STEMFest 2019 An Outrageous Success

—

by

STEMFest Team
in ,

“An outrageous success!”

— Professor Chris Battershill, Coastal Marine Field Station.
New Zealand Herald.

WOW. What an amazing STEMFest that was!

One week on and things are still very busy at HQ (no time to rest) while we start collecting and analysing all of the data, information, and feedback to share with our sponsors and partners. Many thanks to those of you who have already taken the time to share your thoughts with us on social media and via email. You may have also seen STEMFest featured in numerous press articles. Yay!

Interesting Facts

Here are some facts that we want to share with you:

  • We delivered a multi $M estimated valued world-class festival and series of fringe supporting events.
  • It’s taken 1 year, 7 months, and 28 days from concept to delivery.
  • Over 10,000 hours of volunteer time went into the planning and delivery of the STEMFest 2019 programme of activities.
  • 5,000 STEMFest entry tickets issued and ‘sold out’ three weeks before the main day.
  • Well over 3,500 visitors (from all over NZ and as far away as Europe), exhibitors, suppliers, and volunteers contributed to making the day a huge success.
  • Over 2,000 DNA bracelets and keychains were produced on the day.
  • Over 1km of bunting installed. 
  • Nearly 600 certificates were issued to Comvita ‘magic potion’ scientists.
  • 47+ amazing contributions from exhibitors.
  • Over 20 scheduled experiments and shows during the day.
  • Seven exhausted organisers!
  • Two last minute Teslas.

A community driven project for the community

As you will be aware the whole STEMFest programme has been powered entirely by a dedicated team of volunteer organisers who have given their heart and soul into making it the success that it was. It has been successfully delivered on a tight budget, with kind support from our amazing sponsors and funders.

But, it doesn’t stop there. We want to be able to put on STEMFest 2020 and initiate other exciting future-focussed projects, through our registered charity STEM Wana Trust, which include outreach programmes and taking STEM directly into the community. Our ambitious plans will require additional support from local government, industry, educational organisations, and the community.

STEM Wana Trust’s mission is:

“To engage and inspire a new generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians through creative community initiatives and events.”

How can you help?

Many of our lovely visitors asked if they could help and support, so we thought we would share three simple things you can do to support us:

  1. Sign up to our mailing list so that we can share with you all the latest news and developments https://www.taurangastemfestival.co.nz/subscribe-to-mailing-list/
  2. Like our facebook page and give us a review! https://www.facebook.com/stemfestnz/
  3. Consider buying some cool merchandise – everyone loves merch 🙂 https://stemfest.secure-decoration.com

What about Donations?

Many of our lovely visitors also asked if they could make a donation.  We did intend to bring some gold coin donation buckets but unfortunately it slipped our mind with all the excitement of the day.  If you would like to donate, we’ve tried to make that simple too:

Donate securely via paypal. Your kind donations will go into STEM Wana Trust, a registered charity, and your hard earned dollars will be used to develop community projects like STEMFest and other exciting outreach activities.