Snapmaker's 2024 Makerathon - Play Well!

On June 1st, we celebrated Snapmaker's 8th Anniversary with the "Play Well" Makerathon - along with a new product launch, deals, and other events.

What is a Makerathon?

A Makerathon is a two-day event where teams compete to plan, build, and show off new creations, making use of the tools given to them and following instructions to match the theme and goals of the event. Snapmaker has been running this event every year since 2016!

Methods to Madness

At Snapmaker, our Makerathons require our teams to use our 3-in-1 3D Printers, combining 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, and CNC Machining to build incredible inventions. This year's theme was "Play Well" - a tribute to our youth, the principles of fun and exploration, and a reminder of why we started Snapmaker in the first place.

Creations needed to meet this theme, and each project had a chance to win any or all of these 5 prizes:

• Most Fun Award - the creation that was the most fun to play with.
• Best Model Award - the most technically impressive creation.
• Most Creative Award - the most unique and interesting idea.
• Best Presentation Award - each team gave a live demonstration of how to use their creation.
• Best Video Award - each team made a video to show off their creation.

Logistics

This year we had 10 teams, each mixed in together from Snapmaker's various departments. This ensured each team had engineers for the technical planning and building, graphic designers for inspiration and to make the videos and presentations, marketers and customer support people to think about how to communicate ideas effectively, and project managers to organize the process and make sure we were done on time.

The Event

If you come and visit us at our HQ in Shenzhen (please do!), you'll enter our building and see our Exhibition Hall, where we have all kinds of Snapmaker machines and creations on display. A number of the items on the tables here are actually winners from years past. The first ones in the office on Makerathon Day 1 had a nice quiet moment before the festivities began.

The Process

Teams have to dream, think, and sketch before they can start making. This involves discussing and choosing a project, working through the logistics and technical aspects of its creation, dividing up the work, and thorough planning.

At Snapmaker, we like to think of the process of creation like this, whether we're talking about our Makerathon, your individual creation, or building a rocket ship:

Concept > Virtual Reality > Physical Reality

Building

Once you've got your idea, plan, and materials, it's time to building. This is one of the most intensive parts, and many of our teams stayed late into the evening of the first day to make sure their project would be perfected before it was time to present.

Expo

Let's take a look at some of the projects:

And The Winners Are...

Most Fun

Best Model

Most Creative