The 2024 Maker City Summit, with its theme “Make It: GROW,” recently brought together a diverse community of creators, entrepreneurs, and innovators at the Maker Exchange. The Maker City and the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center combine efforts each year to provide entrepreneurs in our community with affordable education and networking through this conference. The focus for 2024 was on how emerging technologies and digital strategies can shape our city’s future of ‘making’ with workshops on photography, media, sales and more.
This conference is one of our community’s best ” secrets.” The cost of this 2-day (plus a soiree) with meals, coffee, swag and incredible speakers is a steal! The event organizers work hard with the sponsors to keep costs low and allow as many to attend as possible. You get great networking opportunities, amazing food made by budding culinary entrepreneurs through Real Good Kitchen and invaluable resources to boost any business. Several stations were set up throughout the weekend where attendees could tap into their creative side by making buttons, centerpiece flowers, and bracelets. The Maker City brought in a laser coaster maker to show off their resources.
Keynote Speakers were Cymone Wilder, a senior art director and lettering artist out of Nashville, and Austin L. Church, an author, marketing leader, and business coach. I attended a breakout with local entrepreneur, attorney, and university lecturer Haseeb Qureshi(HQ), who talked about the foundations of setting up successful entrepreneurship.
One of the key highlights of this year’s event was exploring AI’s impact on the creative industry, particularly during the “AI, Demystified & Utilized” panel led by Redpepper’s Matt Reed and Drew Beamer. The duo provided makers with insights on integrating AI into their workflows and enhancing creative inspiration. While this part of technological advancement is exciting (all the things you can create out of a simple idea), there’s also a terrifying part (the rise of AI-generated content that the public believes to be real). We have to be thoughtful and intentional and use this technology with integrity.
In addition to AI, the Summit also focused on the wiles of social media, especially in a visually driven market. Photography and social media expert Taryn Ferro hosted a session to teach makers how to stop social media scrolling through captivating imagery. By mastering photography techniques that emphasize a maker’s unique products, attendees learned how to stand out in an increasingly crowded digital space.
Marketing and Data Specialist, Amanda Martin, led a session on how to utilize data to improve customer engagement and brand recognition. Amanda, who left her corporate job during Covid to start her own company, Future Garage, in 2020, shared her expertise with Summit attendees. Her session was a practical guide on how to navigate marketing data and improve search engine optimization, empowering attendees with actionable knowledge to enhance their businesses.
The Summit took a deep dive into the complexities of social media in modern business practices. A panel discussion moderated by Holly Rainey featured Enrique Cruz of Hola Hora Latina, Hunter Foster from Designsensory, and Jaleria Rivera of SpaceCraft, who unpacked the intricacies of developing and executing effective social media strategies. This insightful session offered guidance on content creation(posts vs. reels vs. stories vs. videos), audience engagement, and maximizing platform reach. They asked the crowd who was using which platforms, and it was interesting to see the trend away from platforms like “X” and Facebook due to the toxicity many feel in those spaces.
Inside of Knoxville has and is experiencing some of that in our spaces as well. We made the decision to leave X recently due to an uptick in negative behavior there and the downtick in reader engagement from that platform. Facebook has traditionally been where we have been able to engage the most readers, but recently, there has been an increase in hateful commentary and a disregard for fellow humans. It makes it hard for writers who want to share the goings around town and ensure readers are “in the know” to navigate levels of attack on social media. We want to use our platforms for good and to encourage the success of our beloved city.
This is a heartfelt plea to our readers to keep the criticism constructive. We value and encourage differences of opinion as they enrich our community and foster healthy debate. However, attacks meant to insult or hurt another human or group have no place on our page or in our community. We believe that we can disagree without being disagreeable. Your feedback is crucial to us, and we want to ensure that our platform remains a space for respectful and constructive dialogue. Remember, we are more alike than we are different; this diversity makes our community so vibrant.
Overall, the 2024 Maker City Summit empowered Knoxville’s creatives with tools and knowledge to navigate the fast-evolving landscape of technology and social media, ensuring makers stay ahead of trends and continue to thrive in their craft. As usual, I walked away with new friends, lots of new information and an excitement to keep bringing you the best of us for the best of the city.
