Please read carefully and completely before suggesting dates

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
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To avoid repetitive suggestions of timeframes that were already
summarily rejected or voted down, let's review the entire span,
the potential DLV dates, and the reasons some may be unworkable.

The entire span of mid-March thru late May was examined. By a
process of elimination, candidate timeframes were nominated and
voted upon.

As you will see, no timeframe is ideal. What is proposed is a
least-of-all-evils compromise, so to speak.
. . .

First, a listing of the potential conflicts and other dates
that need to be avoided.

Family and personal commitments:

Palm Sunday is April 5
Passover is April 9-15
Easter is April 12
Mothers Day is May 10
Memorial Day is May 25
. . .

Major conventions:

History has shown that it takes a total convention population of
around 70,000 to 80,000 to cause room rates to "spike". Several
other conventions were noted, but no others were large enough to
cause unreasonable room rates.

One week in March has a total convention population of 99,000:

March 15-18, ASD/AMD Show, LVCC, 64,000 expected.
March 15-20, Globalshop, Sands, 20,000 expected.
March 18-20, International Wireless, LVCC, 15,000 expected.

The largest convention currently in Las Vegas is the National
Association of Broadcasters, which has been discussed already:

NAB, April 18-23, 115000
. . .

Significant volunteer conflicts:

Many volunteer conflicts were mentioned with the various dates.
Two of them have special significance, since they both do a lot
of the "real work" behind DLV, and their efforts and skill sets
are difficult to replace. (Are YOU, yes YOU in the second person,
willing and able to replace either of these two?)

1. Nora is locked out of the week of March 22-28. Nora is the
one who has been arranging for the facilities for our larger
maximum-turnout gatherings.

2. Mindy is locked out of the period of April 29 thru May 4.
Mindy is the one who coordinates Golf, Pity Party, and several
other smaller things.

Another big consideration has to be the overall strength of
the volunteer force. Things like high room rates and family
commitments can cause a shrinkage in the number of active
volunteers. (Are you, yes YOU, willing to step in and replace
the volunteers who cannot attend due to high room rates or
family commitments?)
. . .

The specific timeframes:

No timeframe that began or ended midweek got any traction at
all. Those that spanned a weekend failed to get even a single
nomination.

The ORG group most definitely prefers a weekend-to-weekend
type of thing.

Let's go through, in chronological order, the weeks within the
span of mid-March to end of May, listing the issues with each.

I'm listing these spans as Sunday to Saturday. The timeframes
that were nominated or discussed were mostly Sunday-Friday or
Monday-Saturday.

1. March 15 - 21. This is a convention-heavy week. High room rates.

2. March 22 - 28. Nora locked out. (Are you, yes YOU, willing and
able to replace her?)

3. March 29 - April 4. Ends on the weekend of Palm Sunday.

Other concerns about March in general were Lent (which does not
seem to affect tourism and convention business) and Spring Break,
with possible room rate/availability issues and drunken fratboys.

4. April 5 - 11. Holy Week, ends the weekend of Easter. End of
week occurs during Passover.

5. April 12 - 18. Begins on Easter, covers most of Passover,
ends weekend which NAB begins. Concerns of "fizzle out" weak
ending due to leaving early because of room rates that weekend.

6. April 19 - 25. NAB Convention. Astronomical room rates.

7. April 26 - May 2. Mindy is locked out for four days in this
timeframe. (Are you, yes YOU, willing and able to replace her?)

8. May 3 - May 9. We are enjoined by standing rules from having
anything on Mothers Day or the two days prior.

9. May 11 - May 16. Begins day after Mothers Day. This is our
current proposed timeframe.

10. May 17 - May 23. Ends weekend of Memorial Day.

11. May 24 - May 30. Begins weekend of Memorial Day.
. . .

Now, let's talk about the weather.

The question of the weather always comes up. Yes, the weather
is one factor to consider, but it cannot trump all others.

Some have the idea, and bring this up regularly, that if we
move DLV 1-2 weeks earlier the weather is bound to be ideal,
and if it's 1-2 weeks later we're bound to melt.

Having grown up in the family of a meteorologist, I do know
that it's a crapshoot no matter what. The short-term variance
is far more significant in determining the daily temperature,
wind, precipitation, etc. than are the averages.

The weather can be considered, and was considered, but it has to
be only one factor of many in the overall decision.

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(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Susan Teresa Rogers
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The time frame of Mar 29 thru Apr 4 deserves consideration. Any date
after May 2 I can't make. So I do have a self interest here. However it
does have positives. Sun to Fri. It's earlier in the year. The weather
will be cooler. There aren't any significant conflicts concerning
conventions and religion. I don't think that we should freeze out any of
the pioneers and long time volunteers.You all have made this event the
success that it is. I think that the fact that it starts the day after
mother's day, combined with the late dates will affect attendance. Do
any of you long time volunteers have a problem with Mar 29 thru Apr 4?

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(This posting was entered by Susan Teresa Rogers, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
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>Do any of you long time volunteers have a problem with Mar 29
>thru Apr 4?

Nothing that week got nominated due to the proximity to Palm
Sunday. However, there is a double-whammy that was not mentioned.
Mindy is locked out from March 30 - April 2, putting the golf
and Pity Party at risk if those dates are seriously considered.

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(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)