[dlvorg] Opening, Top Five, etc. ...

In this mailing:

Org List
Moving forward and looking ahead
Top Five Final Score
In other news
Welcome Celebration
Resort fees
Administrivia
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Org List:

This is the DLV 2014 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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Moving forward and looking ahead:

Those of you who wish to be involved in the organization of our 2013
Welcome Celebration, please note the item below and respond if
necessary.
. . . . .

ETA for DLV 2013 follow-up pages: 1 week!
. . . . .

Again, please, if you send in anything to the ORG group address and do
not see at least a reference to it somewhere, please scream. Some items
(like short ones with URLs) seem to get caught in the spam trap.
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Top Five Final Score:

Sarah writes:

Okay, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and this looks
like a good place to start that process.

My top five;

Limo Tour - this could actually fill my top three spots. Nothing like it
and always a unique experience both in and out of the limo.

Closing Celebration - New friends, old friends all very relaxed and
looking great with a chance to start planning the next year

Art tour - Some have been better than others, but The Atomic Testing
Museum and some of the exhibits at the Bellagio were just great and
generate converstations that are not about gender or fashion.

Wandering - I like Las Vegas and getting a chance to wander about,
either alone or with a companion is always a treat with unexpected
rewards. Night of

Soiled Doves - Two groups of people on the margins of society finding
common ground
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Thanks to all who sent in their Top Five! Here's the final tally:

In first place with five votes (mentions):

Dancing At Paris (5)

Dancing At Paris is a done deal, assuming we get a few more volunteers
to help host(ess) it on various evenings.
. . . . .

In second place, with four votes:

Frank Marino's diva show (4)

As of this time we don't have a nailed-down Coordinator for Frank
Marino. That will be all it takes to get it on the schedule.
. . . . .

In third place, with three votes:

Night of Soiled Doves (3)

As we've noted before, one of our senior volunteers is interested in
getting this going again. It's currently in the "feasibility study"
state. Preliminary plans are for it to be simple and reasonable in cost.
It will take 1-2 more volunteers if this is to happen, so if you are
interested in helping with this, please let us know.
. . . . .

Tied for places four and five, with two votes each are:

Golf (2)
Fantastic Indoor Swapmeet (2)
Boat trip to Hoover Dam (2)
Surrender Night Club at Encore (2)
Shooting Event (2)
Morning/daytime outdoor hike & photo excursion (2)
Limo Tour (2)

Golf will definitely happen, as there's quite a bit of inertia to keep
it on the schedule even though it will need to be relocated, at least
for this year.

For FISM to happen, it will need to be on Friday, since the facility is
only open Fri-Sat-Sun. Volunteers have already expressed interest in
doing FISM.

We've been lacking in "outdoorsy" activities for the past couple of
years, and a hike/photo shoot would definitely be welcome.

The Limo Tour will definitely happen, and JoAnn is working on a new
twist for this coming year. We will definitely need a couple more
volunteers to help out with the Limo Tour. This would be a good spot
for new volunteers who do not wish to take the lead on an activity.
. . . . .

Next, in the "Honorable Mention" category, with one vote each:

Happy Hour tour with real HH prices on drinks and apps,
observation wheel
Guy Fieri - the Quad,
talk about the CD experience groups.
EHM
High Tea
Garden Party
Blue Ox
Wig salon
Rockabilly party
Zip line Fremont street
Bowling at The Red Rock (or anywhere else)
Another femme movement/dancing activity
LWG or other noon-time dining outing
more Vegas shows,
a talent nite,
a swimming pool event.
Closing Celebration
Art tour
Wandering - I like Las Vegas and getting a chance to wander about,

Some of these are already planned. Any of these could happen if
volunteer chooses to "adopt" one of them.
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In other news:

A new bar, Club Metro, has opened in the old Keys/Zingers/Crewsn space.

This may be a possibility for some small-medium gatherings.

If anyone can drop in and personally check this out, we would appreciate
it. :)
. . . . . . . . . .

Local transportation instructions:

We're working on a page of fairly detailed instructions on options for
local transportation, focusing on taking a taxi, the city bus, and the
Monorail.

An in-progress under-construction version can be seen here:

http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/dt/

Still very rough, but comments will be appreciated.
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Welcome Celebration:

This is the latest chatter regarding our opening gathering. Please
read the "action plan" below and if you are interested in actively
participating, please let us know.
. . . . . . . . . .

Vera writes:

If I may chime in.....maybe we should try using someone with some
business savvy to engage BdeB and FF in a "bidding war" to have the
honor of having us and our business.

Maybe the person who heads up the team of DLV negotiators, or just
herself, to engage these two businesses could show a short, very short,
composite video of our past DLV activities and members (I'm sure one
exists in one of our gal's collection or one can be produced in a timely
manner) to show the potential we have for bringing a nice profit to
these places if they are willing"to play ball" with us.
. . . . . . . . . .

Katie writes:

Hi All.

