You are probably asking yourself ‘WHY should I attend a Community Connect?“. Maybe even ‘WHAT is a Community Connect?‘! As a maker you are probably thinking, I can get that next bit of work on my project done.  Believe me…I’m there too!  As an organization that provides access to equipment, you are thinking there is a piece of equipment to fix or some hand holding that a patron might need. As a program or community organizer you are thinking there is that next activity to plan or the next group of potential participants to engage. All in all, we are all busy. I get it. That is what we do…we ARE Do It Yourselvers (DIY).

So WHY would you want to attend a Community Connect?   If anything you get to meet me!  😉 Okay, so that isn’t a highlight for you…how about you get to meet others in the local maker community, maybe even your next collaborative partner? Or you are able to visit a space, see what they provide and how they do things?  Or maybe you have some ideas that you want to share?  There might be a chance to do even more together if we are willing to make the next step to get together.  At a minimum as a Hub, I would love for us to connect with each other, listen to each other’s needs and identify how we can work together to communicate and strengthen the Colorado maker community.  Maybe together we can even convert others to our DIY creative mentality as the Hub network grows.  Plus doesn’t it feel good when you get together with others that think the way you do with the DIY mentality!

So WHAT can we do at a Community Connect?  We all come with our own perspectives and backgrounds.  We all also have different Roles in the community and probably involved in different Types of Making.  The format will be an open discussion to allow for each of us to provide input on the needs in the community and contribute to how we can strengthen the community.  For some fun…there may even be some making with LEGOs.  I can provide an overview of what the Hub has done for the first six months and what is planned for the remainder of the year.  Another topic we can discuss is what and how you want the Hub to market and communicate as a whole what you do, especially as we target a campaign of Making In Colorado in October.  We can also work towards making sure we have identified all of our community members in the Hub’s directory and that the information is reflective and accurate to the maker community.   An additional topic can be sharing projects that are underway, options for collaborations and how to move forward together on action items identified.  There is a lot that we can do…it will be up to us as participants to figure it out and set priorities.

So WHERE can I attend a Community Connect?   We have scheduled Community Connects in the afternoons on Saturday to provide the option for participants to drive to the venue in the morning and return home in the evening.  No early morning schedule that would require you to get a hotel room!  The timing provides an opportunity for participants to gather afterwards for a drink or bite to eat before hitting the road.  We have scheduled the Community Connects across Colorado to help reach more community members.  We are open to scheduling more as needed in the far corners of the state.  Please contact me if you are interested in hosting.  We will be hosting our first online Community Connect on Wednesday, August 8th, to remove the physical restrictions of getting more of us together.  For a list of all the current Community Connects scheduled and to RSVP, click here.

I and others in your community hope to see you soon at a Community Connect!

Sincerely,
Jeanette Breton
Executive Director