Meeting Minutes: May 30, 2018

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.

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