I like the Firefly idea . It is easy to find and an easy drive to and
from and a somewhat short inexpensive cab ride from the Harrahs area.

I also would not object to using the Bahama breeze as a kick off place.

It was my first visit to there restaurant in April for the closing night
Dinner Do and I thought it was perfect. ( I also wish to offer my help
to Bev again as an assistant Hostess for this. ) I agree that using the
same place twice in a week might take some of the edge off but BB could
be used as a starter event location and somewhere else for the
finisher...

No? Just some fuel for the fire so to speak.
. . . . . . . . . .

Sara writes:

To what Marisa & Annie have said about PF Chang's for the opening
celebration, it's too small. The area we take over is semi-secluded and
might hold 70-ish people total (including the adjacent booths) which
makes it too small for an opening or closing.

Also, to Annie's point, PF's is maybe a bit more mainstream than some
DLV attendees would prefer in that you have to run quite the gauntlet
through the restaurant proper, up the open staircase, then across
another portion of the restaurant before arriving in our semi-secluded
balcony area.

Finally, there is a "soft" time limit of two hours given our using an
open menu option.

All in all, PF's is a non-starter for the opening or closing but it's
still perfect for a mid-week anchor that has had 50-ish in attendance
over the last three years.
. . . . . . . . . .

JoAnn responds:

I agree that PF Chang really does not address our needs
. . . . . . . . . .

Marisa writes:

The contract with FF in 2010 was, $100 non-refundable and $200 deposit
if $1000 not spent on food and drink. I havn't been to the new location
yet, but they probably went through big personnel change since then.

I'll be stopping in soon.
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Annie responds:

Here is what we would like to do to help move things along.

We'll be temporarily spinning off the organization of the Welcome
Celebration to an ad-hoc mailing list, very similar to what we did in
2010 and 2011. This list is not closed or exclusive, it's open to all
who want to be actively involved with the planning and implementation of
our 2014 Welcome Celebration. We'll automatically include those who have
been involved in planning our WCs in recent years plus those who have
expressed interest.

Those who are on record as having taken the lead in planning recent WCs
and/or expressed interest in doing it for the coming year are: Kandi,
Cynthia, Cami, and Marisa. If we're missing anyone, please let us know
and please be assured that it's an oversight and not a snub.

For those not participating, no binding decisions will be made without
involving the ORG group as a whole.
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Resort fees:

Katie writes:

One of the last holdouts on the resort fee front was the Golden Nugget.
Even now their resort fee or as they like to call it . The Downtown
somethingorother fee. is only $5 whereas the Strip Casinos can be $20 or
more.per day.

If you reserve a room at The Nugget between now and February then you
will likely get it for around $39 to $45 per night plus the $5 fee which
is quite decent for such a nice hotel and the location is great. (If you
decide later that you would like to stay somewhere more convenient then
cancellation is free as long as you do it before the deadline which is
usually 2 or three days prior. I have stayed there a few times and
always enjoyed the experience, It is really nice and they always give
you a free buffet or restaurant discounts in their hotel and show
tickets....Their restaurants are terrific too by the way!

A word of caution though. I always had a rental car at my disposal when
staying downtown but if I was planning on drinking a wee dram or twoon a
specific evening then I used a cab to get around so if you decide to
stay at The Nugget then you must seriously consider that it is at least
a 20 minute cab ride to most of the Strip casinos and to most DLV
functions. $20 or more there and $ 20 back $40 or more maybe twice a
day. Add this to your daily hotel price and $50 on the Strip does not
sound all that bad.

Please pass this info on in the next general news letter. I think that
most prospective DLVers do Not read the My DLV info blogs etc'. They
should but they don't so this might be the only place where they can
find out stuff like this.
. . . . . . . . . .

Annie responds:

For those who do not like resort fees and want to do something about
them, this is your cue, here and now.

Pound the pavement! Speak to hotel managers and salesdroids. Find us
some hotels (preferably centrally located and with some history of
serving DLVers) which will go on record as stating that they will not
have a resort fee during our planned dates.

We do know that some negotiated rates are exempt from resort fees, so
see what you can do. Just don't commit to any level of sales on our
behalf. See if you can get a "Group Deal" in which either the resort
fees are waived, or the base price low enough to make the resort fees
irrelevant.

Yes, we've been teased many times over the years with "Special Group
Rates" which were easily beaten with a cold call or a few mouse clicks,
but twice in our history (once at the San Tropez, again at Artisan) we
did get some rates which were a meaningful discount over the cold-call
rates or web rates.

If anyone feels like taking this on, please do so prior to our naming
of our suggested hotels for DLV 2013, which will occur in November.
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Administrivia:

This is the Diva Las Vegas 2014 organizational list.

One address for all items regarding this list, additions, removals,
changes, submissions, questions, etc.:

dlvorg_at_geekbabe.com <--- NOTE: all lower case

Diva Las Vegas 2014
Sunday, March 30 - Friday, April 4
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

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Received on Thu Sep 05 2013 - 07:53:24 CDT