[dlvorg] Post-DLV feedback ...

From: Diva Las Vegas organizers <dlvorg_at_geekbabe.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 07:03:49 -0500 (CDT)

In this mailing:

Org List
Continuing the wrap-up
Some very sad news
Observations on what worked
Orientation
Koffee Korner report
Activity reports
No shows and cancellations
No shows, Big/Little, and Pamplemousse
Bar Rescue Tour
Attendance
No-shows and SOs
Activity reports
Still missing in action
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.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Continuing the wrap-up:

Thanks to all who submitted activity reports and other feedback.

The floor is still open for additional reports and for comments on the
submitted reports.

We'll most likely have a couple more mailings to the 2014 ORG group to
do the final summarizing prior to adding the new volunteers and weeding
out of those who are no longer active.

The survey will run for another week, and we'll get the reports out very
shortly after it closes.
. . . . .

Thanks to all who reported personal sightings of stragglers. We've had
a reasonably good response to the "nag notes" asking people to confirm
their attendance or lack of same.

As of this morning the total observed and reported headcount sits at
153, or about 7.3% lower than what was predicted. We're now well within
the margins of error although no-shows, both those absent from the event
as a whole and those absent from signed-up activities, remain a topic of
interest.

There were a few irregularities noticed in the final reconciliation.
First of all, one couple arrived at Bahama Breeze to find that they were
not on the roster. It turned out that the primary attendee had
registered under the name of "MsRenee" which alphabetized under "M" and
not "R" where it was expected. This has happened once before when
someone used a courtesy title in the first name. We'll work around this
by discouraging (and editing out if necessary) any prepended courtesy
titles.

Another registered as a duplicate, apparently instead of editing or
updating her registration. Numbers have been adjusted. The machine did
not catch it since she used a variation of the first name spelling and a
different e-mail, so she appeared on both the signed-in list and the MIA
list.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Some very sad news:

For those who have not heard, we lost a long-time DLVer last weekend.

Angie Borges passed away from a sudden unexpected illness.

Angie and her partner, Keri Williams, have been inseparable fixtures at
DLV for many years. You may leave your condolences, if you wish, on the
Discussion Forum, or if you wish to communicate directly with Keri,
please write in and we'll do an e-mail exchange.

Angie had many friends among the DLV gang and will be dearly missed! :(

Quite a few DLVers reported not feeling well toward the end of the week.
We certainly hope that nobody else had any serious issues.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Observations on what worked:

Annie writes:

Here are some of my observations and thoughts on some of the various
activities of the week ...

Saturday, March 29:

Pre-DLV.

We only had 12 in attendance, but everyone had a good time. No issues at
all with the Bistro. They had a good bar, comfortable seating, a band
inside and a band outside.

There were some concerns expressed about the location of the venue and
the general safety and security of that part of town. We found that it
was well-populated and patrolled at the time.

Maybe 12 or so is the "new normal" for these.

Overall: Worked!
. . . . . . . . . .

+Sunday, March 30:
+ 6:00pm: Denny's Happy Hour (Denny's Neonopolis) - ms
+ 7:00pm: Denny's dining option (Denny's Neonopolis) - ms

Denny's worked very well. No issues, reasonable drink prices. I very
seldom eat at Denny's but I did find the food to be surprisingly good.

+ 8:30pm: Fremont Street Experience (Fremont Street) - ms

I pretty much covered the entire FSE area from Las Vegas Club to
Neonopolis. I ran into our people every now and then and everyone
I saw blended very well into the crowd.

A few phone calls asking where everyone was. :)

Yes, this worked quite well as an independent self-guided activity.

+ 11:00pm: Beauty Bar (Beauty Bar) - ms

Did not work! Unexpected cover charge really put the damper on it! :(
Lesson learned! :( Unfortunately this caused the group to scatter to the
winds instead of having a common gathering that evening.
. . . . . . . . . .

+Monday, March 31:
+ 12:00n: Makeover sessions - beg - int. - Monday

I did not do the actual sessions but I did stop in to say hi and to see
how things were going. They reported that things were going well and
that they were doing a good business from our people.

+ 1:00pm: Wig Seminar (Spotlight Lounge) - sv

This was one of the better commercial activities which we have ever had.

