From: Diva Las Vegas organizers (dlvorg@geekbabe.com)
Date: Wed Jun 06 2007 - 06:46:27 CDT
In this mailing:
Org List
New Volunteers
DLV 2008
Dates For DLV 2008
Suede, Elvis, Bahama Breeze, mixing and greeting
Age Appropriate
Administrivia
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Org List:
This is the DLV 2008 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.
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New Volunteers:
I'd like to personally thank those who have volunteered as new
activity coordinators and are now part of the DLV Organizers
group. Your participation, along with the current volunteers
are what makes Diva Las Vegas the most appealing and successful
TG event on the planet.
For DLV 2008, we have had some volunteer coordinators step up
and express their desire to plan and coordinate additional
mainstream activities. The topics of these activities are
evening and daytime activities in major hotels, shopping trips
and roller coaster rides in mainstream malls, and additional
dining activities that are also in major mainstream venues.
Let's start to feed activity ideas into the group for DLV 2008,
and make this year the most fun and successful ever.
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DLV 2008:
Tootsye writes
>I am so sorry that I did not get to go to DLV 2007. My
>wife lost her mother just a few days before the event,
>and I thought it much more important to stay home and
>help her over the rough spots.
>I do have DLV 2008 on my calender, or will as soon as
>the dates are firm.
>Is the six day event fixed for sure? I regret that a
>Sunday is not included. I have always liked going to
>the MCC church there as part of my Diva experience.
>I am so happy that 2007 was successful. I really
>missed my job as registrar. I have always enjoyed that
>because I get to meet most of the attendees!
>Ya'll have a good day now, ya hear!
>Tootsye
Sorry to hear about your wife's mother. It is a hard time to go
through, and very important you stayed with her.
As far as the dates for DLV 2008, the nominated days are sandwiched
between two large conventions, being NAB and N+I. The dates are
not yet official, but unless someone comes up with some viable
objections and replacement dates, these dates look like the best
ones so far.
WRT your job as registrar, we "filled in" for you during DLV 2007,
and would welcome you back as the official primary registrar for
DLV 2008. All you have to do is say "yes, I want my job back!" :)
Also, since Sunday may not be an official day of DLV 2008, you
could, as in the past, be the informal greeter at the MCC church
for their service. You might even coax those who attend church
into having a lunch during your non-official informal gathering. :)
Looking forward to seeing you in 2008.
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Dates For DLV 2008:
J B Green wrote:
>I second Crystal Frost's Nomination of the dates for DLV and call for
>closure of the nominations. I agree with Joan Dupree and Rosada, but
>Crystal sent in the first Nomination.
......
Mary Beth writes:
>I will second the nomination for April 20 - 26. Checking the Sahara
>website, that week has the cheapest room rates. The previous week
>appears to be a large convention week with very high room rates.
......
Jamie Renae writes:
>To preclude another scheduling mess, can someone, in LV, check for
>major conventions that might create excessive room rates. We have
>had this happen in the past. Let's do the research first and then
>set the dates.
>The dates listed are OK with me, I just dont want to have to go
>thriugh another Crisis this Fall.
. . . . .
In a previous Org mailing, the month of April includes two major
conventions in Las Vegas. The National Association of Broadcasters
is during April 4th through April 17th, with 140,000 attendees.
The N+I convention begins April 27th through May 2nd with 20,000
attendees.
The proposed dates for DLV 2008 are Monday, April 21 through
Saturday, April 26th. This is sandwiched between these two major
conventions.
Other conventions listed by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors
Authority are the Annual International Pizza Expo at April 1 - April 3
with 10,000 attendees. Also, the Cellular Telecommunications and
Internet Association from April 1 - April 3 with 40,000 attendees. It
appears neither of these two conventions would have any effect on DLV 2008.
Also, neither Easter nor Mothers Day are factors for DLV 2008 on dates
of April 21 through April 26.
......
Mardi writes:
>I nominate April 6 - April 12
......
There's a few items that need clarification about the proposed dates.
Historically, DLV has been a 6 day event. The major criteria about
a 7 day DLV is the lack of volunteers for activities for 6 days,
let alone the 7th day. I would like a clarification about the
original nomination, whether it's Sunday, April 20th, or Monday
April 21.
I have a strong admonition that those who support a 7 day
timeframe will be expected, no excuses, to do their fair share
of coordinating non-trivial evening activities, as well as their
part in recruiting additional volunteers if needed.
If all activities during the 6 days are filled along with the
two-track activities, and the ending activity on Saturday, April
26th is "set in stone", I believe we could then entertain the idea
of adding an extra day to DLV.
Mardi has proposed the dates of April 6 through April 12. At this
time, a six day DLV should have the proposed dates of April 7 through
April 12. The other proposed dates are April 20 through April 26, but
again, a six day DLV should have the dates of April 21 through April
26.
Now, we have some options here, and keeping in mind that it would be
very good thing to determine the DLV 2008 dates as soon as possible.
These options are:
**Other proposed dates need to be nominated by the next Org mailing.
**Unless, by the next Org mailing, there is a second to the nominated
dates of April 7-12 , it will be dropped from the nominee list.
