairgrounds?
- mdorazio 7y ago
  I can't find any info on how much the event space actually costs, but based a few tidbits from the article it sounds more like the organization that runs the faire let expenses get out of control. If they laid off 8-10 people, that means they had significantly more than that, all of whom were ostensibly drawing a salary on top of likely increasing event space costs.
  - applecrazy 7y ago
    There’s actually tons of other costs besides renting the space. Many exhibits require large amounts of electricity and space. Not every exhibitor can fit within a small booth. Not to mention liability insurance, since some exhibits have things like fire. As a exhibitor myself, I've seen how the event has changed over the past few years, and the loss of sponsors such as Intel have definitely hit them. I just hope the event can continue, it's really the highlight of the school year for me and my peers.
- runamok 7y ago
  The tickets are pricier than that. $25 for students and $40 adults... https://makerfaire.com/bay-area/BUY-TICKETS/ https://makerfaire.com/bay-area/BUY-TICKETS/
  - mceachen 7y ago
    Right. I was assuming many of the 150k visitors are there as presenters or have some sort of ticket discount. Either way, that's not chump change.
lazzlazzlazz 7y ago
I first went to Maker Faire in 2012 or so, and it was incredible - the variety I saw was unreal, with so many smaller and interesting projects. I've gone three more times since then, and each time it's been less and less inspiring. More uniformity, more emphasis on unrelated consumer products like pre-prepared food offerings, less emphasis on interesting electronics kits. Maybe I became jaded, but maybe Maker Faire has tried to target a lower and lower common denominator in an effort to boost revenues.
- beenBoutIT 7y ago
  It seems geared towards foodies and kids.
- saboot 7y ago
  Yes, the last maker faire I went to had what I both loved, and hated, about it summed up in two adjacent booths. One was a young girl teaching passerbys to sew a purse together using recycled jeans and fundraising for animal rescue missions. The adjacent booth was to pay $15 for a "crystal therapy healing and ionic rebalancing" session.
- kqr2 7y ago
  I think they should have split the event into Maker Faire for adults and Maker Faire for kids / family. Also have more hands-on workshops and less infomercial tech talks.
- extrapickles 7y ago
  I only went as a sponsor a few times as part of a small 4 person company, but each year the fees increased to the point that you almost had to sell stuff with obscene markups (not low volume hobbyist stuff) and they started only caring about the very large sponsors. Our last year there (somewhere around 2012), they had this fancy "sponsors only area" that had free food/beer/etc and took up a large amount of floor space (it was at least 20'x20') that otherwise could have gone to actual makers exhibits. I think what happened is that they started chasing sponsors, when they should have been focusing on the makers, and vetting that the sponsors were doing something attendees would be interested in directly (eg: no large java booths).
alunaryak 7y ago
I helped present a Tesla coil demo at one of the first Maker Faires (maybe 2006 or 2007?) and it was an absolute blast. It was also decidedly no frills, focused on the artsy, crazy, creative projects. I don't recall much, if anything, in the way of commercial products. I wonder if it would be financially tenable if they scale it down and get back that home grown feel. Then again the bay area is a very different place now.
- mycall 7y ago
  Only one I attended, I remember this. Thank you for the fun time.
benzofuran 7y ago
It's a shame - in 2008/9/10 it was really something to see, but as a few other commenters have said, it's (and a lot of the maker movement for that matter) have declined a bit. I personally think this is due to the infantilization in part of a lot of media outlets, where the emphasis has been placed on getting the ideas into the most hands possible instead of folks who'd actually benefit. Focusing the faires around 3D printing geegaws and cosplay items is fine if you want to make numbers, but you get consumers and the followons, and not creators from that. You can think of it in the same vein as Marvel movies or Harry Potter books - low content, low thinking media that raises insane amounts of money based on appealing to the mass market and the wannabe 'geek' crowd that doesn't tend to do much innovating except in consumption methods.
- Ar-Curunir 7y ago
  The HP books didnt really start as a means of appealing to a mainstream crowd though...
  - benzofuran 7y ago
    They are young adult fiction, which is like saying that cars weren't built for driving. I'm not sure what you intend they were written as then, as they surely aren't literature.
    - bdowling 7y ago
      Surely they are literature in the broadest sense of the word.
      - 0xcde4c3db 7y ago
        I suspect the intended distinction is between literary fiction and genre fiction, which is a quirky socioeconomic split that seems to be particular to the realm of novels and their authors. Basically, authors of literary fiction are regarded as masters in pursuit of True Art rather than baser desires like popularity or commercial success.
gaze 7y ago
I'm heartbroken that Halted closed. Is tinkering with physical stuff in the bay area dead? Or well, scaled back significantly in comparison to a decade ago.
- Tossrock 7y ago
  Definitely a trend. There's also the TechShop bankruptcy and the subsequent "TheShop.build" clusterfuck, MotoGuild shutting down, etc.
  - Animats 7y ago
    Yes. Maker spaces in Silicon Valley are doing very badly. I was a TechShop member for most of a decade. They went bankrupt, in a very messy way. I'm currently a "TheShop.build" member, at least for a few more days. They closed their San Francisco location months ago, despite it still being listed on the web site. The San Jose location got a 3-day notice of eviction from their landlord, but they seem to have survived that for now. Rumors of unpaid employees, and former employees removing equipment they'd loaned to the shop indicate that the end is probably near. The new nonprofit shop, Maker Nexus, is below critical mass. Only 50 or so paying members. (I tried to join, but their outsourced signup site can't send me a confirmation email. So I didn't join.) What happened? The "maker movement" fad declined. Etsy changed their policies - you no longer have to make it yourself; you can outsource manufacturing. TechShop SF used to have six CNC laser cutters busy cranking out "handmade" crap for Etsy. That stopped. The rest of the place mostly turned out stuff for Burning Man. Rising rents forced shops out, of course. TechShop tried to pivot to "STEM" or "STEAM" education. In practice this meant teaching middle schoolers to wire up Arduinos. That's fine, but a huge mismatch with the tools available at TechShop. Autodesk's previous CEO, Carl Bass, thought 3D printing was going to be a big deal, and put money and software into TechShop. His successor decided that wasn't happening and pulled the plug. It's been a long time since there were people building parts for X-Prize entries. I don't think there's any public space in Silicon Valley which has everything you need for surface mount soldering. Which is embarrassing.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
jpm_sd 7y ago
Good. It's become an over commercialized, over crowded mess.
newnewpdro 7y ago
It's been terrible for years, the last time I went a major automaker had taken over a huge swath of parking lot and was giving test drives, I think it was Chevrolet IIRC. Long ago it was full of grassroots makers showing off their DIY stuff but it quickly became a commercialized trade show targeting these folks and their audience as consumers instead of hosting them.
mirimir 7y ago
There's something ironic about a "Maker Faire" that depends on a commercial organization with many employees.
- afarrell 7y ago
  Managing events is hard work.

