[hackerspaces] question about workshop strategy

[Joshua Pritt]

1. Most of the classes are usually free at Makers Local 256 except for once
there was a soldering training where you paid for the parts for the kit you
put together.  That money just went to pay for the parts.  I'm sure if you
charged for a class then you should work out some sort of percentage to pay
back to the space to pay for power and utilities and help with the rent
etc.  I would have a talk with some of the board members and ask if
something like 5 to 10% of the total would be enough for the space.  It
would depend on how much space you're taking up for the class or how much
power the tools/laptops are taking, etc.

2. Most of the teachers are members but that's only because we haven't
really advertised to the outside world that if you want to use our space to
teach something you can.  I'm sure anyone could ask the board members if it
would be ok and just get the schedule lined up correctly.  For example, you
wouldn't want to teach on our Tuesday night public night because there are
so many people there it would be too noisy and chaotic to get anything like
a class going.

3. Workshops are never for members only.  We usually advertise to our
"general public" email list if we have any workshops or classes.

4. We usually give a tour of the space to any "noobies" that walk in so
they know what the space is for and what kinds of projects people are
currently working on.  Usually after showing them the 3D printers and the
laser cutter and all the other CNC machines and woodworking and
metalworking tools they have an idea if they would like to become a member
or not.

5. See number 4 above.  The person really needs to be the kind of person
that works on projects outside of school / work.  Only rarely do people use
the makerspace for school / work projects.  I'm a software dev so I like to
explain during the tour that I could sit at home by myself and write my
code or I could come here and sit in the office and have several people to
bounce ideas off of sitting right next to me.  I also like to talk about
how we have so many skillsets that if all the members were to really sit
down and work on a single project we could easily build a spaceship or race
car or a fully automated robot bar tender.  That usually gets people hooked
into the idea.  Or they just really aren't the kind of person that works on
projects outside of school / work and that's OK too.  They can always drop
a buck or two in our donation box!  :)


On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 10:53 AM, Florencia Edwards <floev22 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi all, I wanted to ask you how do you do it with the workshops.
>
> 1. How do you divide the winnings between the makerspace and the teacher
> by percentage?
>
> 2. Are all the teachers members? Is it a requirement?
>
> 3. Are workshops for members only?
>
> 4. If teachers are not members and workshops are not members only, how do
> the people that go to the workshop relate to the makerspace. How can they
> make community if they only go for some classes.
>
> 5. Last question, how can one establish a relationship between workshops
> and memberships or members, so they are not two separate things. Sometimes
> people who come to our workshops think this is just a building the teacher
> is renting, they go to class and never come back to the makerspace. We give
> them tours and we even talk about the makerspace when there is a workshop
> but they don't have the need to become members, because they can just come
> to the workshop and never come back. It's difficult to create a community
> that way
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
>
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