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With Brad Justus now moving on to bigger and better things, this seems as good a
time as any to share something I threw together almost a year ago, just after
coming back from BricksWest 2003:
http://www.thereverend.com/brad_justice
Though it has a little fun at Brad's expense (which is why I hesitated to share
it in the first place), it was more meant to parody the whole nature of Q & A
sessions at AFOL LEGO events, where 90% of the questions are ones that just
can't be answered. I honestly think Brad did a commendable job at such events,
and no disrespect meant! I wish him the best of luck in his future career, be
it as a superhero or as an employee Informative, Inc. @8^)
-The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith
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Hopefully people have archived whatever they needed to archive from the site.
In particular the presentations are good to have archived. ILTCO has most if
not all the train presentations in the library (and Mike is busily adding the
BF 03 ones as we speak) but the ILTCO site is unreachable at the moment.
That’s just a temporary thing, I am sure.
Hope that helps.
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I have all the BW 2002 and 2003 presentations and stuff archived on the
“offical” Brickswest gallery on Brickshelf. (Matt gave me his blessings in 2002
to make this account for the BW stuff)
You can reach BW2002 here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=12626
You can reach BW2003 here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=30726
-AHui
A&M LWorks
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In lugnet.events.brickswest, John Cooper wrote:
> The BricksWest.com website seems to have disappeared off the web. It was
> available a week or two ago, even though it had not been updated since
> BricksWest 2003. Draw your own conclusions.
At first I thought maybe this was just another site hosted on NorthStar that was
having temporary trobules, but WHOIS seems to show the domain as recently (24
Aug 2003) expired.
http://www.register.com/whois-results.cgi?212c22764453f50e94b497a0207a7998d68de78af5ca947f188dd24c248841216a5fa70a6225be5e785ab5187b44e1abe064a7f657b570f9
(not sure if that link will work for you or not, if not, just go to register.com
and do a search on brickswest.com then follow the WHOIS link)
Hopefully people have archived whatever they needed to archive from the site. In
particular the presentations are good to have archived. ILTCO has most if not
all the train presentations in the library (and Mike is busily adding the BF 03
ones as we speak) but the ILTCO site is unreachable at the moment. That's just a
temporary thing, I am sure.
Hope that helps.
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The BricksWest.com website seems to have disappeared off the web. It was
available a week or two ago, even though it had not been updated since
BricksWest 2003. Draw your own conclusions.
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In lugnet.events.brickswest, Frank Filz wrote:
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That will help (last year the public did continue past the 4 PM time
frame as I recall).
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Last year we were unable to control the venue since we were spread out all over
the Center House. This year, since we have our own room, we will be able to
close the doors and tell them to come back the next day.
Having more private hours was a priority in our planning this year.
-Grand Admiral and Keeper of Fleebnorks
“Adopt a fleebnork. They’re DYING!” -Sally Struthers
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Grand Admiral wrote:
>
> In lugnet.events.brickswest, Frank Filz wrote:
> > - pirate game unlikely (after last year's experience, I just don't see it
> > happening, there isn't time or energy)
>
> Whoaaaa there, son. We recognized that downside from last year, and made efforts
> to rectify the situation this time around.
>
> We specifically are separating public and private hours this year to accomodate
> things like your Pirate Game. Since we have a single large conference room, we
> are having public hours from 10am-4pm, then we close the doors and have private
> attendee hours from 4pm-12am. There will be LOTS of time for the Pirate Game to
> take place.
That will help (last year the public did continue past the 4 PM time
frame as I recall). The concern I still have is having enough energy
after catering to the public for 6 hours. I know that when a show is
over for the day, I don't feel like doing a whole lot.
I'm just going to have to decide which event I want to go to, and then
assuming I do go to NW BrickCon, I'll have to see how it actually goes.
Note also that there have to be players who feel like it...