81 points by ctulek 7y ago

This is such an epic, annual celebration of learning and creativity. Losing it would be a tragedy. How do the economics not work out here? 100-150K visitors/year, each dropping (on average? $20 for entrance ticket)? Don't they require commercial presenters to pay for their space? How much does it cost to rent the San Mateo Fairgrounds?

mdorazio 7y ago
I can't find any info on how much the event space actually costs, but based a few tidbits from the article it sounds more like the organization that runs the faire let expenses get out of control. If they laid off 8-10 people, that means they had significantly more than that, all of whom were ostensibly drawing a salary on top of likely increasing event space costs.
- applecrazy 7y ago
  There’s actually tons of other costs besides renting the space. Many exhibits require large amounts of electricity and space. Not every exhibitor can fit within a small booth. Not to mention liability insurance, since some exhibits have things like fire. As a exhibitor myself, I've seen how the event has changed over the past few years, and the loss of sponsors such as Intel have definitely hit them. I just hope the event can continue, it's really the highlight of the school year for me and my peers.
runamok 7y ago
The tickets are pricier than that. $25 for students and $40 adults... https://makerfaire.com/bay-area/BUY-TICKETS/ https://makerfaire.com/bay-area/BUY-TICKETS/
- mceachen 7y ago
  Right. I was assuming many of the 150k visitors are there as presenters or have some sort of ticket discount. Either way, that's not chump change.

lazzlazzlazz 7y ago

I first went to Maker Faire in 2012 or so, and it was incredible - the variety I saw was unreal, with so many smaller and interesting projects. I've gone three more times since then, and each time it's been less and less inspiring. More uniformity, more emphasis on unrelated consumer products like pre-prepared food offerings, less emphasis on interesting electronics kits. Maybe I became jaded, but maybe Maker Faire has tried to target a lower and lower common denominator in an effort to boost revenues.

beenBoutIT 7y ago
It seems geared towards foodies and kids.
saboot 7y ago
Yes, the last maker faire I went to had what I both loved, and hated, about it summed up in two adjacent booths. One was a young girl teaching passerbys to sew a purse together using recycled jeans and fundraising for animal rescue missions. The adjacent booth was to pay $15 for a "crystal therapy healing and ionic rebalancing" session.
kqr2 7y ago
I think they should have split the event into Maker Faire for adults and Maker Faire for kids / family. Also have more hands-on workshops and less infomercial tech talks.
extrapickles 7y ago
I only went as a sponsor a few times as part of a small 4 person company, but each year the fees increased to the point that you almost had to sell stuff with obscene markups (not low volume hobbyist stuff) and they started only caring about the very large sponsors. Our last year there (somewhere around 2012), they had this fancy "sponsors only area" that had free food/beer/etc and took up a large amount of floor space (it was at least 20'x20') that otherwise could have gone to actual makers exhibits. I think what happened is that they started chasing sponsors, when they should have been focusing on the makers, and vetting that the sponsors were doing something attendees would be interested in directly (eg: no large java booths).

