Involve participants in the Maker Movement

How makerspaces and conferences can help event attendees learn about a people’s history and culture—or just deeply resonate with their own professional culture.

On the cover and in the CMP series of stories ConveningIn our May/June issue, we examined the Maker Movement from multiple angles in the context of the events industry—from interviews with the founders of Maker Fairs held around the world to exploring how Knoxville became Etsy’s first official U.S. “Maker City” to workshops in Canada where groups learned about their culture by making Indigenous crafts.

I recently read about a similar workshop that immerses participants in another culture. The Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit Hotel in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, has launched an event that gives guests of the all-inclusive resort the opportunity to paint brass. Miracle Heart (Miracle Hearts), with artist guidance on the history and meaning of milagritos. In traditional Mexican culture, people make milagritos in the hope of receiving a miracle or divine help for health, safety, love, prosperity, or other personal needs.

Megan McMahon, ITSE, ASCD, said that during a printmaking workshop at ISTElive 24, one participant commented, “This is so therapeutic.”

Stephanie Arnold of CMP recently spoke with Convening How her association created a makerspace at its annual event to reflect the culture of its audience, educators. The spaces also help foster connections among attendees. Arnold, managing director of experience strategy and operations for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and ASCD (Association for Curriculum Supervision and Development), tells Convening The concept was “an unexpected development from an activation we started two years ago at the ISTELive conference,” the company said via email, and “amazingly, it has transformed into a low-key social space.”

Since both organizations (ASCD and ISTE, which merged in 2022) “are both focused on education, we thought it would be great to highlight student/classroom art projects in a museum or gallery setting,” Arnold wrote. “In 2023, we hosted the Exploratorium and modeled it after an art museum, but also like a children’s museum, with hands-on classes to make mosaics, crochet, or draw mini robots. In 2024, we changed it to Creative Camp—ours was in Denver, and the theme was outdoors—where we offered printmaking and puppetry shows, as well as interactive wall art and art exhibits.”

“These quiet spaces are meant for both reflection and hands-on creativity, providing those who want a break from the hectic meeting environment or are introverts with a place to connect with others in a pressure-free way.”

One organizer said the hands-on making sessions at ITSELive provided participants with an opportunity to network, reflect on the content of the session, and escape from the noise of the conference.

“You’re right, hands-on making is a way to deeply engage attendees,” Arnold’s colleague Megan McMahon wrote to me in connection with our Maker Economy story. McMahon, who serves as the organization’s director of event learning initiatives, said ISTELive’s makerspace “provides opportunities to reflect on the session (while you’re making), recharge (almost to rest and wind down from the high energy of the session), and connect with people while creating side by side.” She recalled that during one printmaking workshop, a participant commented, “This is so therapeutic.”

“It’s really low risk to meet people while you’re doing something,” McMahon said. It’s easy to start a conversation, she said, “around the materials you’re using — ‘How did you do that?’ ‘Where would you use it?’ and so on.” It’s fun to see how much time participants are willing to spend on the activities, she said. “We’ve had people stay for over two hours to do a puppet show.”

Michelle Russell is convened.