Frank
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In lugnet.events.brickswest, Frank Filz wrote:
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- pirate game unlikely (after last year’s experience, I just don’t see it happening, there isn’t time or energy)
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Whoaaaa there, son. We recognized that downside from last year, and made efforts
to rectify the situation this time around.
We specifically are separating public and private hours this year to accomodate
things like your Pirate Game. Since we have a single large conference room, we
are having public hours from 10am-4pm, then we close the doors and have private
attendee hours from 4pm-12am. There will be LOTS of time for the Pirate Game to
take place.
So don’t count that as a minus. :)
-Grand Admiral and Keeper of Fleebnorks
“Adopt a fleebnork. They’re DYING!” -Sally Struthers
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> I wonder why this must be the case. BrickFest started quite well as a
> purely fan event
For a time. But it is growing and incorporating the public. Is it not?
Take SciFi cons for example. You pay to get in, boy to you pay, but I can
go and wander about if I wish. I won't get the extras but I can wander about.
Now I believe your average attendance for a SciFi con goes into the hundreds, if
not thousands. That's what supports that SciFi con. They don't really need the
public wandering about. It has a healthy fan base to support it.
We don't have one hundred LEGO fans in Seattle, much less a thousand. We
need as much public as possible to pay for what the fans cannot. Also, I'm
looking for converts. Then we can have our more propper "con." We'll have a
base to support it.
> Are people in the North West really that stingy?
Not really but no one wanted to pay $75 to see the same people on the weekend in
downtown Seattle. Plus, that's our carrot. Keep the costs for the fans
minimal. Heck, we got LEGO to buy! Priorities man!
I hope you'll make it out. Our public will be locked out at 4PM. We got the
space til midnight. There will be time for mingling. Also, we're looking at an
established sign in volunteer sheet, so no one gets stuck in the same spot all
day long. We're growing and learning, I hope you'll stick with us.
Mark
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Mark wrote:
>
> > The public attendance factor is an interesting one. To me, it matters
> > not much.
>
> I'm glad you brought this up.
> If we want cons to live we need the public. Let that sink in for a sec. For as
> diverse a group as we have here in the NW, it cannot support a regional
> convention by its fans alone. Won't happen. People balk at the money. So what
> do we do, we comprimise. We try to give time for the fans, this year we have a
> space that we can lock, but the public is coming, and they'll pay to get in.
I wonder why this must be the case. BrickFest started quite well as a
purely fan event. We didn't even really have an idea what the draw of
the outlet store would be. Obviously it was some draw, and there will be
some number of folks more willing to attend an event with a LEGOland or
outlet store draw. Are people in the North West really that stingy? Of
course we do have a lower population within reasonable driving distance
than DC has, and it's more of a pain to fly to than DC. There may also
be some differences in how available space is (though I know the GMU
space is not free - I had assumed it was very low cost based on the low
price for BF 2000, of course we also only had 3 class rooms and some
lobby space).
I'm not saying that the public attendance is a bad thing, but I have to
say that I'm very torn between NW BrickCon and the truck tour this year.
To me either one is basically a public show. The plusses and minuses I
see. I've also included a hypothetical BrickFest 2000 like con that I
would have to fly to for example.
NW Brick Con:
+ more AFOLs will participate
+ larger display
+ maintain my complete US brick con brick badge collection
+ support brick cons
+ will have at least some fan interraction
- entry cost
- drive to Seattle
- need for arranging a place to stay
- pirate game unlikely (after last year's experience, I just don't see
it happening, there isn't time or energy)
Truck Tour:
+ local
+ direct interraction with LEGO
+ support the local folks
+ free
- smaller display
- limited fan interraction
- no pirate game
Hypothetical BrickFest 2000 like con:
+ lots of fan interraction
+ pirate game for sure
+ medium size display (BF 2000 had less on display than NWBC 2002, plus
flying would limit how much I could bring for display)
- entry cost
- need to fly to
- hotel room
This hypothetical brick con is probably still a tough sell (I'm starting
to smart from all the costs of flying). Now if the hypothetical brick
con was within 6 hours driving (so I didn't need to use any vacation
days for travel - though the travel would be brutal), it would win hands
down.
