This blog has been pretty quiet for some time, and below is a link to a news video that’ll give you an idea why.
http://news.mync.com/site/news/video/10838/
In addition to my regular chores keeping our various publications coming out on time, TwoMorrows has been organizing the BrickMagic Festival for LEGO Fans, which took place this past weekend. That video is of me appearing on our local NBC news station, during the two-day set-up for this massive event.
The sheer amount of work involved coordinating such an event was far more than I ever imagined (and I imagined a LOT of work ahead when we signed the papers with the hotel that hosted in last year). And we’ve still easily got a solid week of work just to clean it all up, send thank-yous, and hopefully get a little rest.
It was, by most accounts, an overwhelming success. The LEGO builders who came to display their creations seemed to have a great time during the private convention on Thursday and Friday. The vendors had some of the best (in some cases THE best) sales of any event they’ve attended. And the public came in droves, and were really impressed by the displays, special guests, and panels we assembled.
It wasn’t perfect. The event had some technical glitches early on Saturday morning, but a slew of volunteers helped up immeasurably in fixing the snags, and by Sunday, things were running very smoothly. We learned (and are continuing to learn, through feedback) so much that’ll help us make future events even better. And the final head count topped just over 8000 public attendees over the two-day public event—a response that still has all our heads spinning.
Hats off to everyone who took a chance by attending our first event, and especially to our volunteers, guest of honor Nathan Sawaya, all the AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) who displayed their work, to Maria Anderson, Michelle Kaney, and Jennifer Kearney for their efforts above and beyond the call of duty, to Joe Meno for his perseverance, my Mom and Rich Meyer for hanging in there with me the whole time, and especially to my wife Pam, for the nonstop attention to detail that kept us all from falling apart during the long, hectic, but totally invigorating weekend. We’ll definitely be back again next year!
