Community Team Blog

The last couple of weeks have shown me the darker side of having over 85 active LUGs (LEGO User Groups) in my territory: the paperwork. After announcing the new LUG and Event Support programs earlier this month, I was greeted with hundreds of emails from the groups turning in applications for support or asking questions and looking for further clarification. Nevertheless, I am glad that the community seems to be very excited and grateful for these new programs we have developed. I hope these initiatives show that the company has taken another step forward to better celebrate and show appreciation for the impact and influence the fan community has on the LEGO Brand.

This week my priority was to secure the shipping information and quantity requests from the LUGs in my region to send them their VIP card stickers. We were able to develop and implement a new program for LEGO Stores to show their appreciation to the LUG community, and these stickers are required to properly identify one’s self as a member of an active LUG in North America. I dropped off the pile of envelopes at the front desk this morning so the stickers will be making their ways to the mailboxes of the LUGs soon. It only took me two weeks to gather the info, and six hours to address all the envelopes and count out stickers.

Now that I have that out of the way, I will now be focusing my efforts on processing the event support applications received. I have currently received 23 applications, so I am expecting many more to come as we move further into 2013.

Tuesday I was asked to give a brief introduction and presentation to the LEGO licensing team about the fan community. These are the folks who develop the various licensed products you see in the wild such as the Moleskin notebooks, watches, t-shirts, and key chains. The presentation was well received and we hope to work more closely with the team more in the future! My only other item of interest was the nice surprise waiting at my desk yesterday: A volume sample of the next exclusive model that will be unveiled to the world. The next unveiling will not be taking place in North America, however we still receive a sample to build and familiarize ourselves with it for any questions received after it’s publicly unveiled. Looks like it’s time to build! Sorry, no hints from me on what it is…

LUG UPDATE: We officially welcomed a new LUG this week into the region! NMLUG, The New Mexico LEGO User Group has established contact and is claiming the Land of Enchantment. They have just under a dozen members and are currently working on a website. But if you can’t wait, you can visit their Flickr group. North America currently has 86 active LUGs.