Subject: dlvorg Numbers, schedule, etc. ...
From: Annie (annie)
Date: Sun Jul 16 2000 - 00:02:08 CDT
In this mailing:
Welcome again
DLV by the numbers
Questions and maybe some answers
Schedule thoughts
This is a really long one. -)
Web Sites
Administrivia
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Welcome again:
Welcome to those just joining the list. Please feel free to contribute
as you wish.
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DLV by the numbers:
We've had a number of very good comments and questions this week. As you
will see, several had a common theme in dealing with the numbers of
people involved with DLV.
I think everybody will agree that DLV will serve the community better if
more people participate. Not only will more people benefit from it, but
those attending like it better if more people show up.
We have to look at this from several angles.
1. We have to be sure we have maximum exposure, to reach more potential
participants. This implies we have to make plans and get the word out
early, so people can plan well in advance to attend.
2. We have to have a lineup of events and activities that will move
people from the "oh well, maybe" line of thought to the "yes, I'm
definitely going" line of thought. This also implies we have much of
our event planning done earlier. I would go as far as to say we should
have a tentative daily schedule on the web by the first of the year or
so.
3. We have to keep our returnees in mind. We can't just repackage last
year's DLV. We have to keep it fresh and exciting. We don't have to
give up the popular things that worked well, but we don't want to have
a DLV 2001 that is simply a re-run of DLV 2000. We've had a very good
return rate from year to year to year. Let's keep that up!
4. We have to keep our broad range of appeal to the t* community as a
whole, from those just taking their first peek out of the closet to
those fully transitioned.
5. We also have to promote DLV to a geographically diverse community,
considering those local to Las Vegas, those within a days drive or so
(California, Phoenix, etc.) and those around the country and around the
world.
If we can get our initial planning done soon, so we can concentrate on
getting the word out far and wide, we should have a phenomenally
successful DLV 2001.
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Questions and maybe some answers:
>Hi Annie, can I ask a few questions, please? If you don't mind.
Ok, and I (and the others) may actually have answers to a few of them. :)
>How do people find out about Diva? Mostly on the Web? Magazines?
Almost entirely on the Internet. Originally on IRC, lately on newsfroups,
www, mailing lists, and, of course, word of mouth, like through t* groups
and the like.
The only print exposure I'm aware of are in "events" columns of local
papers and group newsletters and such.
>Did you ever do a study on what methods bring out the most people?
Uh, not really.
>Do you know about what percentage of people who enquire actually come?
Each year, the turnout was very close to 1/3 the number of people on the
mailing list, which is essentially the people who inquired. This has
been very consistent over the four years.
>How long do you keep people on the mailing list?
Until they request to be removed or the mail fails. I would say that
about 1/4 of the people signing up request to be dropped shortly. As
everybody knows, people change e-mail addresses quite frequently. We do
get quite a few change requests, but we do drop maybe 1-2 each month for
persistent mailbox full or no such user.
>If they don't come,
>do you still keep them on for the next year?
Yes, until they request to be removed or the mail fails.
>Did you ever consider any official paid ad's, like in Tapestry?
Nope, no budget for it, and so far no sugar-mommy for things like this.
>How about the Web? Do you just have the one Web Page?
Well, I would use the term "site" instead of "page". There's mention of
DLV on many other sites, and I do keep track of referrals.
>Full of questions, aren't I.
Yes, you are. :)
Am I full of answers, or just full of it? :) :) ;)
If I may continue with this thread, the one thing I think is very
important this year is to get the word out early and wide. Each year
we've had people write in just after DLV, wishing they had heard of it
only a few weeks before.
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Schedule thoughts:
>>>>However, I see something like starting the Thursday before N+I and
>>>>winding up Monday as being a valid option. This would avoid the
>>>>Mothers Day weekend altogether, making the DLV dates the 3rd. thru
[snip]
>>The more I think about it, the more I think centering DLV around the
>>weekend before N+I is our best option.
>Well, I don't go to N&I, but my vote is for the earlier weekend the
>week before Mother's Day.
Thanks and so noted. Comments?
>>>Regarding a longer DLV, I DEFINITELY like it, but what do other people
>>>think about starting earlier?
>Not too early. I can make Thursday afternoon maybe, but anything
>earlier is cutting tight.
Remember, everything is optional. So far, everything before Friday has
been Pre-DLV stuff. We've always had people in early, like for N+I or
just because they live in the area. Pre-DLV activities have always been
well attended. This year, they were better attended than the stuff going
on Monday and Tuesday. If we have DLV before N+I next year, it will be
interesting to see if there is a shift in enthusiasm and attendance to
the Post-DLV activities.