We had a very good showing, a lot of interest and questions. Having the
session presented by two "easy on the eyes" GGs did not hurt at all. :)

The remodeled Spotlight is very nice. It was a great venue for such a
session. Sure beats the heck out of the Moapa Room! :) :)

"Worked" is an understatement. :)

What I would suggest for next year (Cami? You taking notes?) if they
should choose to repeat this, is to have more products available. The
vendors in Las Vegas which have good selections of hair are either a
long way from the center of the action of have limited hours. Studio
Lites had a good selection but closed their LV shop. Serge has moved way
out west. Vegas Girl and Hair Fantasy operate out of FISM which tends to
be crowded and zooey and is only open three days per week.

They could do a very good business expanding on what they had this year!

+ 5:00pm: New attendee Welcome and Orientation (Bahama Breeze) - mv

We are definitely converging on a newcomer welcome type of thing that is
effective. I did, however, get the impression that those who attended
were the ones who took things seriously, had all of the information,
etc., and that those who really needed such a session were not there.

After the survey closes I plan on posting a query in the Discussion
Forum asking for specific feedback on this from the new attendees who
were present at the orientation session.

+ 6:00pm: Happy Hour (Bahama Breeze) - mv
+ 7:00pm: Dinner (Bahama Breeze) - mv
+ 8:00pm: Welcome Celebration (Bahama Breeze) - mv

Worked well as usual. Good food, good crowd.

Although I did not get a good headcount at the Friday gathering, this
gathering on Monday at 106 was our best-attended function of the week.

+ 8:30pm: Official group photo (Bahama Breeze) - mv

Yeah, these are a royal pain to do, but everyone likes the results.

This one came off rather easily. There was the expected grumbling and
reluctance to get up but most everyone did cooperate and we got it done
with no issues.

+ 10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms

I stopped in for this every night of the week, including Thursday, which
was not on the schedule. It worked well, and most evenings had a
moderate size group of our people, who blended well with the others
there. I did take off early from this on Friday, since I was not feeling
well.

I think that this definitely worked and deserves a repeat as a recurring
late-evening activity.
. . . . . . . . . .

+Tuesday, April 1:
+ 1:00pm: Lunch With Ginger (Stratosphere Buffet) - ms

Tuesday lunch was not that well attended, but it was very good,
especially for the price. Some of the lunch sessions had a good showing
while others did not. No particular pattern was noted.

We have two specific survey questions this year regarding the daily
lunch. One has to do with the timing, and the other with the selection
of a buffet or a sit-down restaurant. We'll report on this when the
survey closes.

+ 6:00pm: Hofbrau Happy Hour (Hofbrauhaus) - ms
+ 7:00pm: Hofbrau option (Hofbrauhaus) - ms

That was a fun time! I enjoyed that very much. We had a good crowd and
everyone seemed to be enjoying it. The OOM-PAH hand was somewhat loud as
expected, but really this is not the place to hold a quiet conversation.

+ 9:00pm: Good Times Social (Goodtimes Lounge) - sv

Worked, with reservations. Small turnout, and I heard some comments that
some got the word, erroneously, that it was cancelled. Perhaps it was
confused with the other activity originally scheduled for the Phoenix.
. . . . . . . . . . .

+Wednesday, April 2:
+ 1:00pm: Lunch With Aejaie (Flamingo Buffet) - ms

We did have a good showing for this on Wednesday. Flamingo buffet is not
cheap, but it was very good. I definitely enjoyed it.

+ 6:00pm: Night of the Soiled Doves (Private facility) - mv

The revived NSD most definitely worked. The expanded bar area is very
nice and the staff was happy to see us back. Everybody present appeared
to be having a good time.

+ 9:00pm: Post-NSD Dinner (Luxor Buffet) - ms

It worked, but ...

The big issue with this one was that due to the travel time back from
Pahrump, not everyone arrived at the same time. The initial group
arrived, gathered, waited a while, went in, was seated, etc., and then
we learned that there was another group which arrived later and was
seated way across the buffet. Oh well ...

The name of the buffet "More" amuses me. Sounds almost Dickensian. :)
. . . . . . . . . . .

+Thursday, April 3:

+ 1:00pm: Lunch With Ginger (Paris Buffet) - ms

Moderately good turnout. Paris buffet, again, is not cheap, but is very
good.

