Notes on Hosting a Buildathon!

Notes on Hosting a Lego Buildathon!

I have always wanted to host a Lego Buildathon...and I mentioned this to my friend Char who owns the Cyberplayce. It seemed like a good mesh...coffee and Lego building! So we agreed on a date and took off. In fact, Char and Elliot ( two of the owners of Cyberplayce, a computer coffee kiosk in Boise Idao ) jumped in full bore with advertising and promotion! These guys are great! ( Thanks Char and Elliot...you are the greatest! ) In any case we decided on a Lego Buildathon...

THINGS YOU CAN DO:

Make sure there is a space. It should be open and a comfortable building environment. People have hosted building sessions in their living rooms, local pizza parlors and school cafeterias. The Cyberplayce has a large carpeted area with beautiful furniture ( complete with computers and a coffee bar providing beverages and food ).

Make sure there are Legos. Commit your friends collections. Write a grant. Convince the local school they should let you borrow their Legos.

Create a theme. Although I am the first person to go off and build whatever pops into my mind, it helps with younger Lego fans to have a set theme or contest. PCS and CYBERPLAYCE may have been guilty of having too many contests...build a monument to coffee...build a coffee shop...build a house...build a sculpture...and the walker contest. These contests did help volunteers and parents organize time as to what needed building for their stay. I have read about other themes...a giant railroad...space stations...and various fun contests ( Minx Kelly has an excellent list of entertaining Lego activities to have a Legofest ). Offering some prizes never hurts...Cyberplayce gave away drinks, candy and computer time. I paid a $20 prize to the best Lego walker and t-shirts to the other winners.

Make sure people hear about it. If no one hears about it, no one will show up. Having a small Lego party with your friends is one thing, but if you want a larger audience...you are going to have to get the word out. Hang posters in coffee shops, bulletin boards, at schools and universities. Call up important people ( I asked Dr Dawson at B.S.U. to spread the word among the engineering department ). Create a press release and follow it up by calling the news reporters ( We had Mike, a popular local radio personality announce it...and Channel Six News showed up to film the Buildathon...in addition to press releases appearing in the Boise Weekly and the Idaho Statesman ). Make sure there is a contact person to answer questions.

Use the Buddy System. PCS has hosted lego related events for years ( such as National Engineers Week ). It was much more fun working with Char at the Cyberplayce...and they were the greatest people ever by running an ad in the Boise Weekly and answering people's questions when they called. Advertise the event on the net ( I posted several times on r.t.l. in case r.t.l. members were in Boise on the right day ).

Enlist friends to help out. I could not have done the Buildathon without the aid of Gretchen, Robert, Mike, Justin, Marlene, Cyberplayce employees and my roomate Scottie. Simply lugging the Legos to and fro was a tremendous chore!

I will be adding to this list as I review my notes...but I hope these items prove valuable to anyone wishing to host their own Legofest!

PICS OF THE 1998 LEGO BUILDATHON AT CYBERPLAYCE!

Another Coffee House!

A Great Tower!

These Guys are Happy!

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