[dlvorg] Costs, brunch, age, numbers, etc. ...

In this mailing:

Org List
This mailing
Hotel costs
Brunch
Age and numbers
Matching
Top level
Flash Mob
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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This mailing:

Again, a multi-topic mailing.

If there are any items that specifically need to be addressed by the
current ORG group, before we bring the new volunteers in, please get
them in during this next list cycle. We'll be adding the new volunteers
and doing the yearly housekeeping in early-mid June.
. . . . . . . . . .

Another "housekeeping" item:

The issue that was brought up in the Discussion Forum is now in the
hands of our Admin Committee, which has a handle on the situation. If
anyone has anything that they wish the Admin Committee to know, please
send it in directly to the Committee at dlvadmin_at_geekbabe.com

"Healthy" discussion on the Discussion Forum is fine, but we would like
all to remember to please take the high road and avoid anything that
could be considered to be a personal attack or a put-down. Your
consideration and discretion are appreciated.
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Hotel costs:

Sherry writes:

As to hotel costs. Altho I found the Flamingo to be reasonable and
comfortable. I see no reason to spend double that for a room. However, I
can afford either. My suggestion is to try and organise a roommate
program. That way girls can 1/2 their room cost and maybe make a
newfriend in the process?

Also, one of the girls there said she booked a small suite in an off the
strip hotel with a kitchen for $50 a nite! Maybe these possibilities
would help encourage those short on $$ to come?
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Annie responds:

Thanks, Sherry.

I think this is an excellent example of something that is within our
power to do which can make our event more affordable to those who want
to attend and participate.

I would like to see more thinking and suggestions along this line.

Would you (or anyone else) be interested in acting as a Room Share
Coordinator for DLV 2016?

We previously had such a volunteer, and the position was last held by
Diane, who is no longer active, back in the mid 2000s. That makes the
position officially vacant if you (or anyone) wants it.

We have the roommate matching screens, which ask the usual questions
such as smoking and sleep/wake/snore patterns, in the registration
system and it's very easy to "option them in" again.

We quit doing roommate matching as the Great Recession caused hotel
rates to drop significantly.

Also, if anyone wants to look into such things as suites, apartments,
AirBnB rentals, etc., please do so. We had (at least) two people at last
year's Pinkfest do AirBnB and reported very good experiences.
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Brunch:

Delaney writes:

For a bit of a change up, I was considering offering a moderately
upscale brunch next year, notionally at 11AM.

I have spoken to Bouchon in the Venetian and they seem amenable
(although I will look at other venues). However, I don't want to do
so if there is any significant concern that it would draw from the
longstanding lunch buffet offerings, or if there would be little
interest in general.

The intent is to offer something new, but not unduly compete for diners,
as many lunches are low attendance. Thoughts are solicited......
. . . . . . . . . .

Annie responds:

As you probably know, there's movement to make our official LWG as
affordable as we can, so if you want to plan a higher-end brunch, I do
not foresee much of a conflict. The only conflict we had with LWG this
year was one day when several other activities were occurring at the LWG
time as well.

Comments, gang?
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Age and numbers:

Dionne writes:

On the subject of age {<+60 yrs.} demographics for DLV, it was birthday
that tipped the scales over that mark (;-o))
. . . . .

Katie writes:

I think we are just about perfect the way we are!

The younger set really would not want to hang out with our crowd anyway
just as real girls would not want to hang with people their mothers age
so why try to attract them to DLV?

I am in support of Vivian too in that large numbers at DLV are really
not important to me. In fact I prefer it to be around 130 > 160 maximum.
it is manageable that way and the bad incidents are likely to be in the
lower numbers too!. If we get to 500 or more attendees it will not be so
manageable and if 50% are 30 years old or less then the activities will
take on a different direction and those who run it now will have lost
interest as they will be older than they are now and as we all know or
should, Not many like massive changes in direction for something they
love doing. Does that make sense?