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This is a really long one. :-)
Tina writes:
>> Majority of the people at DLV 2000 were drive-ins or fly-ins, mostly
>> for the weekend.
>I suspect that drive-ins (example: the Arizona girls) are weekend types,
>while the fly-ins either are there for vacation (like me) or for N+I
>(like Annie).
Hmmmmm ....
I havent thought of this, but yes, for the past couple years we have had
two very generalized subgroups, the weekenders, who are more likely to
drive in from Arizona or California, and the weeklongers (for lack of a
better name), who are more likely to fly in.
>Which group is likely to have more potential for
>increased attendance (numbers and/or days)?
Hmmmm .... Very good question ...
My knee-jerk reaction is to say the weekenders will be easier to recruit.
>What type of events might
>appeal to each group?
Another very good question.
Off hand, I would have to say the same types of events and activities
would appeal to both.
Everybody's gonna be attracted to the big gun events of the weekend.
If we're talking about encouraging weeklongers to come, or converting
weekenders to weeklongers, we'll have to have several "little gun"
things going on to make it worth their while. Maybe things like the
smaller production shows in the evening, side trips in the daytime, etc.
Ideas, gang?
>>>Maybe the focus of the formal DLV should be quality of events and then
>>>informal activities can be scheduled either side of the core
>>>three-five days.
<<snip>>
>>>Now early attendees (Tue and Wed) and late attendees (Mon, Tue) can do
>>>their own things as well. If its set up with some Pre DLV and Post DLV
>>>organiser to manage those days then those wanting an early start or
>>>late finish can get their way.
>Makes sense to me.
>> I think we should concentrate the bulk of the DLV activities in the
>> period of Friday evening thru Sunday evening. No matter what we do,
>> that's when the majority of the people are gonna be in town. It's
>> natural for people to want to leverage the weekend for a mini-vacation,
>> such as DLV, and that will happen naturally no matter what appealing
>> things we may schedule for Thursday or Monday.
>I do have a somewhat different opinion here, and that stems from the
>drive-in versus fly-in distinction. You're right that the majority of
>non-locals will be in town just for the weekend, particularly the
>drive-ins, so the weekend should still be the core. So maybe we should
>try for things earlier in the week that appeal to fly-ins (who would
>probably be in town longer for a vacation) and to the local LV girls.
>I do remember local girls (Bea, Debbie, etc) at 2000. Do local girls
>have ideas for fun things to do in the Wednesday-Thursday timeframe? Do
>you have to get up early the next day to go to work, or do you local
>girls ever take vacation days around DLV time?
I would definitely like to see maximum participation by the local LV
girls. We are getting quite a local following, thinking back to this
year. Any ideas anybody has for items that would appeal to the locals,
please speak up.
>> IMAO, one of the most important activities we have, tho it is seldom
>> cited as the most "exciting", is our traditional welcome get-together
>> at Goodtimes on Friday. This allows our people to interact and to get
>> to know each other, to bond. This simply can't happen while attending
>> a show or eating at a restaurant.
>>
>> I'm gonna suggest we keep this on our first "prime" evening, that
>> being Friday, and that it be the featured event of the evening.
<<snip>>
>> I don't want to move the official welcome get-together to another
>> evening, simply for the fact a number of our people will miss it.
>That makes sense. I've always liked Goodtimes. My observation from
>2000 was that the Thursday night "pre-DLV" event at the Las Vegas Lounge
>was just like the Friday night official event at Goodtimes, only
>smaller. In turn, they were both like the Sunday get together at Keys
>after Splash. In other words: hang around a bar all night, drinking
>and talking. Fun and appropriate for a first night event, but boring
>(to me) if overdone. YMMV.
>> If anything, I think we maybe had it scheduled a bit too long this year.
>> We had very few people stay over Tuesday. This leads me to believe that
>> due to any of several factors, that length of DLV was not really wanted.
>>
>> Maybe it was the lack of any majorly exciting activities that steered
>> people away from scheduling more time for DLV.
>I still think that it was because Monday and Tuesday are the slowest
>nights of the week. The longer length is not the problem, it is which
>days are chosen. Now that we are getting a little bit of a "divorce"
>from N+I, we don't have to worry so much about Monday and Tuesday. We
>could put our additional organizing efforts into the Wednesday and
>Thursday BEFORE the big DLV week-end.
Maybe something like a pre-DLV thing on Wednesday, side trip Thursday
afternoon, Minor show Thursday evening, usual Fri-Sat-Sun stuff, and an
optional wind-down day on Monday might work.
