NewfoundLUG met on May 30, 2018 at Bricks & Minifigs, St. John’s.

Attendees

• · Paula Gillingham, Andrew House, Mike Matthews, Geoff Stevens, Steve Churchill, Patrick Barnes, Matt Zwicker, Andrew Wheeler, Jon Jones, Don Richard

Minutes

• By-laws:
  • Draft by-laws for the LUG were posted to the Facebook group for consideration prior to the meeting and printed copies were available at the meeting.
  • By-laws were approved by all present.
• Geek-Out at the Library
  • About 250 attendees.
  • Positive feedback from library staff about the Group and they indicated they would be happy to have the Group back in the future.
  • Some observations:
    • The area for building with LEGO was busy all day. This could be made larger. Noted that the LEGO was provided by the library.
    • Group members all felt the event went very well.
    • It was great to have lots of space.
• Ideas for future shows/events:
  • Group members could do demonstration builds for kids, showing how a technique or portion of their MOC was built. Could be impromptu.
  • Set up small example models; challenge kids to build them from a pool of bricks.
  • Make-and-take type event, possibly in conjunction with the store.
  • Building technique demonstration by LUG members.
    • This could be included in meetings too.
• Website
  • Domain name and 1-year hosting in place, thanks to Andrew House.
  • Cost about $60 per year.
  • Discussed email capabilities and decided to use Gmail due to additional cost of domain-based email.
  • Funds will be raised to reimburse Andrew for the website cost. This may be a set draw in collaboration with Bricks & Minifigs. Steve to discuss further with John G.
• Upcoming Shows/Events
  • Avalon Expo
    • Event August 24-26 at the Remax Centre.
    • Discussion on last year’s event, and changes made for this year’s event.
    • Agreed for the LUG to attend Avalon Expo.
    • Applications not yet open for community groups.
  • Plastic Modeler’s group
    • Event in October.
    • Discussions are ongoing about the LUG joining the event.
  • Kids event
    • Discussion on the LUG hosting an event targeted more toward kids.
    • Tentatively planning for this in August.
• Inclusion of kids in the LUG
  • Discussion on ideas for better including kids at the shows/events.
  • Good chance for kids to see MOCs by group members, learn new ways to build, and get ideas for things to build that interest them.
  • General consensus that kids are important to the LUG even though RLUG rules don’t count kids toward group membership.
• RLUG Status (Recognized LEGO User Group)
  • Discussion on requirements.
  • For the purposes of RLUG status, LEGO counts group members aged teen and over.
  • Obtaining RLUG status is a goal but is secondary to building the LEGO community in NL.
  • Benefits of status:
    • LUG Bulk program. Designed for LUGs doing large layouts.
    • Some LUG specific-sets.
• Group Ordering
  • Some ideas discussed on group ordering among members, such as adding on to BrickLink orders, using Bricks and Pieces, and splitting a bulk order by part/colour.
• Scheduling Meetings
  • Discussion on how to best schedule meetings and suitable frequency.
  • Agreed to general meetings every 2 months, on alternating Tue/Wed.
  • Show/event meetings as needed.
  • Next general meeting: Aug 6 or 7.
  • Executive to discuss further and propose schedule for further meetings.
• Set draft
  • Andrew Wheeler explained how set drafting works and asked about interest.
  • This could be part of a regular meeting or a more social event (Christmas?).
  • Noted that drafts are optional and the executive will discuss the idea further.
• LEGO Conventions
  • Andrew Wheeler noted there are many conventions all over the world.
  • Anyone planning to attend one should let the group know. Other members may also attend.
  • Upcoming: BrickFair Virgina Aug. 4-5 and BrickCon Seattle Oct 4-7.
• Logo for the LUG
  • Andrew Wheeler presented a LUG logo for consideration.
• LEGO Mindstorms/programmable sets
  • Don Richard and Andrew House noted that the Geo Centre and Engineering Faculty have several Mindstorms sets on hand.
  • May be an opportunity for the LUG to do an event or build.