In this mailing:
Org List
Transition
Ruth's Chris
Starting the schedule
Survey concerns
QR codes
Downtown hotel
Working schedule
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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Transition:
It is the time of year to begin our transition from strategic planning
to tactical deployment.
We have seeded the schedule (see below) with the recurring activities
and various items which already have definite plans, and the working
schedule will appear in all of the ORG mailings from this day forward.
. . . . .
For all newer volunteers (you know who you are, and we do too) :) it is
now time to let us know what you would most like to do to help out our
program. Coordinating or assisting with a DLV activity elevates you to
voting status in our ORG group. There are many opportunities to get
involved, including:
Volunteer to host(ess) a daily session of one of the recurring
activities, such as Lunch With (YOU) or Dancing At Paris.
Volunteer to actively assist one of the veteran Coordinators of one of
the larger gatherings, to "learn the ropes" and get experience making
one of our significant activities happen.
Volunteer to host(ess) one of the smaller options which happen on our
multi-track evenings. These can be dining activities, social activities,
shows, participatory activities, etc.
Volunteer to coordinate a shopping, touristy, sightseeing, or outdoorsy
type of activity during the daytime.
Get together with a vendor and coordinate an Open House session for the
DLV attendees.
There are many other things you can do. Ask if you need any specific
suggestions.
. . . . .
We're asking all volunteers to please look over and sanity check the
first version of the schedule which appears toward the bottom of this
mailing.
For those who have activities planned (date, time set) which do not
appear on the schedule, please get these in. Also, now is the time to
select timeslots for various activities which you have planned but not
zeroed in on any exact times.
If you are in charge of any activities which appear on the schedule,
please double-check dates and times. These preliminary values were taken
from ORG discussion and times of similar activities in previous years.
It's very easy to change them, but the sooner the better so other
activities can be planned around them.
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Ruth's Chris:
Beverly writes:
I would like to put my favorite dining venue, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse,
on the schedule for Tuesday evening.
I haven't talked to Danielle yet but I am assuming the golf outing will
be Tuesday morning as in past years.
. . . . . . . . . .
Annie responds:
Thanks Beverly.
It's on the schedule. I assume HH at Ruth's Chris as well.
This kind of tags Tuesday as a multi-track evening, which does fit very
well with what else has been scheduled already.
Danielle? Any preliminary plans for golf?
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Starting the schedule:
Although we do have a number of line items in the schedule already,
almost everything is "in pencil" and subject to change if we (including
you) decide upon it.
Three recurring activities (KKK, LWG, DAP) have been included most days.
If there are other recurring activities, these can be added (such as a
recurring informal afternoon gathering, a pre-happy-hour, a later
morning session) as long as we have specific plans for them and
volunteers to host(ess) them.
Two of the evenings (Monday and Wednesday) already have specific plans
involving venues which have already been contacted. One of the evenings
has specific plans (Friday) with no specific venue yet.
For those who are new to the volunteer scene, the strategy we have used
since 2010 is to divide our days into three categories based upon the
featured (or lack of same) items occurring that evening.
These specific classes are:
1. Days having evening schedules which are centered around a single
maximum-attendance activity with an exclusive timeslot. (Welcome and
Farewell Celebrations)
2. Days having evening schedules which have one featured or "anchor"
activity whose timeslot is open to other alternative activities. (Limo
Tour, Night of the Soiled Doves, etc.)
3. Days having evening schedules which have multiple activities, none of
which dominates. (Eating Out Night, Mainstream-Alternative Night)
What has worked out well is to have three of each of the above, although
this precedent is not set in stone. The way our very preliminary
schedule looks, the days/evenings will be:
Sunday: Anchor or multi
Monday: Maximum-attendance
Tuesday: Multi
Wednesday: Anchor
Thursday: Anchor or multi
Friday: Maximum attendance
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday already have specific plans. Sunday,
Tuesday (to an extent), and Thursday are pretty much blank slates.
. . . . . . . . . .
Now for the first day to day review of the actual preliminary schedule.
