Inland Empire Mini Maker Faire October 4th (Call for Makers)

Check out California’s newest Maker Faire, the Inland Empire Mini Maker Faire held at the Vocademy Maker Space in Riverside California on Saturday October 4^th from 10:00am to 6:00pm. If you have a cool project you’d like to show off to the world then check out their Call for Makers and sign up to exhibit! If you would like to volunteer, sponsor, or just attend, then check out their website to learn more!

The Inland Empire Mini Maker Faire is being produced by Gene Sherman one of the founders of the Maker Space “Vocademy.” Gene is an educator at heart and his vision for the Vocademy maker space wasn’t a boys club, or just a hang-out spot for engineers, but a place where anyone could come and learn real world vocational skills. Vocademy is a cool mixture of classes, mentors, equipment, and social interaction.

I met Gene and Vocademy’s marketing director Neeley Fluke at the Maker Summit in Arlington VA earlier this year. I then saw him again at the White House Maker Faire. Gene’s ideas for Vocademy are so cool his work there earned him one of sixteen “honored maker attendee” spots! Gene, Neeley, and the rest of the gang from Vocademy are on a mission to help connect people to 21^st century skills that can help them get jobs. They even have the Mayor of Riverside on board, helping the local government take part in the Mayor’s Maker Challenge.

Maker Faire is a collaborative venture and Gene is getting a lot of help to put together his first event. In addition to the amazing folks from Vocademy he has help from the Orange County Mini Maker Faire, and the San Diego Mini Maker Faire. Danny Oakley, Ilsa Spaan, and I (as producers of the Burlington Mini Maker Faire) even sat in on a video conference and gave them some advice based on our three years experience producing a Mini Maker Faire. My one piece of advice to anyone about to produce their first Mini Maker Faire:

“You can plan like mad, and you’ll have many more cool ideas than you’ll be able to do (this time) because of time, or money, or bodies, but it will still be amazing because its your first Maker Faire and your area’s first Maker Faire! Its like public speaking, only you know what you were going to say so only you know if you cut something out or made a change. Make sure to remember to enjoy it and as you learn make next year’s event even better!”

Gene had the following to say about why Vocademy is producing this event:

“We are proud to host the inland empire’s first mini maker fair. We hope that this event will draw together the many makers that we know reside in our region. We are organizing this (not-for-profit) event as “by makers, for makers.” We’re also very fortunate that our local congressman, our host city’s mayor and many others in the region believe in the maker movement and we’re lucky to have the help of other nearby MMFs (in Orange County and San Diego). As we are learning, it’s quite a monumental task and their help has been priceless. It’s truly wonderful to be a part of the MMF and maker community. But we hope this is our first of many, and each one grows exponentially.”

The Details:

• What: 1^st Ever Inland Empire Mini Maker Faire
• Where: Vocademy – The Makerspace 1635 Spruce St. Riverside CA 92507
• When: Saturday October 4^th 10:00am till 6:00pm
• Contact: info@iemmf.com
• Find them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/iemmf
• Follow them on Twitter: twitter.com/IEMakerFaire
• Call for Makers: http://www.iemmf.com/call-for-makers/

If you don’t live within traveling distance of the Inland Empire Mini Maker Faire you can still find an amazing Maker Faire near you! Check out this site and find your nearest Maker Faire!