nomcon agenda

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
- Edward Everett Hale

The theme for the NOMCON 2019 is The Power of the Network - celebrating our diverse community of makers that represent a multitude of backgrounds, geographies, and perspectives, and our connections to one another. Networks uncover opportunities that lie beyond what any one organization can achieve, and we’re eager to explore those opportunities in this year’s NOMCON. Individually, each organization with the Nation of Makers represents a key piece of the maker ecosystem, but our strength as the Nation of Makers is in the collective.

As a maker community, we enjoy a rich connection of talent, backgrounds, ideas and skills that are not often recognized beyond the boundaries of our maker space. We recognize that, in addition to elevating examples of successful networks, and telling untold histories, there is a need for us as a community to be self-reflective, to document and share best practices, resources, and support each other in deliberately becoming stronger together. For all of these reasons, we are committed for this gathering to add meaningfully to the maker movement conversation nationally.

This year we also are excited to weave YOUTH TRACK programming (programming geared towards a younger audience) throughout all 6 tracks. And as Intentional Inclusion remains a focus of the mission of Nation of Makers, we will continue to weave last year’s theme of Intentional Inclusion throughout the entire conference.

Pre-Conference Tours and Receptions

(Please note: This is a working agenda and the schedule is subject to change).

A map of the Chattanooga Convention Center with details about accessibility are available at the bottom of this page.

FRIDAY, June 14, 2019

• 12:00 pm - 4:00pm

  • Attendee Registration and Pickup is available at the Chattanooga Convention Center in front of the Experience Hall. Badges will be organized alphabetically. If you register online after June 3rd, you will need to pick up your badge in the
    A-Z line located to your far right of the registration area. Attendees will also be able to pick up their badges anytime during conference hours.

• 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

  • Pre-conference tours (please note, times vary by tour). Some of Chattanooga’s most interesting makers have opened their doors to provide an in-depth look at the resources, technology and networks the city has cultivated. Click here to see a list of pre-conference tours.

  • Community Builds -

    • Toy Hackathon organized by Signal Centers. Drop-in and join folks from Go Baby Go, AT Nomad, and Makers Making Change from 10am-4:30pm at The Edney Building’s 5th Floor Community Space.

• 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

  • Welcome Reception at Miller Park followed by Nightfall, a free community concert provided by Chattanooga Presents . Maker activities provided by the Chattanooga Public Library and the Creative Discovery Museum. Click here to see the Nightfall Schedule.

SaturDAY, June 15, 2019

• 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

  • Evening Reception at Songbirds Guitar Museum - Stroll through The Chattanooga Choo-Choo and enjoy busking activities on Station Street, provided by Soundcorps.

Conference Schedule

Please allow time for the schedule to update

The NOMCON conference theme, “The Power of the Network” will be woven throughout each of the six conference tracks. Each track features a series of eight ignite talks, designed to spark discussion, as well as a working session beyond the ignite talk session, where participants can discuss and ideate "next steps" forward with the ignite session presenters. In addition to the the ignite sessions, the agenda features additional facilitated working sessions for deeper dives into content across and within sectors. Each session will be tagged as recommended for those who run spaces, who are event organizations, or who represent organizations (for-profit, non-profit, educational, government, or institutional). Finally, our final session of the conference is slated to be a project planning session, where new and scaleable efforts can be discussed, and implementable actions and next steps can be identified, allowing the conference participants to leave with a clear vision of next steps, committed project partners, and what we hope will be a sustainable roadmap to future success. 

SATURDAY, June 15, 2019

• 8:00 a.m.

  • Registration and Breakfast (Please note: Registration is available throughout the day)

• 8:30 am-10:00 am

  • Opening Remarks & Keynote 1: Mayor’s Maker Town Hall

• 10:10 am - 11:00 a.m.

  • Session 1 Block

• 11:10 am - 12:00 pm

  • Session 2 Block

• 12:10 pm - 1:30 pm

  • Lunch and workshop presented by Fairchild Botanical Garden

• 1:4o pm - 2:30 pm

  • Session 3 Block

• 2:40 pm - 3:30 pm

  • Session 4 Block

• 3:40 pm - 4:40 pm

  • Keynote 2: Sherry Lassiter & Sonya Pryor-Jones

• 4:45 pm - 5:30 pm

  • Project Seeding Session

• 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

  • Evening Reception (see above)

Tracks and Topics

The following tracks are focus areas for the conference with specific programming (Ignite Talks, workshops, panels, presentations, and working sessions) that will be selected to advance the dialogue within our community:

Making Local (highlighting the regional impacts of the Maker movement with a spotlight on the efforts in Tennessee)

• Knoxville Entrepreneur Center - Making Means Business

• Building a Maker Community

• Art Moves In - How Artists and Art Organizations Influence a Community

• Workforce Planning and Benefits - A Participatory Exercise

• Bringing Bio into Tennessee Makerspaces

• Of Makers and Placemaking - How public, private and non-profit groups partnered to develop a maker ecosystem from the ground up.

