From: Diva Las Vegas organizers (dlvorg@geekbabe.com)
Date: Tue May 26 2009 - 07:00:00 CDT
In this mailing:
Org List
Continuing the summary
Numbers game
Palazzo employee commendation
Karaoke, Irish, Jam
Activity summaries
Administrivia
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Org List:
This is the DLV 2009 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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Continuing the summary:
I think we're right on track for wrapping things up.
The un-official un-final total headcount now sits at 146, or
slightly over the machine-predicted number. I have a feeling
that this will increase slightly as the stragglers are
accounted for.
. . . . .
Now is the time to start de-briefing and examining things,
both individual activities and venues, our ways of doing
things, and general and specific items regarding the event.
What activities worked? Which venues were good?
What activities did not work? Which venues were poor?
What issues did our attendees encounter which we can work
to mitigate in years to come?
Yes, behavior, dress, and restroom issues and incidents? What
can we do to work toward minimizing these? What preventive
measures can we take in years to come?
We've had some very good activity summaries (see more below)
and we need to continue, generally and specifically.
. . . . .
The survey went out last Friday and the Call For Photos will
go out today. We'll do the Call For Volunteers later this
week and, as planned, do a big summary mailing early next
week.
I want to keep things moving along this year. I want to
wrap up the survey around June 15 and move the photo pages
along more quickly, as we have received complaints the
past two years from those who don't understand that it
takes time and real work to sort through the photos and
get them posted.
. . . . .
Summarizing continues.
Some more activity summaries are below. Mine are included
below, including my blow-by-blow on what happened on the
Limo Tour, which did have some issues this year.
If you were the coordinator of a significant activity and
you haven't yet sent in either a headcount and/or a verbal
summary, please send that in. It does not have to be
anything fancy, but please describe any issues or rough
spots you may have encountered.
. . . . .
If you have not done so, please take the follow-up survey,
which is on line at:
http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/2009survey.html
If you have already taken this and wish to submit more comments,
please feel free to go back and submit an additional one with
only text in the comment boxes and no check-buttons.
I am hoping to get over a 50% response rate this year, or about
70-some, and with the enthusiasm I saw this year, I think this
is very possible. For surveys of this type, a rate of response
of 50% or more is considered excellent.
I want to wrap up the survey on or about June 15, so we can do
a final compliation of the results and publish them while the
event is still fresh in everyone's mind.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Numbers game:
Let's continue to get numbers for the individual activities.
The list is much shorter this time, thanks to all who have
sent in attendance totals.
Let's now open this up to all who attended, if you see any
activity listed in the ????? section which you attended,
whether or not you were in charge, please estimate the
number of DLVers present and send in an approximate
headcount.
If you sent in some numbers and don't see them here, please
accept my apology and remind me. :)
. . . . .
Need numbers for:
Pre-DLV MCC: ?????
(Monday) Late-night Get-Together (Paris): ?????
Dos Caminos option (Dos Caminos - Palazzo): ?????
Pub Crawl (Start at Goodtimes): ?????
Drinks at Encore (Encore): ?????
Glamour Boutique Open House: ?????
Local Happy Hour (Bellagio - Petrossian Bar): ?????
Local dinner (Bellagio): ?????
Post-NSD gathering (Escape Lounge): ?????
Boat Tour Breakfast: ?????
Wynn option (Wynn): ?????
Pity Party: ?????
Dancing option (Krave): ?????
Gaming option (Paris): ?????
Socializing option (Goodtimes) ?????
Post-DLV MCC: ?????
. . . . .
