If you have never exhibited at MakerFaire, it is hard to describe the energy. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people wandering through a space filled with robots, art installations, high voltage electricity demonstrations, and yes – people like me showing off IoT projects on folding tables. It is equal parts science fair, carnival, and engineering conference. The audience reflects that completely.

I brought my IoT Project Kit to Bay Area MakerFaire a few years back. The goal was to test  if showing people that getting started with IoT hardware does not have to be intimidating, and get some real-world feedback on whether the materials I had built actually worked for people who were not already deep into the maker world. What I did not expect was the range of people who stopped at the table.

I had assumed my audience would be hobbyists with some electronics background who wanted to go deeper. Some of them were. But I also had kids who had never touched a microcontroller, as well as parents who were trying to figure out what their kids were interested in. There even was an escape room owner looking to create unique puzzles. A surprising number of people who worked in completely non-technical fields and were just curious. The Getting Started materials concept I was working on would likely work reasonably well for the hobbyists. For everyone else I needed to improvise constantly.

That experience is one that  I don’t want to forget – that the people who needed the most help were not the ones who lacked technical ability. I found out instead  that they were the ones without a clear entry point. If I asked the right starting question for each person, the conversation moved quickly. The material was not the problem, where to start was.

The event provided the most useful pieces of feedback I have gotten on the IoT Project Kit. I find it interesting that most of it came from people who would never have described themselves as my target audience. Hopefully I’ll remember this the next time I assume I know who I am building for.