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I am writing things up for our club, and will get you a copy once finished.
In brief, the number one thing is getting a club started, is, as stated by
others, leadership.
I started COLTC just over 1 year ago by emailing 5 people that had posted to
lugnet.loc.us.oh in the past year. I set a date, and invited all to come. 2
people showed up, 2 others couldn't make it that day but showed interest. 1 nver
replied. Pretty much all of the people were extremely nice, and very much
willing to do a lot of work. I was told a few of them had met before (I was new
to the area), but did not get a show done. I took the leadership role, and found
others were happy to help, do shows, make tables, the whole nine yards, they
were just not initiators. Meanwhile, we've gotten more members, and some have
taken on some leadership things too, even some of the members that were simply
happy as followers. We recently had, and soon will have more shows where I am
not the leader. Look where we are now! We can do 30 x 30 feet layouts, have had
shows in back-to-back weekend, and even did shows as far as 400+ miles away.
We've been invited now to do many more shows than we possibly can, and at our
next meeting hope to welocme 2-5 new members. (Thus, I respectfully disagree
with RTLtoronto that it takes years!!).
Second important thing, unfortunately, is finances. As all clubs will tell you,
the bulk of the bickering will be about finances, especially when there are
none. It takes a bit of money to get started. We decided to build modular
tables, have skirting, and plexiglass borders. We also wanted some printed
flyers, business cards, and nametags. This all costs money. Luckily, we had a
few people who were willing to shell out some $$, with the outlook that if the
club ever had a positive balance, they'd get reimbursed. Luckily, we did a few
shows that got us some money. One of the common organizers is GATS, if you do
not request a specific amount, they'll likely give you $100. That may work, but
GATS knows very well that a nice Lego layout draws crowds, and it is relatively
easy to make a case why your club should get more than just $100, in fact, if
you have a reasonably sized layout, you should ask for several $100. Doing a few
shows will then soon get you some $$, provided you do not have to travel
far/rent transport to do those shows. Shows other than GATS may pay nothing at
all, or $100's a day, it is up to the club to discuss what is acceptable. Once
you're in the plus financially, it may be much easier to run a club, as no
longer people have to feel they "owe" others.
As for doing shows, there are a heap of things to consider. Finances is one (see
above), transport is another big one, and manpower could be a big one. Our club
has the advantage that the bulk of its members live within a few 10's of miles
from each other. Thus, we can have "local" events, where driving time is no more
than 30 minutes, meaning no need for rented transport (multiple trips possible),
and no need for hotel rooms. Still, if you have a small car, but big MOCs',
transport to and from the show takes some logistical juggling. Manpower (better
actually lack thereof) is mainly important during set-up. As most of us (if not
all) have day time jobs, it is sometimes hard to tell whether you'll be availabe
to set-up. If 10 people can participate in the show, and a layout is planned
accordingly, it can be stressfull if due to job circumstances a few can't
participate in set-up as much as they'd hoped. In such a case, make sure the
bulk of the layout is set-up, injcluding the skriting and such, and wait with
detailing (planting trees, cars, people), till later (during the show if need
be). The show-leader may have to police this a bit. We are all trying improving
our models by tinkering with a brick or two, but when the show opening time is
approaching, and bigger things need attendion (like track needs to be set up, or
plexiglass borders installed), then a friendly (can this wait?) should be
communicated.
Prepare to answer the following questions over and over (we have a FAQ sheet
that gives the answers, and we direct them to that, but still answer their
direct question):
1) How long did it take to set -up (tell them it is modular 9pull up a small moc
on a baseplate to convince them), and quote actual set-up time for the event)
2) How many pieces in the display (give an estimate, our last 30 x 30 foot
display had ~300.000)
3) Do you work for Lego (answer: we wish!)
4) Do you use glue (answer, pry of a brick anywhere on the display, say NO, and
put it back
5) Where can I see this (answer, we don't have a clubhouse, we wish!. We keep it
in basements, garages, trunks of cars, etc.)
6) How much does it cost (answer, "more than I'd like to admit", "more than I
tell my wife it does", or any other evasive answer, do NOT put a $$ figure on
it, you do not want anyone to pay you or your fellow club members a visit to
"aquire" some MOCs'. Another line of answer is stating that some bricks cost
less than 1 penny, some cost severalk $$, so it is impossible to even guess to
total worth of the layout).
7) Does Lego know you do this? (Yes)
8) Does Lego give you bricks/discount (No, not for our creations, but we did get
those (point to event kit), for you and your kids to enjoy).
9) I didn't know Lego made trains (Answer, yes, since the mid 60's!, you don't
see them in stores often, but on-line you can get them).
10) What scale is the track (it is Lego scale!, you can also say is is very
close to O-gauge, but be sure to tell them the track, motors, etc, are Lego too)
More info I'll email you later.
Paul
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Clubs/Events - Tips and Tricks
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| As you can imagine, I get A LOT of questions from fans in my role as Community Liaison. Many are recurring themes, where fans are looking for answers to the same question. One such recurring series of questions has to do with running events and (...) (20 years ago, 19-Mar-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, lugnet.events) !!
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