Let’s be honest… how many of you have gone to a scale modeling convention and found yourself wandering the halls killing time after you’ve registered your models, put them on the tables, and finished shopping in the vendor hall?

As much as I enjoyed my IPMS Nationals 23 experience, as much I as enjoy the local events, the focus is mostly operational and commerce based. Come in, register and set down models, shop, kill time, awards, home. Now, before you start screaming “I see my friends! I make new friends!” let me slow you down. Yes, I too am always excited to see the people I know and meet new people as well. Sometimes the folks I know introduce me to new folks. That’s great and happens a fair amount. But unless I am completely comfortable introducing myself to random people I’ve not met before or unless I get an intro from an existing friend, connecting at these events is hard. Especially if I come in cold.

One of the things that the LEGO community has done really well for years now is the name badges. There’s too parts to a name badge for their events:

  1. The engraved event brick – each event gets a series of 1×8 stud LEGO bricks engraved with the name of the event and the year. Each registered attendee receives an engraved brick plus two more blank ones and a sticky magnet to attach it to your shirt.
  2. The custom designs – Using the pile of bricks next to the registration table or a design they’ve brought from home, registrants customize (and sometimes customize the HELL outta) their badge. Some people collect and add event bricks from 10 or 20 events. One guy created a battery powered train design that spun the train wheels from a battery pack running from his pocket. All with LEGO parts and pieces, of course.

This creates an instant, easy, comfortable means of introduction. It creates a way to point out folks to other attendees (“Hey did you see John? He’s the one with the train badge, you should talk to him about your layout design”). It creates a fun artifact of a shared experience.

If you wonder if this whole name badge thing works… just look at Nats23. The local Austin club made up “Bob” buttons to hand out to folks. It was a hilarious inside joke about the always amazing, never too serious Bob Bethea. He’s a great guy and this joke had people all through the show asking me “who’s Bob??” This simple, silly button was a social lubricant and a binding agent for the event.

Our model contests need to … wait… let me point something out before I go on. My natural states was to type “model contest” when I really mean “local/national event”. Our community isn’t using events as a way to create connection, camaraderie, conversation. Those thing happen, no question. But are our events designed to be Joy Factories? Are they structured in a way that is meant to specifically drive connection through multiple social tools and activities, including a contest? Or are they contests that stumble into connection?

I was really glad to see the seminar rooms at Nats23 filled with attendees and I was glad that there were more sessions (I think?) than I remember at shows I’ve attended previously. But I want more. I want to see space and time and energy being put towards model contest, industry roundtables, and other methods of driving connection. I want to see Tamiya show up with more than a display case and sales reps. I want vendor tables to be showing off demos of their products. I want photo contests for the best _____ photos of things other than the models. I want speed builds (yes they can be done), diorama bake-offs. I want collaborative builds (more on this soon). Surprise and delight.

I want these national events to be Joy Factories that are specifically designed to create joy, not just stumble into it.

And before anyone says:

  • “You don’t understand what it takes for volunteer events like this to get pulled off”… yeah, I do. Working with fan groups and helping support events like these is what I do and have done for 20+ years. I’ve seen this work countless times organized solely by volunteers.
  • “We need all the help judging we can get and if everyone is off doing stuff, then we won’t get through the contest!”… well, maybe that’s a solid argument for, ya know, changing the fucking judging process.
  • “This kind of thing would be too expensive, event budgets are limited”… depends. What are we talking about buying? Seminars are free, people bringing in their own name badges is free. I get a “I was here” pin at Nats events that I quickly lose, but giving me a 3D printed piece that I can work into a name badge model I come to the event with is lower cost than an enamel pin.
  • “We don’t have enough space!” … sure you do. Ad hoc discussions pop up all over the event spaces. People are willing to volunteer their rooms for group discussions already. Seminar rooms sit empty regularly.

Don’t get me wrong: I love going to the events. They’re a lot of fun and I see a lot of great people and a lot of great models. I just know that we could be producing a LOT more joy at events with not a ton of extra effort.

For some additional context, check out this after show report from a LEGO fan. I adore the idea of a one-handed build (and the name badge brick that goes with it). Or the local club that makes their own custom badge bricks that can be added onto the badge to help showcase personal identity.