From: Diva Las Vegas organizers (dlvorg@geekbabe.com)
Date: Fri May 12 2006 - 09:46:46 CDT
In this mailing:
Org List
Various items
Restaurant capacity
Buck Wild turnout
Administrivia
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Org List:
This is the DLV 2006 Organizational Mailing List (dlvorg@geekbabe.com)
Replies to this message will be forwarded to the DLVORG list and not
the DLV-Announce or DLV-Discuss list.
Ongoing activity database appears on the web at:
http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/org06arc/acts.html
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Various items:
If there was anybody who volunteered for the Transition Team who did not
get the introductory message yesterday, please let me know.
. . . . .
Photos are still coming in faster than I can get them organized and
staged. :) Thanks to everybody! Keep 'em coming. We're in particular
need of golf, bowling, dance, and general out-n-about photos. Please
hold off on any more High Tea or wedding reception photos unless they
are unusual or exceptionally good.
NSD photos have been released. See staging area.
. . . . .
Our survey responses have not been as many as I expected so far. If you
attended DLV 2006 and have not taken this, please do so. In particular,
we need some SO input on this. :) (>>HINT<<)
http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/dlv2006/2006survey.html
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Restaurant capacity:
Anya writes:
>>Devil's advocate mode here -- Are we maybe expecting too much when we
>>have a very large group all being seated, ordering, and being served
>>within such a short time? ...
>I think you do have a point well taken here, and it is a harsh reality.
>I would figure a restaurant does best with a steady stream of customers
>in the door over time, with staggered arrival, as opposed to all at
>once. There is a certain reasonable limit to how many meals per hour
>can be prepared and served to the customers.
>When a large group arrives at once, most restaurants are simply not set
>up for it. Some do very well at it, such as the Hard Rock and Tony
>Romas. Some don't, such as Lucky Cheng's (though I don't think I would
>get a good experience if I went on my own).
>Perhaps the only places that can give us truly good large group service
>are buffets and banquet houses. Buffets are nice, but we don't want to
>to the "rubber chicken" banquet thing.
>Perhaps we need to look hard at those restaurants which have a stronger
>track record in serving large groups without notice. Those kind of
>places are probably rare, and perhaps out of our price range. I would
>also venture a guess that if we have a group of fifty people, a
>restaurant that seats a thousand would have a better time taking care
>of us than a restaurant that seats a hundred.
>Might we need to abandon large group meals? I hope not, but perhaps we
>are expecting too much. I guess if a group meal was an all evening
>affair, then timing may not be so important. But good polite accurate
>service is a must in all cases, and nobody likes to feel forgotten.
>We should know ahead of time what a restaurant's policies are, such as
>group seating, menu options, and separate or single checks.
>Maybe the ideal trend is toward smaller group meals. Perhaps eating out
>nights will have more options than before. Just some food for thought
>as we plan toward DLV 2007. Sincerely, ANYA, in hot Las Vegas and
>stepping down off her soapbox.
Thanks for the comments. Good discussion here.
One thing I think works quite well for our group, whether for eating or
for other activities, is to split the group up among parallel options.
One advantage is that it makes the group less obvious, another is that
it offers more options and therefore increases the overall combined
turnout and participation.
One big advantage is that having parallel tracks results in smaller
and more manageable groups. Some activities (NSD) just don't work with
larger groups, and some (again NSD) have a capacity limit. Even though
it wasn't the most exciting night of the week, I think our Wednesday
Eating Out Night followed by Mainstream/Alternative Night came off
very well.
If we look back, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings were
multi-tracked.
Yes, there is a desire for larger group functions. I think our opening
night at Suede went exceptionally well, and I think our Friday evening
at Bahama Breeze worked well too, with the noted concerns.
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Buck Wild turnout:
Edy writes:
>Annie,
>As we know, few showed up to see the Buck Wild show. We took a
>credibility hit on this as the show people extended us a two for one
>show price, expecting many more people.
>I have been trying to smooth over this with Steve, aka Tiny, aka
>Debbie. I was asked what restaurant delayed the group and I feel I
>must give an answer.
Hmmmm ... this is the first I've heard anything about a restaurant delay
spoiling the turnout for Buck Wild.
Was there a delay? I really don't recall hearing of any.
Looking at the projected numbers, the Magic Machine says:
Total count for activity buckwild: 37
Estimated turnout for buckwild: 20.3
Was our actual turnout indeed lower than the predicted 20.3? Looking
around the audience (which was quite sparce, actually) I'm sure I
noticed at least that many of our people there. I noticed groups of
our people seated here and there about the showroom.
If you need a name to blame for an excuse, the prior restaurant was Tony
Roma's. I didn't go there, but I do swear I saw some of those who did in
the Buck Wild audience. I really don't recall hearing anything of a
delay over there. (Quick grep thru ORG and DISC shows nothing.)
Looking over the roster, which is still on line and still being updated
hourly ... -- I guess I should turn that off for now:
http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/dlvhc.html
.. I see a number of names who I do recall seeing in the audience and
yes, a few who I think did skip it.
I think the drop-out rate on this one is not due to any restaurant delay
but more to general overload, burnout, time crunch, anxiety, and other
factors, and these are (should be) reflected in the lower of the two
numbers above.
Please relay our group's apology for less of a turnout than they
expected. However, I really don't think there's anybody to blame here.
As far as lessons learned and looking forward, one thing I would suggest
for an activity like this is to more actively promote tickets and
collect for them in advance. People are far less likely to blow off
something they've already paid for. :)
I am a bit surprised that our sign-up (less than 40 out of a group of
about 120) was this low. This says to me that for some reason the
particular show did not appeal to our group. Perhaps the theme was too
Crimson Cervical for our gang ... maybe it was perceived as not very
t-friendly. I don't know. I'm not really into C&W, and I admit that if
Tiny were not in the show, I probably would have never seen it, but I
did enjoy it. The CDB-style fiddler and the blues harmonica kid (as well
as Tiny's comedy) really made the show, IMAO! :)
Anyway, I hope that Tiny will understand that it was really a big
combination of circumstances that held back our turnout. (But you
can blame Tony Roma's if you want.) :) :) :)
(Blame Canada?) :) :) :)
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Administrivia:
This is the Diva Las Vegas 2006 organizational list.
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Diva Las Vegas 2006
April 17 - 23, 2006
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
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