Attendance totals for:
Pre-DLV PTs: ca. 20
Studio Lites Open House: ca. 25
Lunch With Ginger (Stratosphere buffet): 12
Happy Hour, Dinner, Welcome Meet and Greet (Blue Ox): 105
Harmony Nail Spa Open House (Harmony Nail Spa): ca. 10
Diva Las Vegas Invitational Golf (Desert Rose): 16
Lunch With Mary Beth (Rio Buffet): 12
SO Get-Together (Claim Jumper): 8
Magic's A Drag show (Krave - Harmon Theater): 18
Joes Stone Crab option (Joes - Caesars): 16
Quiet evening at home option: 8
Pajama Party: 8
Milanos option (Milanos): 10
Post-show dinner (Cantina - Tuscany): 20
Star Trek IMAX Experience: ca. 8
Theater Night - Jersey Boys (Palazzo): ca. 20
Art Tour, morning session (Atomic Test Museum): 15
Lunch With Ginger (Paris Buffet): 13
Art Tour Lunch (Artisan): ca. 21
Art Tour, afternoon session (Bellagio): ca. 12
Happy Hour, Dinner (Trevi): ca. 44
Official group photo (Caesars): ca. 40
Limousine Tour (Caesars): 40
Karaoke (Goodtimes Lounge): ca. 30
Charles Bar (Bellagio): ca. 22
Lunch With Ginger (Harrahs Buffet): 8
Night Of The Soiled Doves (CR): 44
Irish Pubbing (McMullans Irish Pub): ca. 25
Pistol/rifle shooting: 8
Lake Mead Boat Tour: ca. 13
Lunch With Ginger (Bellagio Buffet): 5
High Tea (Four Seasons): 11
Affordable option (Komol): 19
Upscale option (Roy's): 11
Murder Mystery interactive: 21
Acoustic Jam Session: ca. 15
Gaming option (Paris): 4
SBS Social (Blue Ox): 26
Fashion Show Mall Fashion Show: 12
Happy Hour, Dinner, Ending Bash: 80
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Palazzo employee commendation:
This is a draft of a note which will be sent, on behalf of DLV,
to the management of the Palazzo.
For those who are unaware of this incident, it happened just
after the Jersey Boys performance on Tuesday evening.
MB sums it up quite well.
Comments, gang?
. . . . .
Mary Beth writes:
+To the Management of The Palazzo Hotel and Casino:
+I am writing to commend the outstanding service and
+thoughtful, decisive actions of your Team Member, waitress
+Hsiu-Ting, during a recent visit to your casino.
+I am a male-to-female transgender. Although biologically
+male, I prefer to spend time living as a female. On the
+evening of May 12th I, along with six of my friends (four
+male-to-female transgenders and two genetic females)
+attended the 9:30 performance of Jersey Boys. After the
performance, we stopped at the circular lounge on the north
side of the casino.
+While we were having our drinks and talking among ourselves,
+a large group of twenty-somethings (a mixed group of men and
+women) entered the lounge and sat across the way from us. Some
+of the men in the group started shouting rude and hateful
+comments toward us, expressing their displeasure with how
+we present our gender identity (not that it is any of their
+business in the first place).
+Without any prompting by us, Ms. Hsiu-Ting (who heard the
+remarks) took the swift and decisive action of calling
+security and having the officers tell these people to
+behave themselves or leave the property.
+We are eternally grateful to Ms. Hsiu-Ting for looking out
+for our safety and comfort, and for diffusing what could
+have turned into a very ugly situation. Her exemplary
+behavior in the face of the ignorant trans-phobia on display
+made us feel very welcome at your establishment.
+We want you to know how much we appreciate Ms. Hsiu-Ting's
+efforts, and ask that you pass along to her our thanks and
+our best wishes.
+Very truly yours,
+Mary Beth Cooper
+on behalf of the Diva Las Vegas organizers
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Karaoke, Irish, Jam:
Susan writes:
>Thanks to everyone, the organizers, the attendees and all the
>businesses that took care of us. It was a great DLV.
>It's been a whirlwind for me. After all the partying at DLV, I packed
>up my car and drove back to NY on Tuesday. Here are some thoughts.
. . . . .
>Karaoke at Goodtimes on Wednesday
>I counted about 30 people. It was more crowded than I expected. In
>the four conversations that I had with Shiela; before suggesting
>this event to the committee, after it was scheduled, one month
>before and one week before, she never mentioned this contest.
