I love the concept of expecting Big Willy to be an effective panel moderator. At times the guy can barely moderate his own mind (which is why I adore him).

This wasn't billed as a career fair. Why are so many comments criticizing as if it were?

And on the subject of careers. What's inherently negative about kids wanting to be a YouTuber? For every kid chasing fame, there is probably an equal who just wants to share their passion with an audience.

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Aurornis 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

> I love the concept of expecting Big Willy to be an effective panel moderator. At times the guy can barely moderate his own mind (which is why I adore him).

This encapsulates the disconnect with Open Sauce: It’s pitched as a big Maker Fair crossed with VidCon, but in practice a lot of it revolves around William Osman and his entertainment style.

If someone who adores William Osman and his content went to a panel like this they’d be entertained.

If someone who went there expecting to hear from the makers and have questions answered, they’d be frustrated by the way the moderator became the centerpiece and the questions felt like fodder for the moderator to riff on.

This is the disconnect that has turned off a lot of my maker friends from Open Sauce: It’s a fun idea, but the actual conference leans toward being a William Osman centered show with YouTuber friends doing guest appearances. That’s great for people who are into that and obviously a lot of people enjoy it, but the maker side of the conference feels like something of a sideshow at times

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jahsome 4 days ago | parent [-]

I disagree. As I see it, it's pitched as a William Osman-inspired event. I wouldn't expect it to be a well oiled machine. In fact I'd expect it to be exactly how you framed it in the last paragraph.

Personally, I can't help but feel like those wanting it to be something else are responsible for projecting those desires on to the event, and not the other way around.

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Aurornis 4 days ago | parent [-]

> As I see it, it's pitched as a William Osman-inspired event. I wouldn't expect it to be a well oiled machine. In fact I'd expect it to be exactly how you framed it in the last paragraph.

This all makes sense for people who discovered it and hear about it through William Osman.

More broadly, it’s not marketed as a William Osman centered event. Spend some time on their website and there’s barely any mention of William Osman. Instead it’s about education, growing communities, and building careers: https://opensauce.com/about/

So for people in the in-group who rally around William Osman, the chaos all makes sense.

For people who stumbled upon the conference as a new maker fare with cool exhibits, it’s weird to show up and experience the vibe that orbits around William Osman and his friends.

Not suggesting it’s good or bad, but the disconnect is obvious throughout this thread. Even the Open Sauce website focuses on things like career building, but then people in this thread are being criticized for thinking the conference has anything to do with career building.

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jahsome 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

The about page you linked consists almost entirely of a single link to an article in Forbes titled "meet the youtube stars bringing their crazy creations to Open Sauce"

Respectfully, I fail to see how that gives folks anything but the expectation it's centered around YouTubers.

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andrewflnr 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Can confirm, I've heard of OpenSauce a good few times and had no idea it was so Osman-centric. :D

	▲	Aurornis 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		To be fair, I don’t think that was the original intent But when the creator of a conference has such a large following and primarily promotes through their YouTube channel, a lot of attendees will come to expect that person to play a large role in their experience. It’s hard to break free of that.

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hamandcheese 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm making observations, not suggestions.

And one of those observations is that it was a very weird vibe to see dozens of 6 year olds line up excited to ask a question, and only 3 or 4 getting the opportunity.