Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab

CUCFL
Champaign Urbana Community Fab Lab
1301 South Goodwin Avenue Urbana, IL 61801

MINUTES
Business/Operation Committee Meeting
Tuesday October 4, 2011 @ 5:30 PM

ATTENDANCE
B. Barrett, K. Heller, C Needham, D. Rose, L. Semeraro, G. Watson

I. Blue Platter Saturday Workshops (October 8) - Betty will open the doors for this event which is to be held from 9 AM to Noon

II. Fab Off (October 22)
Betty has prepared and distributed an outline of events for Friday and Saturday for the Fab Off.  Approximately 35 people are expected to attend this event.  Joel is in charge of supper at the lab Friday night from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. Fab Off will open on Saturday from 8:30 AM and run to 5:00 PM, with a Continental Breakfast and Buffet Lunch provided.  Watson & Rose will coordinate the menu.  Kat will be acting concierge.

At our last meeting, we looked into the feasibility of renting a tent and bringing a large gas grill to cook lunch.  Given the cost of tent rental ($270) and limited time, we have decided to pick up some fried chicken, a veggie tray and other Deli items locally available.

As many as 6 separate teams will be competing in this years event.  Scheduling equitable use of time on the various machines will be enforced by Rose.  This event will also have 3 judges who make their determinations at the end of the day.


III. Proposals (in process)

A couple of community engagement proposals are being submitted by the fab lab to develop programming and kits to more efficiently promote the concepts of digital fabrication

IV. Getting the Word Out

It is apparent that the website of the CUCFL is not getting the word out as  broadly as needed.  A broad discussion ensued, where suggestions were made to print up flyers of fab lab events and post them on local community boards (public libraries and other high traffic areas).  Heller suggested that such flyers could also be distributed to "break rooms" at local businesses.  Rose suggested that more emphasis could be placed on social networking - in particular, "twittering" events within ones own network, which might then get wider distribution.  Making sure that  events were also submitted to campus and community calendars should also not be overlooked.


V.Adjourn - Ran a little over an hour