+ 8:00pm: DLV Fantasy Ball (Kings Of Hustler) - mv

Yes, this worked very well. This was the third best attended function of
the week. I sat in on much of the Dr. Victoria session on the roof,
which came off well.

I shiver with antici ... ... {say it} PATION! regarding the details of
the to-be-reopened EHM. :)
. . . . . . . . . .

+Friday, April 4:
+ 1:00pm: Lunch With Ginger (Gold Coast Buffet) - ms

Again, a moderately good turnout. Gold Coast buffet is one of the best
bargains there is.

+ 6:00pm: Happy Hour (Carmine's) - mv
+ 7:30pm: Dinner (Carmine's) - mv

I was not feeling well that evening. I did not feel like eating at all.

This was our second most attended function. Unfortunately things did not
come off as expected and the evening, overall, lacked the strength we
desire for our final ending evening.

I have to say that from what I observed, the dinner portion worked, but
the happy hour and subsequent gathering just did not measure up to the
"Quality Social Time" that we want, particularly on our final evening.

+ 8:30pm: Farewell Get-Together (Carmine's) - mv

The one thing we did not have much of, was mingling and socializing at
the farewell gathering. The layout of the room was just not conducive to
it. Most people appeared to pick a seat and camp out at it. Those who
did try to stand and socialize found themselves in the way of others.

The bar was more of a "service bar" and was not the type that had
seating and nearby standing room where normal bar conversation could
take place.

There were no seats other than at the dining table. I asked for, and
they somewhat grudgingly produced, a few bar stools for those of us who
were interested in socializing around the bar area.

And then there was the comedian. {sigh!} I'm sorry, but that part of the
program did not work! :( He just was not very funny, sorry. :(

For our major gatherings, I don't believe we really need much of a
"program", or entertainment. Our people have more of a need to socialize
than to sit there and be entertained.

Light entertainment, such as a background musician as we had at BB was a
nice touch. It added to the activities at hand. Other than something
like that I don't think we need much in the way of entertainment.

+ 8:45pm: Official Group Photo (Carmine's) - mv

We decided not to do this. Two approaches were considered, one being to
pose everyone along the east side of the room and shoot from the balcony
above. This was judged as impractical due to the limits of the space
behind the eastmost row of tables. The other approach would have been to
pose everyone out in the mall area, perhaps by the fountain, but this
would involve a mass move and a parade down the otherwise busy mall
area.
. . . . .

Overall, the week worked quite well and there were few if any major
issues.

We had two evenings (Sunday and Friday) where the opportunities for
Quality Social Time did not come off as planned. We were expecting a
good post-FSE turnout at the Beauty Bar, but the cover charge killed
it.

The layout of the room at Carmine's did not encourage mingling. Most
socializing was done while seated at the tables and only involved those
in the immediate vicinity. Those who attempted to mix and mingle found
the process to be physically awkward.

As one of the listed contact persons, I received maybe 1-2 phone calls
per day. "Is {such and such} still on?" was the most common type of
call. There were a few asking for directions over the week.

One opportunity for improvement is the check-in and attendee tracking,
including the distribution of name tags. With one singular set of tag
inserts, we have to get people at the "choke points" in order to catch
the majority of them. Even with formal check-in at all of the major
activities and electronic check-in available at quite a few of the
smaller things, we still missed a good number of our people.

One of my personal goals for the week was to better understand the "low
information attendee" situation and I believe I got a fairly good handle
on what the situation is. I think a good approach (but one which may
elicit groans and grumbles) is to encourage and expect a higher level of
responsibility from our attendees. Attendees need to make the effort to
be informed, meaning taking the effort to know where information is and
to use the information effectively.

I do not think it's too much to ask of the attendees to read the material
that is presented, to do a few mouse clicks to get the details necessary
to effectively participate, and to print out a few pages which are very
necessary for the day to day participation in the event.

Comments on any of this, gang?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Orientation:

Katie writes:

Hi. I read that one of our new attendees arrived Sunday and did not get
the lowdown on the event till' her orientation at BB on Monday evening.
I agree with her but I don't quite know how we can fix this other than
Start DLV on a Sunday evening. Any ideas girls?

