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In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Benjamin Medinets writes:
> What sort of events would take place at a major lego get-together.
>
> Those of us (I'm slightly speaking for the group) in Toronto, think there
> would have to be some sort of major Robotics competition, AND large-scale
> Train Event/Show. I'm pretty sure that a few people would also like a
> large-scale Castle get-togther (probably not a Castle World Type
> get-together)...maybe a large-scale Brick Warz???
>
> Any other ideas on what would take place at a Canadian Lego Fest???
What to do doesn't worry me, that'll fall into place easily. What worries
me is the organization, planning and operation of a large scale event. Some
questions that immediately come to mind include:
a) How many people we expect. BrickFest 2001 garnered 153 attendees, which
included luminaries like Todd and Suzanne. I would expect a BrickNorth
event to include most of rtlToronto (20-30 people), ParLUGment and MonLUG
(another 15 or so?) having already attended rtl8 (Ka-On), train1/2 etc. We
might get some folks from the US too. But for me, the big draw would be
getting places like NALUG, VLC etc and our compatriots from the East (ie,
Maritimes). Canada is a big country, spread far out, unlike the Northeast
US where Brickfest was. Would somone from VLC be inclined to spend $400 to
fly to Toronto for something like this? Would someone from say Michigan
drive up the 5-6 hours?
b) Where. Toronto is easy because it's close to the States, interesting and
diverse (well, Canada's largest city). But maybe we want to go somewhere
like Ottawa. But then of course, we're forcing another LUG to host it :)
c) What venue. BrickFest was done at a university. We could use Lillian H
Smith again, but that's a 9-5 thing. Maybe University of Toronto, but
that's expensive. We could do a hotel, but that's expensive too.
d) What hotel. People need to sleep somewhere. If it was Lillian H Smith,
it would have to be expensive downtown hotels. If it was out in Etobicoke
or something, everyone would need cars. Room rates. Multiple occupancy.
72 hour bender with 3 hours of sleep.
e) How much to charge. Brickfest was $10 a person, IIRC. What does that
include? Would people pay $15 Canadian for registration? Come to think of
it, with enough people we could use U of T. My favourite was using the 1500
seat capacity Convocation Hall for CSIE98's Opening Ceremonies. I had their
sound system wired up to my PC of all things:
http://www.osm.utoronto.ca/room_pics/CH----.html
Then there's the ever difficult question of how many people vs how much to
book, ie, hotel rooms, spaces, reservations, etc. There's a pile of work to
be done with the hotel operations staff. They can give a group rate, I
suppose, based on roughly how many people will come. Sometimes they don't
make you sign anything based on numbers...but the hard numbers of conference
rooms vs attendees will haunt us.
What to do. I know you've said Robotics and Train. Brickwars if Richard is
up to running it. But I'm not sure what else-and we'll need a lot of
feedback here.
Anyways, some issues for debate. I ran a conference back in 1998 that took
two years to plan:
http://peach.mie.utoronto.ca/people/tsangc/csie98-index.html
If anyone is ever bored, it's a funny read. It involves the only time I've
ever screwed a live show up. :)
Calum
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