In this mailing:
Org List
All kinds of various items this week
Joann's Thoughts
General feelings about where we stand
Formalize orienting newly-introduced-to-DLV attendees
Name tags
The 2012 photo situation
The DLV web site
Newcomer terminology
Gatherings and such
Keeping in touch
Administrivia
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Org List:
This is the DLV 2013 Organizational Mailing List (dlvorg_at_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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All kinds of various items this week:
This mailing is a very mixed bag, but it continues the conversation
regarding the welcoming of newcomers and some spin-offs.
Please continue. We're in our "slow season" and such brainstorming
is most appropriate and encouraged.
. . . . . . . . . .
As noted below, we'll be extending the Call For Photos.
Those of you on this list who have photos which you have not yet
sent in are encouraged to do so. If any assistance is needed, please
say so.
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Joann's Thoughts:
There is a great opportunity here to give your inputs.
You need to respond to the various items/issues addressed in this
e-mail.
From your comments we will be better able to plan what addresses your
activities at our DIVA Gathering 2013.
So let hear from you !!.
JoAnn
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General feelings about where we stand:
Annie writes:
Although we did have what many consider to be a successful event,
from reading the lines and reading between the lines, I'm getting
the feeling, "sensing the vibes" for lack of a better term, that
some do not regard this year's event to be as satisfying as they
had expected it to be.
I'm sensing some disappointment, some frustration, and even some
"grasping at straws" in search of something, anything, that would
be the magic bullet to make things right.
One very good thing that has spun off is that we've had, and
continue to have, a very productive discussion regarding really
reaching out to the newcomers and doing what we can to better
welcome them and to assimilate them into the DLV community.
Some indicators we're aware of are the decreased overall turnout
for our event as a whole, a lower than expected level of
activity participation, particularly for the smaller activities,
and a higher number of activity snafu issues than we usually see,
few of which could have been foreseen.
We did fairly complete surveys of both attendees and non-attendees.
If there were any major at-fault issues on our part, or any 10-ton
elephants in the room, they would have shown up! Even if there were
widespread grumblings behind the scenes, we would certainly hear of
it. As Michelle has pointed out, the TG community cannot keep
anything quiet! :)
As far as a lower overall turnout, we've previously noted far more
late cancellations than we've ever had in the past.
The two main reasons cited for not attending were personal conflicts
and the economy, in that order. If we assume that the number of
personal conflicts will be more or less constant over the years,
our variable here is the economy. Not much we can do about that!
I don't think we're alone!
The rumblings I'm hearing is that all TG events are seeing a slight
to moderate slowdown and decrease in attendance this year. For most
of these events, a decrease in attendance means a decrease in $$$$$
and I'm certain of some challenges in getting books to balance!
Let's circle back to some survey comments ...
+I had a big sister but recieved no help from her at all.
+have a place for all to meet to go places.
+Seems like so many gurls who are repeat-timers went off and did
+their own thing instead of doing the scheduled events.
+You need more large events where all can meet and get to know
+each other.
+You need more plans to keep the group together.
+You need some more organization to the opening mixer. There wasn't
+any real mixing going on, just people talking with who they knew
+allready.
+First, you need something more formal or structured to introduce
+new girls to the group.
+I found the hardest part in attending was the lack of a Single
+spot, where everything works out of.
There's a common theme bubbling beneath these comments.
What I am hearing in these comments is an expression of a desire
and a need to become better acquainted with the other DLVers and
a desire to become more of a part of the DLV community.
I think we've identified a need here, and the chatter over the past
few mailings indicates a desire to meet this need. Although this
may not solve all of our issues, it's a very good step to take! :)
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Formalize orienting newly-introduced-to-DLV attendees:
Walt writes:
I admit I have been mentally wrestling with the resolution of how to
"jump-start" familiarization/orientation to the workings of DLV to first
or second time attendees...
I do share the prevalent opinion that "beginner" or "newcomer" does not
convey the correct intent (evidenced by Ashley's comment in the previous
mailing; I met and spoke at reasonable length with Ashley, she is a very
articulate, intelligent lady).
I am wondering whether an "almost-conference-like" checkin process for
the first checkin opportunities (formal, defined meet-point) on perhaps
sunday and monday mornings... checkin host(ess) would be armed with
detailed schedule and background handout or spoken information in
combination with presence of one or more seasoned-veterans of DLV... not
super-formal, but on on-site logistics, etc briefing... after two such
mornings, then return to free-form checkin for remainder of event...
Does that sound at all plausible?
