We had the good fortune of attending the Legofest in Milwaukee on October 21st 2016. It was an excellent experience, the kids loved it and so did I. It was great to see so many full scale models that you could interact with and touch. There were a number of activities that you could participate in and many of them provided a mini Lego kit for participation!
One particularly interesting event was a talk by a Lego Master Builder. The Master Builder that presented was named Dan, he is pictured in the second photo in the slideshow. They taught us some structural tips in order to make Lego structures more durable, notably to stagger the bricks so the Lego in one tier is above the joint in the Lego in the lower tier.