Further comments on any of this will be welcome.
+Sunday, March 22:
+ 12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
+ 10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Sunday is currently tabula rasa except for the recurring items. Since
2010, Sunday has been our "slow start" evening and it has worked well as
such.
Last year we had this as a multi-track evening, with most of the
activities occurring in the downtown area.
It's pretty much open for whatever we want. It could be used for an
anchor activity, but our numbers will still be a bit lower on Sunday
than for any of the weekdays.
We could again plan a downtown-themed evening, or else a general multi
track evening and do a downtown thing on Thursday, when the attendee
base will be larger.
. . . . . . . . . .
+Monday, March 23:
+ 7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
+ 12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
+ 1:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
+ 2:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
+ 3:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
+ 5:00pm: New Attendee Orientation (Bahama Breeze) - mv
+ 6:00pm: Happy Hour (Bahama Breeze) - ms
+ 7:00pm: Dinner (Bahama Breeze) - ms
+ 8:30pm: Welcome Celebration (Bahama Breeze) - ms
+ 9:00pm: Official Group Photo (Bahama Breeze) - ms
+ 10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Monday is our most complete day so far. The evening is solid but there's
room for all kinds of various other activities in the daytime.
. . . . . . . . . .
+Tuesday, March 24:
+ 7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
+ 12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
+ 1:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
+ 2:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
+ 3:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
+ 6:00pm: Happy Hour (Ruth's Chris - Harrahs) - ms
+ 7:00pm: Dinner (Ruth's Chris - Harrahs) - ms
+ 10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Tuesday evening is evolving as a multi-track evening, if this trend
continues, we will need a few more dining options and a few after-dinner
options. Things like the High Roller Observation Wheel, an Audrey Tour,
one or more show options, etc. would be a good fit here on Tuesday.
. . . . . . . . . .
+Wednesday, March 25:
+ 7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
+ 12:00n: Lunch With Dr. Victoria (Erotic Heritage Museum) - ms
+ 5:00pm: PF Chang Happy Half-hour (PF Chang Planet Hollywood) - ms
+ 5:30pm: PF Chang Dinner (PF Chang Planet Hollywood) - ms
+ 7:00pm: Erotic Heritage Museum (Erotic Heritage Museum) - mv
+ 9:30pm: Kings of Hustler (Kings Of Hustler) - mv
+ 10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Except for the morning, Wednesday is one of our stronger days so far.
We have one strong dining activity plus a very strong anchor track in
the evening.
The morning and mid afternoon are wide open for about anything of any
type.
We could use a second (third?) additional dining activity, since PF
Chang will most likely not be able to hold all of us who wish to eat.
We could also have a second track to EHM/KOH if anyone would like to
plan it.
. . . . . . . . . .
+Thursday, March 26:
+ 7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
+ 12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
+ 10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Thursday is more or less wide open, daytime and evening.
Daytime would be perfect for an open house session, an Art Tour type
of thing, a touristy or outdoorsy thing, or maybe something new and
different.
The evening could be either an anchor activity (Limo? NSD?) backed up
with one or more alternate tracks, or a true mult-track evening of
shows, social activities, etc. Downtown is a possibility on Thursday as
well.
. . . . . . . . . .
+Friday, March 27:
+ 7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
+ 12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
+ 6:00pm: Happy Hour (tba) - ms
+ 7:00pm: Dinner (tba) - ms
+ 8:30pm: Farewell Celebration (tba) - ms
+ 10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
In the five years (2010-2014) since we went to the Sunday-Friday
schedule, a large single-track farewell gathering has always been
well-attended and highly rated. (Yes, yes, we're well aware that there
were complaints about this in 2014 but it still placed over 4 on both
the enjoyment and comfort scales.)
If we're to go with this strategy again in 2015, a large max-attendance
affair on the closing Friday, the big burning question is: Where?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Survey concerns:
Sara (no "h") writes:
I reviewed the survey, it looks good. But I'm wondering how meaningful
the responses will be in that there are so many choices, you may not
have a large enough sample size to learn more than a handful of distinct
opinions rather than see any true trends emerge.