But I'm me. I know from talking to some people at NW Brick Con last year
that they got a lot out of showing to the public. I do agree that we
need more ways for non-train folks to share with the public.
I also agree very much with Stephen that the Sunday open doors at
BrickFest was a good thing. Without it, I might have run a pirate game,
but I also very much liked sitting and selling parts, and I might have
still chosen to do that instead of running the pirate game (and would
not have sold as much without the public - almost all of my sales on
Sunday were to the public). Of course for me the thing that recovered
Sunday the most was that I had done my outlet shopping on Friday (though
that killed Friday somewhat but not entirely).
Frank
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Mark P wrote:
> This is a community here, and it does not look like that was taken into
> consideration by the planners (whoever they are) of this BFpart2. I am sure many
> of us would have been more than happy to lend a hand but now it just seems like
> we were left out in the cold - and thats just not a cool feeling in any way.
I'm sorry that people feel left out, but an event can't be planned with
100s of people. While some (all?) of the brick cons were initially
kicked off with a public call for interest, they quickly took the
planning private (however, I believe this years BricksWest invited too
many people onto the internal discussion - causing unecessary strife).
Unfortunately there is a bit of an information vaccuum because Steve
made an announcement Saturday, but presumably won't really have net
access until today.
I also know that numerous people have been involved in the initial
planning for this event. Now that a public announcement has been made,
more people will be invited to be involved. I also know that people in
SC were consulted about the feelings on doing 2004 in Portland. Perhaps
not everyone who should have been consulted was, but I know Steve felt
he had to contain this discussion.
There is a big problem that now is the time to get the ball rolling.
Unfortunately, due to how things were playing out with Brick Media
Productions, people felt they had to walk on eggshells. That means
keeping the list of people in discussions small. We still don't know
what all has transpired, and until some people come public with how they
have been affected, some of us don't feel comfortable talking about all
the details that led to the decision to go forward.
Frank
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In lugnet.events.brickswest, Dave Johann wrote:
> Agreed. No one runs a Pirate game quite like you do, Frank. No one is pushing
> the need to have things run solely by locals either, but without any information
> available about the upcoming event, quite a few folks who would have helped to
> organize and participate are now rethinking their level of contribution simply
> because we've just heard about this event a scant two days ago. Had any details
> of this event been available PUBLICLY a few days before, this would never have
> garnered the amount of attention it has gotten.
>
> -Dave (who's getting tired of pointing out that the lack of available info is
> what caused all the problems in the first place.)
Exactly - from what it seems there has been a great deal of working out done
already in secret.. and us here are scratching our head trying to figure out
what is going on with BW, let alone this new con that looks like already has all
of the framework planning done -- its more than frustrating.
This is a community here, and it does not look like that was taken into
consideration by the planners (whoever they are) of this BFpart2. I am sure many
of us would have been more than happy to lend a hand but now it just seems like
we were left out in the cold - and thats just not a cool feeling in any way.
Mark P
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In lugnet.events.brickswest, Frank Filz wrote:
> The public attendance factor is an interesting one. To me, it matters
> not much. Why? Well, I get to do public shows all the time.
That's a valid point, to a certain extent. Not all participants will have
that sort of experience (I remember about two months ago people were asking
where they could find places for public display), and outside of events like BF,
there aren't any publicly open displays of just MOCs. Yes, there's LEGOLand,
but as was mentioned previously, seeing a bunch of displays that were designed
by LEGO pros is entirely different from seeing the wide variety of really
strange and wonderful things that dedicated fans can build, and the public are
much more likely to identify with MOC builders than with professional Master
Builders.
> I think BrickFest may have hit on a good compromise by keeping Friday
> and Saturday as non-public.