When I first attended in 2002 I noticed that the crowd in attendance
were basically my age and older and I liked that! I was not looking for
teeny bopper activities with girls in mini skirts sipping on a latte
anyway and DLV fit the mold absolutely perfectly for me.....and with the
exception of possibly some better daytime / afternoonish activities it
still does!. (Yes, Before you ask...I will volunteer to do at least one
of those next Spring.) *lol*.

How many 30 somethings really want to do lunch with people 20 years
older than them or go hiking with their Moms friends *lol*, or a boat
trip on lake Mead or even a Horse ranch trip? I suspect none. So let's
leave the young girls alone and let them chose for themselves weather to
come with us or not. We don't need to entice them along. I think we are
well known enough for them to notice and If they want to try a week with
us then they will. Tanya from the East Coast who came along with us last
year was great fun and fit in perfectly with us and I think she had a
nice time but did not return this year. I suspect that the majority of
girls her age would not have fit in so well as she did though.
. . . . . . . . . .

Annie responds:

There are two very good points of discussion here, one being age and the
other being total turnout.

Let's look at both.

If we look at reported ages over the last 10 years, we get:

2006 - 55.4
2007 - 54.82
2008 - 56.62
2009 - 55.93
2010 - 56.88
2011 - 56.33
2012 - 59.8
2013 - 58.75
2014 - 58.58
2015 - 60.27

The obvious trend is that yes, our attendee base has been "greying" over
the past 10 years, but not as much as some would think or imply. I think
the attention to this has come about by the fact that this year we did
break the 60 threshold, barely. Yes, one birthday can do it. :)

The average age over these 10 years is 57.34, which is less than three
years displaced from the reported age in any year in the ten-year span.

I was going to do two lists of activities which I thought would
specifically appeal to younger DLVers and to older DLVers, but I found
very few which really fit either. Only the Mainstream Clubbing really
fit the criteria of appealing to younger people. Maybe the Pole Dance
Instruction but I know there were some more mature ladies present as
well.

High Tea is really the only one that I think would appeal mainly to the
older folks, and even that can transcend most age groups.

Things such as Raiding the Rock Vault and Pinball Museum may sound like
younger-appealing activities but in actuality those who enjoyed things
like this in their early years are now getting up in age.

I really don't think we need any adjustment in our activity strategy to
focus on any specific range of ages. I think most of our activities can
be easily enjoyed by those in their 20s to those in their 70s.
. . . . .

Now let's talk about numbers.

I am personally not that concerned about the decrease in attendance over
the past two years. Whether this is a trend or simply the expected
variance has yet to be seen.

Here are the attendance totals over the past 10 years, the gain/loss
from the previous year, and the five-year moving average for each year.

2006: 118 -8 (110.8)
2007: 136 +18 (120.4)
2008: 176 +40 (134.8)
2009: 149 -27 (141)
2010: 179 +30 (151.6)
2011: 169 -10 (161.8)
2012: 155 -14 (165.6)
2013: 166 +11 (163.6)
2014: 156 -10 (165)
2015: 133 -23 (155.8)

The loss this year was not our greatest loss over the past 10 years.
There is also a lot of "noise" from year to year, and it's very obvious
that many factors contribute to the final headcount.

I was somewhat concerned about our growth in previous years, very
specifically that we could outgrow our model and could no longer find
facilities to handle our larger gatherings in the manner our people had
become accustomed to.

In 2010 we were at capacity as to how many the old Firefly Plaza could
handle, and in 2011 we exceeded the capacity of the Mood Restaurant at
the Artisan and almost did so as well regarding the bar.

Here and now, it's obvious that we're getting very close to the limit of
what Bahama Breeze can support, at least with the full menu and separate
check model. Don't be surprised if one or both of those go away from
what they are willing to offer. I know they have hinted of a limited
menu at times.

I think the keys to keeping our event viable include:

1. MAKING IT MORE AFFORDABLE!

2. Keeping a good mix of activities, appealing to all ages and to all
pocketbooks.

3. Keeping our volunteers happy!

Comments?
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Matching:

Dionne writes:

> Oh..., yes... an excellent point..... Match
> interests and abilities to activities. This is a challenge.

