2015 Chicago Maker Summit

Dmitriy and I had a great time connecting with leaders in the Chicago Maker Movement at the 2015 Chicago Maker Summit held at Harold Washington Library! Dinner and mingling was followed by a formal welcome from CPL representatives Brian Bannon, Mark Andersen, and Andrea Saenz.

I was unable to attend the last Maker Summit, but Dmitriy had, and was really excited to see the progress Jorge Garcia had made on the “Makers In Chicago Website (http://www.makersinchicago.org/) The website has three main components we hope to expand on: calendar, directory, and resources. Jorge welcomes any fellow maker to critique the website and email him with any suggestions (jgarcia@chipublib.org).

The best part was breaking into table discussions. The topics included:

  • engagement: how can we activate our maker community?
  • community: how do we stay more engaged with one another between summits?
  • funding: what needs or opportunities does your organization perceive?
  • advanced manufacturing: how do we fit into the advanced manufacturing landscape?
  • teaching: what methods do you use to teach?
  • shared values and language: how can we come together to help achieve our goals?
  • unconference: miscellaneous topics
The entire evening was filled with positive vibes and serious discussion. It was fantastic to meet so many new makers, tinkerers, educators and hackerspace leaders!

Everyone was in agreement: let’s meet on a quarterly basis at the very least! We might even host one of these summits at SSH:C in the future, so keep an eye out. 🙂