In this mailing:
Org List
Final 2013-2014 ORG mailing
JoAnn writes
Beverly writes
Annie writes
Report from the sidelines
Schedule options
Activity report
Bare Escentuals feedback
Linda's Final Comments
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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Final 2013-2014 ORG mailing:
It's a wrap, gang! Good job! One of our best events ever!
Very few issues this year. Most everything came off without a hitch!
Thanks again to all for a highly successful event.
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Within the next week or so we'll be adding the new 2014-2015 volunteers
to this list and removing inactive list members.
Speaking of which, if you did not attend either DLV 2013 and DLV 2014
and wish to remain receiving these ORG mailings, please "reconfirm" your
subscription request by replying to this mailing saying "keep me on the
list" or words to that effect. If you attended either DLV 2013 or DLV
2014, you don't need to do this.
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JoAnn writes:
Really missed not being able to attend Diva 2014, but my life became so
overbooked I had to stop everything and concertrate on my doctoral
dissertation project which was due to Committee at the end of the Diva
Week. My Chair is most pleased with the impact my study may have on the
challenges women face and the recommendations for change --- It is about
women architects and their job barriers. [If my Committee and my test
group only knew there is a "reverse" nom de plume - JoAnn Segrue behind
this research].
Most importantly, I am very happy things went well for the Diva Week.
Why not, we have one of the best group of caring, energetic, and awesome
ladies planning and delivering this memorable week each year. I was
especially please that Beverly carried forward for me and with great
success on my Audrey's Tour format. She "stood on my shoulders" and
made it special and unique with her twist. Thanks, Beverly. And Audrey
Hepburn told me should could not be more proud!!!
Looking forward to being on the Diva 2015 Team.... We seem to do better
each year and having the opportunity of being part of such a dynamic and
transgender statement which is soooooo inclusive!!!**
Thanks Annie for "covering for me".
Hugs, and more hugs to you all... JoAnn
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Beverly writes:
I cannot believe a whole month has passed since I was at DLV2014.
I had such a wonderful time again this year. It was great seeing old
friends and making new ones. And I must say that all of you gals did us
proud presenting yourselves well and showing the people in Las Vegas how
to have fun!
There are so many fond memories to get me through the upcoming year
until I can return to Las Vegas.
Sunday night was great eating at The Grotto and with friends old and
new, the fun time at the scavenger hunt, even the sore feet from walking
around Fremont Street in less than comfortable shoes (when will I
learn?).
I relaxed and did some shopping during the day on Monday, then had a
great time seeing everyone at Bahama Breeze.
Tuesday was a full day starting with one of my favoriteactivities, the
golf outing! I loved the course we played this year and hope we can go
back there again.
Tuesday evening featured an outstanding meal, again with great friends,
at Ruths Chris Steakhouse. We were so warmly greeted and treated like
royalty there. Then on to the ever popular Frank Marino Divas Las Vegas.
I'm glad so many of you were able to be there.
Other highlights were the way the Audrey Tour came together and was
enjoyed by the dozen fun gal who strutted their fabulous outfits, those
brave souls who woke early enough to join Katie and me for Katie's
Koffee Klutch each morning, and then bring us all together again for the
Friday night wrap up. Cami did such a spectacular job pulling that
together and needs heaps of praise for her effort.
But I must say my biggest surprise for one of the most enjoyable times
all week was our Red Rock Canyon gathering. It was a beautiful morning
featuring spectacular scenery enjoyed by the best group of gals I could
have hoped to spend a morning hike with.
DLV2014 was special because of all of the volunteers who put forth the
time and effort to ensure that we had a great week. So many hands were
involved that I can't possibly list them all. So for all of you who
stood up and joined in, THANK YOU! And also a big thanks to everyone who
attended this year. You are the reason so many do so much. I can't wait
to see you all next year.
Much love,
Beverly
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Annie writes:
Thanks to all:
DLV 2014 was highly enjoyed by all. This is confirmed by the survey
results, the individual reports, and by my own personal experience.
