LEGOWORLD NL 2014

We've moved into 2015 and yet it seems I am still stuck in 2014 for various reasons.

I had the pleasure of visiting LEGOWORLD in Utrecht (The Netherlands) in October and then BRICK 2014 a month later.

Both events were great and deserve a mention, it is just that I haven't had the time to do it until now - though I could still claim to be short on time as several other things are currently also requiring attention. LUGBULK, RLUG support and online RLUG support - just to mention a few of them.

Anyways, I have taken time to write a blog post on LEGOWORLD in Utrecht, so I can share the pictures, videos and most important the joy of being with "our people" the AFOL community and all the great AFOLs in it.

I left my home on the morning of Wednesday October 15th and drove to Flensburg in Germany to pick up the rental car. After which I drove for roughly 7 hours before arriving at the hotel in Utrecht. Being a Dane and having lived in Copenhagen, the massive amount of bicycles all over was no problem, but the construction work that interferred with my route was. The GPS had zero knowledge of one way streets and also saw a few bicycle paths as roads. The last kilometer took me around 20 minutes to complete and ended up being way more than 1 kilometer of driving. 

So after settling in to the hotel, which was easy as it was the same one I used the last time around, I walked to the exhibtion centre which took me 10 minutes. It was a nice walk after more then 8 hours in a car. The AFOLs were already busy setting up the Fan Zone and everyone seemed happy or as happy as one can be when setting up! There is always a few things that annoys, but in general everything was #awesome!

LEGOWORLD was open to the public on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I spend the most of the days, walking around the Fan Zone, talking to AFOLs and observing the smiles on the faces of visiting families. I even got to spend half a day with the GBC people (Maiko and Ben), trying to help out with the modules and getting an idea of what GBC really is! I've got two words for it - HARD WORK! But I guess the amount of positive feedback from all the visitors made it worth it. 

I made a video of the entire GBC layout and it took me around 15 minutes to walk the full length. I am uncertain how many modules they brought, hopefully someone can enligthen us in the comments to the post.

After hours there were an AFOL dinner where I showed the new LEGO Minecraft sets in the brick along with the new The Hobbit sets and the UCS Slave 1. There was also a build in lap speedbuild contest and more. AFOL dinners are always great as it allows for relaxed conversation and fun with the AFOLs without them being preoccupied with questions and comments from visitors. There was also a LEGO element sale along with a discounted shopping for the AFOLs which everyone seemed to enjoy and the comment "You can never have enough!" was said more than once.

LEGOWORLD has been around for many years and every year it improves. A couple of years back the event moved from Zwolle to Utrecht and the event setup has changed as we've streamlined the event with the sister event in Denmark. This means changes in a lot of places, but the AFOLs have been superb in adjusting and accepting these changes - for that I am grateful as the Fan Zone is a fantastic place and the AFOLs are a big part of LEGOWORLD. There is always room for improvement and I am certain we will continue to make LEGOWORLD better and better every year.

The Fan Zone is organized by the local RLUGs in The Netherlands as currently has representatives from both LowLUG and DeBouwsteen in it, they work close with the local sales office and we in Community Engagement & Events function as consultants giving advice to both the AFOLs and the local sales office. So far I believe it to be working well, but if you have any comments that you have not shared with the steering group, feel free to send them directly to me - if it concerns the AFOLs and the Fan Zone - the rest of the event is to be commented through the regular channels (consumer service).

My Flickr folder with pictures from the event