Pass It On: Brighton's Having a Maker Faire

I've been pretty busy lately, what with looking after my poorly husband (he's got a slipped disc), working non-stop (and loving it), entertaining several boisterous nephews (and loving them) and helping to promote the upcoming Brighton Mini Maker Faire (probably the coolest event ever to happen in Sussex). I've got lots of news to blog about, including a brilliant festival I went to last weekend, but am probably not going to have a chance to write anything decent until the autumn.

So this is just a quick plug for the aforementioned Maker Faire, to persuade you to come along and to help spread the word - even if you can't be there it yourself (though I hope you can).

Maker Faire is an event that started in California (like most of the coolest things, let's be honest) and now happens in cities and towns all over the globe. We've never had one in Brighton before, or anywhere in the South for that matter, so it's pretty exciting. Here's a little video I made to give you a flavour for what it's all about...

Welcome to Brighton Mini Maker Faire 2011 from BuildBrighton Hackspace on Vimeo.

At Brighton Mini Maker Faire you can expect to see such mind-boggling things as self-balancing electric skateboards, gingerbread ghetto blasters, subsonic submarines, mechanical musical hats, an interactive mirror, a giant Etch-a-Sketch, a stringless singing ukelele, Japanese kanzashi flowers, battling daleks and robots and much, much more. And it's not just about watching - you can make things yourself, too. Learn to knit, crochet, felt and solder; see railway carriages being restored and have your brainwaves turned into sounds.

It’s all happening 2 weeks tomorrow – Saturday 3rd September at the Brighton Dome and we want it to be a big success. Which is where you come in...

If you're up for helping the cause and telling people about Brighton Mini Maker Faire (and believe me, they'll thank you for it), here are some simple things you can do to help spread the word:

• Invite all your Facebook friends to the Facebook event page and ask them to invite their friends
• Tweet about the event, using the #bmmf hashtag and @MakerFaireBTN
• Post a link to the web site on your LinkedIn profile feed: www.makerfairebrighton.com
• Write about it on your blog/Tumblr/Facebook page etc. Don’t forget to link to www.makerfairebrighton.com
• Display a PicBadge on your Facebook and/or Twitter profile pic
• Bookmark www.makerfairebrighton.com on your Digg/Delicious/StumbleUpon profile
• And the old school one – email all your friends and contacts to tell them about it
• Ask any journalists/media contacts you have if they can write/broadcast about it (or pass contacts on to me if you prefer)

Thanks in advance for helping us get the word out. And most of all, I hope to see you there (with all your friends and relations).

Twestival Strikes Again

Have you heard about Twestival? It's a global Twitter meet-up that happens every six months or so in hundreds of cities around the world.

At the first Twestival a year ago, I didn't really know anyone except my other half (aka @meeware) and my then brand new boss (aka @rogerwarner) - whose presence ensured that I remained sober and sensible for the duration. It all felt a little cliquey but I met a couple of cool people and it led to some fruitful online conversations in the following months. I did a little write-up of Twestival 1 on the Content & Motion blog if you're interested.

Twestival 2 was a whole different kettle of fish. @meeware was away and I'd ditched the 'no drinking in front of the boss' policy. There were quite a few more familiar faces, if only recognisable from their Twitter avatars. There was role play and murder mystery which really broke the ice and got everyone out of their cliques. 

After an excellent night of non-stop ranting and a fair bit of dancing, I ended up at the infamous Bulldog pub (of all places) until four in the morning with a gaggle of hardcore Twitter reprobates. Classy. The picture on the right (by Clive Flint) shows me pulling a classic "I'm not at all drunk, oh no, not me" face, about half way into the evening. Thank goodness there are none from later in the night.

Tomorrow night (Thursday 25th) it's time for Brightwest 3, I'm going with a whole crew of recently converted Twitter cohorts and am all set to DJ - I just hope the Brighton Twitterati are ready for my eclectic selection. This time there's a Speakeasy theme and we're being encouraged to dress up, as if I needed persuading.

As always, the proceeds all go to charity and loads of fabulous goodies have been donated for an auction and  'Twombola'. So if you're a Brighton Twitter person, or even a Brighton non-Twitter person who'd like to see what all the fuss is about, you should definitely come along. Tickets are available online or at the door. Here's a map, too, just in case you get lost. If you're a non Brightonian reading this, you can find your nearest Twestival via the official website. Come on, it'll be fun.