DLV is not only "a vacation", it's our vacation too, and it has been
very nice to be able to truly enjoy the event over the past several
years without excess busy work or having to put up with complaints and
badgering.
We've been on a very smooth course for the past five years or so and I
would like to thank all for making this so. No traumatic restroom
incidents or drama scenes for several years now, and again, all of us
thank all for helping to make this so.
I have a few call-outs to make here.
The problem I have with doing call-outs is that many deserving
individuals are, by the nature of the process, excluded. I don't like to
exclude! I appreciate the efforts of all volunteers, from those who have
produced the largest of our major gatherings to those who have done the
smaller get-togethers, to those who work behind the scenes to make the
program all it can be.
First to Cami and Kandi, who did a lot of low-visibility busy work
checking out venues for our gatherings. These are two individuals who
voluntarily took on a job that not very many of our volunteers are
willing, let alone eager, to do.
This job is to actively reach out to potential vendors and to negotiate
the terms under which our major gatherings will occur.
This includes such things as explaining the nature of our group to an
otherwise naive manager or salesperson, and getting creative and in some
cases innovative when they start mentioning things such as deposits,
contracts, etc.
Cami still holds the record for the largest turnout at any single DLV
activity, that being the DLV 2012 Welcome Celebration.
The behind the scenes busy work is indeed appreciated!
Ginger is another who is not shy about reacing out to vendors. The
resurrected Night Of The Soiled Doves came off very well this year.
Ginger also does a good amount of behind the scenes work.
Valorie is another who, in recent years, has a very good track record of
planning very successful and highly-rated activities. (Don't burn
yourself out, girl!) :) :)
Marisa is another ball of energy who is not at all shy about reaching
out to vendors. Marisa's activities have had a very good track record
over the past few years.
Delaney has taken the reins of our Big Sister Program as well as
coordinating other activities. Feedback shows that the Big Sister
Program has been effective.
Vera and Dennis have done the name tags for the past two years, which is
a labor-intensive process and costs real money. They have also done a
number of highly-successful activities as well.
Cynthia, who previously has coordinated two of our major gatherings, has
resigned in good standing from the DLV volunteer force to pursue other
options in life. We wish her nothing but the best going forward.
Last but not least, JoAnn and Beverly. These two have been an absolute
pleasure to work with the past year! They have been both incredibly sane
and rational and really helped us produce the quality event which was
enjoyed by our attendees.
Thanks to all, gang. Bravo Zulu! :) I'm looking forward to working with
you and the new volunteers on the 2015 event. :)
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Report from the sidelines:
Mary Beth writes:
Hi all,
I used to go to DLV in the 2000's (and how strange it sounds writing
that), but have been unable to attend since 2009 due to a confluence of
economic factors (and the fact that I've now been unemployed since
December as well).
Anyway, I miss all of you (and a big shout out to Annie, Gina, Ginger,
and Michelle), and wanted to let you know that I still live vicariously
through the reading of your posts.
Best Wishes,
Mary Beth Cooper (Rhode Island)
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Annie responds:
Thanks for the touch-base, MB. :)
You were indeed with us in spirit this year, in case you noticed that
your ears were burning around the first of April. :)
We understand that you're now reputed to be one of the kingpins at one
of the other major TG events. We wish you success in that endeavor. :)
Please continue to keep in touch and we do hope you can make it back!
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Schedule options:
Kandi writes:
> The custom schedule is on line here:
http://www.geekbabe.com/cgi-bin/dlv/customsched.cgi
> This gives about everything you cited, optionally, on one screen.
> A tabular "drill down" schedule also exists, ... It's on line here:
http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/maincal.html
I tested these new schedules before DLV 2014 and found them to work well.
I also agree with the real estate comment. There was one more test I
tried which was, 'what happens when you lose WiFi connection?' I had a
spotty WiFi connection on previous trips so this is real world testing.
