Last week, the White House invited makerspace owners/organizers from around the United States to take part in the first Makerspace Organizers Meeting. I was lucky enough to get to go to the White House to represent my makerspace, Nordeast Makers. The day started with inspirational and educational presentations from select makerspace owners and members including Emily Pilloton from Project H, and Kari Love from NYC Resistor. The second half of the day was filled with breakout sessions from different government organizations such as the Economic Development Administration or the NASA SBIR/STTR’s Program. The day concluded with a bit of organized chaos with owners discussing problems they face in a smaller group setting.

Since the meeting, there has been a lot of work done to create useful tools and build better communication channels for makerspace organizers. Hopefully this will help not only to build a stronger community between makers across the country, but also to make it easier for future makerspaces to flourish all over the world.