Make San Antonio Membership Drive Update

A big thank you to all those who have supported us, gave us feedback, suggestions and well wishes. We appreciate all the help during this membership drive. As our membership drive comes to a close, we're well aware that we will not be reaching our 100 member sign-up goal. Therefore we will not be charging the members who did support us. Although this is a huge set-back for us we are going to take what we've learned through this process, make any necessary changes to what we had originally envisioned, discuss with our team how to proceed and continue to update you on our progress.

What's Next for Make San Antonio?

• We are going to bundle all our progress and set-backs to this point and present that to prospective investors to gauge interest. There are several avenues we can pursue beyond this investment but we would love to have a local investor mentoring and backing us in this endeavor before we move forward.
• Our January Second Saturday event was postponed due to inclement weather but we have committed to participating in an upcoming Second Saturday so we will be curating an art show at the Lullwood Group on April 11. Mark your calendar! 

Here's a recap of what we accomplished during our short push to our membership drive and the all of the lessons learned.

Lessons Learned:
The concept of a comprehensive makerspace (that doesn't actually exist yet) is a hard sell. What we had envisioned was to sign up people who were already familiar with the makerspace model and were excited about this type of space coming to San Antonio. Instead we came across many people who were not familiar with what a makerspace is and the benefits that this type of space would bring to the San Antonio community. We were eager to share our knowledge and enthusiasm of makerspaces with all those willing to hear us out. Many people suggested that if we already had a space where they could visit, see our vision and use some of the tools they would be more willing to back us.

Pricing was a question that most prospective members had which relates quite heavily to the above. Asking for a signup of $55 without seeing the value returned in that investment was what many people had difficulties with. Our pricing for our membership drive was set based on comparable makerspaces around Texas and the nation but we have since decided to work on different methods of membership as an initial option. We want our pricing to be customizable so that as members grow into the space they can add or remove certain areas of their membership and grow their skill set accordingly.

Who are the people behind Make San Antonio?

Greg Reyes is an IT Engineer who is passionate about making. He grew up surrounded by tradesmen from ASE certified master mechanics to metalworkers to old carpenters who showed him a love for building with his own hands and taking pride in his work. His formal education in Computer Science allowed him to expand on his passion for making into software and engineering concepts. His experience and hands on knowledge of a vast array of tools, software and equipment will help Make San Antonio's members become more proficient makers.

Jennifer Herrera works for a local non-profit specializing in community outreach and public relations. She is a professional Pinterest pinner, and an aspiring maker. Her interests include photography, arts & crafts and upcycling projects. Jennifer is a Communication Studies graduate student at St. Mary's University, and volunteers with organizations such as spare parts, San Anto Cultural Arts and Gemini Ink. Her dedication to community outreach will help Make San Antonio truly become a community-oriented makerspace.

Mark Barnett is a long time maker advocate and educator. He operates a nonprofit in San Antonio that helps to provide opportunities for students to work with technologies like 3D printers, circuit boards and robotics. He also works on a National level promoting the idea of makerspaces in schools, libraries and community centers. His expertise in the Maker Movement along with his passion for education will help Make San Antonio be home for those who want to learn and grow.

Dale "Termite" Bracey is a Swiss Army Knife at work and in the community. Known for being a jack-of-all, his co-workers branded him as D.A.L.E. for Does A Lot of Everything. Over a decade at Rackspace, he spends his days promoting and dabbling in OpenStack on the Private Cloud side, and various other tasks. Award winning Artist. Education in design, photography, electronics, engineering, architecture, programming, computer science. Hobbies are collecting and restoring cars, building things, restoring his 1925 home, helping others, volunteering, and being social! His love for learning and teaching, community connections, social interactions, and just being D.A.L.E. are another wrench in the toolbox to help Make San Antonio make San Antonio!

We each have unique knowledge and experience that we bring to the table but the one thing that unites us is our passion for making. We hope to instill this maker passion in anyone we meet and we are all just as eager to teach as we are to learn.