[dlvorg] Survey, Welcome Celebration, Hotels, etc. ...

In this mailing:

Org List
Short-term timeframe
Forthcoming survey
Opening at Bahama Breeze
Hotels and Downtown
Info table and QR codes
Administrivia
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Org List:

This is the DLV 2015 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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Short-term timeframe:

The next of our usual big milestones, the announcement of suggested
hotels, normally occurs toward the end of November or early in December.
Even with the ongoing discussion and the possible adjustment of our
hotel strategy, we are on target on this particular items.

The survey (see below) will give us some guidance as to how to proceed
with the hotel situation.

Again, a reminder. The clock is ticking for any hotel-related items. :)
. . . . .

Over the next week or so we will be "seeding" the schedule with the
various items previously discussed and decided upon. The working
schedule will most likely appear for the first time in next week's
ORG mailing.
. . . . .

Due to the earlier start date for the 2015 event, we will be pushing
forward all registration-related checkpoints and milestones including
the test batch of re-registrations sent out to active volunteers. This
will now occur toward the end of November and will also be a shakedown
test of the single-link Attendee Information Portal, which will replace
a number of the various disjoint URLS that have previously been sent to
attendees as part of the process.
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Forthcoming survey:

As we previously discussed, the Lunch/Hotel survey is ready to go.

Please check out and proofread the survey before it goes out to the
Teeming Millions by way of a special mailing this weekend. It's on
line here:

http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/2015lhsurvey.html

Please consider this to he "for real" and your responses will be
tabulated with those received next week.

Please report any ergonomic or technical issues. Also, if there are any
obvious related items that appear to be missing, please let us know ASAP
so they can be added.
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Opening at Bahama Breeze:

Beverly writes:

I booked BB today. I booked the Monday for the opening activity.

They are excited to have us back. Same deal as always, order off full
menu, bar in room, seperate checks, patio & gazebo rooms.
. . . . . . . . . .

Annie responds:

Thanks Beverly.

That sounds great. I'll get this on the preliminary schedule. I will
also include an Orientation to hold the timeslot. We can work out the
details of that as the date approaches.
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Hotels and Downtown:

Katie writes:

Hotels.

I have stayed downtown many times and found it to be a great place to
start my day. It is actually quite peaceful in the mornings on Fremont
St.

The Nugget was my best time and had No Resort fees at the time that all
the rest were heaping it on and I do not know if they ever applied a
resort fee... The plaza was ok too as were both The 4 Queens and the
Fremont hotel.

I checked the net prices today on the **Official Sites** of a few
possibilities and this is what I found.

Four Queens March 22 for 6 days. Monday to Thursday $42 per night,
Friday=$99.

The D. Sunday=$89. Monday and Tuesday=29. wed and Thurs=$39.
Friday=$109.

Plaza. Mon Tues Wed Thursday=$49. Friday $129.

Strip hotel... Excalibur. Sun and Monday=$40. Tuesday, Wed, Thurs=$49.
Friday $128.

These are all decent places to stay and if a larger group stayed
Downtown then they can car pool and save $$$. Not all of our events are
up on the Strip ans some are a short drive from Fremont or even right
there is some cases/ IE:-- The Grotto dinner @ The Nugget. Fremont
Experience outing. Dining out night options and more. so it might be
quite convenient to stay downtown for some.

Vegas hotels traditionally have a cancellation policy of 72 or 48 hours
depending on where.So booking now is far better than waiting till' the
price goes up closer to DLV time. ... and if a cheaper price comes up
later somewhere else then people can either negotiate with their
original reservation place or just book the better price.and cancel the
original booking at no charge to the client.

I think that many new people think they are locked in which is usually
the case on a vacation site (Hotels.com etc.) and they are afraid to
book early in case they have to back out of the deal but it might be
good to inform them that most hotels are accommodating in this regard.

These are just a few easy examples but I am sure that Palace Station,
Ellis Island or the Orleans or The Gold Coast. Sams Town. Boulder
Station and Arizona Charlies if you don't mind the drive from Boulder
Highway are just as decent in their pricing too.

I hope this helps someone decide to come with us in March but the
Convention plan seems to be in every newer persons head and they need to
know that Mandatory hotels are so far away from what we do.
. . . . .

Delaney writes:

A consideration we may want to pass on to newbies is how volatile LV
hotel rates can be.

One option they have is to find something acceptable early on, book and
then shop around between their booking date and DLV. The only caveat is
they need to make sure there are no booking or cancellation fees.

In my case, I'm already booked, but I'm looking for a better
location/price between now and March. All three of my preferred hotels
are too high right now, but that was also the case last year, this far
in advance.

If I remember correctly, where I stayed last year had a price dip in
early February, which turned out to be my final booking. It can be a
pain, but I saved around $200 that way.
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Annie responds:

Thanks ladies.

Those prices are indeed less than the numbers being bounced around
for the center and south Strip hotels.

Delaney is quite correct that rates are subject to change at very short
notice. I saved a few hundred on my Pinkfest hotel bill by simply
watching and having them rebook me at the lower rate.
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Info table and QR codes:

Dionne writes:

> We've never had an information table but it might very well
> be a good thing to have.

What if this information table is a QR code linking to the DLV info? It
could be printed most anywhere, like name badges & etc.
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Annie responds:

We've used QR codes on our brochures for a few years now. They do get
occasional hits. (LOL, maybe one per month or so.) :)

I do like the idea of a "virtual information table" in lieu of the
high-maintenance actual table with hardcopy information and such. We
have thought of our phone volunteers as our "virtual office" for some
time now.

Yes, if the people doing the name tags can print a QR code, all anyone
with a smart phone would have to do is scan it and it could take them
to the generic info page.

If the QR codes could be custom printed for each attendee, a scan could
take the user right to their Attendee Information Portal.

Vera? Dennis? What do you think about printing QR codes on the backs
of the name tags?

It would be obviously easier to print a single consistent code on all
tags. The best would be to have a QR code which is personalized for each
attendee, but I can understand if you don't want to get that fancy with
the printing of the tags.

If you want I can send you a sample image of a QR code to play with and
see if it works with what you are using to print the tags.

That's the good news. Now ...

According to the survey for our last event, almost exactly 50% of our
respondees reported having a web-capable smart phone.

That means that with this method, about half of our attendees would be
able to make use of it. I'm aware that some androids on some carriers do
not come with a QR code scanner as part of the standard build. We also
had one person last week at Pinkfest with a shiny new smart phone which
did not have carrier Internet access.

What do we do for the other half?
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Administrivia:

This is the Diva Las Vegas 2015 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 2015
Sunday, March 22 - Friday, March 27
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

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Received on Wed Oct 22 2014 - 08:17:37 CDT