I admit, my experience is not analogous to that of the majority of
attendees and I am trying to empathize and understand.... :-)
I welcome your and the rest of the ORG members critique and criticism of
this initial idea...
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Annie responds:
Thanks, Walt.
Here are a few of my thoughts on yours ...
We've been thinking about a term that would be correct and inclusive
for our first year attendees. None of those I've thought of are
worthy of placing into discussion. I keep eventually circling back
to "newcomer" no matter which angle I try to hit upon. See below for
more on this.
Using the thesaurus I come up with terms such as fledgling, newbie,
entrant, freshman, neophyte, starter, beginner, initiate, enlistee,
recruit ...
None of those are even close to what we want, IMAO!
. . . . .
We've discussed our check-in process off and on, but so far there
have been no compelling needs agreed upon other than the need to
pass out name tags and note attendance.
Our basic model precludes having a fixed check-in desk like they
have at the conventions. We do, however, usually have a few "choke
points" in our schedule through which the majority of the attendees
will pass.
We could probably specify a "formal, defined meet-point" as you
have noted. Said meet point could be at instances of Newcomer Open
House sessions where newcomers would be encouraged to attend. We
would also invite the volunteers to attend so they can meet the
new folks one-on-one.
I am hearing a desire for more structure in our various introductory
activities. While that Quality Social Time is a Good Thing<tm> and
our people love it, I'm beginning to see a need for an extension of
the concept, perhaps even for more of a "program" at such things as
our Welcome Celebration.
We do need to consider some of our real-world factors such as the
fact that newcomers will not all be staying in the same place and
not all of them will be arriving on the same day/time.
You mentioned a printed schedule/handout. We did that for a few
years, but dropped it primarily due to expense and workload. If
there is a desire to bring this back, it can happen, if we have
the volunteer commitment to compose it and get it printed. One
major challenge we've had is that often times our schedule is not
truly solid until just before the event starts.
Another challenge is that any kind of a hand-out has to be paid
for. Our model does not include a common pool of funds, so such
things have to go begging to find a sponsor.
Please don't be concerned that your personal situation is somewhat
off the peak of the bell curve. Our level of hospitality should
extend to all regardless of their self-identity.
Comments, gang?
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Name tags:
But first, a housekeeping note. This list here, our DLVORG list,
is the correct forum in which to bring up anything which is
organizational in nature, such as name tags, policies on posting
photos, web site content, etc. This group here is the decision-maker
on such items.
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Beverly writes:
I also like the idea of the different color nametag for the
first-timers. I know that if I am able to identify someone new to DLV I
will go out of my way to say hi and welcome them. I'm sure many of the
long-time DLVers feel the same way. And I like the idea of everyone
having and wearing a nametag early in the week because I am terrible
with remembering names and need a helpful reminder that the nametags
provide.
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Thanks, Beverly.
Rosada has volunteered to be in charge of name tags for DLV 2013.
It will really be her baby and she's going to be the one to decide
on what they look like and what specially-designated tags, if any,
there will be.
Any suggestions or ideas regarding the name tags should be brought
up here for Rosada to consider.
If Rosada plans a specially-designated tag for those who do not
wish to be photographed, we'll need to come up with a method of
capturing that information and making it available.
Now, if anyone has any sure-fire ideas on how to get our people to
actually WEAR the name tags, please speak up! :) The rank and file
do not consider name tags to be a priority, as indicated by the
survey results for the past 5 years:
2008: 41/32/11 48%
2009: 34/40/11 40%
2010: 50/47/8 48%
2011: 47/52/9 44%
2012: 37/46/4 43%
(Numbers are Like/Don't really care either way/Don't like)
These numbers are quite consistent over the years. If anyone has
ideas on how to make name tags more popular, more fashionable,
more helpful, please say so.
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The 2012 photo situation:
Annie writes:
We'll be extending the Call For Photos until August 15. A special
mailing will go out today to all who attended DLV 2012.
I do not anticipate any change to our long-standing policy of
few-questions-asked photo removal. One of our core values is
consideration of others and it is highly inconsiderate to post
someone's image on the web against their wishes!
If anyone has any reason why it would be to our benefit to post
images of attendees who have indicated that they do not want them
posted, or any benefit to making the photo removal process less
convenient, please say so.
I know that some are very sensitive about this issue, and IMAO,
any rumblings about posting unwanted images will only discourage
the submission of photos, and might possibly discourage attendance.
Anyway ...
Let's look at some numbers.
As of Wednesday morning we've received a total of 569 photos, which
is about half of what we've typically seen in recent years. Of those
569, 547 of them were placed in the staging areas.
