Maker

MAKER FAIR

By Arwen O’Reilly

Everyone at the Maker Fair at O’Reilly’s ETech Conference in San Diego this March seemed to be having a blast. It can’t just have been the beer and wine, though, because people stuck around for the entire three hours. Set up like a grade school science fair, 12 Makers manned stations around the room to explain their projects, and hundreds of tech enthusiasts crowded around. Disturbed only by a marshmallow shooter showdown between Tim O’Reilly and Jeff Bezos, energy and attention were high. People learned to solder, restore vintage amps, and hack everything in sight. In the end, though, the real proof of the evening’s success was the fact that, unlike almost every other conference social event, the food tables were all but forgotten.