Making Sustainable (exploring ways that makers make money, sustain their efforts and or source sustainable to survive and thrive)

• FATT Badge Workshop - Affordable Access Systems…Everybody needs one

• Co-creation of NSF-funded research projects

• Fundraising 101

• Developing your Elevator Pitch

• Maker Organization Business Models

• Corporate Partnerships that Matter - Engaging companies in the work we do as makers

• Insurance Panel Discussion

• Resource Development Fundamentals

• Making as a Tourism Industry

Making Makers (exploring the ways that educational efforts in formal K-12, higher Ed, informal, career and technical, and adult learning environments are being advanced through making)

• Process and Pedagogy for Making

• The Maker Mindset and the Future of Work

• Student-Centered Maker Education - a Youth perspective

• Making in College: Educational Pathways

• Who is a Maker? Equity & Making

• Looking forward to tomorrow's maker leaders

Making History (celebrating the inclusive past and predicting the potential future impact of the maker movement)

• Making an End to Extinction: A Conservation Toolkit for Makers

• Getting Government Onboard - Success Stories and Struggles

• The Maker Economy and Workforce Development

• Hosting Impactful Maker Dinners

• How to use YouTube to Engage Girls in Making

• The Future of Work - Fireside Chat

• Makerspaces in Libraries - Lessons learned and connections to be made

Making a Difference as a Maker Community (documenting the impact of the social and global change efforts elicited by the maker movement locally and around the globe)

• Disaster Resilience and Response in the Time of Need: A Panel Discussion

• Makerspaces as Disaster Resilience and Response Centers

• Disaster Resilience and Response: Building a Maker Community of Practice

• Dissecting the Data: Annual Survey of Makerspaces 2018 Report-Out

• Global Impact Makers

• Inclusion-Focused Maker Programs

• Health, Inspiration and Uplifting Ways that Makers Heal

• Building upon our metric: Annual Survey of Makerspaces Working Group Meeting

• Maker Therapy

Making Networks (DISCUSSING HOW THE MAKER COMMUNITY IS STRENGTHENED BY THE DEVELOPMENT OF INCLUSIVE AND VIBRANT NETWORKS)

• How to demonstrate the value of what you do to others in your community

• Partnerships between Makerspaces and educational institutions

• How to form mutually beneficial collaborations in your community

• Remake Learning in Your Region: How to use the Remake Learning Playbook

• Open Source Software Panel

• Building a Community Ecosystem 101

• Global Collaborative Networks to Make the Future

Located in the heart of downtown Chattanooga, TN, The Chattanooga Convention Center is the venue for this year's NOMCON. One of the nation's top 10 green convention centers, the Chattanooga Convention center boasts lots of space for conferences of every size. The convention center is considered "easy" to get around, but we realize that "ease" of "getting around" means different things to different people. Some useful information as you plan your time at the Convention Center:

Arriving at the Convention Center

• NOMCON will take place on the first floor in the Chattanooga Convention Center on the side closest to the Chattanooga Marriott. (Please keep in mind that the Chattanooga Convention Center covers two city blocks. If you enter the Chattanooga Convention Center from 13th Street, you will have to walk an extra block to reach NOMCON.)

• When you arrive, you will find that every entrance and exit at the Chattanooga Convention Center is accessible for all NOMCON attendees.

• Chattanooga's free electric shuttle stops at the Convention Center bus stop every fifteen minutes.

• Taking an Uber/Lyft? There is plenty of room for your driver to drop you off in front of the Convention Center. 

• If you prefer to drive, parking is available on the street, or in the parking garage located between the Chattanooga Marriott and the Convention Center (please note; there is a fee for both street and garage parking). The parking garage and the Chattanooga Marriott both provide direct covered access to the convention center.

• The registration area will be right in front of the Experience Hall (more about that later)

Getting Around the Convention Center

Some common distances for you to consider as you make your way from session to session:

• Entire area of NOMCON: fits within a city block

• General Session/Keynote area (marked with red stars on the map): 340 feet

• Entrance on Chattanooga Marriott side to General Session/Keynote area: 250 feet

• Entrance on Chattanooga Marriott side to Experience Hall (marked with blue and green star on the map): 590 feet

• General Session/Keynote area to Experience Hall: 340 feet

• Programming rooms (marked with yellow stars on the map): less than 98 feet

• Street access directly across from the General Session area or the Experience Hall: 98 feet

• If you enter the Chattanooga Convention Center from 13th Street, you will have to walk an extra block to reach NOMCON.

For those requiring additional mobility assistance, we have rentals of mobility equipment available through Chattanooga Mobility. They can be reached directly at: (423) 875-3456.
 

Restrooms are well marked and conveniently located in front of the Experience Hall and the General session area. There is a single-stall gender neutral bathroom located in front of the General session area.

The NOMCON schedule will be available on TV monitors throughout the Convention Center.