Amazeum sponsors Arkansas Maker Summit Oct. 16 in Rogers

The Scott Family Amazeum of Bentonville will sponsor the second annual Arkansas Maker Summit on Monday (Oct. 16) at John Q. Hammons Convention Center in Rogers. The day-long event will feature “makers” from across Arkansas and speakers from throughout the country.

The Arkansas Maker Summit “explores the relationship between making, creative solution finding, and laying the foundation for increased opportunities for diverse populations, economic drivers and future-ready learners,” according to a press release from the Amazeum.

Making “is more than just putting something together, or discovering how something works by taking it apart. Making is a process of iteration that focuses on learning throughout the development cycle of an idea, product or service. Making is really a mindset that shifts a paradigm from planning every detail in advance to taking calculated risks during the process and determining next steps based on feedback,” according to the release.

“We have been involved in the maker movement for a number of years, even before the Amazeum opened,” Sam Dean, executive director, said in the press release. “As the maker movement takes root and grows, it’s important to get people together to collaborate and open-source so that we can grow the maker community throughout Arkansas. After last year’s maker summit in Little Rock, we collaborated with The [Arkansas Regional] Innovation Hub of North Little Rock to host this year’s summit in Northwest Arkansas in conjunction with the Northwest Arkansas Tech Council’s Tech Summit.”

Dean is one of the announced speakers for the event. Others include Rhonda Childress, IBM Fellow out of Austin, Texas; Lisa Brahms, director of learning and research at The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh; and Joel Gordon, co-founder and executive director of the Innovation Hub.

The day will begin with a discussion on the development of a “making ecosystem,” that fosters collaboration, according to the release.

“Whether entrepreneur or educator, student or supplier, artist or engineer, influencer or innovator, the process of making promotes building in-demand skills necessary to remain relevant in an increasingly automated workplace,” according to the Amazeum.

A list of break-out session and panel discussion topics follows.

• Making as an integral part of entrepreneurship, small business and community development.
• Micro-manufacturing and prototyping in startup environments.
• Public libraries as hubs for making and collaboration.
• How and why making enhances K-12 education environments and student engagement in learning.
• Computational tinkering: learning digital concepts through hands-on activities.
• Making Spaces: a partnership between Amazeum, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, MakerED and Google that supports creating maker spaces in schools.
• Women and making: Supporting women makers.

Tickets are $49 and are available on the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce website.