I think you're exactly right. It gives people like you some non-public
time to just hang out with fellow FOLs, it gives the people who don't get any
public display time a chance to show off to non-FOLs, and it gives the public a
chance to really see what's possible (and possibly inspiring a new wave of
FOLs).
> However, as NW Brickcon and BrickFest have demonstrated, you don't need
> a local LEGO attraction to attract guests
Not the general public, no, but it's probably a huge bonus for FOLs who
rarely have a chance to attend, and who don't live anywhere near any of them. I
did like the idea that someone had of seeing if TLC could set up a sale booth,
but I have a feeling the outlets would be a better deal, as they'd probably have
both lower prices and greater (older/OOP) selection.
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On 00.38 8/12/2003 +0000, Mark wrote
> > The public attendance factor is an interesting one. To me, it matters
> > not much.
>
> I'm glad you brought this up.
> If we want cons to live we need the public. Let that sink in for a
> sec. For as
> diverse a group as we have here in the NW, it cannot support a regional
> convention by its fans alone. Won't happen. People balk at the
> money. So what
> do we do, we comprimise. We try to give time for the fans, this year we
> have a
> space that we can lock, but the public is coming, and they'll pay to get in.
> What's this mean? NWBrickcon04.
> Is it easy? No. Are the fans willing to pay up for a specialty con in
> the NW.
> I've heard a loud, resolute, "NO." So, we comprimise. We have to start
> small,
> that's how most things start. We'll get bigger, and better. We've just
> got to
> stick to it, organize a good event and with any luck, 03, will pay for your
> "private zone" in 04. Like I say, growth.
This year at BrickFest we had open admission on Sunday. Even without
advertising, we had spectacular turn out (still no numbers yet).
I think the public influx provided energy to what traditionally has been a
subdued 'recovery' day. And most importantly, many of our fears of the
havok that the public would wrack on the fest were laid asside.
I dont see BrickFest becoming a totally open event. The _vast_ majority of
the general public who were there were parents with kids. But I definitely
see the experiment of opening the fest on Sunday as a success.
(speaking as me, not as an organizer)
---
wubwub
aka stephen f roberts
wildbrick.com - Jain's Guide : Promoting more than just the MOC
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> The public attendance factor is an interesting one. To me, it matters
> not much.
I'm glad you brought this up.
If we want cons to live we need the public. Let that sink in for a sec. For as
diverse a group as we have here in the NW, it cannot support a regional
convention by its fans alone. Won't happen. People balk at the money. So what
do we do, we comprimise. We try to give time for the fans, this year we have a
space that we can lock, but the public is coming, and they'll pay to get in.
What's this mean? NWBrickcon04.
Is it easy? No. Are the fans willing to pay up for a specialty con in the NW.
I've heard a loud, resolute, "NO." So, we comprimise. We have to start small,
that's how most things start. We'll get bigger, and better. We've just got to
stick to it, organize a good event and with any luck, 03, will pay for your
"private zone" in 04. Like I say, growth.
Mark
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Purple Dave wrote:
> To give you an example of what I'm saying, look at the Olympics. Every
> four years it's held in a different location around the world. Every event sees
> a huge number of participants (athletes and coaches) traveling from all over the
> world to attend. Outside of the athletes' families, it's safe to say that the
> vast majority of the attending spectators are from the immediate vicinity, with
> a much smaller portion of attendance coming from outlying areas (neighboring
> states/provinces/countries), and with very few people making a world-wide jaunt
> just to go watch people they don't actually know compete in person. And this is
> with a "convention" that just about every self-aware person on this planet has
> heard of, and some level of patriotic interest in. It's a highly famous event,
> however, which means that no matter where it occurs (well, probably not
> Antarctica), there will be people who want to take advantage of the "chance of a
> lifetime" and attend it in their own backyard. Everybody's so geeked about the
> fact that BF actually made the news that I get the feeling these Brick cons
> aren't very widely known outside of the general LUG-type communities. Yeah, if
> you don't care about public attendance, a roving con makes perfect sense as it
> would allow those who can't afford the time/money to make a long-distance trip a
> chance to participate every few years, but doing that will most likely inhibit
> the number of walk-in visitors who just want to check things out.
