Today we’d like to introduce you to EI.BO & Laclede’s LAN.
Alright, thank you for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
Laclede’s LAN started with a group of high school friends who liked to sit around and dream of putting together a 50-person LAN party instead of attending college classes. Over time, the small fifteen-person events swelled into twenty and thirty until they grew larger than the dream itself. The staff grew, too, as gamers grew interested in what Laclede’s LAN was trying to do and offered to join. It wasn’t long before Laclede’s LAN became the largest LAN in the Saint Louis area, offering the best tournaments, prizes, and the strongest sense of community and fun. After a several-year break, Laclede’s LAN rebooted in 2014 with a new focus. Several of the staff had gone on to start careers in technical fields and wanted to help others find their future jobs. Laclede’s LAN is now part of a non-profit organization called EI.BO that focuses on supporting STEM education throughout the Saint Louis area. Laclede’s LAN is also the local chapter of LANFest, a national group of LAN Parties focused on hosting charity LAN Parties.
What is EI.BO?
EI. BO’s mission statement. EI.BO was incorporated in the State of Missouri in 2014 as a non-profit organization and received the exempt status of 501(c)(3) in 2016. We have since raised over $90,000 for local STEM initiatives and efforts as a group. Laclede’s LAN is our child organization responsible for throwing LAN Parties. The LAN Parties we host are our main fundraising events, and proceeds go directly to support EI.BO’s mission statement. We do not have any paid staff; we are 100% volunteer-run.
Our mission statement is to reduce and remove barriers to education in programming, computer science, and technology for children grades 1-12 in the Midwestern United States. As a group, we have worked to support great organizations and their K-12 efforts, mostly with scholarships for after-school and summer camp programs. Our goal is to provide kids with opportunities they might not otherwise have and help support the organizations in our community that is already doing an excellent job. We have worked with and supported great groups in the area, like the Saint Louis Science Center, Summer at SLU, Byteworks (part of BWorks.org), GlobalHack, Wits Inc, and more.
More details on our history can be found in the links below:
<https://lacledeslan.com/about/>
<https://lacledeslan.com/blog/our-history/>
<https://lacledeslan.com/faq/>
What is a LAN party?
A LAN party gathers PC or console gamers to play multiplayer games. It’s the most fun you can have as a PC gamer! In the case of PCs, a Local Area Network is set up to facilitate the data traffic, and everyone plays PC games all day. LAN parties have never just been about games. We go to LAN parties to socialize with people who share our interests and are just fun to hang out with. Laclede’s LAN staff consists almost entirely of people who met at LAN parties, and we want to give others a chance to make new friends as well! That’s why we offer more than just tables and cables. We do our best to provide the event with more of a party atmosphere, playing music and offering console games on the side to encourage our casual crowd to feel welcome and comfortable.
Other Links:
- More info on our LANs and upcoming events can be found at LacledesLAN.com.
- You can join our Discord community by using discord.gg/lacledes-lan
- You can support our group using Amazon Smile (smile.amazon.com) and looking for “EI.BO.” It doesn’t cost you a thing, but purchases made through that URL give our charity a small percentage of each sale.
<https://smile.amazon.com/ch/81-1763324>
Would it have been a smooth road, and what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Overall, it’s been a relatively smooth road. We have had ups and downs, but nothing major. Typical day-of-event issues have happened at our LAN Parties, such as internet outages, power outages, and the occasional disgruntled attendee/volunteer. However, these are usually minor items that any event will go through. Our community in STL is very understanding, especially since we are a charity event and focus on building our events’ social aspect.
Early in our non-profit days, we did try to teach a few classes about programming using small credit card computers like the Raspberry PI, but we concluded that we were not teachers, and none of the group felt like we were doing the best job at it. Moving forward, we decided to focus instead on supporting organizations already doing a good job of teaching! Over 90% of our staff & volunteers work in the IT field, which allows us to review the curricula of courses and decide if it fits our mission. Our ability to oversee how our contributions are helping, paired with awesome partners, made the transition from our classes the better choice.
The only other area that was a small bump in our road was our Kickstarter. In 2014, we decided to reboot our LAN parties with a focus on charity. It had been 5 years since our last event, and most of our network/server gear needed to improve. Kickstarter would help us gather the necessary funds to build the infrastructure for our LAN parties. Unfortunately, we should have raised more funds before our deadline, but we did catch the eye of LANFest, a national non-profit also dedicated to supporting charities through LAN Parties! They offer a valuable partnership that exists to this day and has enabled EI.BO and Laclede’s LAN to become the organizations they are.
What should we know about EI.BO / Laclede’s LAN? Appreciate you sharing that.
EI.BO: is our non-profit name and stands for Empowering Ideas. Building Opportunities.
Laclede’s LAN: is our LAN party group; our events are known for bringing the community together. We have competitive tournaments in popular video games, but we strive to serve more than just the competitive scene. We focused on making the event fun and diversified with random challenges, booths and tables around the periphery, door prizes, and casual game sessions just for hanging out and having a good time. We encourage people to get out of their seats, mingle, and meet new friends! Additionally, we are a good partner for other events/groups that share our demographics. Pixel Pop Festival, Anime STL, Twitch STL, and Stack Up Veterans gaming are just a few examples of groups we have worked with (and provided space for) at our events.
What does success mean to you?
To many of us, success is providing opportunities to kids that might not otherwise get them. Our LAN parties are a great time, and we put a lot of love and effort into making them memorable. But as we get older, many want to make a more meaningful impact in the area. To us, success is when a kid goes to a STEM camp, or takes computer classes (and keep the computer) from Byteworks, or gets any opportunity to see how math, logic, and creative engineering get applied in the real world. Early exposure to computers and tech paid off immensely in our lives, and we want others to have the chance to make their similar discoveries.
Pricing:
- Our events vary in cost due to overhead of venues spaces. Typically, LAN party tickets for us range from $40-60 for a 2-day event.
Contact Info:
- Website: lacledeslan.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lacledeslan/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lacledeslan
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LacledesLAN
- Other: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/81-1763324
Image Credits
Our most recent event photos were shot either by Nathan Cowen, Latrelle Yancey, or David Skaggs
