Subject:
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Re: NWBC 2003 Post Mortem
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.events.nwbrickcon
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Date:
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Fri, 10 Oct 2003 00:30:46 GMT
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Viewed:
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5158 times
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In lugnet.events.nwbrickcon, Mark Rideout wrote:
> I think we just have to ask for next time: what are we offering that is worth
> $20?
> Also, figure out if we really need this extra category. Maybe the ~2 dollar
> public entry fee is all that is necessary. People can purchase t-shirts at the
> event if they want. We pay AFOLs to watch a MOC table - the payment is a cool
> name badge (could be more, but the badge would be a great start.)
You raise the interesting question of just what is NWBC? NWBC is clearly first
and foremost an "expo" event. This is not a bad thing, but participants need to
understand that. Now it also happens that NWBC has some "after hours" time where
non-expo stuff can happen. We had a nice Q&A with Brad Justus, an excellent, if
short Pirate Game, and some hang out time.
Is this worth $20? In my mind, not really. That doesn't mean I won't attend
anyway, but I'd rather see a different fee structure. Some of the considerations
that ran through my mind while deciding what events to go to:
- I could have driven up to Seattle the weekend before and helped with their
truck tour. I would have got to hang out with many of the folks who attended
NWBC.
- I could have stayed in Portland and helped with our truck tour.
- NWBC gave me an opportunity to display non-train MOCs (the Portland display
was a purely train display, I probably would not have been able to add to the
Seattle truck tour display).
- I got to run the Pirate Game, even if it was just for a few hours.
- So far, I have attended every fan organized brick con in the US, definitely
every con that has had brick name badges.
Now my thoughts on the mall: It does sound a bit handier, it's certainly a
shorter drive for me, hotels in walking distance are nice, free parking is nice.
It doesn't sound like a truly better space though, and might confuse out of
towners (who don't realize how far from Seattle the airport is - I'm thinking
this mall is closer). I think it would draw a smaller visitor crowd though.
One thought on the gate fee. I think it could be higher than $2 without losing
much attendance at all. Most similar events charge $4 or $5. I think the big
steps for attendance would be charging at all, charging more than $5 (so a
typical family would have to shell out more than $20), charging $10 or more
(that would really drive down attendance).
There is a real problem though of offering helpers free admission. You always
wind up with some slackers who don't help at all. Given this, I would certainly
be willing to pay the gate fee (maybe even double since I'm there both days).
The brick badge would be a nice freebie for helping out (ok, so you still have
the slacker problem, but at least by wearing your brick badge, you also identify
yourself as someone who knows something, so you'll end up getting some
questions).
I will say that I had a more enjoyable time this year than last. A large part of
that was actually the smaller crowd. I felt I could actually take the time to
talk to people, and I often wandered around the room because the smaller crowd
made me feel more comfortable leaving my table unattended. Also, with the
smaller crowd, and better adherence to the public hours, people weren't so wiped
out, and as a result there was some after hours activity. I think we also did
better with presentations to the public, which can also be enjoyed by the
attendees. I saw a bunch of folks watching the "use of computers with the LEGO
hobby" presentation, and I'm guessing Ashley's presentation drew an audience
also. Another thing that would be fun is for various builders to give guided
tours of their larger MOCs. I know everyone (public guest and con attendee) that
I gave a tour of my wharf scene to really enjoyed it. I bet some of the other
MOCs could have similar presentations given. A quick PA announcement that
builder X is going to present MOC Y in 5 minutes would be neat. The MOCs could
either be brought over to the presentation area, or they presentation could be
done wherever the MOC is.
What I would like to see is some thought given to how to enhance the after hours
activity. Hmm, I just had a wild thought, would the Seattle Center allow us to
do a BBQ for convention guests only? That would be a cool way to do a modest
cost meal for the whole group.
In any case, I don't expect NWBC to become more like BrickFest or even
BricksWest. The folks who put it on clearly enjoy doing an expo, and it is a
good event overall, even if it may not be exactly what some of us would like in
a brick con. I think diversity of brick cons is good. They should have a
diversity of emphasis, a diversity of location, and a diversity of time of year.
If anyone has their own ideas on how to run a brick con, I would suggest
thinking about starting another one. I think the hobby could easily support
several more brick cons. True, that will cut down on the number of people flying
to the cons, but not that much. I suspect most of the folks who fly to BrickFest
will continue to do so. I compare this to SF cons, where there are cons of all
sizes all over the US (and world), with a handful that continually attract folks
from afar. For one thing, probably a huge percentage of the fans who fly to
conferences are interested in attending cons more than once a year, and as such,
will support a more local conference in addition to their favorite distant
conference. Of course the first mover that maintains a consistently good event
will always be one of the largest events. That's easy to see in the attendance
numbers for the brick cons. BrickFest has the most attendees, BricksWest had the
2nd most, and NWBC had the third most, exactly in the order of formation.
BrickFest attracts the largest number of flyins, with BricksWest 2nd, and NWBC
attracting relatively few flyins.
So in the end, I think NWBC is a good con, that should continue doing what it
does best, while perhaps looking to see how it can improve the value to the full
fare attendees.
Wow - that was long...
Frank
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: NWBC 2003 Post Mortem
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| (...) This was my first time attending NWBC. I've attended BrickWest once also. As an attendee, the one major feedback item I have is "why did I pay the extra $20?" I feel like I should have just brought my MOCs for display and stand around for free (...) (21 years ago, 9-Oct-03, to lugnet.events.nwbrickcon)
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