Shapeways is proud of the meet up events it organizes, which are great for meeting new people and hearing and sharing stories within the 3D printing community. Sometimes, surprisingly, people find new fellow makers living in the same neighbourhood as they are – without prior contact.
To date meet ups have been organised in cities — generally around the US and Europe. The cities include New York, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Newcastle and Eindhoven.
However, the first Shapeways Community World Meet Up is planned for Thursday February 28th 2013 with the stated purpose of bringing the Shapeways worldwide community closer together. The plan is for many local meet ups to take place at the same time, sharing pictures and videos etc, resulting in one big 3D printing party across the world.
Local community maker spaces are encouraged to host a local meet up for their audience. If you are interested in doing so, the first step would be to go to Shapeways World Meet Up page, and search the desired location. If there is already a meet up planned, you can always join the group and offer your support. If there is no meet up planned for that location all you need to do is add one, so others can join you.
Sending an email to [email protected] and informing them of the location is advised, so that they can introduce others in that area to you and advise on hosting the meet up. Prior experience is not required; more important is to be willing to meet likeminded people. The local meetup organiser will receive a box of samples and a Shapeways t-shirt to the largest meetup groups. Comments and suggestions about the event are given a warm welcome on the Shapeways forum.
Some locations have already been confirmed, but more organisers are needed to give this event the scale it deserves.