**Or, we could have a vote, three way, April 6-12 vs. April 20-26 vs.
April 21-26.
Comments?
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Suede, Elvis, Bahama Breeze, mixing and greeting:
Annie writes:
Some thoughts on our larger group functions this year ...
+Dinner, Bahama Breeze, Friday: 4.56 (37 responses)
Bahama Breeze was one of our Shining Stars this year!
The management obviously acted on our concerns and took efforts to
set up a very nice area for us, appropriately and adequately set
up. Nice entertainment, a very nice extra touch.
I don't think I heard a single complaint about Bahama Breeze this
year. I'm sure that even those who intentionally skipped it this
time would have enjoyed it.
One thing I really appreciate is the ability to order off of the
regular menu. I really think this makes all the difference in the
satisfaction (food-wise) of a larger dinner. No only is there the
individual freedom of choice, but food off the menu tastes better!
Enough said. This is a keeper. Thanks, Nora. :)
. . .
While Bahama Breeze is an established and stable business, the
other two we used for larger group gatherings, Elvis' and Suede,
are in units which have turned over frequently in the past few
years.
We can begin to make plans for DLV 2008 assuming that both of
these will be viable, but we really have to be prepared for one
or both of these to close or change, perhaps on very short notice.
+Happy Hour and Dinner, Elvis, Saturday: 4.45 (35 responses)
I think the only complaint I heard about the food at Elvis' was
that they were out of one entree that one of our people wanted.
There were some concerns about the service and the way it was
set up.
+Dinner at Elvis' on Saturday night: They didn't plan to
+handle such a large group. Should consider another location
+for next year.
I really think they are just climbing the learning curve WRT
serving larger parties. The shortcoming I observed was that
they had set up one very long concatenation of tables along
the one wall. This then filled up from the ends, leaving much
of the center vacant, particularly those seats adjacent to the
wall, which had no access. Some of our group then spilled out
onto other tables.
In a smaller place like Elvis', with a smaller wait staff and
smaller kitchen staff, we need to expect that service will be
slower than at a place like Bahama Breeze, which has a much
higher capacity and can absorb 50-70 extra patrons more
easily.
Again, at Elvis' I really appreciated the ordering off the full
menu. They obviously did not have enough printed menus to go
around, so they apparently went to Kinkos and ran off more. NBD.
I really think the full menu option makes a big difference!
Elvis was very cooperative in allowing us the use of their stage
and sound system to do our awards, even though there were some
civilians in the audience. Elvis did appreciate our business.
Money talks. :)
The group photos we took outside Elvis' are the best we've had
for years! They show a great group of people having a lot of
fun. That's the way it's supposed to be.
The one think that kinda bothers me about Elvis', however, is one
report I got about some of our people, one couple in particular,
who were in there later one night. I don't know if the staff was
aware that they were part of our group or not. They were lingering
a bit more than somebody on the staff thought they should be, and
they were reportedly told point blank to buy another drink or
vacate.
This was surprising to me, and when I asked one of the locals
about it, the response was "yeah, they can be that way sometimes"
or words to that effect. (Jersey attitude?)
I never heard anything more of that incident. I kind of expected it
to appear in feedback, but it did not. Although I've personally
received great service there, this does leave a bad taste in my
mouth. :(
And then there's the restroom situation ...
Right before DLV I heard rumblings of them implementing or else
considering implementing a very draconian policy. I never heard
if this was fully implemented or not.
. . .
And then there's Suede ...
+Dinner and Welcome Celebration, Suede: 3.81 (60 responses)
I heard more complaints about Suede than I did about any other
venue we used this year. :(
My only complaint was that they were a bit high on bar prices. LOL,
the definition of Sticker Shock is walking across the street from
Freezone (happy hour, $1 draws of RR) to Suede only to be hit for
$5 for domestic bottled beer. :(
Which leads me into ... starting some dialog regarding the larger
group gatherings for next year. I'm not officially proposing
anything here, just starting a thread which I hope others will
pick up on.
Because of the issues at Suede, I don't think it will work for a
maximum-attendance thing next year, such as an opening mixer. Too
many of our people will skip it. Word is out that the food sucked
and the drinks were high. Two strikes. :( :(
IMAO, Suede might work as an Eating Out Night venue, a second-track
dinner against something like NSD, things like that, or else maybe
just a stop on the bar tour, but for any kind of affair where we
want a maximum turnout, I don't think it will work.
Elvis', however, I think would work for such a thing as an opening
mixer. (Assuming that Elvis' is around in more or less the same
form next year.)
I think an attempt for a rewind-replay of an ending bash at Elvis'
is risky, but I think an opening mixer at Elvis' will get us a
better turnout than either an opening mixer at Suede or a closing
bash at Elvis.
There's nothing wrong with what we did this year, and it rated an
"almost 4.5" on the enjoyment scale, but I don't think it has the
inertia to keep spinning into the ending of DLV 2008. Using Elvis'
for something like an opening mixer would work.
Besides, variety is a Good Thing<tm>.
This leaves us with a big hole. We need to continue with our one-
year record of strong endings, but we need something totally fresh
and equally strong.
