This weekend kicks off Maker Faire Bay Area. If you’re not familiar with Maker Faire, you can check out their website here. It’s basically one of the coolest, nerdiest events in the U.S. (and probably the world). I had the pleasure of attending Maker Faire New York last fall for RadioShack, and the community there is just plain cool.
I’ve been asked a few times recently just what’s so cool about Maker Faire (and Makers in general). For RadioShack, they’re some of our most loyal and passionate customers – eager to provide feedback (positive and negative), and eager to see the company succeed. For me, it’s bigger than that. Makers are….making the future. In a time when most people are all about consuming, Makers are creating. They’re creators.
Take this guy – he built a hovercraft out of a DeLorean. Nerdy? Absolutely – the only thing nerdier might be a hovercraft Imperial Starship. However, the important thing is that he’s figuring things out – no doubt he had to solve for a bunch of obstacles to get that thing off the ground.
So, I’m off to Maker Faire this weekend to support the Makers. If you’re in the Bay Area, I *highly* recommend you carve out some time on Saturday or Sunday and come out, even for a few hours. Talk to the Makers – these people are overflowing with excitement about things that they actually designed/created/built by themselves.
Makers also take pride in taking one thing, and making it do things that it wasn’t originally intended to do. They’re very proud to void warranties if that’s what it takes to improve something.
When was the last time you voided a warranty to do something cooler with your gadget?
I’ll be posting photos from Maker Faire Bay Area to the RadioShack Instagram account, and tweeting from @RadioShackLIVE, as well, if you’d like to see what’s out there. If you DO make the trip, definitely reach out, I’d love to meet up at some point!
Ricky Cadden 