We’re not the only ones nominating LEGO Ambassadors for Cycle 7 of the program.

• Classic-Castle.com
• Classic-Space.com
• BrickLink
• BZPower
• Flickr
• Eurobricks
• MOCpages
• FBTB
• HispaLUG
• LUGNuts
• PLUG
• RoLUG
• SandLUG
• Turk LUG

We’ll add to this list as we encounter more nomination processes as we learn about them. Feel free to suggest links in the comments.

UPDATE: Voting is now underway for this cycle.

——–

As LEGO announced earlier today, nominations are now open for the 2009/2010 or “Cycle 7” of the LEGO Ambassadors Program. To keep things manageable, I’m posting the process we’ll be using here on The Brothers Brick separately from LEGO’s announcement.

First, some of you may be wondering what the LEGO Ambassadors Program is. Glossing over LEGO’s official definition, the program is designed to gather feedback from LEGO fans and provide that feedback to The LEGO Group. Although communication from LEGO does occasionally flow back to LEGO fans, the primary purpose is to flow information to LEGO — product and quality feedback, suggestions, demographic data about the adult fan community, and so on.

Second, I won’t be accepting any nominations myself to be a LEGO Ambassador for the next cycle. I still believe in the value of the program, but I’d like to focus my LEGO energies more directly on The Brothers Brick, Classic-Castle.com, SEALUG, and the other LEGO fan communities I belong to.

Third, we learned from the way we did things last year and we’re making a few adjustments. Feel free to discuss these changes and make suggestions, and we can make further tweaks along the way, if necessary.

Finally, an online community like ours that’s centered around a blog has some unique considerations that are different from other LEGO fan communities, such as online forums or offline LEGO clubs. Before we begin nominating people to represent The Brothers Brick in the LEGO Ambassadors program, I want to share a few thoughts based on the discussions and nominations last year.

• The successful nominee must be able to communicate with you, the readers. Practically speaking, this means the LEGO Ambassador would need to be a contributor to The Brothers Brick.
• That’s not to say that the successful nominee must be a current contributor! In the open and democratic process I’d like to see us follow, it’s possible that you may nominate and ultimately vote for someone like an active commenter instead of a current contributor. This may mean bringing the nominee on board as a team member.
• This is the nomination process for The Brothers Brick; other LEGO fan communities will be nominating LEGO Ambassadors themselves. I’d like to ask you to avoid nominating LEGO fans who aren’t active here in this community in some way. Being a regular reader or even being blogged frequently doesn’t necessarily equate with being an active participant.
• As the Editor-in-Chief, my commitment is to bring you a high-quality LEGO blog experience. To ensure this for all of you, I must reserve the right to say “No” occasionally — including bringing someone on to the team who doesn’t share our blogging philosophy or vision.

Phew! Enough words from me.

Here’s how this is going to work on The Brothers Brick:

1. Between now and June 10 at 9:00 PM Pacific Time, leave a comment on this post with your suggestions for people who you would like to see nominated. Nominating is not the same as voting.
2. On June 10, I’ll tabulate all of the nominations. Each nominee must receive two additional comments of support to move on to the voting stage.
3. Between June 10 and June 13, I’ll contact each nominee for a brief bio and “platform.”
4. On or before June 13 June 17, I’ll post the bios, platforms, and a public poll so all readers can vote on who they want to represent them.
5. On June 27, we’ll close the voting to ensure we have enough time to create the nomination package that The Brothers Brick will submit on the nominees’ behalf.
6. On or before July 1, we will submit up to three nominees for consideration by The LEGO Group.
7. Around July 8, LEGO will announce their picks for the next cycle of the Ambassadors program.

Okay, readers, nominate away!

First, the complete announcement from The LEGO Group:

Hello LEGO Enthusiasts,

We’re happy to announce that the nomination process for LEGO Ambassador Cycle 7 is now open.

The LEGO Ambassador Program is designed to give the AFOL Community a direct line into the LEGO Company. The Program is essentially a gathering of community representatives that speak on behalf of the larger communities they are a part of. This group is able to bring forward the interests, concerns and questions directly to LEGO Employees.

Who’s allowed to nominate?

Any AFOL Community Group (online or on the map) will have the opportunity to submit nominations from their group (up to 3 people if they so choose). Not everyone can be selected for the program in order to keep the group manageable.

If you choose to submit a nomination it does not mean that your candidate will be chosen, but it does mean that your group will have just as much an opportunity to get involved in having a direct representative in the LEGO Ambassador Program. We will try to get a diverse group of people who are able to represent the whole AFOL community as good as possible.

Groups can certainly nominate someone already in the Ambassador Program, but the program has a two term limit in order to opportunites for more people to be involved. After a term out of the program, a previous Ambassador can be re-nominated (this rule only started with cycle 6 so all current Ambassadors are still eligible).

A group that submits a nomination for the LEGO Ambassador program should be established and known within the LEGO Community.

What should a nomination have in it?

• Name and age of the nominee.
• Where is the nominee from?
• Which Group does this nominee represent?
• Does this person consent to being nominated (Please do not submit a nomination on behalf of someone you have not discussed with beforehand).
• Explanation of who the nominees are, what their activities are, and why they would be a good representative of their community (at least 3 testimonials from members of nominating group are required)
• Key interests of the nominee (themes, building styles, and some examples of their building)
• NEW!!! Platform – The nominations should now include a list of the goals that the nominee and the community he/she represents are looking to accomplish as part of the program. Remember the LEGO Ambassador Program is all about the AFOL community having representation into the LEGO Group, so this is an effort to have you think ahead as to what you really think would benefit your communities the most.

When is the Nomination Due?

July 1, 2009 by midnight GMT. If a nomination is received after this time it will be automatically rejected. The new cycle will be announced on approximately July 8, 2009.

Who Should the Nominations be sent too?

Nominations should be sent directly to steve@lego.com

What might a LEGO Ambassador be committing too?

• LEGO Ambassadors are committing to represent their communities interests to the LEGO Group.
• There are projects that Ambassadors can take part in, it is up to the individual to decide what they may or may not be interested in working on. It all comes down to how they feel they can best represent their community.
• Online discussions will be held for the Entire group of Ambassadors that will include members of the LEGO Community Team and other LEGO Employees as well.
• In order to get the most out of the program you should be willing to give some time to in order to help discussions along. If you don’t give time to it then you may not be dishonoring the nomination you received from the community.

There is no NDA requirement to take part in the LEGO Ambassador Program for Cycle 7. There may be an instance where a special project will come up and the Ambassadors may have to sign an NDA to participate in that, but it will take place in a separate forum in order to limit confusion as to what can be said outside of the Ambassador program. Otherwise, anything shared in Ambassador Discussions can be shared with the AFOL Community.

This next session of the Ambassador Program will last approximately one year.
Thank you all. Your nominations are very valuable for helping the LEGO Community Team choose the next round of LEGO Ambassadors.

Steve Witt – LEGO Ambassador Lead
&
Tormod, Jan, Jim, Lenka, and Phil
The LEGO Community Team

Next, I’ll be posting separately about how this is going to work here on The Brothers Brick. (And to consolidate comments where they’re most relevant, I’m going to lock comments on this first post.)