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Subject: 
Re: A BricksWest Critique?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.events.brickswest
Date: 
Fri, 12 Jul 2002 04:51:13 GMT
Viewed: 
914 times
  
Todd Thuma wrote:

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 and
noticed at BrickFest and brought to BricksWest 2003.

I would like any and all opinions to be posted here. Positive and Negative
critiques are welcome as well as ideas and suggestions for what to add and
subtract for next year.

Ok, some thoughts of mine after reading a bunch of posts...

Definitely examine other hotels in the area. A cheaper hotel will open
the event to a lot more people.

While the idea of having the event at Legoland sounds attractive, I
really feel this will detract from the fan event. On the other hand,
there is room for different formats of LEGO cons, so perhaps it's good
to have a "media" type con. I guess I'm not opposed to the idea, I just
want to make sure that thought is given to the format, and that we
aren't just doing it in Legoland because it sounds cool.

Some disadvantages I saw with the way the tent was set up:

- club train display limits other's participation in sharing their
trains (BrickFest for example sets up a train display using whatever
folks bring, of course it's heavily salted with WAMALUG members
creations, but that's fine).

- being a public display makes MOCs more vulnerable, and limits sharing
with AFOLS (if you are handing your creation around, expect some kid to
figure it's ok to handle someone else's MOC).

- large separation of area (of course this would be reduced if the whole
event takes place in Legoland).

If the con is basically at Legoland during the day, I see some problems
that there will be more disruption between daytime and evening events. I
also wonder if this will result in more of the panels needing to be
directed towards the general public.

Some considerations of space:

- Have at least two rooms for panels

- Have a "play" area separate from the panel rooms, if this area is
large enough, folks who want to have their trade goods out longer can
continue to display here, also a large room with some tables around the
edge would allow space to share MOCs which people would prefer not to
have in the tent

- keep an eye to "lounge" space adjacent to the function space, also
some more distant. At every con of any sort I've ever attended, people
seek these areas to continue conversations, or relax. Having some space
near the function space will let people relax without totally
withdrawing, and also makes it easier to ask an unrelated conversation
adjourn to the lounge outside rather than continue in a panel room.

Some considerations of scheduling:

- spread out the gaming so there is less overlap, the Pirate Game could
run more during the day, making it more suitable for children (though we
don't want young kids, the game is very suitable for older kids, as was
amply demonstrated this year).

- the format of more structured panels in the morning, and more free
form stuff in the afternoon seemed to work well

- do the animation festival in the evening back at the hotel (while it
might be neat to do it at LLC during the day, I think the IP concerns
suggest it is a good idea to limit the audience)

- I liked the fact that there were some identifiable tracks (especially
the train track :-), tracking is good because it both assures that
someone with narrow interests will not be totally bored, but also means
there are enough events for a popular theme spread out that a dabbler
need not decide between the one train panel and the one space panel.

- I'll reiterate the idea of having important things on Saturday or
Sunday morning. It would be a lot nicer to do the door prizes when
everyone is there. On the other hand, it's also cool to have some
nifties for the folks who stick it out to the bitter end so having a
couple door prizes at the end can be cool (perhaps some of these can be
various promotional items used for decoration during the event).

Staffing:

- definitely have an identified staff. Could be a different color name
badge, and perhaps also a different color T-shirt (which is more
visible, but not everyone likes to wear the same shirt all weekend).

- volunteers. These round out the registration and information tables,
provide gophers, provide people to spell folks manning tables at the
tent (this would probably have significantly reduced the wear and tear
on the SCLTC, a couple volunteers for an hour or two would have let them
take a real break, though one person should stay on hand to answer
questions).

Some thoughts on working with the park:

LLW has been hosting model builder sessions. This would be a nifty side
event to offer during BricksWest (additional cost). It also provides a
possible model for some additional activities at LLC. One thing I am
thinking here is have the Pirate Game open to the public with advance
registration (small extra cost - free for BricksWest attendees, who also
don't have to pre-register, this just opens up 5-10 slots for
non-BricksWest attendees and gets commitment from them to play for a few
hours [a kid wandering in with parents in tow will most likely get
dragged off after a half and hour to an hour which might be
disruptive]).

Frank



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: A BricksWest Critique?
 
Hi Frank, Todd, and everyoe, Generally in complete agreement. If Baylug/Bayltc it to have a significant presence at BricksWest 2003, there has been some discussion of having Lego/Legoland help with shipping modules, etc. While small, the BayLTC (...) (22 years ago, 4-Sep-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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