Of course, you need a WiFi connection to view the schedule (on my
laptop). What I did before DLV was convert my schedule into a PDF file
and save it on my mobile device. So, maybe a print or save on your
device option could be added.
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Annie responds:
I kept the tabular schedule open on my smart phone, and referred to it
off and on throughout the event. This particular one, of course, is live
on the net at all times, as are most smart phones.
The survey this year gave us a good idea of how many of our people have
e-mail, text and web access at our event, and it turns out that yes,
most of our people do have at least one of them.
65 of the 77, or about 84% of those who answered the e-mail question do
have e-mail, so we can figure that an important e-mail which is sent out
during the event will reach over 80% of our attendees.
62 of the 80 who answered the general electronic communication question,
or about 78%, have "web or better" access. If we look at the 12
responses of those who noted that they did not have e-mail, we note that
two of them carry a smart phone and 5 have a text-capable cell phone.
This means that 94% of those responding do have the capability of using
the activity reminders or the chirp service if they choose to do so.
78% have the ability to display a schedule on their device during the
event.
Our ability to reach out to our people, if necessary, is much better
than we had assumed.
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Activity report:
Cami writes:
Hello all,
Sorry that I am just getting you some feedback and thoughts from the
events I was involved with. When I got back from DLV, I was fortunate to
go to Cozumel for 9 days and since then have been busy catching up. I
did read some survey results and would like to comment on some of them
as well.
Wig Seminar: We had almost 30 girls show up and as previously posted, it
came off well and I believe most enjoyed the seminar. Quite a few wigs
were sold and I believe Wendi from Creative Wigs thought it was a
success on her end. I would like to believe she or another vendor would
be willing to do it again next year.
Beading Party: Because it followed the wig seminar, which ran long and
many girls were trying on wigs etc. after, the beading "class" was not
held, but I did put items on display and sold some items, so overall it
was worth the effort. I doubt I would do it again.
Farewell Dinner: I believe my count from upstairs looking done at the
peak time was 65 girls.
I would agree that the room was not the best for mingling, but do feel
that too many girls just planted themselves at a table and didn't even
try to mingle. I think lessons were learned relative to the event space
layout.
The comedian wasn't that funny as many said, but it was worth the try.
As for the food, again a couple lessons were learned (that being that a
price fixe menu may not be a good idea nor is "family dining"), but I
believe the food was good to excellent. FYI, I was somewhat insulted
that someone felt that a McDonalds $ menu would have been better. That
wasn't really necessary to put in writing.
Overall, I thought this year was great with lots of interesting options.
The Fantasy Ball was lots of fun and entertaining. Hats off to those who
ran it and participated, especially Val and Vera. Perhaps someone new
can try to run one of the bigger events next year and bring in a fresh
perspective.
As always, kudos to Annie for all she does to make it happen each year.
Be well and be yourself!
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Annie responds:
Thanks for the report, Cami.
The Wig Seminar did come off quite well. It was one of the best
commercial activities that I can ever remember at DLV. The Spotlight
worked out very well for the activity.
If they would be willing to do this again next year, I think it would
gather a larger crowd now that the word has gotten out about it.
We appreciate your efforts with Carmine's. The enjoyment rating of the
dinner portion was 4.12 and for the (although limited) social portion it
was 4.18, which are really not bad ratings. Those are clearly on the
positive side of the enjoyment scale. Comfort ratings were 4.64 and
4.71, and there's nothing at all wrong with those!
The number of 65 sounds low. I know they had more seats set than that,
and IIRC there were very few vacant seats. As the gang continued to
arrive, for a while I was wondering if there would be enough seats for
all.
I think the main issue with Carmine's is that people did not get what
they were expecting.
Although you took great efforts to reach out to all who signed up, and
we posted info and menus in the final attendee info, my guess is that
many expected more of the traditional Italian-American restaurant where
you get the bread basket, wine, side salad, wine, entree of Pasta
Bolognese or Veal Parm, more wine, and you're too stuffed from that to
even consider dessert. You know, more like a Trevi or Maggiano type of
place.
