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Hey, kids! Now that PBF is over, let’s get some feedback while things are fresh in our minds!
I’m talking both internal for our LUG and comments we’d like to pass on to Stud, Clutch, Mad Stacker, #CarterBaldwin, and whatever Dan’s nickname is. Anything you want to mention is fine, but here are some prompts:
– Event organization: Did you like the AFOL portion? Too many games, not enough seminars? Do your feet still hurt from the firewalk? Think the BrickFest Live staff treated us well? Did you come home with enough LEGO swag and prizes? Did you enjoy the public sessions? Were they too long/short? Too many Star Wars cosplayers, or not enough? Too many obscene MOCs during that Red Brick District game of PolyMOCs at 1AM? (yes. the answer is unequivocally yes.) Was GlowZone the Best. Thing. Ever.?!
– Event location / amentities: Did you like the convention center? Was the space adequate? Think there should be more bathrooms to support 5000+ people per session? (hint: I did) Think it’s too close to the KoP LEGO Store for comfort?
– Steel City LUG planning / organization: Did you think we had it handled, or could we have done better?
– SCLUG Layout: How do you think this year’s display compared to previous events? Can we do better? (YES. We can always improve.) Would the awesomeness factor have been increased exponentially if we could have somehow figured out a way to elevate our monorail? How can we sweep the Rocky Awards next time? (Best Pirates and Best Steampunk, in particular, didn’t have many MOCs that applied…)
– Overall: Worthwhile event? Time and money well spent? Should we go back? Should we try to hit a different convention en masse like we just did here, so we know what’s out there?
I have some thoughts and comments, as well, but I want to hear what yinz think before I give too many of my own opinions.
@JoshHall @timf @laura @zemata @kristen-s @randomdan @solscud007 @whitesidewjw @bengood921 @paulamalu @hacim @rbeideman @matthew-jeffory @zbauer @team-holp (did I miss anybody?)For a first time, it was great! I think everything went real well! Im already registered for Brick Fair VA, just haven’t bought tickets yet, and ill be displaying something, hoping LUGBULK will be in by then and ill have a huge MOC done…
Only one complain for me would be the fact that the vendors who sell sets at very high prices and dont like to actually collect and build, won very large expensive sets (they prob are going to just sell them, i asked a lady if i could buy her town hall, she already sold it for $400)
-whomever is towing the essential lug materials needs to be the first ones in and out because it’s a bottle neck to all other logistics
-I’d like to see winning Mocs photographed and shown during awards
-separate events for adults and children/more planning and foresight
-glow zone was amazing
-elevate the monorail
I think the PBF went very well. All in all, I thought the PBF staff was more accomidating than brick fair VA. I think our display was really strong. I agree that the glow room was cool and would contribute next year if I am able to come.
I think everyone including me should have been more prepared for the yard sale. Most of us have stuff we would love to trade. I’m going to start another thread about setting up a SCLUG swap meet in the near future.
I agree with Matthew that the vendors were over-priced and had too much that could be purchased at the Lego store for at least 30% less.
Good stuff; keep it coming!
As for the vendors, I agree it’s shady that they were allowed to participate in raffles. As for their pricing, well – they’re trying to make a living by buying things for some dollars and selling them for more dollars. They’re primarily targeting the public audience, who (A) probably doesn’t know any better and (B) probably all have whiny kids begging for LEGO at the event, so they’re going to make sales even at inflated prices. They also know some collectors are desperate enough to pay ludicrous amounts for things (see: the $50 sales I keep making of Bilbo Baggins in a blue coat, or Mr. Gold selling for $1000 or more), so why not take their money?
I’ve found that for folks like us, the conventions are not the place to expect fantastic deals, but if you look hard you can find some good ones. Last year, @randomdan found some trans yellow (Blacktron I) quarter canopies for like $5 (they go for $15-20 on Bricklink, I think.) And if you go swoop all of their Space or Castle figs, they’ll give you a discount. Don’t forget that there’s a convenience factor there, too – I may slightly overpay for some minifigs, but I don’t have to pay tax or shipping like I would for a Bricklink order. So yeah, caveat emptor, but depending on your perspective and what you’re looking for, there can be some merit to buying from those folks.