. . . . . . . . . .
JoAnn responds:
Good point. I would go forward with the survey "as is", and address
only those responses with the larger opinion sample responses.
. . . . . . . . . .
Annie responds:
The last special survey we did was the Welcome Celebration survey in
November of 2013. It received 110 responses. The response to this
survey, when it closes, will hopefully be along the same line in terms
of number of responses.
A sample size of about 100 should give enough data points to smooth out
most "noise" and give us a good handle on which of the cited factors are
indeed important regarding lunch and hotels.
The survey last year did a very good job of telling us which factors
were important regarding one's decision to attend or not to attend the
larger gatherings.
As of this update (Tuesday evening) we have 71 survey responses in so
far. We're on target for a total number of responses in the same order
of we had for the last special survey.
We do not want to publish partial results out of concern of
contaminating yet-to-be-submitted responses. If anyone has a need
to know the preliminary data, write in and we'll send it to you.
As to "so many choices", each of the checkboxes represents various
values, such as convenience, thrift, comfort, companionship, etc. The
results will let us know which of these values are more important to our
people regarding the two topics.
I do not foresee any earthshaking surprises within the survey results,
but I do expect much verification and validation, perhaps even some
negation, of some of the factors we have been discussing and speculating
upon.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
QR codes:
Vera writes (from a conversation):
V>Whoa!!!! I know I'm not that savy when it comes to a lot of the
V>technical stuff.
A>If you are not familiar with QR codes, these are those square bitmaps
A>that appear in various places, usually on flyers and such. A good
A>example of one appears here:
http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/dlvtest.png
A>If you point a smart phone at it and click, it should take you to the
A>main MyDLV screen.
V>I'll ask Dennis what he know about QA codes being printed on the back
V>of name cards.
A>The QR codes are a "new improved" bar code. They can be printed with
A>most any modern printer and they are usually generated in the form of
A>black and white .png files which can be handled by just about any kind
A>of modern software packages that composes and prints documents.
V>But if he doesn't, how do we make them in order to print them
V>on the back of name tags?
A>I (Annie) will take care of supplying the QR code(s). They are easily
A>generated by the tools used here.
V>Would each person have a different QA code?
A>This would be best, since it could link directly to that person's new
A>Attendee Information Portal screen. These could be generated and keyed
A>with the individual's name and roster number.
A>If it's too much work to print a separate QR code for each individual,
A>we can use a single code for all, which will lead to some kind of a
A>generic subset of the Final Attendee Information. Of course the person
A>could not review or change their individual activity sign-ups and such.
V>A little help on this would be greatly needed and appreciated. I'm
V>sure if we know what we are doing we could print the codes on the
V>name badges.
A>I will give you all the help I can from the technical side. The script
A>that gives you the names of registered attendees (and for one year the
A>previous years attended) can be modified to generate a QR code for each
A>one. These could then be printed using about any current document editor
A>and current model of printer.
V>Okay Annie,
V>This I can understand now. Thanks. Dennis downloaded the app to read
V>these QR codes and tried it on the one you linked to this email. We
V>were amazed how easy it was and IT WORKED linking us to the MYDLV
V>page.
V>I see no problem in printing a QR code to each individual name tag as
V>long as you are going to supply each QR code. We’ll just have to
V>figure out who’s QR code belongs to whom, correct? and print it on
V>the back of the appropriate name tag.
A>The file name for each QR code will have the individual's first name
A>and roster number in it, so it should be very easy to identify which
A>QR file is whose. You can, of course, spot check these by simply
A>aiming a smart phone at one, clicking, and checking to be sure that
A>the correct person's Attendee Information page is displayed.
V>This new technology is so much fun after you see it work. LOL!
A>We've actually used these on the last couple of runs of the DLV
A>brochures, to let those who can use them scan them instead of
A>typing a specific URL.