>I'm sorry that I didn't get to hear you all sing. I'm new at
>this organizing thing. I'll learn.
>The people did seem to enjoy themselves and it was nice to
>see the limo tour stop by.
Thanks for the reports, Susan.
The idea of the Limo Tour stopping by was really twofold. In
the past, the LT has occurred on the same night as the Pity
Party and there was talk of making the PP a stop on the LT
just to say hi, and (assuming the PP was in a safe venue)
allow for a mid-tour safe potty stop. (Despite the choruses
of "mainstream mainstream mainstream" we keep hearing, there
are many of our attendees who are still far more comfortable
using public restrooms in safe venues.)
Anyway, one thing someone on our team {blush} did not think
of was that Goodtimes only had a one-holer. Need I say more.
We took some heat for this, and I'm sure the survey will
reflect this.
It looked like a good crowd at Goodtimes, but I'm not sure
how many were ours and how many were civilians.
. . . . .
>Irish Pubbing at Mcmullan's on Thursday
>I counted about 25. Some of the people who signed up didn't show.
>But they were offset by people who didn't sign up but came.
The Magic Machine said that there were 26 signed up, and out of
those, 19 were expected to show. Since this was "sign-up
requested" and not required, yes, you picked up some extras
so your total headcount was very close to the sign-up count.
>We had our own dining room. So the comfort factor was good. Some
>of us did wander around the pub. It was all good.
>The only complaint that I heard was that the shepard's pie
>didn't have enough vegetables. The waitress worked her tail
>off. I hope that you all appreciated her.
>I've found that the best way to be accepted as a community is to
>be nice to the people who take care of us. A nice tip doesn't hurt
>either.
>A special thanks to Bob, who sat at the door and happily greeted
>everybody who showed up, while I did the social butterfly thing
>in the didning room.
I think that was a Good Thing<tm> to do. This year I tried to
encourage the volunteers and longtimers to circulate among
the attendees, and from what I observed, this was happening.
I think that overall, our hospitality was at a high this year
and I'm sure this was appreciated in particular by those who
were new this year.
. . . . .
Acoustic Jam Session
>It was hard to count exactly as we went on right after the pity
>party. But 15 is about right. I know that the four of us who
>played had a great time. Thanks to all of you for singing along
>on the chorus of Puff The Magic Dragon.
>Thanks to Amy and her staff at the Glamour Boutique. Everything
>went smoothly even though we had three events.
>A suggestion for next year. Those of us who hope to schedule an
>event at Glamour Boutique, let's be more organized. We can
>spread our events out over the week. I'm sure that Amy and her
>staff would appreciate that.
. . . . .
>The party at Bahama Breeze was excellent this year. The sun
>room made a difference. It was easier to mingle. The DJ was
>a nice touch. He played good music and not too loud.
>I must say that it was hot. I'm sure that you all noticed. I
>cancelled golf because of the heat.
>I realized this year that the reward that you get for
>organizing is simply seeing people show up and enjoy
>themselves. All of the organizers can pat themselves on
>the back. Well done
I would like to thank you, as one of our new volunteers this
year, for taking on all of these. This is really much more
than we ask, but if you feel up to doing multiple things,
it's truly appreciated.
Yes, one measure of the success of the activities, and the
event as a whole, is the people having fun. This can be
informally measured by the smiling faces in the photos and
the comments, which for the most part I'm sure will be
mostly positive this year.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Activity summaries:
With all of my reminding others to send in their activity
summaries, I finally remembered that I have not yet sent
in mine. :)
Here are the two major items I was involved with this year.
Milanos dinner:
Dining at Milano's is a DLV tradition going back to 1999. If
I am correct, only Goodtimes (1997-2009) beats Milano's
(1999-2009) as a long-standing activity venue.
This year we did things a bit differently. We had Happy Hour
over at the Hard Rock Cafe (one long block to the north of
Milano's) and then walked over.