>> Instead of simply increasing the quantity of DLV days, we may wanna look
>> at quality activities for those before and after days in the hope of
>> increasing the participation on those days.
>>
>> (This also implies getting volunteers to make things happen on those
>> days.)
>I knew my big mouth was gonna get me in trouble. :-)
>Seriously, this is probably where I would help out this year, schedule
>permitting.
>> I think it's a given that we will have most of our people from Friday
>> thru Sunday. A big-gun event on Sunday evening may be what we need to
>> get more to stay one more day and leave Monday, stretching their
>> weekend to four days.
>As the event organizer for Splash on Sunday at DLV 2000, I had hoped
>that this event would be just such a "big gun". But, although the
>people who went said they liked it, I was disappointed at the attendance
>(only 8, as I recall). So, it is time for some honest feedback: was it
>the event itself, or the day of the week, that held down attendance?
I can only speak for myself here, but I kinda planned in advance to skip
it simply to avoid overload and burnout. At DLV 1999 I was majorly
fatigued by Sunday, since things were nonstop for me from Monday the
week before until that time. I planned for (and got) a few hours of
Z's before meeting the group over at Keys.
Maybe some of the others can comment on their reasons.
>> Daytime activities are somewhat of a stumper for me. I would like to
>> find something which would get a good turnout for Saturday afternoon.
<<snip>>
>> I realize many of our people are not (yet) comfortable doing the
>> casual thing. However, I have a feeling there's a magic bullet here.
>> Comments?
>I've always skipped the daytime events because I've been sleeping.
And that's the reason I don't do morning activities at DLV. :) They
say I'm a night person who's trapped in the body of a day person. :)
>I
>would get up early for something magic, but makeovers and (most kinds
>of) shopping aren't it for me.
Define "magic". <vbfg>
I've always tried to steer the daytime activities toward the afternoon
since I like to sleep in on vacation, and I know others do too.
The touristy-type activities such as Liberace Museum, Strat tower, casino
hopping, sightseeing trips and the like were always reported as well-liked
and "would do again", but lots of our people skipped them.
I do, however, remember an overloaded and very cozy van on a shopping
excursion on MONDAY afternoon at DLV 1999. :)
>> Group photo thoughts:
<<snip>>
>> Now, thinking ahead to DLV 2001, I think it would be a good idea to plan
>> for group photos at possibly two times, in order to get most everybody
>> included in one or the other or both. (It's gonna be impossible to get
>> EVERYBODY in any one place at any one time.)
<<snip>>
>> I'd like to announce the group photos as a kind of official activity. Of
>> course, it should always be "ok" to opt out of them, as desired. (We did
>> have a few people I clearly remember at the Goodtimes that nite who do
>> not appear in the photo.)
>
>> Comments?
>Maybe something we could try for a daytime activity is a scheduled photo
>shoot at a private photography studio (not the Glamour Shots mall
>places), but a real studio with privacy and class. Girls who want to
>could have some individual shots done, and everyone who showed up could
>be in a group shot. Many private photographers charge around $100 -
>$200 per hour, regardless of the number of shots taken. Not a great
>cost when split 5 or 6 ways. Depending on the deal, they get the film
>developed and give you the negatives and prints (usually 4 x 6). You
>make your own arrangements to have the best shots developed into bigger
>prints if you like.
>I've done this before with other groups in other cities with good
>results.
That sounds like it might work. I've got just a couple questions and
concerns. Big question is demand. Would that many people want to get
dressed and made up on a (potentially very hot) afternoon to go do a
studio shoot? This may be something we'll have to pose to the group
as a whole just before DLV in order to get a handle on how many
really wanna do this.
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Web Sites:
DLV main page http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/
Michelle Jenkins http://www.idis.com/mpj
Tina http://home.att.net/~tinatawdre/
annie http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/
Julie http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Park/9289/
Rickie's Place http://www.freeyellow.com/members2/rick121
Margeth http://www.geekbabe.com/margeth/
Melissa's Magic Realm http://www.geocities.com/melissa_t17
The Cactus Rose Club http://www.geocities.com/crc_az
Debbie Sage http://intermind.net/~sage/
Vicki's Little Page http://hometown.aol.com/vickits44/myhomepage/index.html
Mindy http://www.fortunecity.com/village/freedom/785/
Bea http://BeatrizZ.tripod.com/
Any others? If so, send them in (just hit REPLY).
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Administrivia:
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Diva Las Vegas 2001
Dates to be announced
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