One more thing. This was my first time at the Beginners Forum and I
thought that they could have used a few more snippets of information to
help them along.. That is not to say that we should extend the length of
time we talk to them but more like condense things a bit. I asked twice
previous to the event if I would need to add my 2:1/2 cents vocally at
the meeting or just leave it to Vera and I did not get any feedback on
this, I spoke briefly at the orientation but I was not prepared as I did
not expect to say anything so a lot of the ideas I had previous to
DLV2014 did not get out.

I had printed out 10 or so schedules covering the days from Tuesday
onward to Friday (due to it being Monday evening when I might hand them
out) but I did not want to tread on any toes so I left them at home.

I thought I might tell the new folks which events they did not sign up
for were still available to them as hey would not know that some events
are open and a name or two can be added here and there at any time
during the week or they can just show up if they feel like it.

I discovered that this would have been an important one because I talked
to 2 new ladies on Friday night at Carmines who would have loved to do
more than they had signed up for but did not like to be forward and just
show up somewhere.

Hope this helps the process along for next time.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Koffee Korner report:

Katie writes:

I have to say that even though I have attended DLV quite a few times
now, This year was the absolute best time I have had as a woman
anywhere. I was dressed every day both mornings and evenings. I only
missed one evening event due to a mild case of food poisoning but aside
from that my week went wonderfully well.

Las Vegas may not be everyone's cup of Tea but it is perfect for me and
I don't see that changing anytime soon. The tourists in L/V are way too
busy having a good time to even notice me and when they do they are
usually a little bit surprised but quite courteous. Suffice to say that
I love the atmosphere there!

Now to The Koffee Korner report.

I arrived late Monday afternoon so obviously I could not attend KKK on
Monday morning so Bev stepped in and did the honors at that time. Thanks
Bev, You are a Gem.

So Tuesday we had a good attendance due to the Annual Golf Tournament
being early that day and I think we had around 10 ladies there.
Wednesday was a quiet day as Only Bev and were the only ones to show up.

Thursday coincided with The hiking day out so we had about 6 people
there.

Friday was a quiet day as we only had 3 or 4 show up.

I stayed until 8 AM most days and hopefully anyone who showed up after
that time was not alone. I am not at all discouraged by the low end
attendance and I think it went well for one of the lesser events.

We had no dress or behavior incidents in fact each day it was perfect
and I suspect we just looked like women preparing themselves for a nice
day out as everyone I saw was dressed impeccably.

If The gang is all in agreement I would like to continue it again next
year.

Several have said it would be better to hold it later. Sorry Girls. I
can not do that! ... One even suggested we do it at 10AM or 11AM.... Yes
Really! By 10Am I would very likely be enjoying the day somewhere else
around town as we only have 6 days to do our thing and every moment
spent waiting for possible no shows would be a waste of a vacation time.

Thanks to all who came out and had coffee with us. I enjoyed our time
together and look forward to seeing you again next year. I know I made
some nice lasting friendships along the way which is one of the big
reasons why I do this.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Activity reports:

Kandi writes:

activity report - fitting & figure workshop

Sorry this report was delayed, due to my headcold/flu illness.

As a last minute addition, I setup this Fitting and Figure Workshop,
held on Thursday afternoon. I sent out notice that everyone was also
welcome to join me for lunch, beforehand. Although this was not on the
calendar, 3 attendees showed up for lunch at 1:30 pm. However, only one
ordered from the lunch menu. For next year, I think this lunch will have
a better draw if it is included in the regular calendar.

Of the 31 registered for this event, 18 showed up and asked good
questions about how to improve their Shape. They worked in pairs to take
each other's measurements and record the results. Everyone who
participated received their free Shape profile, a forever free account
to record their Shape and a 5% discount coupon on any item in the
2bShapely.com Store. No products were offered for sale during this
workshop since it was a personalized fitting workshop instead of a Sales
presentation.

I plan on conducting this workshop again for DLV 2015, if approved.
. . . . . . . . . .

activity report - MU sessions

Working with the Gals at the Bare Minerals store was a joy! They were
excited to work with us and eager to help us learn MU application
techniques.