We have the better part of the year to come up with some ideas
for a strong ending for 2008. We get requests over and over and
over for large gatherings, and, IMAO, that's what we want to look
into, perhaps combined with other activities that evening as well.
I would say to think outside of the box, but that is becoming an
overused cliche. :)
. . .
Let's talk about the purpose of our larger gatherings. The way I
see it, they are mixers, intended to get people to, yes, mix and
mingle and circulate and get to know each other.
The best asset of DLV is the people, and we most definitely want
to get them acquainted with each other. We need to give them
multiple opportunities to do so and encourage them to spread
themselves around at these activities.
Although this survey response was "ok" ...
+Did you find the other DLV attendees to be friendly and
+inclusive?
+Mostly yes: 63
+Yes, somewhat: 14
+Neutral: 4
+No, somewhat: 1
+Mostly no: 2
.. it's showing that about 1/4 of the respondents perceived
something less than "mostly yes" for this. I would like to see
the "mostly yes" answer up in the 85-90% range, as it was in
2006 (86%) and in 2004 (88%).
The following comment in the survey got me thinking ...
+In my experience the dlv attendees were to clicky [sic]. It was
+nice to be with the people that I already knew. But I didn't
+make many new friends and I usually don't have that problem.
No, I don't think our people are cliquish or snobby, but I did
see what I think elicited this comment. It was that at our larger
gatherings, which should be "mixers", there wasn't that much
mixing going on.
I don't see this as the peoples' fault, but having to do more
with logistics and the way things happened this year.
I observed this at Suede and Bahama Breeze, and to an extent
at Elvis', but not as much. Instead of standing up and mingling,
our people tended to pick tables with those they already knew
and stayed put for most of the evening. At elvis, there was a
lot of mingling until the group was seated, and some after the
photos were taken, but for a good part of the evening, all were
in fixed positions and rubbing elbows only with those within
elbow radius.
The real "mixing" this year appeared to happen at the smaller
activities, such as NSD, SBS, the Limo Tour, bar crawl, etc.,
and that left quite a few out of the mixing process.
I think we need to take steps to encourage more "mixing" at
our large gatherings. They could be subtle, like not letting
people to take tables until a certain time, or (I can hear the
groans already) maybe some of those ubiquitous mixing games.
But anyway, I think we need to encourage our people, both
newbees and oldtimers, to spread themselves around.
. . .
Another related topic which says a lot for the perception of
overall hospitality is that of greeters, reflected by the
comment:
+Disappointed that there wasn't much structure, like checking-in
+or someone as a greater at the events.
I think we need to look into having designated greeters at our
larger functions, and I'm talking about people other than the
check-in hostesses. Those are really too preoccupied with
shuffling papers and stuffing name tags to do much "greeting"
per se.
Something for the group to think about.
Comments, gang ...
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Age Appropriate:
>>We had a well attended DLV this year, as a matter of fact, a
>>record turnout!
>>During our well attended TG event, we did have an issue with
>>a person regarding Age Appropriate dress. I feel that it's
>>time to clear the air about this person.....
(The remainder of this message was in the previous Org mailing)
......
Julie Brenda Green writes:
>Will the Org list be informed if this individual registers for DLV
>next year? I'm not asking for their name, although clearly some
>already know it, such as those who have witnessed or confronted her.
>Since there is prediction that we may have a repeat, I think it
>would be best if the text below were re-sent to the org list next
>year, prior to DLV, in the event that this individual re-registers,
>along with a note that the individual has re-registered.
......
Annie writes:
>>I don't know if she plans on attending next year, but if she
>>does, we might be doing this all over again.
>I've said this before to some, but I'll say it again in public.
>IMAO, as of this time, as of some time ago, actually, we have
>totally exhausted our quanta of energy allocated to this
>particular incident.
>Very little can be said which has not already been said, and to
>drag on discussion will only generate a lot of heat and very
>little light.
>Things like this are like black holes. They absorb everything
>within their force field, including the energy that should be
>used planning for DLV 2008.
>As far as our policies and procedures, they worked, although the
>outcome was not as warm and fuzzy as may have been desired.
>They ain't broke, they don't need fixed. Procedures were followed
>and those who filed the complaints were given relief.
>With regard to next year, yeah, we can what-if all year if we
>want, but are procedures are already in place.
>From this day forward, we need to concentrate our efforts on the
>99% of our attendees who appreciate our efforts and have the
>desire to follow the guidelines.
>My suggestion is to refrain from opening any new business on the
>topics of behavior, dress, and restroom. Close out the lingering
>discussion on the topics as they wane, and move on with the
>planning of 2008.
......
There was some very good and entertaining chatter on the DLV
discussion forum regarding the behavior, dress, and restroom
guidelines.
However, the bottom line is that there will be no relaxation of
the BDR guidelines for DLV 2008.
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Administrivia:
This is the Diva Las Vegas 2008 organizational list.
One address for all items regarding this list, additions, removals,
changes, submissions, questions, etc.:
dlvorg@geekbabe.com <--- NOTE: all lower case
Diva Las Vegas 2008
Dates to be announced
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
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