Layout & Attendee Experience

You might think of layout or site planning primarily as a logistical item (see Layout Guidelines in Operational Elements), but how people feel as they move through your venue and exhibits heavily influences their satisfaction in the end.

In the product design world, this factor is called “user experience design.” Put yourself in the place of an attendee and move through the event with them in mind. Design for human intuition and for ease of use. Lay the event out as if you are telling a story to someone you do NOT know. The story has a beginning, middle and an end—a narrative laden with surprises and digressions but with deliberate rhythm and pacing and closure.

Consider these layout “rules of thumb” as examples on way to think like (and plan for) a visitor:

Place anchor exhibits throughout the event space and not all bunched together. Use them as visual cues to draw your crowd through the entire event.
Imagine the path and line of sight from all entrances. How will your visitors know where to go? They’ll be excited to explore, and they may not have the patience to read signs and maps, but instead they will rely on that eye candy for visual cues.
Find a good location for a stage so that amplified sound does not ruin conversations in maker booths. Place annoying and recurring loud sounds with similar sensitivity for your makers’ ear canal health. (Fireballs can be loud!)
Place stages in a north/south orientation to avoid all-day sun in either performers’ or audiences’ eyes. (If you have a solar powered stage, you may need to go somewhere in between.)
Create chill-out sitting and eating areas near food vendors.
Put bathrooms out of the wind, and near food and children’s areas.
If certain rooms have really poor acoustics, install more visual treats and installations (vs. activity areas that require teaching and focus).
Art or sculpture or big attractions work best when “framed” by space or backdrop, and can be seen as a “draw” from a little way off.
Consider lighting, and how you can easily improve the appeal of an exhibit or performance or feel of a room by using local (temporary) light sources instead of house lighting.
Think about having a super-engaging kid exhibit near your craft vendors (kids play and parents shop).

HINT: Visit your venue when it is busy well before your event to get an idea of natural crowd flow and any inherent design flaws that you might be able to overcome with planning and preparation.

Layout Guidelines

When you are mapping out your site plan, keep these operational recommendations in mind. Check out Layout Design for more aesthetic layout suggestions.

Maker booth grid

10’x10’ footprint for average maker.
10’ pathways minimum
Avoid one giant, long, unbroken line; make cross pathways every 5 or 6 makers.

Themed areas

Brand these areas clearly with good signage.

Maker exhibit requirements

Electronics need to be out of weather, wind and gravel.
Messy interactive exhibits need easy-clean environments.
Teaching booths need relative quiet.
Noisy exhibits and stages need some isolation.
Farm-y exhibits work well outside (especially when they have animals).
Soldering booths should have sufficient ventilation.
Art or sculpture works well when it’s “framed” by space or backdrop.

Stages

Think about direction sound will travel; don’t put makers in the way of loud sound.
Orient in north/south direction to avoid all-day sun in eyes of performers or audience.

Anchor exhibits/attractions

Distribute around event, not all in one place.

Kid play areas

Grass is nice.
Plan restrooms nearby.

Food & refreshments

Plan restrooms nearby.
Try and arrange tables or grass for seating.

Electricity (vs. no electricity)

Make your electrical distribution job easier by clumping exhibits not requiring electricity. (But don’t sacrifice good event flow for this!)

Drinking fountains

Make sure there are enough.
Bring in water vendors or sell water if not.

Seating & tables

Distribute in clumps around site.
Create rest areas.
Make sure there are tables and seats near food.

Trash & recycling

Place near food and near exits and entrances.
Label clearly.
Staff the collection of trash and recycling to avoid overflowing bins.

Restrooms

Make and stick to a cleaning schedule.
Ensure sufficient distribution by supplementing your fixed restrooms with rentals.

First aid / lost & found / information / security

These are peas in a pod—locate near each other, if possible.
First aid should be very close to ambulance access, with radio access, near a sink, offer some privacy, and preferably be located near security.

Bike parking

Put bike parking in a visible spot near your entrance/registration.
Enclose and staff it if possible, or place security nearby. (See here for more resources on bike parking.)

Parking

Put directional signage out on the street.
Plan parking for rental vehicles and equipment.
Reserve maker and vendor parking and segregate into one area.

Registration / Main Entrances

Make the entrance visible with large banners.
Create distinguishable lines for different kinds of attendees.

Exits

Sign at 100’ intervals.
Do not ever cover existing exit signage.

Maker Entrance

If possible, locate near maker parking lot.