For DLV 2014 the signup for these sessions was modified to accommodate
three days of registration. After it began, an issue was discovered that
attendees could sign up for more than one session each. One attendee
took advantage of this issue to cause extra work for the registration
process and falsely over-book the MU artists. This issue will be fixed
for next year's registration sign-up process, so this is no longer a
concern.

Of the 36 timeslots, there were 33 appts. made and only 23 appts.
actually showed up. This was disappointing because the store hired extra
MU artists for each day. Sunday 12 appts showed up, Monday 13 appts.
showed up and Tuesday only 8 appts showed up. The store Manager told me
they will only schedule two days next year on Monday & Tuesday. Sunday
is a shortened day since the Mall opens late and closes at 7 pm.

For my appt on Thursday morning I enjoyed the stories about how well the
sessions went. Abbey told me she felt great after helping a DLVr who was
out for her first time and quite scared. Abbey reassured her that
everything was OK and how to look her best. All of the MU Gals felt they
contributed to the well-being of their DLV clients. I will offer to
gladly coordinate this event for DLV 2015.
. . . . . . . . . .

Annie responds:

I'm aware of one case where one attendee signed up for quite a few of
the makeover sessions and the fact was not caught until way after
sign-up was underway. In the future we will trap these and allow someone
to sign up for only one of any designated set of activities.

As for the hardcore no-shows, there are many things we can do to try to
manage it. Some of these (such as simple overbooking) have worked in the
past for larger things, but for activity sessions where the limit is
three, it may not work. We can restrict sign-up on things like this to
those who have a phone number on file, or place those who do not have a
phone on file on the waiting list.

JoAnn has suggested priority sign-up where those with good show-up
records go to the head of the line. This is another possibility.

Regarding the fitting workshop, I would offer you a similar suggestion
to the one I gave Cami. That is to have a good selection of products
available. There is a definite need for options for competitively priced
forms. You would most likely do a very good business, as our people love
the "immediate gratification" of available products.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
No shows and cancellations:

Katie writes:

Hi Gang.

I have a friend Marilee from Texas who I invited to join us at DLV 2014.
She had to deal with a sudden death of a friend 2 weeks before DLV was
about to begin, She was obviously distraught and not in sinc with her
usual way of doing things politely at the time so I wrote to her and
asked her to "Please cancel her DLV 2014 attendance" as it would be the
right thing to do and that she would be assured of receiving next years
invitation when the time came.

She did this and is now in the recovery stages of her personal loss.

The point I make is that if we have a personal friend who we know is not
going to attend when they have previously registered then we should let
them know The Right thing to do is to cancel.

Obviously we can't cancel for them as they are adults. (Hopefully)
*lol*. But if we do this then we have done all we can in the interests
of DLV and for our friends status and self respect too.

I think that we should let all Org and regular attendees know that this
is a good way to clean up our attendance protocol via regular DLV
mailings and the will know that it will keep our friends in good
standing with the group so they can not feel uncomfortable when they
want to attend in the future.

I realize of course that a lot of people in todays world do not even
care about this kind of common courtesy (As in those who didn't bother
top cancel this year) but those who do will see the point I am sure!
. . . . . . . . . .

Thanks, Katie.

One adjustment we can make, if possible, to our culture, is to make
it that "canceling is cool", meaning that the common courtesy of a
cancellation is much better than a no-show.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
No shows, Big/Little, and Pamplemousse:

Delaney writes:

Perhaps I missed this in an earlier email, but does there seem to be any
pattern in the no-shows? The two that come to mind is newbies or those
who sign up very early, or very late. I'm not sure what that buys us in
terms of reducing the trend, but at least it may provide a starting
point.

As an overall comment, I was quite pleased with the Big/Little turnout.
I really did not expect nearly enough Bigs to cover everyone. However,
given that next year may be different, it may be worth my making more of
a fuss that all Littles make an extra effort to attend the newcomer
orientation (even though some Littles have attended DLV before).

As a point of interest, Pamplemousse pulled me aside and strongly asked
we come back (the tip was excellent :-)), however there does seem to be
a declining interest by the girls in attending. We'll see what 2015
brings.
. . . . . . . . . .

Annie responds:

Thanks, Delaney.

As to patterns in the no-shows, yes, there are some which are very
consistent over the years, particularly among those who are no-shows
for the event as a whole. Among the most significant patterns are:

1. Those who have never attended before are far more likely to be
no-shows.

2. Those who register as a couple are far more likely to show up. You
will notice that very few on the straggler list have the SO named on the
registration.