We had a similar issue a couple of years ago at a Mediterranean
restaurant with a (unknown to many who attended) fixed menu. The people
who attended did not get what they were expecting and the activity was
rated much lower than expected.
Lessons learned: Our people love individual choice and they love getting
what they are expecting!
I can't help but wonder if the comedian had turned out to be an absolute
scream, and had our people literally rolling in the (crowded) aisles in
laughter, how much that would have crossed over into the enjoyment
ratings of the dinner and social portions.
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Bare Escentuals feedback:
Kandi writes:
I spoke with Cindy Bright, store manager of BE. She stated that the
overall participation and operation of this program was a success. All
of the MU artists were thrilled to work with DLVrs.
Abbey said she went home 'fulfilled' from having helped our first
timers.
When I mentioned about some DLVrs having double booked appts with this
store, she did not complain.
She says some needed more help since they were out for the first time.
They returned several times during the week with questions AND bought
more products. This is a good thing for both parties. There were 8
people who returned to the store in this category.
There were several DLVrs who expressed uncertainty on how to meet up
with the group. These are our low information attendees we talked about.
This happened mostly on Sunday. She and I agreed this makes no sense to
travel to Vegas only to not participate due to lack of information. She
offered to help forward DLV info at the store.
She still recommends we schedule for Monday and Tuesday only in 2015.
We can also encourage DLVrs to contact the store directly when making
additional, initial and follow up appts.
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Annie responds:
Thanks for the report, Kandi.
I got more or less the same responses when I stopped in and saw Cindy
in person during DLV.
We do need to discuss the no-show situation and work on ways to keep it
down. Although Cindy said things were cool, so many no-shows are
embarrassing to us, and just plain rude on the part of those who sign up
but do not show up.
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Linda's Final Comments:
Linda writes:
> Drop the Hustler club next year, It was awful.
I can't imagine what was so awful about it. I thought this was the best
activity of the entire week. The only part that I didn't particularly
enjoy was the male dancers, but that was only a fraction of the total
and was intermixed with female dancers. If I could go back in time to
repeat any one activity, this would be it!
Also, I thought the Surrender Club at the Wynn/Encore was amazing. In
fact, for 2015, I would like to see this elevated to the status of an
alternative to "Dancing at Paris" for every night of the week.
The Bahama Breeze was wonderful, as usual. It would have been preferable
to Carmines for the Farewell Dinner, even though it would have
duplicated the Welcome Dinner. The food is better, the prices are lower,
the ambiance is better and they have a real bar!
Finally, I still don't understand why so many people can't find the
information, which is clearly provided in multiple places and formats,
regarding addresses and times for the various venues. I can only guess
that some people aren't reading everything sent to them. For example,
I'm sure that the LFM, now provided as a link rather than an actual
mailing, was sent to all registrants. However, if they weren't reading
everything, they may have been expecting an actual and separate email
and wouldn't know about the link!
Overall, I thought the week was even better than last year (sicknesses
aside), and I'm looking forward to 2015.
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Annie responds:
Thanks Linda.
I agree with many of your observations.
The remark about the Hustler Club was clearly out of cluster, by someone
who simply did not enjoy it for one reason or another. The activity came
off very well.
I don't know if complimentary passes to Surrender can be arranged for
more than one evening, but if Valorie or someone else sees this as a
priority, it could happen.
I certainly don't understand the reluctance to read the information and
take a small amount of effort to find out what is going on and where. I
only count one case this year of us giving out bad information (the
exact location for happy hour at PF Chang) so in all other cases, the
individual either did not know that the material was available or did
not take the effort to make use of it.
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Administrivia:
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One address for all items regarding this list, additions, removals,
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dlvorg_at_geekbabe.com <--- NOTE: all lower case
Diva Las Vegas 2014
Sunday, March 30 - Friday, April 4 (concluded)
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
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Received on Wed May 14 2014 - 06:19:08 CDT
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