Maker Parking

Identify and reserve parking for your makers.

Load-In Entrances, including during event

Locate near maker entrance, if possible.

Accessibility for Disabled

See Accessibility Plan section.

Mapping Your Site

If at all possible, get an editable site plan from your venue. If the site plan is a PDF, you will need to import it as a layer or recreate it in a layout tool. Google Sketchup is free; Adobe Illustrator is another common design tool that can be used. You can also print out a blown-up version of your layout and mock it up with paper cutouts. (See this great homemade Maker Faire Austin site plan for inspiration.)

Whatever the tool, it’s nice to be able to use different layers for different uses. For example, one layer might be for the fire marshall (exits, fire / cooking locations, etc); another for your electrical layout. Remember also to design one layer for visitors (can go in an event program).

Equipment / Special Requirements

Rentals get expensive—and watch out for delivery fees! Be sure to check with your venue to see what it comes with (see Selecting A Venue section). And then ask your production team members and extended community before engaging party supply rental vendors.

Please see Resources section below for pricing guidelines and online resources.

Staging

Party Rental supply stores rent simple stages up to a good size. Our main stage was 12’ wide x 8’ deep x 24” high. These dimensions fit the scale of our field and needs of our performers, but staging is very modular, and can easily expand in length, width and height.

HINT: Professional event producers will likely tell you that a 2’ high stage is barely worth your while—but that height worked perfectly for us, and generated the intimacy between band and crowd that we intended. Height depends on the size of your audience.

HINT: We used an additional 8×12” tent adjacent to the stage as a backstage/green room where performers would check in and deposit their equipment with the stage manager. You may also choose to rent and set up crowd control barricades instead of a tent, or to limit access to your backstage.

Sound

Number one thing about sound is that you definitely will want to identify or hire a sound person to help you spec out your equipment needs and to manage sound at your event.

Public address systems (PAs) are also easily rentable (Google “audio visual” rentals + your location). But ask around first—you may also find that someone on your team owns one, or belongs to a band that does. You’ll need a separate PA for every stage, and you might consider simple ones for large workshops.

A PA system consists of a sound board (the control board with lots of knobs and holes on it) and a set of speakers. The sound board can either be set up on a table either adjacent to the stage (and walk out into the crowd to check on the sound), or if it is a bigger affair, you’ll want the sound board and sound man isolated and elevated, out in front of the stage in the audience. The speakers will likely sit on the stage on stands, facing out to the audience, or off to the side of the stage, on stands.

Depending on your talents’ needs, you’ll also need microphones, mic cables, mic stands, and monitors (monitors are speakers that face the performers on stage so they can hear what they sound like). If you are doing panel discussions or conversations or just want to be fancy, consider using lavalier microphones instead of microphones.

Maker Setup

A standard maker exhibit footprint is a 10’ x 10’ space. On your maker application, makers have an opportunity to tell you if they need a different kind of footprint, but most makers should fit amply into this block.

The big Maker Faires provide their makers, upon request, one eight-foot folding table and two chairs, along with a standard sign saying who they are and what they are exhibiting. We also covered indoor makers’ tables with rolls of butcher paper.

You can either ask makers to bring all their own gear—including tables and chairs—or provide a simple table/chair set-up for them. Advantages of providing the chair/table setup: chairs and tables are not that expensive to rent. Load-in is considerably less chaotic if makers are not lugging chairs and tables around. And labeling maker location is easier and more visible if there is a table to tag.

Beyond that, makers should be responsible for bringing anything else they need: signage, tablecloths, flags, stools, mirrors, extension cords, lights, pens, additional tables & chairs, handouts, etc.

Designing Your Maker Faire

Maker Faire is a “fair” in the old-fashioned sense of the word. It is inherently interactive because there are things to see and do and lots of people to talk to. In your job as a curator of a Maker Faire, you’ll aim to achieve the right balance between diversely creative exhibits, interesting talks, engaging hands-on demonstrations and activities for people of all ages, and like-minded commercial vendors and sponsors.

You are designing an experience that is shared by all. Yet you cannot possibly control everything that’s going on. This is why we say that Maker Faire is a co-creation. It demands that you allow everyone to participate and create the event; it’s the only way for it to happen.