3. Those local to Las Vegas, both newcomers and returnees, are more
likely to be no-shows. Several Las Vegas locals are chronic no-shows.

4. Those who show no sign of life at activity sign-up time are highly
unlikely to show. This has been a very effective tool for weeding out
those least likely to show.

One pattern that we noticed right after we started doing a formal
registration is that newcomers who registered early in the process were
very unlikely to show. This was particularly true for "cold newcomers"
who were not previously on the mailing list. This is one reason we
always open cold newcomer registration late in the cycle.

It was very obvious that some, in 2004-2005 or so, were intentionally
waiting until registration closed, thinking that they could bypass some
or all of the then-recently-added formality. We haven't seen much of
that lately.

I am also a bit surprised that a place like Pamplemousse had such a low
demand this year. This was the only French/Continental dining option for
the week and I would think there would be more demand. It was, however,
up against several other very popular dining options.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bar Rescue Tour:

Robyn (with a "y") writes:

> 2. Activity reports. Send 'em in! :) :)

Stacy Dale and I Just barely made our money back.

The no shows were:

1 Samantha -565
2 Vickie -476
1 Veronica -475
1 Rachael -1799

2 Vickie was not a problem to collect their share.

1 Veronica took a little convincing that she did not fulfill her
responsibility in canceling and reluctantly paid.

1 Rachael I was enabled to locate through out the week.

Other than the no shows the tour went on without indecent and Dale and I
view it as a Hit.
. . . . . . . . . .

Thanks for the report Robyn.

Yes, some can be very nonchalant about honoring commitments that they
have made. They seem to be oblivious to the fact that their lack of
participation (or lack of payment) causes a ding in somebody else's
pocketbook!

One lesson learned is to stay on top of the sign-ups for any smaller
limited-capacity activities. We do have several options to screen and
follow-up on such sign-ups.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Attendance:

Robin (with the "i") writes:

First of all, let me say that in spite of not feeling well I had a
great time, Thanks to everyone.

As for the poor attendance at some functions. My thoughts:

I am not very high tech when it comes to smart phones (I don't own one),
or computers. I tried to change some of my sign up choices on the
computer after sign up was closed, and was not able to do so. I was
however able to talk to some of the activity sponsors, and able to let
them know I would not be attending.

Also I think there should be a better description, of some of the
activities, (maybe there was, and I missed it) but others were not sure
when I talked to them what some of the activities were about. Only found
out more about certain activities after arriving, and then deciding that
I did or did not want to attend.
. . . . . . . . . .

Thanks, Robin.

More detail in activity descriptions is something that we can work on.

One thing we tried to do this year is give more explicit instructions
on particularly where in the venue to meet the group. Unfortunately we
did miss a few of them.

We close registration and activity sign-up a few days prior to the
event. After that time it's impractical to continue on-line sign-up.
Most of the Coordinators do not eheck the sign-up lists after they are
closed, and quite a few still do not have the ability to do so. We can
sure look at keeping both registration and activity sign-up open for
cancellation only after we've traditionally closed them.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
No-shows and SOs:

-5048 Scarlet T - Northeast USA

I had the pleasure of sitting next to Scarlet during the final Dinner at
Carmine's. She's the SO of a TG who didn't attend.

This makes me wonder if SO's handle/make/cancel their own attendance? Do
they let the registered attendee handle this? Other SO's I met were just
there to support their TG. How do we handle SO registration, as
dependent or independant?
. . . . . . . . . .

Annie responds:

We allow (and encourage) bona fide couples to do a couples registration
where both names are on the same registration. Some couples, however,
prefer to register separately. We've had problems in the past in cases
where both partners register, and both list their SO as attending. This
inflates the numbers and causes some real problems at activity sign-up
time. In recent years we've added a note about this on the registration
screen.

It's been our long-standing policy to allow all bona fide immediate
family members of attendees to attend as well. We want to support those
who support our attendees.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Activity reports:

Beverly writes:

Here's my report on the activities that I coordinated and the turnout
for them...

