This is the slides from my presentation at BarCamp Tampa Bay 2017. I spoke about lessons learned at Burning Man and applying them to my career in engineer.

1. How Burning
Man Changed My
Perspective:
On Engineering

2. Hi Ya
Folks!I am Tyler Baumgardner
A Mechanical Engineer
I learned a few things at The Burn
that I want to share
2

3. 1.
What’s Burning
Man
It’s an annual gathering of art, music, cool people, and dust.
Truly describing the experience in words is near impossible.
3

4. “Chance is the
only true source
of novelty.
-Francis Crick
4

5. What Did I Learn?
◈ Leave No Trace/ Minimize Waste
◈ Communal Effort Around with A Common
Purpose
◈ Perseverance
◈ Impact of Engineering
5

6. Leave No Trace/ Minimize Waste
◈Every piece of garbage is gone after the event!
Real World:
◆Minimize Scrap from manufacturing
processes
◆Recycle Scrap Properly
◆Design Long Lifecycle Products
◆Facilities that are efficient
6

7. Communal Effort With A Common Purpose
◈Massive structures and art built by thousands
of volunteers, united around the reason why
they are doing what they are doing…
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11. Communal Effort With A Common Purpose
REAL WORLD:
◈ Inspire Co-workers, ask why they are
working so hard on a project.
◈ With no compensation, what would you do?
◈ Maybe we should say THANK YOU
◈ Team unity and moral will always get you
out of a bad spot
11

12. Perseverance
◈Dust storms, dry heat, dehydration, lack of
sleep; things add up. You have to push on.
12

13. Impact of Engineering
◈At Burning Man, people create masterful
pieces of design and engineering. For no other
purpose than to make others feel happy.
◈Maybe we should start with that?
◈Playatech Project: collapsible furniture
◈Mass distribution of products that improve our
lives
13

14. Impact of Engineering
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17. What I did:
◈Designed a simple, yet
effective way to sanitize
dishes and glasses for
public use.
◈Conformed to Nevada
regulations for public
health
17

18. Take Homes
◈Say thank you more, especially in a thankless
industry
◈Engineer for a purpose, not a paycheck
◈It’s possible, I’ve seen some things…
◈Create emotion, as if it’s the only currency you
have!
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THANKS!
Questions?
Any questions?
You can find me at:
tylerpatrickbaumgardner
@gmail.com
775-997-6544