Speakers

2024 Florida Tiny House Festival Speakers

Update (November 19, 2024): Please join tiny living enthusiasts from around the world for a weekend of INSPIRATION and INSIGHT with the INCREDIBLE line-up of SPEAKERS who will be PRESENTING and SHARING during the 9th Annual (2024) Florida Tiny House Festival.

2024 Florida Speaker:

Chris Schapdick

Sun @ 11am

2024 Florida Speaker:

Suzy Beckwith

Sat @ 11am

 9+ years ago Suzy was 49 when she built her own DIY tiny house with the help of a few friends, and she has lived full-time in her tiny house since day one.  Suzy was the park manager of a tiny house community in Leesburg (Florida) for the many years and has been a speaker/presenter at numerous tiny house events and festivals around the country.  She is a published author and wrote the world-famous book, “My Name is You”.  (Fun Fact: Suzy was a professional clown for over 30 years.)  You can following Suzy at GO LIV TINY.

Marine Corps Veteran, and nomad traveler, Jess + her zoo traveled through 40 states and 70,000 miles from Key West to Anchorage, AK, and everywhere in between in her DIY custom bus conversion known as The Painted Buffalo.  On her travels she dedicated her time to helping other veterans heal through making art with The Paint Can Project, meeting thousands of veterans, nomads, and everyone else who stopped to say, “Hi!”  After 4 years of full-time travel Jess and her family settled into the North Georgia Forrest and is currently remodeling a tiny A-frame, building up a beautiful homestead, and is also in the process of converting a 4th bus into another traveling home.  She strives to continue the Paint Can Project and hopes to one day turn her property into a MakersSpace homestead for others to drop their pack, fill their personal care package, and tell their stories.

Robin Butler is the CEO of NOAH, a third-party inspection & certification company. He is co-chair of an ICC (International Code Council) subgroup working to recognize Best Practices and Innovation in Code Administration. He has presented to hundreds of Tiny Houser’s and has always proven to be informative & enlightening.

2024 Florida Speaker:

Shorty Robbins

Sun @ 12pm

Shorty has been a Parks and Recreation professional serving several different municipalities in Florida for over 30 years.  For most of those years, her hobby has been living history, specifically portraying the lives of the women and children who kept the home fires burning during Florida’s pioneer period, especially during the Civil War.  This hobby nicely tied together Shorty’s interests in history, camping, sewing and utilizing those beautiful parks.  Over time, the Living History set-up expanded to several tents, flys, a trailer full of carpets and furniture, and took over 6 hours to assemble.  Shorty’s interest in tiny houses was sparked when her daughter-in-law (also a living historian) showed her a photo of Jay Shafer’s “Tumbleweed” and suggested it would be easier to build one of those than haul around all this stuff. Originally meant only to be a “shell” to take to events instead of setting up a tent, Shorty’s tiny house has become so much more than that. As a result of her research and “the build” itself, Shorty has been drawn into the tiny house movement as a practical and affordable way to live. Shorty’s Victorian Tiny House is a functioning mobile historical exhibit, telling the story of life in the late 19th century and a modern-day home with all the amenities. With the help of a few friends on “heavy lifting days” and no prior construction experience, Shorty has built the house by herself using SIPS technology, as well as, 90% recycled and re-purposed materials. Shorty travels with her tiny house “Nawaka” to living history events and tiny house workshops and festivals, as well as school and environmental teaching opportunities. She’s currently working on tiny house advocacy in Florida and on the board of the Tiny Home Industry Association, representing DIY builders. When she’s not on the road, she lives full-time in Nawaka in St. Johns, Florida.

2024 Florida Speaker:

Melanie Copeland

Sat @ 12pm

Melanie is the National Spokesperson for Tiny House Alliance USA.  She is an advocate for legal tiny living and a supporter of ASTM standards for tiny houses.  After building her 144 Sq ft. tiny house on wheels in 7 days she went from living illegally to being a legal tiny house on wheels land owner.  She recently published a book, Trailblazing Tiny: A Guide to Breaking Free, to help others track and create their own tiny dream.  She is a DIY builder, a writer, speaker, homesteader, and runs her own handyman business with her husband.  In her spare time, she backpacks, travels, hikes and enjoys her home and land with her husband of 24+ years, along with their dog General Chaos, two cats, and her many chickens!

John is the co-founder, along with his wife Fin, and is the Chairman of the United Tiny House Association.  John and Fin are two of the truest examples of the tiny house movement… living full-time for 13 years in their DIY, off-grid 304sqft Beloved Cabin and the owners of their 16-acre Beloved Cabin Homestead & Stay.  They also have their World-famous towable Tiny Firehouse – Station No. 9, five additional towable tiny houses on wheels, a 14’ yurt, a skoolie, two 20′ geodesic domes, and a 16′ bell tent, and they are currently building a tree house out of a raised grain silo.  John is a known DIY and re-purposing expert, and as an off-grid specialist.  He is also a tiny house and affordable housing advocate, and has been invited to speak at HUD in our Nation’s Capital, numerous colleges, and many events around the Country, as well as with local, state and Federal governments… including HUD in Washington DC… on the subjects of tiny homes as affordable housing solutions.  John and Fin have been featured on A&E, HGTV, The DIY Network, Apartment Therapy, Hobby Farms, TODAY, New York Post, Newsweek, The Rachel Ray Show, JEOPARDY!, AOL, Yahoo, and MANY dozens of other networks and media outlets around the World.  John, along with his wife Fin, are not only Airbnb Superhosts, but they are also members of the exclusive Airbnb Ambassadors where they mentor and support new short-term vacation hosts in to becoming successful Superhosts.

TBA

Come listen to, and ask questions of, those who have built their own tiny home or worked with a professional builder, whether it be a tiny house on wheels, skoolie, bus conversion, unique small structure, van conversion, or other small home.  Panelists include full-time nomads and those living in a set location.

2024 Florida Organizers:

John & Fin Kernohan

#johnandfin

Founders of the United Tiny House Association; Organizers of the 32 for-charity tiny house festivals, including the 2024 (9th Annual) Florida Tiny House Festival; Owners of Tiny House Rescuers; Owners of the Tiny Firehouse – Station No. 9; Featured on HGTV’s “Tiny House Big Living”, the DIY Network, TODAY, The Rachael Ray Show, JEOPARDY!, AOL’s “Dream Big-Live Small“; A&E’s “Living Smaller”; Living 13 years full-time in their Off-Grid 304sqft tiny cabin on their 16-acre Beloved Cabin Homestead & Stay; DIY & Re-purposing Experts; FREE Off-Grid Consultants; Philanthropists; Full-Time Tiny Lifestyle Advocates; Public Speakers; and authors of “Tiny Talks: Communicating BIG with Love & Laughter”.

2024 Florida Q&A:

Homeowners Panel

TBA

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Founders of the United Tiny House Association; Organizers of the 32 for-charity tiny house festivals, including the 2024 (9th Annual) Florida Tiny House Festival; Owners of Tiny House Rescuers; Owners of the Tiny Firehouse – Station No. 9; Featured on HGTV’s “Tiny House Big Living”, the DIY Network, TODAY, The Rachael Ray Show, JEOPARDY!, AOL’s “Dream Big-Live Small“; A&E’s “Living Smaller”; Living 13 years full-time in their Off-Grid 304sqft tiny cabin on their 16-acre Beloved Cabin Homestead & Stay; DIY & Re-purposing Experts; FREE Off-Grid Consultants; Philanthropists; Full-Time Tiny Lifestyle Advocates; Public Speakers; and authors of “Tiny Talks: Communicating BIG with Love & Laughter”.