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WOW! That, in a word, easily sums up all of the fun, excitement, building,
play and friendships that were a part of BricksWest 2002!
I would like to once again personally thank everyone who attended this
inaugural event. It is difficult to support the first instance of anything
(though I AM known to be a happy "early-adopter" of many new computers and
electronic gizmos myself), and the incredible trust placed by the BricksWest
attendees in the organizers, presenters and sponsors to deliver a quality
event worthy of their time and expense proves that the LEGO fan community is
a TRUE community...and one I am proud to be a part of.
My original estimates of attendance were a bit high...between pre-registered
and walk-in attendees, BricksWest had an attendance of 115 folks over the
course of the three-day weekend...not too shabby for a first year event
though, I must say!
I would like to thank all of the wonderful organizers and presenters, each
one developing exciting, fun and informative conference sessions strictly
for the enjoyment of their friends, and our sponsors and vendors for their
support:
Daniel Siskind's Designing and Selling Custom Model Kits presentation was an
informative take on his large-scale offering, the Guarded Church
(instructions for which Dan gave as a prize for the raffel), and his new
assortment of war-era tanks and vehicles. Great job, Dan!
Ahui Herrera's LEGO Animation using LDraw Tools session was well received,
and really brought to light the power behind using the LDraw tools to
animate LEGO films. His tutorial videos were also presented the Conference
Organizers award for computer generated animation during the Animation
Festival and Competition. Ahui also stepped up as on-site computer
coordinator during the event...a support position that was very needed, and
very well handled. Thanks Ahui...and congratulations! (And special thanks go
to Marisela, Ahui's wife, for all of her help during the event too!)
Steve Jackson, Frank Filz, Mike Rayhawk and Derek Schin led an intimate
Gaming Roundtable on Monday, wrapping up two exciting nights of Evil
Stevie's Pirate Game and BrickWars. Thank you guys! (And an additional big
thank you to Mike for stepping up at the last minute to put on some very
well received BrickWars sessions. Great job Mike!)
Eric Harshbarger and Henry Lim's Large Sculptures and Mosaics talk drew a
good crowd. Eric's Modulex Callista Flockhart mosaic was a great treat to
see in person for the attendees. Special thanks to Bill Ward for making it
to BricksWest at the last minute, sitting in on the panel, and bringing some
great large-scale pieces to display during the talk too.
David Schilling, despite a major computer loss killing all of his BricksWest
data just before the event, put on a great presentation during Beyond NQC
and Robots in the Real World. He also scored what I would have to claim was
the biggest crowd-pleaser of all of the events...BrickHeap Wars: Robot
Challenge 1. I never would have believed that the smallest and simplest
robot would carry the day, but that's just what happened. Seeing all of the
BricksWest attendees ringing the playfield, not just on the floor, but
standing on chairs, all oohing and aahing, cheering for points and moaning
for losses stands out as one of my most cherished moments of the weekend.
Great job David...and my thanks!
Ashley Glennon's Microfig Scale Presentation and Building session was a true
original. After an informative session highlighting these mini-marvels of
design, attendees were given custom-designed sets of X-style space fighters
to try their new knowledge out on, and these were placed in a giant
Death-station battle trench to complete an entire microfig scene. Wonderful
idea Ashley...and my sincere thanks for shoehorning BricksWest into your
busy travel plans! (And thanks to BricksWest Expo coordinator Dan Parker for
building the trench!)
Tim Courtney of LDraw.org ran almost a whole event unto itself, presenting
or sponsoring no less than five sessions at BricksWest, as well as
interfacing with the park attendees at the LEGOLAND Pavilion...truly a huge
success for LDraw.org! The most informative (and vocal) of these sessions
was the LDraw Community Roundtable, where several heated exchanges led to a
true consensus on a future vision for the LDraw system of tools, from a
users point of view. Great job, Tim...and thank you for all of your support!
Steve Barile from the PNLTC put so much great planning into his train
conference sessions, it's almost hard to believe. Wonderful slide
presentations and in-depth information were featured in his Train Building
Techniques and Integrating LEGO Mindstorms With Your Train Layout sessions,
while a large crowd gathered for his Anatomy of a LEGO Train Show roundtable
session. I was aware of Steve's level of commitment to BricksWest and LEGO
trains...but this man is a LEGO train god!