Grotto HH and dinner:

The Grotto dining experience went well I thought. Dinner was very good
and the staff went out of their way to accommodate us ie: small tables
for 4-6 and separate checks.

We had 19 signed up and 15 actually show up. Nine of the sign ups showed
up as well as 3 on the waiting list and 3 that didn't sign up.

Grotto servers included Carrie, Cara, Carol, Mark, Taya... all very
friendly and made us feel welcomed.
. . . . .

Bahama Breeze:

Another success and everything went well. I received the following note
from the manager, Dan Strohecher...

"Ms. Beverly... Thank you again for including us here at Bahama Breeze
in your festivities. It has been a pleasure serving you ladies through
the years! We look forward to seeing you again next year.

Signed Dan, Christine G., Dee Dee, Cyrus, Mandy, Chris H., Doug"
. . . . .

Ruth's Chris HH and Dinner:

Great turnout for HH where we were able to sit together and talk before
dinner. What an outstanding meal! The staff was so glad to see us back,
welcomed me warmly as soon as I stepped off the elevator. The manager
came right over to me to personally greet me and welcome me back.

We had 18 ladies seated at 3 table, all with a view of the strip.. their
prime tables! Everyone who signed up showed up with the exception of two
cancellations (thank you for calling and letting me know). I will be
happy to repeat this event again next year.
. . . . .

Frank Marino Show: I was unable to get an accurate count on this but we
had a good turnout that I would estimate to be around 30.
. . . . .

Audrey Tour: I must confess that this was not well planned, more flying at
the seat of my pants. But those who attended said they enjoyed it and had a
good time.

We met at the Candelabra Bar at Cosmopolitan. This was a very upscale bar
and a great way to kick off the night. I'm sure that everyone there will
say that the drink price was great.

We took a limo to Venetian and met a few others for a tour of Madam
Tousard's Wax Museum. Most enjoyed it, so not so much. Turnout of 13 of
the 16 signed up.
. . . . .

Red Rock Canyon: What a great time we had. The weather and view was
wonderful and a great time was had by the 15 of us. 26 had signed up but
the computer had estimated 16. That computer is really good at picking
the number.

That's my report and I'm sticking to it.
. . . . . . . . . .

Annie responds:

Thanks, Beverly.

Although I was not on the Audrey Tour, I can give you some third-party
feedback I heard on Friday. There were three who were absolutely raving
about it, citing it as one of the best DLV activities of all times.

Although this was a "wing it" type of affair, it turned out very well.

Just reporting what I heard, don't shoot the messenger. :) :)

Bahama Breeze was again a winner, and the feedback from the staff does
indicate that they value our business. My one concern is that they might
try to coerce us into a limited menu situation. I know there was one
interation of push-back on it this year. If that happens I envision it
impacting the meal sales and the total enjoyment of the larger
activities at BB.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Still missing in action:

Much smaller than before! Thanks for the feedback.

Please look over this list. If you are listed and DID attend any part
of our event (participation, however slight) :) please let us know so
we can mark you as present.

Also, if you note anyone on this list who you personally observed in
attendance at DLV 2014, please reply and let us know.

-22643 Amanda U - Mountain states
-3506 Ami J - Local
-2164 Andy M - Mountain states
-499 Bea F (Bill) - Local
-2818 Cathy A - Northern California
-6214 Christine H - Midwest
-5391 Cindy P - Hawaii
-14840 Courtney A (Linda) - Midwest
-5955 Eliya H - Local
-2211 Erica D - NYC area
-19572 Jacqueline S - NYC area
-5792 Jenny W - Australia
-1396 Julie Brown - Midwest
-11494 Marci L - Local
-5829 Marcia A - Los Angeles area
-3085 Matt J - Chicago area
-3900 Natalia Y - Atlanta
-38979 Nicole G - Midwest
-6055 Nicole B
-234 Nikki D - Local
-5201 Paula J - Southern California
-1799 Rachael P - Midwest
-1656 Rachel S - San Francsico area
-2391 Randi O - Midwest
-5099 Rikki L (Carla) - Local
-4425 Shalini P - San Francisco area
-2037 Sierra T - Mountain states
-17276 Stephanie G - Texas
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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 (concluded)
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Archives of this list appear on the web at:

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Received on Wed Apr 23 2014 - 07:03:49 CDT

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