Happy Hour had a strange twist to it, as we had two groups
which were seated exactly opposite to each other at the
circular bar, neither group knowing at first that the other
group was there. (O'Leary is dead and O'Reilly dunno it!) :)
Milano's will never win any Zagat awards, nor will they
ever be featured in "What's On" Magazine. (Unless for some
reason they should take out a large display ad - meow!)
Milano's is known to DLVers (and other regulars) for one
thing, good food and lots of it at reasonable prices. It's
good-old Sicilian-American soul food. Mostly pizza and
red-sauce dishes, but they do have burgers and various
other specialties as well. (Plus, they have been known
to be bribed to serve Rubber Chicken on request.) :)
No booze.
However, they are very liberal about letting you drink
something you brought in from elsewhere, and The Buffalo
a few doors down is very liberal about overlooking when
someone walks out the door with a bottle of beer. Just
don't swipe one of their bar glasses! :)
Anyway, we had a grand total of 10. We started at the
central 6-seat table and I had planned to ask the others
who arrived to just take other tables, but before I could
do that, the waiters very quickly moved in and added
more tables to the big central one.
I had to leave early, since I had to get over to Jersey
Boys, so I walked back to HR and took a taxi back to the
Flamingo where I was staying. From what I hear, most of
the others went on the Bar Crawl.
. . . . .
Limousine Tour:
Oh yes, the Limo Tour ...
We had good things happen and bad things, and yes, we had
a few (more) lessons learned the hard way.
To make a long story long ... :)
One of the Lessons Learned the hard way in 2008 was that if
we have a late deadline to pay, and you assume the role of
Joe Goodguy and waive the deadline for some, all with good
intentions, some of those will fail to follow through and
others will pull this last-minute nonchalant "oh gee, I
changed my mind" and such. This resulted in some last-minute
issues for the LT in 2008 and we came close to having to
cancel one car and refund three riders' payments. We had an
exhausted waiting list and still three open seats. (In order
for the LT to break even, we must have full cars, all seats
paid for.)
Fortunately for last year we were able to re-shuffle things,
using the wiggle-room of first and second choice, and we got
everybody a seat.
This year I decided to collect very assertively and set
two drop-dead times, one for payment to be in, and the
other to either pay or show some sign of life (meaning
set a time and place to pay) or the tickets go up for
grabs to the waiting list.
That time was 7:00pm on Monday of DLV week. It was announced
several times, including a special mailing to all LT people
emphasizing just that.
Well, 7:00pm Monday arrived. There were some who had indeed
said they would pay at xxx time later, but there were a few
who had not paid nor shown any sign of life.
There were waiting list folks at the bar with cash in hand.
I started selling the unclaimed tickets until we had 7 full
cars and considered it to be a done deal ...
.. but then the late payers started arriving.
Some were miffed, stating that there was no such deadline,
until I cited the dates of the mailings and exactly what
was said. Most of them asked if they could be squeezed in.
A few more apologized for being late and asked if there was
any way that they could be accommodated.
I met with a group of them at a table, collected enough to
fill the eighth car, regraded two E cars to A, and had
everyone accommodated -- or so I thought.
One couple had entrusted payment for two tickets to someone
who had not yet arrived and had not stated that she was going
to pay for those two tickets at any particular time. We were
totally full, all paid or accounted for, solid. I had to
explain that the deadline was missed, and I was sorry. I
did say, as I said to all who didn't make the cut, to be at
the load-in area and if any seats were open due to last-
minute no-shows, they could ride.
Hold that thought ... :)
On Wednesday I met JoAnn and we settled the business of
the Limo Tour. We were sitting at Starbucks and I was
counting out piles of $100 bills and such and I wondered
if onlookers thought we were doing some kind of dope deal
or something. :)
We went to the Bell Trans office and we paid for the
vehicles, checked some signals with their dispatchers,
and JoAnn took the rest of the cash to procure booze and
munchies.
JoAnn and I then went over to the load-in area and carefully
sought out the best path from Trevi to the load-in area,
which was a side tour-bus entrance at Caesars.
