The 2022 Nation of Makers Conference (NOMCON), held in the month of June, is the annual national conference that brings together leaders from maker organizations representing the diverse sectors, people, regions, and foci that represent the U.S. maker movement. Hosted by the national nonprofit Nation of Makers, the conference aims to spark and increase connections across sectors, generate robust collaborations and partnerships, set a research agenda for the U.S. maker movement, and promote the growth of an inclusive maker community. A central goal of the event is to promote relationship-building across lines of regular conversation thus generating an increased sense of connected community throughout the entire ecosystem of maker-supporting entities.

NOMCON 2022 will be held VIRTUALLY online on the Gather.Town platform this year, due to COVID-19 pandemic. We are working on programming that will make your virtual conference experience an informative and enjoyable one, and platforms that are simple for the user.

“One can understand a place by what its people make.” Deborah Needleman, NYTimes

The theme for NOMCON 2022- Five years of Changemaking: Envisioning the next five years of maker-driven change in the U.S. and Beyond, will build off of previous conference themes, and take a forward look at what role our community sees for the maker movement in the future. Beyond just visioning, this unique conference will engage our entire community in thoughtful dialogue, and concrete, actionable next steps to push forward the work of the first five years of Nation of Makers, and the more than a decade of work and impact of the American Maker Movement.

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” - George Elliot

“Ecosystem builders connect, empower, and collaborate with others to build the whole system. They are the system entrepreneurs, working to lift up the whole community to achieve its potential. They play multiple roles, including system architect, champion, advocate, convener, cajoler, traffic cop, air traffic controller, and storyteller.”

— Kauffman Foundation

NOMCON is intended for leaders and builders who create and support the maker community ecosystem! NOMCON is the perfect conference for those who:

Run or organize spaces (hackerspaces, makerspaces, Biospaces, FabLabs, etc.)

Organize events (hackathons, maker camps, workshops, summits, etc)

Represent organizations that support the maker community (for-profit, non-profit, educational, government, or institutional)

Are thinking about, or are in the process of starting a space (hackerspace, makerspace, collective/collaborative, etc)

NOMCON invites organizations that support makers and maker movement to share insights and connections with other organizers in the Nation of Makers community. If you are a leader, or have aspirations to be a leader, who supports makers and the maker movement, this conference is for you!

Many events in the broad maker community focus on promoting makers and their projects, inspiring someone to try making, or teaching people how to be makers. The organizers themselves rarely have a chance to step back and thoughtfully consider how to best support the community they are creating. At NOMCON you will share, connect, be inspired, and will have opportunities to:

Expand your network from within your maker community

Share resources to grow your space without draining your budget

Identify the strengths and gaps within your community ecosystem

Recruit volunteers from outside your network

Collaborate with local businesses, educational institutions and the community

Tell your inspiring and impactful maker story

Find partners and supporters to collaborate with

As a maker leader, you are invited to participate in the greater community dialogue of how we should grow the Nation of Makers, and what projects we, as a Nation of Makers community, should undertake to help the maker movement and our communities, locally and nationally. NOMCON is an opportunity to learn from and collaborate with your peers to create an ecosystem that supports all of us in our efforts to grow and thrive!

Expect to learn, to be challenged, and to contribute to a meaningful building of the maker movement ecosystem!

NOMCON is an opportunity to meet and share best practices, exciting trends, and resources with your peers in the maker community. This will be different from any maker event you’ve been to in the past!

We are excited to continue to utilize the platform Gather.Town. This exciting platform, used for NOMCON 2021, will allow us to come together virtually to enjoy our usual keynote, presentations, and workshop offerings, while maintaining some of the social and community exchange that NOMCON is known for. Come to NOMCON, attend a talk, find your friends and colleagues in the conference center, explore interactive and dynamic exhibitor and sponsor offerings, and experience an online conference like none other!

In order to create the most inclusive access possible, we have created a "pay-what-you-can" pricing structure. Please see https://www.nomcon.org/pay-what-you-can-2021/ for details.

Yes! Without the generous support of our sponsoring partners, NOMCON would not be possible. If your organization is interested in supporting NOMCON as a sponsoring partner, please visit https://www.nomcon.org/partners-2022 and contact Dorothy Jones-Davis at: dorothy@nationofmakers.us.

We are very excited about the enriched exhibitor opportunities available in the Gather.Town platform. If your organization is interested in exhibiting at NOMCON 2021, please visit https://www.nomcon.org/2022-exhibitors , and contact Trey Lathe at: trey@nomcon.org.

IN LIGHT OF THE SIGNIFICANT CONTINUED PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERNS RELATED TO CORONAVIRUS, WE HAVE MADE THE DECISION TO ONCE AGAIN MOVE NOMCON TO A VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE INSTEAD OF AN IN-PERSON CONFERENCE IN 2022.

Our first priority remains the health and safety of all of YOU - our attendees, our community, and all of your communities. With that in mind, we have decided to host this year’s NOMCON on a virtual platform. Although we will miss seeing you all in person, we see this transition as a significant opportunity:

To continue to reach and engage a larger audience of maker leaders

To further expand the types of engaging programming choices that we are able to offer at NOMCON

To enhance the conference experience with additional online features including session recordings, dynamic chat, networking, and notetaking features.

To design and create a conference that continues to grow and nurture our community

To support the health and well-being of our community

We look forward to providing you with the same unparalleled opportunities to network, to find your maker tribe, to learn from one another, and to engage in dialogue that pushes our community forward at NOMCON 2022 - See you there!