Wednesday open evenings are our regular public-facing event. These are run bi-weekly. The aim of this event is to perform one or more group tours of the space showing people around, and answering questions, while the other person sorts out teas for and holds any late comers for the next tour.
This is a great way to gain shutter access! To volunteer for this vital duty, go to the Open Evening Hosts Rota and put your name down for a date. (Edit wiki button)
A week (or more) before the open evening
- Create a public event by adding a post to the Events category with a start and end time, like this one which you can just copy across
- Create a space booking so that members know that open evening is happening and can discuss logistics, like this one
- Thus the calendar should something look like this:
Green are Events that everyone can see. Red is for members only.
On the day: Before the open evening
- Doors open to the public at 19:00, so get there by 18:30.
- Empty the dishwasher
- Tidy up any horrible messes.
- Take the bin bags out
- Put the sandwich board outside. We usually put it right at the entrance to the Bath Factory Estate. Remember to bring it back after the event.
grab lanyards and flyers from the blue ‘open evening’ box folder in social area. Use the whiteboard marker to write host name on lanyard.
Tour
The first tour should start around 19:15 to allow later comers and provide tea/coffee and biscuits.
Get the visitors to sit down, introduce themselves and talk about their interests and projects they are working or plan to work on.
Start in the clean area/event space, point out the key areas:
- Electronics
- General purpose co-working area
- Accessible toilet
- Social area
- Kitchen
Then go to the textiles/3d printing room and talk about:
- Textiles
- 3d Printers
Move into the messy workshop, show people around:
- Basic plastic/metal work corner
- Welding
- Desktop CNC
- Laser cutter
- Screen printing
- Cycle tools
- Explain area is also for general messy making, sink etc…
- You can go here before the textiles/3d printing room if you prefer
Go to Arch2
- Wood workshop
Ensure all activity in the workshop stops before the tour group enters, until the group has left. - Point out each of the tools
- Big CNC
- Return to the clean room for Q&A
Talking points during the tour
Your job is to explain what Makerspace is:
-
Shared – Members take turns
-
Self-run – Members have a say in how things work
-
Not a service – Members contribute time as well as financially to the space
-
Answer questions you can, but point them to Discourse if you aren’t sure, try not to guess/assume.
After the tour
- Introduce guests to members, try and find common interests.
Ensure that members working are happy to be interrupted first. - If they want to join, see if they can do it there and then.
After the event
Usually a Member from the @welcome team will be there to give you a hand with everything, so no worries!
- Clean up any rubbish
- Lights off
- Door closed
- Shutter down
- Go to sleep