If anyone wants to test out how this will work, surf here:
http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/etienne-1412685151-7312.png
This will bring up the QR code for a test attendee. Point your smart
phone at it and click, and it should bring up the Attendee Information
Portal for the test attendee. Since this is a test attendee, you can
safely do about anything you want with it.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Downtown hotel:
Katie writes:
Here's an idea which might appeal to both new visitors and old to DLV
for the suggested hotels.
As of now we usually have 3 up around the Strip area or 4 if the need
arises, but nothing anywhere else in town.
I think it might work and not complicate things too much if we added a
Downtown option to the list for those who would like to stay in an Old
Vegas atmosphere.
The Nugget is excellent place to stay and probably the best in the
downtown area and as we usually give high end and lower key options for
our hotels we could nominate a cheaper one too for those on a budget.
Example..
Golden Nugget = $$$.
Four Queens = $$.
It would not hurt and could possibly bring more girls to our shores so
to speak.
. . . . . . . . .
JoAnn responds:
I think this is a good alternate to have "downtown Las Vegas" on the
hotel list. But I would also say those who go "downtown" need to have a
car or understand the transportation costs to get to the "Strip Events".
. . . . . . . . .
Annie responds:
The only way we are going to find out if a downtown hotel catches on
with our people is to try suggesting one.
I think at least at first, we need to suggest one and only one hotel in
the downtown area, so we don't fragment the group that will be choosing
downtown.
The only hotel downtown in which I've stayed over the past decade has
been the El Cortez, and I would not recommend it for many of our people,
as it's east of the well-traveled area and definitely downscale and
"earthy" in ambiance.
We had two write-in "Definitely Satisfied" responses for the Four Queens
on this past survey. This would be an obvious candidate.
I agree with JoAnn that those staying downtown need to be well aware of
the transportation issues and costs. Two years ago we had a couple
(without a vehicle) who were enticed by a bottom-dollar hotel rate at
the Plaza, only to find that they were out of the loop and that taxi
fares quickly un-did any savings they had at the lower-cost hotel.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Working schedule:
Diva Las Vegas 2015 schedule
Tentative and subject to change
All times Pacific Daylight Time
PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS AS THE FINAL
AND ACCURATE DIVA LAS VEGAS SCHEDULE.
Sunday, March 22:
12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Monday, March 23:
7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
1:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
2:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
3:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
5:00pm: New Attendee Orientation (Bahama Breeze) - mv
6:00pm: Happy Hour (Bahama Breeze) - ms
7:00pm: Dinner (Bahama Breeze) - ms
8:30pm: Welcome Celebration (Bahama Breeze) - ms
9:00pm: Official Group Photo (Bahama Breeze) - ms
10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Tuesday, March 24:
7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
1:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
2:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
3:00pm: Makeover Sessions (Bare Escentuals) - ms
6:00pm: Happy Hour (Ruth's Chris - Harrahs) - ms
7:00pm: Dinner (Ruth's Chris - Harrahs) - ms
10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Wednesday, March 25:
1:00am: Test Activity (Riviera) - ms
7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
12:00n: Lunch With Dr. Victoria (Erotic Heritage Museum) - ms
5:00pm: PF Chang Happy Half-hour (PF Chang Planet Hollywood) - ms
5:30pm: PF Chang Dinner (PF Chang Planet Hollywood) - ms
7:00pm: Erotic Heritage Museum (Erotic Heritage Museum) - mv
9:30pm: Kings of Hustler (Kings Of Hustler) - mv
10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Thursday, March 26:
7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
Friday, March 27:
7:00am: Katie's Koffee Korner (Linq - Betty's Cyber Cafe) - ms
12:00n: Lunch With Ginger (tba) - ms
6:00pm: Happy Hour (tba) - ms
7:00pm: Dinner (tba) - ms
8:30pm: Farewell Celebration (tba) - ms
10:00pm: Dancing at Paris (Paris - Cabaret Lounge) - ms
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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
Archives of this list appear on the web at:
http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/org15arc/
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Received on Wed Oct 29 2014 - 07:52:25 CDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Wed Jun 03 2015 - 07:09:18 CDT