CREATE A SHOWCASE OF CREATIVE WORK

Maker Faire provides a venue for makers to show examples of their work and interact with others about it. Many makers tell us that they have no other place to show what they do. It is often out of the spotlight of traditional art or science or craft events. DIY is often hidden in our communities, taking place in shops, in garages and on kitchen tables. So the goal of the event is to make visible the projects and ideas that we don’t encounter every day. Maker Faire, like any county fair, might include traditional forms of making but it is primarily designed to be forward-looking, exploring new forms and new technologies.

Themed Areas

You can decide to group related exhibits, which might be identified by a category or theme. There’s a balance to be achieved between rigid categorization and serendipity. Not every exhibit neatly fits into a single category. Also, some exhibits which may be placed in the same category have different requirements, such as being indoors or outdoors. Not to worry. We like to have people discover and interact with exhibits they might not have sought out. That’s a good surprise. Nonetheless, as Maker Faire grows, creating some kind of pattern for your visitors can be helpful, especially in developing a map for the event. It also gives you more signage and even sponsorship opportunities.

Here are some common theme areas:

Electronics
Music
Young Makers (kids and school groups)
Crafters
Robotics
Lego Park
Bike Village
Farm / Food

Hands-On Elements

In your Call for Makers, encourage makers to design their exhibit for hands-on making and interaction. They will surprise you with their ingenuity. But there are some Maker Faire hands-on exhibits that have entered the lexicon of “greatest hits” that are possible to self-produce, if none of your makers are planning to provide them, and if you have the bandwidth:

How to solder
How to take apart anything
How to build a simple circuit (like LED throwies)
Science experiments for kids
Make a rocket and launch it
Make a musical instrument
Fix your appliance
Learn to knit or sew
Clothing hack and swap: piles of donated clothing (encourage attendees to bring with them on day-of event) get picked through and transformed with hand sewing, sewing machines, silkscreening, gluing, and other decorating stations.

Special Programming (Presentations, Music, Attractions, Demonstrations)

Some makers are better featured performing, or talking, or teaching, or interacting with other makers. And some attendees really enjoy moments of more passive “audience” experience to balance out their booth-cruising and hands-on-doing time.

Time your special programming throughout the day to give your event a real sense of a complete “happening.” A rich schedule also gives visitors a way of organizing their experience.

Attractions. What’s a fair without some large eye candy? Big installations and rides literally will draw a crowd. If you are aiming to produce a larger event, the visual attraction of something big and unusual helps to create momentum through your layout and just makes people smile.

Performers. Musical acts that feature homemade or altered instruments are a good fit for a Maker Faire stage. We also did a mini-showcase of local kid bands (“Kids Who Rock”) for our event. A go-go dance troupe performed, and also taught go-go dancing.

Workshops. Wrangle a “name” (local celebrity) and book them into a workshop—and leverage that “name” in your promotions! Other kinds of workshops like “How to Make Jam” and “How to Prune a Bonsai Tree” can originate from your community of makers.

Demonstrations. Kinetic sculpture performances (e.g. big robots) or demonstrations (e.g. the infamous Mentos / Diet Coke show) can be scheduled so as to not tire the maker, and to create “show” moments. Demonstrations might also be onsite builds where a maker sets up a shop and creates an item from scratch over several hours.

COMMERCIAL MAKERS

Commercial Makers or Vendors sell goods at your event, but they should still echo the values and aesthetic of the DIY Maker movement. Many Maker Faire vendors aren’t just crass commercial enterprises. Preferably, your vendors are makers who have moved from amateur into the realm of “Professional.” These folks are ex-hobbyists who are trying to make a living by selling what they make. Support them!

Commercial Makers should pay a fee for this sales opportunity. They may pay different amounts, depending on their offering. How much you charge depends on the number of visitors you anticipate and how many competitors you are featuring at the event.

You may choose to have a contract for your vendors, with waivers and an articulation of your expectations. Copy and customize the maker agreement. You should also have them fill out your Call for Makers, or a special vendor application. (See Call for Makers Process for more on this.)

As far as accepting payments, you can either accept hard cash, checks, or share a PayPal account address for payments over the Internet (you’ll pay a little percentage to PayPal, but it’s nice to get the money fast).

HINT: Farmer’s markets are good resources for both pricing guidelines and for finding desirable vendors.

Commercial Makers

“Commercial makers” are those vendors selling (presumably local) handmade items. They are makers who are trying to generate a little (or a lot of!) cash from your attendees. They should go through the maker application process so you can see examples of their work and so you can curate a good exhibition of crafters. (You’ll likely get duplicates of certain kinds of items like jewelry, t-shirts and clothing, so the application process gives you a chance to edit your selection of crafters.)

