Bricks by the Bay, Inc., is a charitable non-profit organization. All work is done entirely by volunteers and not a penny of the convention’s income goes to organizers. All income for the organization is used to pay for future events or given to charity.
The first Bricks by the Bay event (Theme: “The Brick Artistic”) was held at the Fremont Mariott in April of 2010, and the attendance on our public day overwhelmed the resources of the hotel. Although we loved working with the hotel staff, we had to move to a larger venue.
In March 2011 (Theme: “Creative Combinations”) we had our first event at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, using 75% of their Grand Ballroom for exhibits and vendors, and the remaining 25% for presentations and activities on Friday and Saturday. We also shared the hotel that year with the Nova Albion Steampunk Convention, and attendees of both events had a great time visiting one another’s exhibits and vendors.
Our April 2012 (Theme: “Green”) event was bigger than ever, featuring over 400 registered attendees, using the entire 22,500 square foot Grand Ballroom with exhibits and vendors, and for the first time also utilizing space from the adjacent Convention Center (upstairs) for our breakout sessions and evening ceremonies.
In 2013 (Theme: “Brick Technologies”) we moved to the summer (August) and continued with the same facilities, using more of the Convention Center space for presentations and activities, and increasing the maximum attendance to 500 participants.
For our 2014 convention (Theme: “Fun & Games”), we added another ballroom (1/2 of the Mission City Ballroom), another track of presentations in the Convention Center, and another day (Thursday workshop day).
The 2015 theme was “Monsters” and continuing with the two ballrooms, though this time putting all the vendors into the Mission City Ballroom and all the exhibits into the Grand Ballroom. We expanded the workshop program as well.
2016 brought a change in convention leadership and the addition of more directors. We followed the same format with the Grand Ballroom for the MOCs, and the Mission City Ballroom for the vendors. In honor of it being our seventh Bricks by the Bay, the 2016 theme was “Seven”. Several new games were introduced, including “Yelling Speed Build” and “Tape Ball”. There were a few twists to the rules of tried-and-true games as well, such as a one-handed individual speed build!
Our theme this year is "California Dreamin". Our 8th convention. This year we will be expanding our Workshops and adding more social events.
