The Mindset of Maker Faire

It’s hard to describe just what Maker Faire is. Yet, there is a mindset that is shared by the organizer and participants and it should be reflected at any Maker Faire of any size or scale. At the core, Maker Faire is full of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do. Maker Faire shows off the best that a community has to offer.

• We celebrate what makers do — what they make, how they make it and the enthusiasm and passion that drives them.
• We act as curators, which involves selecting, organizing and featuring makers with a simple vision of what is exciting and cool.
• We want everyone who participates in Maker Faire to see themselves as a maker and to participate in learning to do new things.
• We want to surprise and delight everyone who comes to the event, especially those who don’t even know what Maker Faire is.
• We realize that Maker Faire is a bit rough-edged, messy and at times, overstimulating. Think punk rock.
• We want to offer plenty of opportunities for hands-on DIY interactions for adults as well as kids.
• We want to be open, inclusive, encouraging and generous in spirit.
• We see the lasting value of Maker Faire extend beyond the event, by expanding the connectedness of the community of creative and technical people that are brought together.

Finally, Maker Faire is about exhibition, not competition. We don’t see makers competing against each other. We hope each maker gets positive feedback on what they exhibited, and that the feedback is useful to them.