Jules wrote: Make it smaller (cuter), bring down the price, market it as a "craft tool" or "starter printer", get it onto QVC and demo it making flat ornaments, name plates, pendants, and toys for the kids. (The items' demo-ed need to be pretty flat, due to the time constraints, but you can have taller items on display all around, to show what else can be made with them.) The first one that does this is going to kick-start the 3D printing explosion. Once they get their feet wet, people will want a better printer, more options, bigger beds and stronger filaments, and everyone in the industry is going to benefit. People just haven't seen what they can do yet, and applied it to their own lives.
You can add another female to the tally! I absolutely adore my M2. I do have a technical background-- I'm a software developer. BUT-- I also have a looong history of fearing hardware. I still get a momentary sense of panic when my 2D printer gets a paper jam (stemming back from some disastrous encounters with 2D printers back in high school...in front of all sorts of cool girls and cute boys one would like to impress). As a testament to all the resources here and on YouTube and the bloggers (shout out to you, Ed Nisley-- I learned a LOT from your blog!), I don't have that same hesitation with the M2. Hooray for the age of Google!
I think a 3D Printer is a crafting tool, people just don't know it yet. It's a tool that can empower you to make the most personalized and customized gifts for your loved ones, the kind of gifts people peruse Pinterest and Etsy for. The spool of filament winding through the feeder tube--- it reminds me of threading a sewing machine! The hot end--- it's like a glue gun! I am optimistic that things will change. I am optimistic we'll one day find 3D printing supplies in the likes of Michaels.
The main reason I signed up for my very first craft show (giving myself a mere 7 weeks to come up with a product line) this past fall was not to make money (but, hey, nice perk), but to start to introduce 3D Printing to a demographic that don't normally see it (and I did get so many people who were seeing a 3D printer for the very first time which was greatly fulfilling). And maybe, maybe, I'm lighting a spark in someone else, getting creative juices flowing, and showing others they can do it too. Hopefully?
For now, I'll be amused at things...like when the 3D Hubs administrator thinks I'm male.
(P.S. 3D Hubs apologized -- even though none was necessary-- an understandable assumption)
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