Here's an example of matching up interests and abilities to activities.

Although the Survey marks were favorable, I can't host the FlamBoyance
Drag show at the Flex lounge next year. I have hay fever allergies, so
the stage and cigarette smoke bothers my sinuses too much. So, I
recommend offering this to Cinnamen who will do well with this and is in
the younger demographic that DLV wants to reach and maintain. I would be
glad to follow-up and make the necessary connections.
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Annie responds:

{Wonk hat on, sorry}

Cinnamen (is that the correct spelling?) is not a DLV volunteer, nor
does she appear on our roster of attendees, at least under any variation
of that name that I can find.

We've had cases where someone who was not an attendee nor an official
volunteer put on something for DLV, but we always had, and we have to by
standing rules, have someone on our volunteer force who is the official
Coordinator of record. We always need someone on our team as the one who
is on record as being responsible for the activity.
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Top level:

I was saddened after reading the discussions on check-splitting.

As I read them, I heard a top-level concern; Attendees want to be better
informed before they attend an activity.

Here are some specific detailed
suggestions;

Here's the template for the Custom schedule for Diva Las
Vegas 2015:

Map symbol
Cost
Where to meet the group
Approximate duration
Degree of exposure to public
Volunteer Coordinator(s)
Coordinator's phone number
Coordinator's photo (if available)
Type of sign-up, if any
Facility address
Facility phone
Monorail stop
Taxi instructions
Parking notes
Dress notes
Additional information links
General and miscellaneous notes

Here's a sample printout per activity:

Activity: Lunch With Ginger - Champagne Brunch
Start time: 1:00pm
Location: Harrah's Buffet
Map Symbol: U
Coordinator(s): Ginger
Coordinator phone: 555-555-5555
Venue address: 3475 Las Vegas Blvd S.
Venue phone: 800-634-6765
Parking hints: Structures or valet - follow signs.
Misc. notes:

To help Attendees know what to expect before they join a table, I
suggest we add a field like; Method of Payment {options} -no cost-pay at
the door-split checks per table-cash only-etc

 From the Survey: How many times have you attended Diva Las Vegas?
Once: 19

{ There are as many Newcomers as other groups.}

Newcomer Attendees can vary widely in appearance (skill with dressing),
as well as comfort with exposure.

>From the Survey, each event has a comfort level score. Can this comfort
level score be fed-back into a new field:* Suggested Experience level of
event -Beginner-Intermediate-Mainstream-CraZY tRANny-etc.

Also, can we incorporate these and other fields into the Registration
process in a simple manner (ie: color coding)?
. . . . . . . . . .

Annie responds:

The cost field is free-form, and sometimes we've added notes such as
"payable at the activity" and such to it, or in the general notes.

We could, yes, include such a note as "one check per table" if the
Coordinator supplies such info.

As to rating activities by experience level, we've come close to that in
prior years but not in recent years. Statements such as "good beginner
activity" and "not recommended for those with little public exposure"
have occasionally appeared in the activity notes but not very much in
recent years.

We do have a "degree of exposure to public", broad categories, put on
the schedule in response to requests to give attendees some general
ideas of how exposed an activity actually is.

We also have each activity tagged in three fairly broad classes of "Safe
Venue", Major Venue", and "Mainstream", which are very broad categories
but indicative of the comfort level, mainly from the new/inexperienced
standpoint, of the venue.

This currently does not appear on most copies of the schedule but can if
there's a need and desire to have it.
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Flash Mob:

Dionne writes:

> We'll be doing a test case of the intended group text thing this
> fall at Pinkfest,

I hope this goes well and metrics are inserted where suitable. I have
seen the power of the Flash Mob and the impacts are mind-blowing.

Setting the stage up for serendipity to happen is magical.
. . . . . . . . . .

Seriously, it might be fun to try an impromptu get-together just to see
what happens. :)
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Administrivia:

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Received on Wed May 20 2015 - 07:01:24 CDT