In what I believe was a first, the AFOL community mecha builders gathered at
BricksWest to display and build, and talk during the Mecha Roundtable and
Workshop. Bryce McGlone, Eric Sophie, Chris Snead and Dave Johann did a
great job presenting this exciting niche theme to a good sized crowd...plus,
their models in the Pavilion display were drawing huge crowds of park goers,
many of whom asked for the builder's autographs!
Our very special guest, Steve Jackson, ran two large sessions of his own
Evil Stevie's Pirate Game. Assisted by Frank Filz and Derek Schin, Steve put
on a great show for the players...incredibly, several players joined
BricksWest in the evenings just to play the Pirate Game, and they weren't
even LEGO fans! Now that's what I call a great guest! Thanks for everything
Steve (including your help with registration)!
The BricksWest Animation Festival And Competition was a truly magical event.
Thanks to all of the dedicated work of Todd Thuma, this first ever fan run
LEGO cinema public competition featured 26 entries from filmmakers around
the world! The entire BricksWest attendance gathered for the exciting
premiere at the hotel on Sunday evening. Based on audience voting, the
winers were: Stop-Motion Division - "The Rescue" by Allemann & Van Luven;
Computer-Generated Division - "The Matirx in 6 Minutes" by Jones. The
conference organizers judged films for their own prizes as well...and the
winners were: Stop-Motion Division - "The Big Night Out" by Halsdorff,
Halsdorff, and Dotta; Computer-Generated Division - "Complex Motion" by
Herrera. Congratulations to all of the winners, and to Todd for putting
together such a great show! (And special thanks for becoming the official
event photographer too!)
Dan Parker deserves special thanks for taking the reins of the BricksWest
Expo at LEGOLAND. With his experience and insight, the Expo was a huge draw
for the public attendance of the theme park, and ran far smoother than it
would have under my guidance alone. Thank you Dan, for stepping up to the
plate and hitting a definate home run!
A huge thank you goes out to LEGOLAND California Master Builder Bill
Vollbrecht for volunteering to present his techniques and tricks to the
BricksWest attendance. His session was very well attended and received...and
getting to see all of his great LEGOLAND and private models up close and
personal was a real treat as well!
John Neal has earned my most sincere gratitude for all of his efforts
getting the BricksWest event shirts printed and delivered, despite all of
the problems we encountered. Without John's tireless (and sleepless) effort,
there would have been no shirts for BricksWest 2002. Use this man for all of
your silk-screen printing needs...he deserves it.
Thanks go out to Tommy and Peyton Armstrong of HPT Designs for their awesome
engraving work on the event badges and trophies, as well as contributing
prizes to the event.
My thanks to Clark Stephens for jumping in to assist when needed, and
supporting the event. Also,congratulations are in order for Clark's winning
name badge in the BricksWest Name Badge Beautification Contest. Pictures
will be made available soon.
Big thanks to Ted Michon for becoming a barker for the Pavilion display at
LEGOLAND. Without him, many folks wouldn't have realized that the Expo was
event going on!
Additional thanks go out to Nancy McCarthy for helping with session set-up;
Scott Costello for helping with our computer needs; and Paul Thomas for the
use of the sound system.
And finally, my most sincere thanks go out to Brad Justus and Jake McKee of
LEGO Direct. Without their dedication and support, BricksWest would have
remained a dream, never to come to life. Thank you both for all of your
help...I couldn't have done it without you.
Matthew Gerber
Event Coordinator
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: BricksWest 2002 Wrap-Up
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| In lugnet.events.brickswest, Matthew Gerber sums up BricksWest. (...) <snip> Matt, From your eager description it sounds like everyone had a wonderful time! I am glad everything worked out. I have no doubt that this event is a landmark in the (...) (23 years ago, 25-Feb-02, to lugnet.events.brickswest)
| | | Re: BricksWest 2002 Wrap-Up
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| Matt, *Thank you* for the wonderful event. Along with your team of organizers you managed to create a convention which would be respectable in any year, but even more so in its inaugural one. I look forward to seeing what you organize in years to (...) (23 years ago, 26-Feb-02, to lugnet.events.brickswest)
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