In simply its second yr, Open Sauce hosted greater than 20,000 guests, and over 5 occasions as many exhibitors because the yr earlier than. Right here’s a short have a look at just a little 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 wished 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 initiatives, 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 many 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 actual crowd arrived. For many people, it was an opportunity to attach with previous associates, make new ones, and meet associates 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 occurring now, what occurring for the remainder of the yr, what’s occurring subsequent yr. (Spoiler alert – it’s largely about AI.)
Together with the greater than 500 reveals from all corners of the world, the weekend was crammed with 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 Quick Kind, Creating Content material in 2024, Constructing a Model as a Creator, and Not Jeopardy (a ridiculous gameshow-style occasion that examined the STEM information of three makers).
Adam Savage shared his ardour for the maker group 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 counsel that you just check out the Featured Creators Listing and the Reveals Listing (There have been 29 completely 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.
If you’re in any means linked to the maker group, whilst simply an observer at this level, I’d extremely advocate attempting to get to subsequent yr’s Open Sauce. You may at present 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 attainable, however you even have the choice of seeing all the video recordings of the panels, video games, and talks, together with all the recordings from the 2023 occasion, by becoming a member of Open Sauce at Dwelling. Hopefully I’ll see you at subsequent yr’s Open Sauce, and till then, Completely satisfied Hacking!
Undecided how effectively it will do on the water, however as an artwork piece, this LED boat was completely beautiful! (A nonetheless pic would not do it justice)