The public attendance factor is an interesting one. To me, it matters
not much. Why? Well, I get to do public shows all the time. I did like
one thing about this years public time at BrickFest, the public time
included the brick bazaar, and thus a chance to sell to the public. One
thing I disliked about NW Brick Con was that it was so much a public
show event that there was little time (and almost no energy - attending
to the public for 6+ hours is draining) for interracting with the fans
(and basically the gaming got shot, no time or energy, and not really
even a location). At BricksWest what disturbed me about the public time
was that the expo was separate from the meeting area, reducing the
interraction between those doing that part of the event and those doing
the sessions and such.
I think BrickFest may have hit on a good compromise by keeping Friday
and Saturday as non-public.
However, as NW Brickcon and BrickFest have demonstrated, you don't need
a local LEGO attraction to attract guests (the outlet doesn't count for
BrickFest, though there may have been advertising there). NW Brickcon
brought people through as fast as we could handle them, and more people
could have been handled if the space was better arranged.
Frank
Frank
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In lugnet.events.brickswest, Frank Filz wrote:
> Who cares what the weather is? Well, at least so long as it isn't
> weather that makes travel hard. Portland in February is really not so
> bad.
Speaking as someone who lives in the Snow Belt, I'd be much happier heading
off to a place where I could wear shorts in February. It may not be bad, but
it's not like getting a nice dose of Summer in the middle of the Winteriest
month of all. If it's held more into Spring, I'd say that weather would cease
to be a factor at all.
> Roving conventions actually do quite well. True, their attendance varies
> very much depending on who is putting them on and where they are held.
> They actually can help spark more interest in cons since people try them
> out when they are local, and then get so psyched that they travel to
> subsequent ones. It is a way to bring a convention to an area that
> doesn't have the energy to put on a convention every year. Some
> extremely successefull roving conventions I'm personally aware of (and
> some of the reasons attendance fluctuates):
>
> Worldcon
> National Speleological Society Convention
> Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly
> Opus
There are three basic types of Cons. Some, like Synod and Presbetery
meetings, have restricted attendance. You need to fit a certain criteria to be
invited, and you're there more to conduct business than to have fun. Others,
like the NSSC meeting you mentioned, are there more for the enjoyment of the
participants than for the general public. You're basically just there to have
fun with other like-minded people. The third type is the group where you hope
to interact with both like-minded people and the general public. From what I've
heard, the various Brick cons fall into this category. What fun would it be to
have a General Public day if only a few dozen people showed up? San Diego and
Anaheim get a lot of winter tourism, between the weather and the theme parks, so
not only will you get the local crowd, but you'll probably get a lot of
convenience traffic (hey, since I'm in the area...) as well.
To give you an example of what I'm saying, look at the Olympics. Every
four years it's held in a different location around the world. Every event sees
a huge number of participants (athletes and coaches) traveling from all over the
world to attend. Outside of the athletes' families, it's safe to say that the
vast majority of the attending spectators are from the immediate vicinity, with
a much smaller portion of attendance coming from outlying areas (neighboring
states/provinces/countries), and with very few people making a world-wide jaunt
just to go watch people they don't actually know compete in person. And this is
with a "convention" that just about every self-aware person on this planet has
heard of, and some level of patriotic interest in. It's a highly famous event,
however, which means that no matter where it occurs (well, probably not
Antarctica), there will be people who want to take advantage of the "chance of a
lifetime" and attend it in their own backyard. Everybody's so geeked about the
fact that BF actually made the news that I get the feeling these Brick cons
aren't very widely known outside of the general LUG-type communities. Yeah, if
you don't care about public attendance, a roving con makes perfect sense as it
would allow those who can't afford the time/money to make a long-distance trip a
chance to participate every few years, but doing that will most likely inhibit
the number of walk-in visitors who just want to check things out.