alunaryak 7y ago

I helped present a Tesla coil demo at one of the first Maker Faires (maybe 2006 or 2007?) and it was an absolute blast. It was also decidedly no frills, focused on the artsy, crazy, creative projects. I don't recall much, if anything, in the way of commercial products. I wonder if it would be financially tenable if they scale it down and get back that home grown feel. Then again the bay area is a very different place now.

mycall 7y ago
Only one I attended, I remember this. Thank you for the fun time.

benzofuran 7y ago

It's a shame - in 2008/9/10 it was really something to see, but as a few other commenters have said, it's (and a lot of the maker movement for that matter) have declined a bit. I personally think this is due to the infantilization in part of a lot of media outlets, where the emphasis has been placed on getting the ideas into the most hands possible instead of folks who'd actually benefit. Focusing the faires around 3D printing geegaws and cosplay items is fine if you want to make numbers, but you get consumers and the followons, and not creators from that. You can think of it in the same vein as Marvel movies or Harry Potter books - low content, low thinking media that raises insane amounts of money based on appealing to the mass market and the wannabe 'geek' crowd that doesn't tend to do much innovating except in consumption methods.

Ar-Curunir 7y ago
The HP books didnt really start as a means of appealing to a mainstream crowd though...
- benzofuran 7y ago
  They are young adult fiction, which is like saying that cars weren't built for driving. I'm not sure what you intend they were written as then, as they surely aren't literature.
  - bdowling 7y ago
    Surely they are literature in the broadest sense of the word.
    - 0xcde4c3db 7y ago
      I suspect the intended distinction is between literary fiction and genre fiction, which is a quirky socioeconomic split that seems to be particular to the realm of novels and their authors. Basically, authors of literary fiction are regarded as masters in pursuit of True Art rather than baser desires like popularity or commercial success.

gaze 7y ago

I'm heartbroken that Halted closed. Is tinkering with physical stuff in the bay area dead? Or well, scaled back significantly in comparison to a decade ago.

Tossrock 7y ago
Definitely a trend. There's also the TechShop bankruptcy and the subsequent "TheShop.build" clusterfuck, MotoGuild shutting down, etc.
- Animats 7y ago
  Yes. Maker spaces in Silicon Valley are doing very badly. I was a TechShop member for most of a decade. They went bankrupt, in a very messy way. I'm currently a "TheShop.build" member, at least for a few more days. They closed their San Francisco location months ago, despite it still being listed on the web site. The San Jose location got a 3-day notice of eviction from their landlord, but they seem to have survived that for now. Rumors of unpaid employees, and former employees removing equipment they'd loaned to the shop indicate that the end is probably near. The new nonprofit shop, Maker Nexus, is below critical mass. Only 50 or so paying members. (I tried to join, but their outsourced signup site can't send me a confirmation email. So I didn't join.) What happened? The "maker movement" fad declined. Etsy changed their policies - you no longer have to make it yourself; you can outsource manufacturing. TechShop SF used to have six CNC laser cutters busy cranking out "handmade" crap for Etsy. That stopped. The rest of the place mostly turned out stuff for Burning Man. Rising rents forced shops out, of course. TechShop tried to pivot to "STEM" or "STEAM" education. In practice this meant teaching middle schoolers to wire up Arduinos. That's fine, but a huge mismatch with the tools available at TechShop. Autodesk's previous CEO, Carl Bass, thought 3D printing was going to be a big deal, and put money and software into TechShop. His successor decided that wasn't happening and pulled the plug. It's been a long time since there were people building parts for X-Prize entries. I don't think there's any public space in Silicon Valley which has everything you need for surface mount soldering. Which is embarrassing.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]

jpm_sd 7y ago

Good. It's become an over commercialized, over crowded mess.

newnewpdro 7y ago

It's been terrible for years, the last time I went a major automaker had taken over a huge swath of parking lot and was giving test drives, I think it was Chevrolet IIRC. Long ago it was full of grassroots makers showing off their DIY stuff but it quickly became a commercialized trade show targeting these folks and their audience as consumers instead of hosting them.

mirimir 7y ago

There's something ironic about a "Maker Faire" that depends on a commercial organization with many employees.

afarrell 7y ago
Managing events is hard work.