I second Evan’s comment on elevating the monorail but all in all I think the set up was great. I think in places like the Trolley Museum you guys don’t get enough space and things get cluttered which makes everything too hard to digest and take in as a viewer but at PBF it just seemed to work really well. I liked the transition all the way around the tables.
One cool thing I liked that was different and unique was the forest that this one group was building and presenting with those large trees. They pretty much had the set-up complete but were building bits here and there throughout the day. I think that would be cool for us to do in the future if we could have something built 80% and could build the rest during the day. That way kids could see something being built in the moment and ask questions about it as we are working on it in front of them. In the architecture field one of the new big things is time lapsing an entire construction project and this would be a live time lapse that viewers could interact with. Just a thought…
I also agree that the bathrooms and overpriced vendors were noticeably ridiculous. I did like the megaphone guy out front though. Pointless yet a very cheerful personality. All in all though, a really great show and I’m glad I was able to make it.
Not much we can do Evan on the towing of the LUG tables. If more people help load and unload, that will help speed some of it up. There were a few who didn’t help with the trailer. The speed of the trailer being towed will be a fixed number. There isn’t much you can do about it. Fuel Consumption goes up a lot and you can only go so fast otherwise it is unsafe.
I think that if someone won a raffle, they should not be ele gobble to win another time.
The monorail committee is working on getting the necessary permits for construction of a raised monorail. Once the mandatory 7-year environmental impact survey is complete they should be prepared to begin installation.
Event organization:
* Did you like the AFOL portion? Yes! There were enough games, but I would have preferred more seminars (that I could have actually made it to). Perhaps a brief seminar as we warm up for the Red Brick District?
* Do your feet still hurt from the firewalk? Unfortunately I did not get to participate. I think my feet would be sore.
* Think the BrickFest Live staff treated us well? Yes, as always!
* Did you come home with enough LEGO swag and prizes? There’s never enough Lego!
* Did you enjoy the public sessions? Were they too long/short? Too many Star Wars cosplayers, or not enough? Yes! They were reasonable in length. The split on Saturday was very much appreciated. Definitely something to do again. Great cosplay!
* Too many obscene MOCs during that Red Brick District game of PolyMOCs at 1AM? (yes. the answer is unequivocally yes.) See Matt’s answer
* Was GlowZone the Best. Thing. Ever.?! It was awesome! I have a better idea what to prepare for next year.Event location / amentities:
* Did you like the convention center? As expo marts go it is adequate. I think it suites our needs.
* Was the space adequate? Yes. There seems to be room for expansion if so desired.
* Think there should be more bathrooms to support 5000+ people per session? (hint: I did) Yes and perhaps staff to clean the bathrooms once an hour or so.
* Think it’s too close to the KoP LEGO Store for comfort? Never!Steel City LUG planning / organization:
* Did you think we had it handled, or could we have done better? Overall it was well organized, although I vote we have a layout finalized about two weeks to a month ahead of time in the future. This makes everyone’s lives easier. The trailer loading/unloading could be better planned (3 person/1am unloading time was not as awesome as “Everything is Awesome!” implies. Also, does anyone have a few large, square plastic containers? I think those would be much easier to stack)SCLUG Layout:
* How do you think this year’s display compared to previous events? It was on par with last year’s convention. I would say it was also better than Greenberg in terms of size and cohesion. The city is really coming together
* Can we do better? (YES. We can always improve.) Yes
* Would the awesomeness factor have been increased exponentially if we could have somehow figured out a way to elevate our monorail? Yep! We should also have a real Mr. Gold driving a golden monorail train to ratchet up the *WOW* factor!
* How can we sweep the Rocky Awards next time? (Best Pirates and Best Steampunk, in particular, didn’t have many MOCs that applied…) Yes, we just need to try!Overall:
* Worthwhile event? Yes
* Time and money well spent? Yes
* Should we go back? Yes
* Should we try to hit a different convention en masse like we just did here, so we know what’s out there? This is an intriguing idea…Well since you asked… here’s some initial thoughts from Ben. (I say ‘initial’, cause don’t worry, there’ll be more.)
