Subject:
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Re: Brad Justus at Legoworld 2002
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 23 Oct 2002 07:40:19 GMT
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Viewed:
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1280 times
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In lugnet.general, Frank Filz writes:
> Some factors I can see:
>
> - Legoworld is an "expo" type event compared to BrickFest being a
> "gathering of fans" event.
It is indeed an "expo" event, though about 40% of it is dedicated to the
AFOL community. The "Bouwsteen" had a (very) large area which was dedicated
to adults showing their MOCs and have fans talk to eachother.
Also, like Ben said: in Muelheim, European fans gather 2 times a year and
that is definetely a AFOL-only event with over 500 fans gathering.
> - Public advertising obviously increases numbers
Yep
> - Europe probably has a much higher density of AFOLs (even if the US
> might have more overall), remember, it's something like 3000 miles
> between Los Angeles and Washington DC.
I think so too. The density is way higher I guess. In the Netherlands and
Germany every household owns at least a few sets of LEGO. You would find it
very hard to find someone (ages 20-40) who didn't own LEGO in their
childhood (in fact when you talk to someone about LEGO trains 75% would
reply that they had one 12V train in the seventies or eighties, while I'm
baffled that people in the US get replies like "I didn't know LEGO made
trains").
> - Selling advance tickets to the general public probably actually
> increases attendance (as compared to for example how NWBrickCon which
> was primarily an "expo" event had just public walkins - though they did
> have media exposure, they also had thousands of visitors).
Even with selling to the general public in mind, there were more AFOLs
attending than at most other events (who visited primary for the fan-gathering).
> - It looked to me like LEGO had a booth, all that has happened at the US
> events is that LEGO Direct employees have made an appearance (and at
> BricksWest and BrickFest conducted a Q&A session)
I think, for LEGO, it was a great chance to see how popular the brand
actually is, and also to get more in touch with their adult fan base in
Europe. Since LEGO Direct is active here at LUGNET the European voice is not
as loud and 'visible' (the LUGNET userbase is mainly located in the US).
> - I also get the impression there isn't as much showing at train shows
> and the like in Europe, the fact that in most areas of the US, an AFOL
> can participate in several small train shows a year reduces the
> likelyhood that they will travel across the country to show off their
> creations at an expo.
There are only a very few train shows here comparable to the shows LTGs
visit(even though model trains are very popular in Germany - a lot of model
train brands are German)
Ben and I discussed this topic at LEGOWORLD because we both were under the
impression that the Brickwest and other big events in the US were comparable
to our gatherings, while even our gatherings at Muelheim would compare best
to such event.
The strange thing is that only with an event at the scale we had in Zwolle
Europe attracts a little attention as a big LEGO event (for both kids and
AFOLs) while comparable smaller events are known in the community as very
important gatherings (I have always been under the impression that these
events would gather a few 1000s of AFOLs in the US).
I do understand that the geographic location is probably the main reason for
this, but it appears we know so little of eachothers activities, and I think
that's a loss for the international (intercontinental) communities.
-Frank
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Brad Justus at Legoworld 2002
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| (...) Some factors I can see: - Legoworld is an "expo" type event compared to BrickFest being a "gathering of fans" event. - Public advertising obviously increases numbers - Europe probably has a much higher density of AFOLs (even if the US might (...) (22 years ago, 22-Oct-02, to lugnet.general)
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