We then drove over to the Palazzo and scoped out where we
wanted the limos to discharge and pick up, which was right
along the east side of the circle drive.
Hold that thought too! :(
JoAnn then took off to grab Marilyn and go get goodies.
After the Group Photo, Mary Beth and Marcia and I herded
the gang to the limo staging area. JoAnn was there getting
the refreshments ready to load.
I tried like hell to get people assembled in groups by
limo, but they would not cooperate! :( :( :(
We had standbys waiting, and I asked them over and over
to please wait behind the groups, but they refused to
cooperate either! :( Everyone just kept kind of forming
together in one big bolus, I kept going back and forth,
over and over, trying to keep the limo riders in their
groups and the standby people back behind them.
As the limos arrived we began loading. It was obvious that
there were a few no-shows, so when each limo was ready to
take off, I called for a standby, if there was a vacant
seat. I told them that they were to wait outside the
vehicle until the limo was to depart, and board if and
only if nobody with the ticket for the vacant seat showed.
We got everyone loaded, looked like all cars were ready to
go so we took off for the Las Vegas sign.
First stop, the famous "Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.
This seemed to go smoothly until JoAnn told me that we had
one car with EIGHT PEOPLE. It turns out that the couple
who did not get payment in on time JUST JUMPED INTO A LIMO
WHICH WAS ALREADY LOADED TO CAPACITY without a ticket!
I'm very surprised that the driver let them do that, since
the driver can indeed be ticketed for overloading. JoAnn
and I talked briefly about what to do, we talked about
making them take a taxi from the next stop, but apparently
we just let it slide and them ride.
Next stop was Goodtimes, which was supposed to be a "safe
potty stop" (as has been requested for the Limo Tour), but
somebody {blush} didn't recall that all they had in the
ladies room was one stall. Plus, they had Karaoke going
in the main bar and our people who needed to take a "bio
break" had to be absorbed into their above average potty
load. A line formed, and some did not get their break.
The third stop, the World's Largest Gift Shop<tm> was my
idea and I'll take any heat for it, if there is heat to
be taken. At the time, I wasn't really aware of it being
as disliked as it apparently was. What I mostly remember
was one group of our people posing with a security guard
and by some motorcycles. It looked like our people were
having a good time, at least at the time.
I sure heard about it the next day! Comments at lunch along
the line of "who the {f-bomb} ever told them to dump us off
at that place ..." and such! :(
Oh well, I was trying to think outside the box. :) :(
Enough for out of the box thinking, huh?
We headed south on the Strip, next stop being Palazzo, where
JoAnn and I had checked out and found a good drop-off area.
Needless to say I was very surprised when our limo dived
down into what could easily be mistaken for the entrance to
the Callahan Tunnel! :(
I asked the driver what was going on, and our driver said
that the Senior Driver had instructed the others to drop
off below, as the door staff wanted groups to be discharged
there. I quickly reminded the driver that WE (DLV) and not
the Palazzo door staff were the ones paying them, and she
didn't even blink, but swung around to where we wanted to
go and let our car (one of 8) off.
She said she would contact the others and have them do the
same, but none of the other drivers' cell phones could be
contacted. By the time contact was established, the group
had already disembarked and could not easily be re-assembled.
Unfortunately some major issues occurred. I'm not sure of
all of the details, but it involved a very conspicuous
group of our people (not knowing where they were or where
they were to go), several of whom being badly in need of a
bio break. The stories I heard were different, and in some
cases contradictory. We apparently had DLV people in both
the mens room and the ladies room and there was at least
one report to security, resulting in gestapo-like guarding
of one ladies room.
At the last stop, Bellagio, I understand there was a very
similar restroom issue. I didn't hear of this one until
after DLV and I don't have all of the details, but it
apparently involved at least one report to security which
resulted in strict policing of one ladies room.
Yes, more lessons learned this year. I have a feeling
that we're gonna take a pasting on the survey regarding
the Limo Tour. :(
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Administrivia:
This is the Diva Las Vegas 2009 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 2009
May 11 - 16, 2009 (concluded)
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
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