This week has been very productive for me with catching up on a majority of tasks that have been on hold for some time. I am happy to report that I have now processed and shipped out LUG support packages to all 82 groups that submitted applications in North America (keep in mind we have 94 active LUGs in NA). What does that equate to you ask? 239 LEGO sets and 275 cases of play brick made their way out of the Enfield warehouse over the course of the last couple of months. Now they are being utilized by the LUG community to support their activities and initiatives. I’ve heard some wonderful stories on how the groups have been using these gifts and I look forward to hearing more throughout the year during my travels and discussions. Now that North America is “finished” I will set my sights on South America!
I’ve also caught up with every event support application currently submitted for North America as well! So far this year I have received 77 event support applications, 75 of which have been successfully supported (2 events had too short of notice unfortunately). Obviously, event support applications will continue to come in throughout the year- but now that I have finished off all the backlogged apps, I should be able to easily accommodate new ones much quicker as they come in. Of course, the burning question- what does all that work equal in terms of brick and sets?! 258 LEGO sets and 125 cases of play brick. Are you keeping track? That means the CEE (Community Engagement & Events) team at LEGO has now donated 497 LEGO sets and 400 cases of miscellaneous LEGO play brick to the LUG community in North America in 2013! As of today, I have not received any event support application for South America so I’m up-to-date in all my regions!
As we quickly approach the summer season that means it’s time to kick into US LEGO fan convention “high gear” for another year. I am finalizing preparations for Brickworld: Chicago, we should have a rather large LEGO presence at this event this year (stay tuned for my upcoming post). However, I am also well underway putting together support packages and coordinating support efforts with Brick Fiesta, Brickfete and Bricks by the Bay. The travel schedule defiantly heats up at this time of the year as the events all squeeze their way into the summer months. Somewhere in the middle, I will also be making a trip out to Billund, Denmark for the annual CEE team meeting. The one time of the year that every member of the CEE team is in the same place at the same time.
To wrap up the week I was happy to meet up with Josh Hanlon from the weekly LEGO community podcast Beyond the Brick at the office. It was good to catch up with him again as I’ve met him before at Brickworld: Chicago 2012. I was also a guest on his show around this time last year (before I made him change the name of his show). I’ve also met his co-host Matthew Kay at BrickFair: Virginia in 2012. I was able to provide him a tour of the LEGO Enfield campus and answered his questions as we walked. He also got to see the desk in which I speak with the entire fan community in North, Central and South America. I didn’t let him sit in the chair though- with great power comes great responsibility you know. He should have a recap of his visit up in the coming weeks so I look forward to hearing about it!
That’s all from me- back to work!
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