We've had a total of 14 removal requests as of Wednesday, all which
were processed very promptly, consisting of just over 2% of the
submitted photos.
In addition, we've received 226 "like" votes.
Maybe 569 is the new normal. I don't know. The reason I see for
fewer photos is that we had not only a decreased total headcount
but a decreased level of active participation in many activities,
thus fewer photos. If you look at the staging areas, the better
attended activities are quite well represented visually.
I am thinking of ways to make the photo submission process easier
and more convenient for those who are not that technically savvy.
Most of our people are very good at pointing and clicking, but not
familiar with such things as FTP and the various methods of taking
several individual files and making one tar/zip/whatever file out
of them. We now have the ability to directly upload photos via
MyDLV, but not that many take advantage of it. One suggestion was
to provide a method of uploading multiple photos in one shot, such
as Flickr and Blogger do, and yes, that can happen, but not for
this year.
Anyway, we're going to try to encourage those who have photos who
have not sent them in to do so.
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The DLV web site:
Let's take a few minutes to discuss the web site ...
There's been a suggestion, and a jump aboard the bandwagon, in
regards to making the verbiage on our web site more forceful and
weighty regarding the fact that we are a vacation and not a
convention.
Do some attendees actually believe that we are a convention
despite all of our statements that we are not?
Let's back up and look at this from a higher level.
The Big Burning question I want to ask is:
Is our web site effective in letting attendees know what to expect
and what not to expect at our event?
If it's truly ineffective in saying what it's supposed to say, or
if it's in any way disseminating misinformation about our event,
then I say it's time to change things.
One thing we do track is just this, the effectiveness of the web
site, in in the form of a survey question which has been asked for
about a decade.
Let's examine the numbers, both for the current year and going 5
years back into history.
The wording of the question, consistent among all years, is:
+Did you find our web site to accurately depict what you experienced
+at DLV?
In the summary below, the columns after the year represent the
following answers and data:
1. Year.
2. Yes, definitely.
3. Yeah, kinda.
4. No.
5. Did not view web site.
6. Total responses to this question.
7. Percentage answering yes, definitely.
2007: 61/18/1/6 (86) 71%
2008: 60/19/4/3 (86) 70%
2009: 65/16/2/1 (84) 77%
2010: 87/14/2/2 (105) 82%
2011: 89/21/1/0 (111) 80%
2012: 75/14/1/0 (90) 83%
Of course we want to see the "Yes Definitely" be as high as is
possible, and the "No" number be as low as we can make it, as
close to zero or in the low single digits.
If we use this data as a measurement of the effectiveness of the
web site in getting the word out as to what DLV is and is not, The
trend shows a gradual but consistent improvement over the recent
years.
In any case, there's no indication that the web site fails to
deliver the message regarding what we are and what we are not.
As for increasing the "vacation not convention" intensity, I don't
think that an in-your-face clue-by-four swat is the answer here.
I think the answer is to examine why these comments are being made
and act upon the root causes. The web site shows (and rightly so)
a lot of people having fun, celebrating life and enjoying each
other's company. We imply that those who attend will be welcomed
into the gang that is having fun. Those who attend wish to be part
of the community depicted on the web site. Those who attend and do
not feel that they are part of the community will be unhappy.
We need to deliver what we are selling! :)
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Newcomer terminology:
We are in search of a term, one which is meaningful and is easily
recognizable, and not hokey, kitschy, artificial or contrived, and
is universally applicable.
From a conversation:
j> = JoAnn
a> = Annie
j> Group-First
j> Group Out
j> Group Forward
a> I've been trying to come up with appropriate terms for both the
a> newcomers as individuals and for the process we will hopefully
a> use to assimilate them, but I admit I'm getting nowhere!
a> I keep either circling back to military terms (recruit, candidate)
a> or those that would not apply to all (debutante) or those that are
a> just plain hokey.
a> I eventually circle back to "newcomer", if you can understand that.
j> Maybe we should have a feedback inquiry??
a> I want to discuss just this in the next ORG mailing. We are kind
a> of on a roll, and I think the gang will provide great input.
j> I would avoid a vote no matter what !!
a> Voting has its time and place, but I don't think this is a case
a> where it would be appropriate. :)
j> I suggest that you e-mail this dialog with both of our exchanges
j> to the Org Group and ask for their inputs within a time frame of
j> two weeks.
j> I believe it sets the stage for a conversation to follow and
j> after the two week response time we can proceed appropriately.
