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<<I posted this to our Yahoo Groups page, I thought I'd put it here as well
for all whom are interested>>
We had a good meeting, thanks all for coming, It'll give a good
foundation for NWBC2003.
High points discussed:
1 More space needed. We are thinking the same venue, except
using the entirety of the second floor (three conference rooms + the
Harrison ST gallery) Also tossed around was using the dance floor
for an Evil Stevies Pirate game.
2 Dedicated classrooms. Private pre and post public viewing
hours classrooms. That means classroom time where more participants
can attend without worrying about minding MOCs. Also allows space
where con goers can mill around without John Q Public nearby.
3 Public issues. Things for the public to look at and gain
information off of including: Club posters (info on sponsoring
clubs), general LEGO knowledge, and other interesting things for
people to look at to stave off the boredom. (standing in line,
waiting for dad to stop staring at the train, whatever) See item 8.
4 Better distribution of K8s. The K8s were origionally divided
in to 75 bags so everyone would get some, but the reality of it was
that many never got a chance to get some brick. We will look at K8s
and their use, IF we get anymore of them.
5 Build area for public. We want the Center House to provide a
build area. It takes a major liability monkey off our back. Also,
the Center House has the resources in place to provide a build area.
6 Money raising events could be added. Raffles, contests,
donation buckets, what have you, for raising money to support the
Con.
7 Large, centralized information centers at registration table.
Schedules of classes, maps, volunteer sign in locations.
8 More Con only dedicated time. Stricter hours for public vs.
private. This is a balence I really want to focus on for two big
reasons. We need our con, but to get the space for free the Center
demands that it be open to the public. Also, if we want strong LEGO
support, the more public the better. This is a balence we must
achieve.
9 LEGO gaming. It just didn't happen at this year's con due to
sudden lack of space and being swamped by the public response. We
need to dedicat the time and space.
10 Online registration. We got to do this.
11 Now that we have a library of photos of NWBC we need to be sure
we use them to spruce up our website and to get sponsors and
advertising for next year's event.
12 Clarity. We must achieve clarity with the public vs. private,
the volunteer time, and distribution of information to the media.
13 Have a new job, PR rep NWBC. We need one person to disseminate
information to the media. This is a person who arrainges
interviews, photo ops, contacts newspapers (big and small), contacts
TV, Contacts radio, and provides a consistant message to be relayed
to the public. It is suggested that this person also take
responsibility for the website. This position may be best served by
more than one person as it will be quite a bit of work. Ashley and
Mark(1), you guys want this one?
14 Providing two way radios for con organizers.
15 Developing a perk system for volunteers. Parking is a premium
near the center, some parking passes can be provided for those
willing to take on registration table duties, watching tables, or
doing crowd control. (say, minimum 4 hours gets you a parking
pass?) Other idea for a perk idea was to get a free shirt.
16 Get the money together to pay for a guard so that con goers can
load out Sunday night. Costs are being examined.
17 Barriers for all displays. With more display area, we think
stantions will work best. Plexiglass barriers for all displays are
heavy, costly, work intensive, and only as good as they are
unscratched. (only for a few shows unless handled very carefully.)
18 Rent or otherwise get materials to make everyones' lives
easier. Carts for loading/unloading, projectors, easles, podiums,
whatever.
19 More signage. We had a lot of folks tell us they didn't know
where to go. Big and clear is good.
Other commentary:
"We did it!" --Ashley Glennon-- Well spoken (written). We had six
months to put tegether a regional convention. It took lots of hard
work by lots of people. We had crowds that easily numbered in the
thousands, and almost all walked away with smiles. Not bad for an
innaugural event. Great job gang!
No major blow-ups. To most attendees everything went seamlessly.
That means we did our job well.
Terri and Wayne, Thank you for the signs, they helped get folks
around.
Mark 1, Thanks you for the posters. They helped make a major
impression on the Seattle Center grounds.
SMART crowd, thanks for making a very public friendly space that
left many with smiles. Especially as they went to wait in the line
of heck down the hall.
VLC presence was astounding! So much they are very eager to make
this an event hosted by Four local clubs, SEALUG, PNLTC, SMART and
VLC.
Following that thought, this seemed to be one of the first events
where multi LEGO oriented clubs came together in a positive,
productive way.
So, should you read this far, you know we're hard at work to get
NWBC off the ground for 2003. Comments, critiques, and suggestions
are welcome.
Mark Neumann
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