Commercial makers are used to paying for their space. (We charged our first-year 2010 East Bay Mini Maker Faire commercial makers $100 for their booths.)

Food and Beverage

Having great, affordable food available for your audience is absolutely necessary. Booking good, reliable vendors and providing a varied menu is part of the producer’s challenge.

How many food vendors should you book? One professional street fair organizer advises: plan one solid savory vendor for every 1,000 visitors (assuming your day runs something like 10 a.m.-5 p.m.—if you are going through the dinner hour, you might increase that number.) Drink and treat vendors can be slightly more plentiful.

How much should you charge a food vendor? Do some research and ask around your local farmers’ market organizers and local street fair producers to see what they charge food vendors. An East Bay street fair organizer thought a flat fee of $300 plus permit costs to have a booth sounded fair, assuming we do our job to prevent duplicity in vendor menus, and to stick to the +/- 1000 visitors per savory vendor. The fee is to be paid up front, and to be submitted along with a contract in advance of the event.

You will want to have an application form for food vendors. You can copy and customize this sample application from the 2011 East Bay Mini Maker Faire. Once you accept them, you will want to ask them for that non-refundable, paid in-advance fee, and give them any paperwork they might need for Health Department permitting.

HINT: Communicate with your vendors! Poll them individually after the event, see if they were happy with their sales, ask what their gross sales were, see what menu items sold well, and find out what they think could work better. You’ll want the best vendors to come back and feed your visitors in future years, and following up quickly while their memory of the event is fresh will strengthen their loyalty to your event and improve your offerings from year to year.

We found there are several types of food and beverage vendors, each with their own requirements. (See section Interfacing with Local Agencies for more on food permitting.)

Commercial fair-food vendors (booths and trucks). These are the businesses that specialize in temporary food vending. They show up at every kind of street fair and farmers’ market. They are used to the permit requirements (almost always), and are all set with signage, menus, etc. Usually they are professional and good at managing surges in demand (e.g. lunchtime).

Keep your eyes peeled at public events leading up to yours for desirable vendors. Ask around for recommendations.

Alternative food carts and trucks. The Bay Area, like some other regions, has an amazing underground scene of a new breed of street food vendors, from accomplished chefs who are seeking a forum with less overhead, to amateurs trying an alternate business model. Some have fancy, customized “taco” trucks, and some are bicycle-powered and fold out into ingenious homemade cooking rigs. Most utilize Twitter to publicize where their mobile eatery is setting up.

The carts especially embody the maker spirit, but unless they serve fully pre-packaged food from a professional kitchen and have permits, it’s possible they may conflict with local health ordinances. They also serve a smaller crowd than your average professional booth or truck.

Local restaurants. Some local institutions are so popular that it’s an actual audience draw to publicize their presence at your Mini Maker Faire. It’s good to remember, however, that these are restaurants and may not have the gear to set up a Health Department-approved booth, and might not be quite as adept at serving crowds as your professional booths and trucks. Investigate, weigh your options.

Fundraiser food booths. The sponsoring organization may choose to coordinate and run its own booth. If you have a very capable head-honcho, along with paid or committed volunteer labor, running refreshments booths can be a profitable venture. If you want to take on the extra risk and energy this task requires, try easy, pre-made foods like cookies (bake sale booth) or lemonade. Even simply selling individually wrapped snacks bought in bulk at a big box store (with some markup) can keep your visitors sated while they wait in line for other vendors. Coffee/hot chocolate stands or a popcorn booth are also relatively easy winners.

HINT: The real money is in drinks. If your goal is to raise money, a beverage booth is the one to take on. Pedal-powered smoothie or juice booths can add the maker touch!

Alcohol. Maker Faire is a family event. It’s also more about “doing” and not standing around drinking and chatting. But it’s true that if it’s a hot day, a beer garden can be a lovely treat for thirsty adults. Are the event sponsors OK with serving alcohol? How about your venue? Are there any government restrictions or rules to consider?

If your leadership team and your venue are OK with doing it at a family event, and you have the people-power to pull it off, selling alcohol is another great opportunity raise money. Contact a local beer company—the more “maker” or artisanal, the better—and ask them to sponsor your event. (See Funding Your Maker Faire for more on sponsorships.) The ideal scenario is that the brewer or distributor receives publicity in exchange for the free kegs. If that is not possible, the cost of buying kegs will very likely be covered by your sales.