Ok you wordsmiths out there. This is your cue. :)
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Gatherings and such:
Beverly writes:
Hi all! First, I think it is wonderful that the 'problems' we are having
are of the nature of finding more things to do, better communications,
getting to know people, and where to eat lunch. Those are all pretty
small problems and ones that we should be able to fix without much
effort. Things could be so much worse!
I want to thank Katie for organizing the early morning gatherings this
year and I am all in favor of adding breakfast events and o= ther
morning activities for DLV2013.
As a Midwesterner whose body is on a 2 hour time difference when
arriving at Las Vegas I find myself waking around 5:00AM during the
first few days because my body says it's time to wake up. So there I am
lying in bed wondering what I am going to do until lunch with Ginger.
Usually it means heading to the casino tables in guy mode for a few
hours of blackjack (while having my nails ablaze with bright polish). So
this year's wake-up meeting with Katie at the IP coffee shop was highly
welcomed. I had plenty of time to get dressed and put on my face and
make the meeting time. I understand those of you from the Pacific time
zone are at a disadvantage to those from the Eastern and Central time
zones (Mountain time zones are slightly less inconvenienced). As the
week goes on and I adjust as well as wear myself out the sleeping in be
comes easier to do. But those first few days I welcome an early morning
activity.
So the idea of breakfast (like I need another opportunity to eat) sounds
good to me. Gabi and I ate at Terribles one morning and enjoyed an
inexpensive breakfast.
Katie also mentioned the cocktail lounge on the 5th floor of Imperial
Palace as a good meeting place for late afternoon/early evening
refreshments. I agree totally. It is a great place, easy to get to, few
people around, restroom right there, good drinks with a friendly
bartender. I think it would be a great place for those staying at the IP
to congregate before heading out to dinner, and especially be a good
place for first-timers to meet smaller groups of gals. For those needing
rides to other venues, it would be easy to find out who has a seat
available in their car during this time. And did I mention the nice big
restroom well off the beaten path? This place is perfect for us!
I hope we can get to the point that there are so many choices of daytime
activities that I have a hard time choosing which to do. I would love to
have more activities like park outings, swap meet, Shiloh Ranch, and the
likes to choose from to fill my daytimes and keep me away from the
tables.. gambling and food! And yes Annie, I plan on volunteering to
fill in some of those blanks next year.
. . . . . . . . . .
Annie responds:
Thanks, Beverly.
First of all, I might caution against assuming that any facility
which was at the Imperial Palace this past April will be there and
in the same state and location this coming year. Demolition and
remodeling are ongoing and a rebranding is almost certain before
next year's DLV.
Yes, the "problems" we have are minor, particularly when compared
to those other groups and events are seeing, especially when funds
(or the lack of same) are significant.
It's pretty much a given that a daily recurring coffee or continental
breakfast activity will occur. I'll go as far as to commit to
attending one of the sessions, assuming it's at a reasonable morning
hour, to support the concept.
If you or anyone thinks it's worth revisiting the daily hotel
get-togethers as we had in 2010, we can do so. Those were daily
informal social sessions at our suggested hotels. Those were not
carried over into 2011 due to the lack of volunteer commitment.
Any interest in reviving this?
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Keeping in touch:
Ashley writes:
I like a lot of what what said in this mailing and again would like to
comment (Cannot help it I hear something good and a I go with it)
As far as keeping attendees informed via the message board. This would
have been great if the hotels had free Internet. Where I stayed (IP)
they wanted too much for the Internet.
Would it be possible to supply a list of free wireless hot spots so that
attendees would know where to go tho get information or help.
I am an IT professional and can research ways to help keep those
attending more informed.
Just a thought
. . . . . . . . . .
Thanks, Ashley.
My guess is that less than half of the DLVers have convenient
full-size screen Internet access when at DLV. Yes, the daily WIFI
rates are often extortive! (They want you in the casino playing, not
in the room surfing!) There are countless free WIFI hotspots in Las
Vegas, but I'm sure that not many of our people regularly use these
or even would use these if we pointed them in the direction.
Most people do, however, have a smart phone or a text-capable cell
phone. Such things as purse-size tablets, netbooks, "net-vertable"
units are also becoming more common, but are far from universal at
this time.
We do have the tools available to keep in touch. The issue is, as I
see it, getting the critical mass of attendees to use them.
Although we did not promote it this year, it was used to a certain
extent. Two good examples are the notice of parking (or lack of) on
Sunday and the delay of the exodus from the Artisan to the Bellagio
on Wednesday.
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Received on Thu Jul 12 2012 - 07:28:57 CDT
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