By billward on February 4, 2010
We are pleased to announce two keynote speakers for Bricks by the Bay…
- Mads Nipper is the Executive Vice President of Market & Products for LEGO. He will give a keynote presentation about the state of the LEGO company. This will be his first visit to a LEGO fan convention in the U.S.!
- Steve Witt, LEGO Community Relations Coordinator. It’s his job to manage the interaction between the LEGO Group and the adult LEGO fan community.
These presentations will occur on Saturday evening, April 10. They will be open only to full convention attendees, so be sure to register now. Hurry, since the early bird price expires on February 9!
Posted in News
By billward on February 4, 2010
Attendees of Bricks by the Bay will converge on the Valley Fair Mall LEGO store in Santa Clara for special discounts on Friday, April 9. LEGO will send some “scratch & dent” boxes to the store and we will have the opportunity to buy them at a deep discount (up to 50% off). This event will take place after the mall has closed for the day, and will only be available to full attendees of the convention.
In addition, we will be able to buy any sets at a discount of 10-20% the entire weekend at both Santa Clara and San Mateo (Hillsdale Shopping Center) stores just by showing our convention badges. The discounts are based on the dollar amount of your purchase: $1-$99 = 10%, $100-$149 = 15%, and $150+ = 20%. Again, this is only available to those who attend the full convention.
So sign up today for Bricks by the Bay! The deadline for the early bird discount is coming up fast on February 9, 2010.
Posted in News
By admin on January 14, 2010
We have opened up the registration form for Bricks by the Bay 2010 convention, at last!
Please go to the registration form to sign up.
As always, we are happy to accept new members of the planning committee. Please join the planning and/or announce mailing list to stay in the loop.
Posted in News | Tagged convention, registration
By billward on December 24, 2009
The Bay Area LEGO Users Group and Train Club is currently putting on an exhibit at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto. While it’s not actually being put on by Bricks by the Bay, many of the people running it are also heavily involved in Bricks by the Bay and we expect BayLUG/BayLTC to be a major sponsor and to have a large display at BBTB in April. Admission is $2 per person (half of which goes to the museum, and half to BayLUG) to the show, which runs every Friday through Sunday (except 12/25, 12/26, and 1/1) until January 17. Everyone who attends is being given a Bricks by the Bay flyer, so this is a great way to get the word out about our public display on Sunday, April 11.
Come on by and check out the display! 351 Homer Avenue, Palo Alto, CA.
Posted in News | Tagged bayltc, baylug, lego
By billward on November 29, 2009
Members of the Bay Area LEGO Users Group & Train Club have been handing out flyers for Bricks by the Bay at the Great Train Expo in Pleasanton, CA this weekend. We’ve had a lot of people express interest in attending the public expo. If you haven’t already, please join our Announce mailing list to be sure you get the latest news as the event date draws near!
If you want to hand out copies of the flyer, you can download the flyer here (Adobe PDF format).
Posted in News | Tagged baylug, flyers, trainshow
By billward on October 9, 2009
I received a letter from the IRS confirming that they have approved Bricks by the Bay to be a 501(c)(3) public charity, with full tax-exempt non-profit status. That means that if you donate money or goods to Bricks by the Bay, you can deduct it on your taxes. (Money spent in exchange for goods or services, however, is not deductible, so you can’t write off your admission fees or T-shirt purchases.)
Now that that hurdle has been passed, we can finally get the PayPal account activated and soon start accepting payments for attendees to Bricks by the Bay 2010.
Posted in News | Tagged charity, irs, nonprofit, tax
By billward on October 6, 2009
I spent the weekend in Seattle attending BrickCon and had a great time. I met a lot of great LEGO builders and great people, and really enjoyed spending a weekend among the company of LEGO enthusaists. Their public days were very well attended – over 9000 people across both days. I’m really looking forward to Bricks by the Bay and having something like this so much closer to home! I was very pleased by the response I got from BrickCon attendees about our event. I think we will have a great turnout and it will be a lot of fun.
I’m working on the registration system; we’ll probably use the services of an outside company to handle payment and collecting attendee personal information. Hopefully we can launch that soon, but in the meantime please join our mailing lists to make sure you get updates about the event.
I’d like to encourage everyone to consider joining the “Planning” mailing list, and help us behind the scenes. My dream situation would be for everyone to have some kind of job to do at the event, however small – many hands make light work. Consider spending an hour at the sign-in desk, or helping set up tables, or coordinating prizes, or something. This event is being run entirely as a nonprofit – none of the organizers (especially me) will be personally profiting from the event in any way, so we want to get the entire community involved!
I write this from my hotel in Portland as I’m on the way home from BrickCon. It was a lot of fun and I should be home tonight. I look forward to seeing you all at Bricks by the Bay in about six months!
Bill Ward
President
Bricks by the Bay, Inc
Posted in News, Planning | Tagged brickcon, lego, mailing lists, Planning, registration
By billward on June 24, 2009
We are pleased to present the logo for Bricks by the Bay, Inc.:
Logo designed by Russell Clark and Brad Kidwell.
Posted in News | Tagged logo
By billward on April 1, 2009
BrickFest, the original LEGO convention, was held in Portland, Oregon last weekend (March 27-29). I announced that we would be having Bricks by the Bay on April 9-11, 2010, and asked for people interested in attending to give their email addresses. While event registration is not yet open, we have two mailing lists which people can join to receive news about Bricks by the Bay and to help with planning. See our mailing lists page to join.
Posted in Planning | Tagged brickfest, convention, lego
By billward on March 12, 2009
It’s alive! Last week we got our Articles of Incorporation back from the state, and Bricks by the Bay, Inc. is now a legal nonprofit corporation. On Tuesday, we had a directors’ meeting at FedEx Kinko’s in Cupertino where we signed the bylaws, and afterward I sent in the applications for tax-exempt status to the state and IRS. Assuming those are approved, we’ll be able to proceed with official announcements of the event (the hotel contract is contingent on it).
In the meantime, I’m pleased to announce the directors and officers of Bricks by the Bay, Inc.:
- Bill Ward, President
- Bruce Chamberlain, Secretary
- Loren Merrell, Chief Financial Officer
Watch this space for more updates!
Posted in Planning | Tagged bricksbythebay, ftb, irs, lego, nonprofit, taxes