It's wonderful that you are thinking about or have decided to contribute to the community by hosting an event at BMS. It is another way to help keep the makerspace buzzing with creativity and energy, and a very good way to shape the culture and conversation around the place.
To ensure that events are well supported and can create maximum benefit to the organization, you should follow these guideliness wherever possible.
Consider the participants of your event, and whether there are any restrictions or limitations that need to be considered (e.g. the space is not wheelchair accessible). While it is good to create events that everyone can attend, you'll often find that for workshops it is best to limit the number of people so you can provide the best experience.
We encourage you to make your event public if it's appropriate to do so - we love sharing our space and community with a wider audience. Things like meetups, social events, and workshops should be public where possible. Events can be either free or paid - paid events must follow the paid events policy.
The upstairs area where the main work area with the tables have been used to host meetup events (e.g. Home Automation Meetup), but be aware of how much space you'll need to take up and whether this is going to be available (e.g. if you want the workshop to be in a quiet space, the meeting/recording room has limited capacity).
The downstairs area will be more suited to other types of events and workshops, but some extra precautions will need to be taken if you decide to host the event (need more info here).
To avoid potential time and resource clashes, it is important to plan ahead so you can find the best time to run the event.
Even for one-off events, it is still good to go through the entire process and plan things out correctly so that you can get the full benefit of running the event. It will then serve as another example for people who want to pick up and continue running these events, or to scale it up.
If you are planning a regular or recurring event, consider the amount of time and resource it will take (for you and for BMS), and be prepared to make adjustments accordingly based on interest and attendance.
If you are considering hosting a meetup event, first consider if there are already similar events running (you may even have attended ones before) and if you want to offer something exactly the same but at BMS, or if you would like to offer something different.
If you are considering running a workshop, first consider your level of expertise on the subject matter and experience with teaching (often they are not at the same level) and make use of your fellow members to get feedback on any aspects of the workshop that you may not be comfortable with.
Whether you want to connect with like-minded people and talk about things of common interest, or just share your passion and knowledge of something valuable to learn, or if you want to help create a more vibrant makerspace, it is good to remember your starting motivation for hosting an event.
This is because the success of the event doesn't really depend on the turn out the first time (or the last time) you run it, but whether it is something that you are happy to do because you believe it is worthwhile. Of course, an event without anyone is a solo project, so you should also be prepared to make adjustments and pivot as required (and hopefully still make it align with your goals and motivation).
Because it is worth taking the time to consider all of the above first so that the rest of the steps will make more sense and be easier to complete.
Check the shared calendar from the member portal for conflicts before deciding when to host an event. Avoid Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings as we often run paid public workshops then.
If you haven't already, complete a volunteer agreement so you can get the right permissions below.
Before you can create an event, request permission in the Discord #volunteers channel to manage events on our:
Use the event template on Canva to create graphics for all the different platforms. You can find our brand templates in the canva guide on this page.
Add the event and all the associated details as a:
BMS is a non-profit and usually can't afford to cater events. For major events or working bees, please raise a motion at a general meeting to approve a budget for catering. Generally we will approve a budget for Domino's value range pizzas up to 3 pizzas per expected attendee and allow free soft drinks from the vending machine.
If you are running an event or workshop for the first time, it is always a good idea to do a 'dry run' to iron out any potential issues. Best time to do it is on the same day but a week ahead so you will likely come across the issues that might come up on the actual day.
Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to the event as often there are people who turn up early (sometimes 15+ minutes early). If you have things to prepare before the start of the event, then you'll need to give yourself more time.
We recommend that you create a runsheet in the shared Google Drive folder to make the day easier to run in the future, and so someone can step in if you become unavailable.
These are mandatory things that must be covered at the beginning of every event:
Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the Yuggera and Turrbal peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the Country on which we meet, and pay our respect to Elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
Safe space affirmation
Brisbane Makerspace is a safe space. We do not tolerate discrimination or other behaviour that makes any person feel unsafe. Our code of conduct and safe space policy applies to this and all our events.
Location of
- emergency exit (main door)
- emergency evacuation point (rear carpark)
- shared bathroom
- WiFi details and encourage to join discord (signs above bin)
- vending machines (if catered)
If any incidents occur during the event or workshop, usual processes apply regarding the reporting of incidents. In an emergency always call 000 and when safe to do so, call the emergency/lockouts number and post an update in Discord.
And the end of the event, follow any cleanup or closing procedures as required. Don't forget to thank all the participants and invite them to join Discord and like our social media pages.
There are some useful activities to do after the event, which will help with creating a positive social and learning environment at BMS.