In simply its second yr, Open Sauce hosted greater than 20,000 guests, and over 5 instances as many exhibitors because the yr earlier than. Right here’s a quick have a look at a bit of what I noticed whereas I used to be there.
Open Sauce, the world’s largest gathering of makers, creators, engineers, influencers, and tech lovers, gathered for simply the second time earlier this month, and was, by all accounts (together with mine), a spectacular occasion. Born of the minds of William Osman and Ian Dokie, that needed to make “…the occasion that my 15 yr previous self would go loopy for,” as Osman put it. Apparently there are a complete lot of different individuals who would go loopy for it too, and this yr they did. Over 500 got here to point out their merchandise and tasks, and greater than 20,000 got here to see them.
This yr’s venue, The Cow Palace, was a lot bigger than final years, and it was packed all weekend
Friday was open to {industry} folks, and gave everybody who could be spending a lot of the weekend at their sales space or on the stage as a part of a panel the possibility to fulfill, discuss and share tales and builds with the opposite creators earlier than the true crowd arrived. For many people, it was an opportunity to attach with previous pals, make new ones, and meet pals and fellow makers IRL whom we had beforehand solely spoken with on-line. There have been additionally panel discussions with extra of an industry-based slant – what’s taking place now, what taking place for the remainder of the yr, what’s taking place subsequent yr. (Spoiler alert – it’s principally about AI.)
Together with the greater than 500 displays from all corners of the world, the weekend was full of visitor audio system, panel discussions, and demonstrations on two separate levels. Creators included the likes of Adam Savage, Mark Rober, Ali Spignola, Colin Furze, Mehdi Sadaghdar (ElectroBOOM), Emily the Engineer, and Joel Gomes (Integza), to call only a tiny fraction. Subjects and dialogue ran the complete spectrum, from the ridiculous to the chic, and included issues like OUCH! Working with Excessive Voltage, Huge Concepts in Brief Type, Creating Content material in 2024, Constructing a Model as a Creator, and Not Jeopardy (a ridiculous gameshow-style occasion that examined the STEM data of three makers).
Adam Savage shared his ardour for the maker neighborhood not solely on stage, however two days earlier when he invited 200 makers to his workshop
To get extra of an concept of the scope of this yr’s occasion, I positively recommend that you simply check out the Featured Creators Record and the Reveals Record (There have been 29 totally different classes), however I’ll warn you – taking a look at these lists will certainly begin you figuring how one can make it out to San Francisco for subsequent yr’s occasion.
In case you are in any manner linked to the maker neighborhood, at the same time as simply an observer at this level, I might extremely suggest attempting to get to subsequent yr’s Open Sauce. You’ll be able to presently get discounted tickets for subsequent years occasion on their web site. In fact, relying on the place you reside, a visit to San Francisco won’t be potential, however you even have the choice of seeing the entire video recordings of the panels, video games, and talks, together with the entire recordings from the 2023 occasion, by becoming a member of Open Sauce at Residence. Hopefully I’ll see you at subsequent yr’s Open Sauce, and till then, Comfortable Hacking!
Undecided how properly it could do on the water, however as an artwork piece, this LED boat was completely beautiful! (A nonetheless pic would not do it justice)