Complaining about the high-priced vendors is an exercise in futility. As long as they’re an important and reliable source of income for keeping the conventions in black – and I would assume they are – they’re gonna be around. Maybe, like Matt said, you can find some good deals, but I don’t even look and I tell everybody I know not to plan to buy stuff there. I sometimes buy from places like Brick Warriors or Citizen Brick cause their convention prices are identical to their online prices, so you can avoid shipping, but otherwise I don’t go to conventions to do shopping, other than the Lego store, because we don’t have one #pittsburghneedsalegostoredammit.
However, unhappiness about raffle winners selling their sets at inflated prices IS a legitimate complaint. Lego doesn’t like this. At BrickFair, Todd makes it abundantly clear that raffle and Bingo winnnings are not to be sold on BrickLink, Ebay, or elsewhere. The problem is, there’s no real way to enforce this, since once you have the set it’s yours, but what Lego can do is simply stop donating sets to conventions to use as prizes. I wouldn’t put it past Lego to do this, they’ve already canceled the Lego Store 30% off sale several years ago – Todd said there was a group of people who were registering for and attending BrickFair solely for that sale, and now they’re gone. “That’s ok, we didn’t want them here anyway” is what he said, but it also means I don’t get the 30% off sale, which is a big deal. Chad n them did not mention not selling winnings, I’m not sure if it’s because it slipped their mind or because they just don’t care.
Complaining about the bathrooms seems like an exercise in futility too. BrickFair has a similar situation and people complain every year, but I’ve noticed that the owners of the hall have not taken it upon themselves to install more, which would obviously be an expensive undertaking while reducing convention space. I did have to wait in line for the bathroom, but never more than 5 minutes, and certainly not as long as I have at Pens games.
I think that if someone won a raffle, they should not be ele gobble to win another time.
I’d just like to point out that Nick wins the award for worst auto-correct of all time. Also, two-time BrickFair raffle winner Susie Cribbs might not agree with this idea, she wouldn’t have her Fire Brigade otherwise.
More important here though is Nick’s thoughts on the trailer, cause he’s right, given the 8am opening time of the U-Haul place and the speed limit imposed by hauling a trailer, he can’t be expected to get there any earlier. But Evan’s complaint is also valid, that was a lot of valuable setup time lost while we were waiting. The only solution I have is this: picking up, packing up, and driving the trailer the night before. For conventions that I go to – and I plan to make PBF an annual thing now just like I do with BrickFair – I can be the driver. The only additional cost would be an extra night of U-haul rental, which to me would be money well spent and part of the cost of doing the convention (I don’t know what the trailer ended up costing per day, I saw that you guys chose one bigger than the ones I was looking at on U-haul, and didn’t have any problems filling it up, so I would assume this is going to be the default size til we get one). I have places to stay overnight in Lancaster and so I can arrive in Philly fairly early if need be. (If I’m not the driver, that’s an additional complication of paying for an extra hotel night for the driver, which would be a more significant expense.)
There’s my first post, I’ll probably do more next week, o the suspense.
… o the suspense.
indeed!
– Overall: Worthwhile event? Time and money well spent? Should we go back? Should we try to hit a different convention en masse like we just did here, so we know what’s out there?
I’ve waited a bit to post feedback here. I not only wanted to see what others had to say but also have time to fully digest PBF.
Layout planning could have been done a bit more in advance. I will shoulder as much blame as anyone for this. Although registered, I was not fully committed to going until about 2-3 weeks before. Because of that, I was not participating much in what discussion there was. Had I been able to commit earlier, I would have been more participatory. That said, the end result was a pretty kick-butt display. For future cons, we could try to come up with better “transitional” areas between the different areas (the Star Wars carousel sort of served as a transitional piece between the City area and the Space area). But everything looked really good and it certainly shows that we are a multi-faceted LUG with many wide ranging interests.
Overall, PBF is definitely worth being on our annual events calendar. BrickFair VA is bigger and runs more like a machine but loses some of the familiarity and friendliness between attendees and event staff. I really felt like Chad went out of his way to circulate and talk with as many attendees as possible. But BrickFair VA (or BrickFete in Toronto, or BrickWorld in Chicago, etc.) would be worth trying out as well.
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