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Mark wrote:
>
> > Roving conventions actually do quite well.
>
> Isn't the Olympics really a roving convention of sorts?
Sure. Actually, this points out a common feature of roving conventions.
There are usually bids to host, and a committee and/or process to select
bids (WorldCon bids are voted on by the attendees). This process that
allows evaluation of bids helps strengthen the events.
Frank
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> Roving conventions actually do quite well.
Isn't the Olympics really a roving convention of sorts?
Mark
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Dave Johann wrote:
>
> In lugnet.events.brickswest, Frank Filz wrote:
> >
> > It is true that PNLTC is a train club, however, one should not assume
> > there is no non-train interest in the area. I will be running the gaming
> > component of BrickFest PDX, and will be bringing much pirate stuff for
> > use in Evil Stevie's Pirate Game and display. Ben Fleskes has one of the
> > best models of the Millenium Falcon out there. Jeremy Rear has a very
> > nice range of military models (which do show up on our train layouts).
>
> I never made that assuption. There's always some level of interest. I'm pointing
> out that the level of interest seems to be a tad bit higher some 1049 miles to
> the south (thanks Mapquest). People will flock to wherever the event is located,
> but the number of people going will vary significantly based on location, date,
> and weather.
It's certainly true that local interest helps, but it is not necessary.
In fact, a brick con in Portland might be what is necessary to spark a
LUG. I'm not convinced weather is that important (DC in the summer is
horrid...).
> > One should also point out that many areas of BricksWest have been
> > championed by non-locals: Train presentations, animation contest, Pirate
> > Game, LDRAW, robotics, and more. The brick cons have really started to
> > realize that the best person to host a particular theme or area of
> > interest may not be local (this has actually been recognized from the
> > start since I ran the Pirate Game for the first BrickFest). This is
> > great and also helps ensure burnout doesn't happen (it's will be much
> > easier to find a new champion for the Pirate Game when I decide I don't
> > want to do it anymore given that I am not local to the club).
> >
> > Frank
>
> Agreed. No one runs a Pirate game quite like you do, Frank. No one is pushing
> the need to have things run solely by locals either, but without any information
> available about the upcoming event, quite a few folks who would have helped to
> organize and participate are now rethinking their level of contribution simply
> because we've just heard about this event a scant two days ago. Had any details
> of this event been available PUBLICLY a few days before, this would never have
> garnered the amount of attention it has gotten.
>
> -Dave (who's getting tired of pointing out that the lack of available info is
> what caused all the problems in the first place.)
I'll let Steve Barile comment on details of the timing, however, I know
that only recently was the name secured. Also, it is usually best for a
group organizing an event get a decent start of a plan in place before
going public. If you look back at the lead up to BricksWest, you will
see a lot of public pain and suffering because the groundwork for the
event was being done in public. That was especially true of the name
issues - that would have been a dead issue Matt G. had started his plan
in private, and talked to a few people about name (and found out about
BF's desire to protect their name if that was even what he wanted to do
in the first place). The whole issue of location was also messy, there
was argument at that time for the folks in DC to let BF travel.
Frank
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That’s how I’m feeling about this. I’m cool about exchanging locations from
Bay area one year and So Cal the next but to include the Pac NW when they
already have the NW BrickCon, which, btw, is going into its second run,
just doesn’t quite have it for me.
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We’ve been discussing incorporating NWBC into this new idea. At this point it
is extremely unlikely. We’ve gotten a little additcted to the whole con thing.
I do feel however it would be innappropriate to have two cons in Seattle. Too
much fo a good thing. But, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want to help this con
happen. You’d see me there.
Mark
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