OhioTechSummit

At the end of October, I got to present about #MakerSpace ‘s and #microbit at the Ohio Tech Summit at The Point, at Otterbein College. It is the first time that I have presented multiple times in a day, so that was nice. The #MakerSpace / #MakerMindset sessions were full (25-30), awesome. I take a case of #Maker materials and tools with me for people to check out, play with, make, create. 
The first session was in a lab style room, so I spread the playthings out on the tables. No one played with anything. Not even the open box of Lego’s. As soon as they came in and sat down, they didnt get up. I prompted them at the beginning, didnt start talking right away. I referred to things. I prompted at the end and a couple of people checked out the cardboard cutters. Usually people make something. It was a good session, lots of ideas and questions flowing from participants.
Then I had to scurry to the #microbit session, which i was doing with Dr Paul Post from OSU. He had a car kit from SparkFun and I had my twelve microbit kits that I put together with some stuff from Roger Wagner (MakerBit). We had 10 people and got them started coding a microbit. Bluetooth is always a pain for some reason, but it is very easy from a computer.
In the afternoon, my second #MakerSpace / #MakerMindset session was in a room set up with rows of chairs. The Point is very good with technology, so there were monitors on each wall. I dragged two tables in from the vendors (not being used) and set the toys up in the “back” of the room. My computer was at the “front” of the room. Luckily I remembered my remote control, as I did the preso from the “back”. It made people turn chairs around and have a different, more relaxed setting than trapped in rows. But it was not conducive for people to get their hands on the materials. Some stayed after I was done and looked at some things. 

The Point at Otterbein is only a couple of years old. It is designed for collaboration, co-working, professional development, events, makerspace, and classrooms. There are some businesses working out of the space. In addition, it has small meeting rooms and food service. The Maker Space is pretty well equipped (wood, metal, laser, vinyl, 3D printing). It is a nice space. They want all University departments to utilize the features as well as collaborate with each other