Brickworld Chicago is coming!!

Holy cow....I have been receiving emails from people telling us what they want to do at Brickworld to add to  the event.  It is great that people are getting so excited.  Of course, I am always swamped (right now with BW Indy) and I live concerned that I am not returning their emails and getting information out quickly enough.

In a couple weeks, I will be focused on Chicago and the faucet will open...I will be putting out information and details...I will be asking for more people to step up and add to the event.  We will be in full swing of organizing the convention side of the event.

On top of that, we will be opening MOC registration and table reservations.  I can't stress enough how much I believe in the power of the collaborative displays.  M-Tron debuted in Chicago last year and I think it will be even bigger this year.  VirtualLUG is busy cooking up another fabulous collaboration in secret and I fully expect the Eurobricks crew to be up to the challenge with a collaboration of their own.

Meanwhile, we have the castle collaboration.  If you have ever thought about doing something for castle, this is the year to do it.  Yet to be announced is a special set of prizes to commemorate the anniversary of the first castle set (or so I am told).

The Great Ball Contraption is another collaboration that is pretty daunting to some people (the more artistic).  But, it is always fun to watch.  If you are mechanically inclined, give a simple module a shot.

Then there is the microscale collaboration.  It took a hit last year because some key people weren't at the show.  But, there is no reason that EVERYONE couldn't make one 16x16 module for this collaboration.  Just think how big it would be with 1,000 modules of this size...how cool would that be?!?!

Collaborations help bring the community together.  And, that is really the heart of what Brickworld is about.

Lots going on behind the scenes right now!!  More to be revealed soon.  But, first - Brickworld Indy on March 9 and 10.

I am soooooo excited this year!!!

Play well

Event Kit Parts

So, I spent all day getting the instructions for the event kits half way readable so I could use them to count out parts and construct 1 of each to make sure we got all the parts.  An interesting exercise.  I found 1 part where I ordered 200 but I need 400.  Easily remedied as it is readily available on Bricklink (whew).

Focus for the rest of the weekend has to be on Brickworld Indy.  I need to get the layout together.  And, we have an IndyLUG meeting on Sunday and everyone will want to know where their display is.  Of course, I have to go coach the high school robotics team from 10 AM - 6 PM (or maybe later) tomorrow.  So, it will be a long night tomorrow night.

Last week I started working only Monday through Wednesday.  Having 2 more days each week to work on catching up with this stuff has really helped and my stress level should be a lot lower going forward.  Though right now I am stressing because registration numbers are still lagging behind 2012.  It really makes me wonder if there were people registering just to get the LEGO discount.  Very sad indeed.  But, if that is all they were doing, they weren't making the event better for any of us.  And, they were probably in the way.  So, they won't be missed.

Off to relax for the evening.

Parts Order, Stanchions and BW Indy

So, now that the stanchions are here in Indy, I have spent some time figuring out how to better organize them for storage and improve the process of set up and tear down.  All the chain has been cut into lengths that span between 2 stanchions 6 ft apart.  So, you get a piece of chain with each stanchion.  Also, when we store the stanchions in the future, no more garbage bags.  I have boxes that will allow us to store the posts with the caps and hooks installed.  And, I am removing the bottom plate on all the bases so they stack nicely into boxes.  The boxes are all double walled and should be pretty durable if we don't abuse them.  I have to admit, cutting all that chain into 470 pieces the same length took a long time!!

Today, our parts order for the event arrived...on a pallet.  Yikes!!!

Parts for both event kits, items to put in the goody bags, the badge bricks and mini-figures made quite a pile. Now I have to sort it all and then re-ship the event kit parts to Massachusetts where Jeremy Moody (probably with some help from the family) has taken over the box design and actual kitting of the parts.  This is a big relief from Adam and I as we were always struggling to make time to get this all done for the event.

Brickworld Indy is now just a month away.  Time to get that layout finalized and polish up the plans.  It has also moved to a new venue.  Lots of changes this year!!

As a side note - life could be interesting as we run up to the event in June this year.  My FLL team qualified for the North American Championships that will be held in May at LEGOLand CA.  So, if we decide to go, I will have kids at the house for that for a while on top of mentoring the high school FRC robotics team.  Wish me luck...I might yet lose my sanity!

Good night all.

Whew - things are moving

We had our first coordinator meeting for Chicago.  Lots to discuss with the new venue.  But, that was last week.

This week I took a quick drive up to Chicago and met up with Adam.  We went over and emptied the storage unit into a trailer with some stuff going in Adam's SUV.  I brought the trailer back here to Indy with me.  It turns out, storage in Indy is a lot cheaper than Chicago.  Since we are using the stanchions at Brickworld Indy this year, it made sense to store them here.

We got the on line sales link set up for Brickworld Indy.  Now it is time to get the word out and get some tickets sold.  We have an ad coming out in Reach Magazine.  It will go to 500,000 households in the area.  Hopefully we get some turnout from this.  We are generating coupon codes for the on line ticket sales that will give us a good idea how people are hearing about the event.  In the past, we ask when you walk in the door and then try to tally it all up.  Automation is good  :)

I need to get the Brickworld Indy layout done too.  But, that comes after running by little fighting robots at a Pinewood Derby tomorrow.

Registration for Chicago hit 200 this week.  But, we are running behind last year's numbers.  Register early and don't forget your hotel room.  Unlike the Westin, there are not any reserve rooms that are empty in the hotel to increase the size of our room block.  So, when they are gone, they are gone.

While I have only gained 30 followers on the blog over the last year, I am okay with where I am at.  I hope you find my posts interesting at least.