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Subject: 
Re: A BricksWest Critique?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.events.brickswest
Date: 
Wed, 10 Jul 2002 18:11:52 GMT
Viewed: 
874 times
  
"Todd Thuma" <thumat@gactr.uga.edu> writes:
Is the weekend, the 2nd weekend of February a good weekend for all?
We talked at BricksWest about doing it more in the park and more
closely associated with LEGO Direct, LEGO Retail, or Legoland.

Sounds good.

Please take time out of your busy building and working schedules to
reflect on this and contribute some small piece that will make a
west coast gather of LEGO Fans valuable and rewarding.

First of all, I want to say that it was a big success, despite all the
adversity that Matthew had to deal with... TLC really dropped the ball
with regards to the luau and things of that nature, and I hope that
they do better next time.  The shirt fiasco was disappointing, but
Matthew really worked hard and got us some great T-shirts instead.

The measure of good leadership comes in the face of adversity.  Anyone
can sail a ship in calm weather.  But Matthew really shone in a
difficult situation and I commend him for that.

Also, I want to commend Dan Parker for his great job running the
pavilion.  There was some chaos at first but he sorted everything out
and ran it very smoothly.

As for next year, I'm not sure who's going to be running the show, but
one tradition that I would advocate we adopt for BricksWest is that
whoever runs it one year should be the assistant the next.  This way
the reins of power as it were are passed smoothly and whoever is
running the show has someone with experience to guide them, while at
the same time nobody gets burned out having to do it again and again
year after year.

That all being said, here are some things that I think we could do to
make it even better.  Don't read these as criticisms, as much as
suggestions...

MOC display
-----------
  * The people running the MOC display, especially Dan and the SCLTC
    members, didn't have much of a chance to attend convention
    functions because they had to be manning the pavilion the whole
    time.  Obviously whoever's doing this is going to miss some of the
    events, but it would be nice to try to make an effort to avoid
    this.  (My club is doing the big train layout next year, so I have
    a vested interest in this...)
  * There was very little announced about how the display would be
    organized.  The models that were brought didn't match up well with
    the categorization scheme that was used in many cases.  A bit more
    planning would be good here, and having people pre-register their
    MOCs would help the planning for this.
  * The barriers against little fingers disturbing models were
    inadequate.  Some people either didn't put their models on display
    or only did so for a short time due to this.
  * Some form of contact between the various venues (pavilion and
    hotel in this case) would be essential.  Talkabout two-way radios,
    HAM, or whatever - but some way to keep in touch is critical.  We
    ended up using cell phones, which were in some cases paying
    roaming charges, and dealing with low batteries.  That was a mess.

Film Festival
-------------
  * The choices of categories didn't match the entries very well.
    There should be about a half dozen or so movies per category,
    using a nomination process like the Academy Awards(R).  But have
    more categories, so there are more chances to win.
  * Some possible categories: parodies, derived works (based on
    movies, TV, etc), or totally original works.  People reacted so
    positively to the parodies and derived works that the original
    ones were overlooked in my opinion.
  * I was concerned about the use of copyrighted sound in many of the
    films, apparently without permission.
  * A video tape or DVD should be available that includes all the film
    entries, to be sold at the event.  Cost should be low enough to
    cover only the costs of production.  Entrants should have to
    license their work for such a purpose as a condition of entry, and
    that they own or have permission to use any copyrighted material.
    To avoid technical glitches, the video tape can be used as the
    presentation medium during the show.
  * Deadlines for entry should be sufficiently in advance for the
    video dubbing and licensing issues to be resolved in time.

Panels
------
  * Panels should start and end on time, at the locations specified in
    the program.  It should be someone's job to make sure this
    happens.  Allow time between panels for cleanup, people to come
    and go, and furniture and props to be rearranged.  Panelists
    should be consulted in advance on how they want the chairs
    arranged, etc.
  * All panels should be videotaped and tapes made available later for
    sale.  Panelists should be required to sign authorization for
    this.
  * More hands-on panels, like the microfig presentation, would be
    cool.  For example I could could (help) run a sculpture tutorial,
    where we could teach how to build a sphere and other basic shapes.

The K8's
--------
  * Rummaging through the K8 (bulk LEGO supplied by TLC) was noisy and
    distracting during some panels.  It should be done in a space
    farther away from the panel areas if possible, or at a time when
    no panel is in session.  This was more of a problem towards the
    end of the conference.
  * The K8 volume diminished during the event.  The rule is that we
    are supposed to give the boxes back as full as they were when we
    got 'em.  I assume that someone managed to top them off, but I
    don't think that people were made adequately aware of the rules,
    or just didn't obey them.

Robot Challenge
---------------
  * This was a great success.  I wish we could have a couple of these,
    rather than just one.  We could also have other types of building
    competitions at the event.

Scheduling
----------
  * Lots of people had to miss the last day (Monday), and many left
    early on Sunday, because it isn't a holiday for many employers.
    Try to schedule events with this in mind, so that the most
    important events are on Saturday or Sunday morning.  It'd be
    better if we had a Fri-Sat-Sun schedule for this reason, but the
    holidays in February don't accomodate that well.

--Bill.

PS: Apropos of this thread, see Frank Filz's excellent wrapup that he
posted right after this year's BricksWest event:

http://news.lugnet.com/events/brickswest/?n=270

--
William R Ward            bill@wards.net          http://www.wards.net/~bill/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMAZING BUT TRUE: There is so much sand in northern Africa that if it were
                  spread out it would completely cover the Sahara Desert!



Message has 4 Replies:
  Re: A BricksWest Critique?
 
Wow, not sure exactly what post to reply to, there is alot of good points in this thread. But I will reply to this one but still touch upon everything. First off I want to say that Matt did an AMAZING job, there were alot of people trying to dictate (...) (22 years ago, 10-Jul-02, to lugnet.events.brickswest)
  Re: A BricksWest Critique?
 
"William R Ward" <bill@wards.net> wrote in message (...) I assume you haven't forgot us down South. But, the possibility of two LTCs at BW'03 does sound rather enticing. Each would have to take close note of floor space usage, etc. Details, (...) (22 years ago, 11-Jul-02, to lugnet.events.brickswest)
  Re: A BricksWest Critique?
 
Some friendly comments below... (...) I think this is a great idea. Most organizations with conventions have a "past president" postion or the "president" has a assitant that becomes the "president" the next year, essentially learning the ropes (...) (22 years ago, 11-Jul-02, to lugnet.events.brickswest)
  Re: A BricksWest Critique?
 
Note, I knew that a replacement deal was in effect, and I luckily brought 6 gallon bags with me to dump in. I took out less than 1/2 gal bag, dumped all 6 in, but most of the 6 was gone a few hours later. I don't think the K8s retained their volume, (...) (22 years ago, 23-Jul-02, to lugnet.events.brickswest)

Message is in Reply To:
  A BricksWest Critique?
 
BricksWest Attendees, On the eve of the BrickFest 2002 gathering, I would like to have input from those that attended BricksWest 2002 gathering their opinions and critique of the event in the hopes that additions and changes and ideas can be taken (...) (22 years ago, 10-Jul-02, to lugnet.events.brickswest)  

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