The Dates et al

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This posting is from: Michelle Jenkins
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Hi,

I've held off writing this E-Mail for some time. I didn't want to add any
heat to what appeared to be a enflamed issue already. It was interesting
seeing the comments come in from the Pros, Cons, Neutrals, Uncommitted and,
of course, the committed!

We appear to be in the final stages of a vote on extending DLV by having it
start earlier so those who may be affected by Mothers Day can come early and
leave to be home for the celebrations. While I've abstained for this vote it
seems to me that it will be passed unanimously as everyone wants to have a
longer DLV anyways!

The length of DLV doesn't really bother me as long as at least one of the
days has golf on it...which brings me to my first point. One or two years
back, DLV was scheduled to run into the start of N+I week (Yes I'm one of
the geeks that go to N+I but more of that later as well). Then Mindy or
Julie or whoever was organising the golf decided that the Monday was golf
day...an unfortunate clash with the second day of a $1,395.00 N+I
conference. As bitterly disappointed as I was by the "conspiracy of the GOLF
ORG group", I accepted that it was on that day and missed out playing golf
that year. Other years have come and gone and I've played golf since.

Personally the week of DLV needs to be beside N+I for me to attend for many
reasons including financial, family, social and work. The "before" week is
always better than the "after" week for me. I go to both DLV and N+I en
femme so the "out in public" time is not really an issue. Like many though,
the DLV vacation is part of my annual en femme time. Most years I've also
been to LV for Comdex and can go out en femme then as well but for the next
year DLV/N+I will be it.

It has been suggested that the ORG group should take into account the needs
of the vast unwashed ...opppppppss ... the attendees. I'm sure everyone of
us (the people on the Org list) have considered all the issues raised in the
discussions prior to the vote but at the end of it each of those people
needed to make the decision not on what's best for everyone else but what
they think is best for themselves taking into account all the issues. Trying
to predict what others want and then accommodate those wishes in a single,
simple vote is a sure path to madness...hence the reference to the
"committed" above!

Annie has said that the Org group has about 40 people on it of which about
25 voted?
> A. (5/3-8): 13
> B. (5/17-22): 5
> C. (4/19-24): 5
> Abstain: 1

OK 24...now that I've made the effort to go get the results.

Even if we had ONLY two dates to choose it was still a clear winner to
5/3-8. If the Org group is indeed 40 strong then it represents a large
number of attendees (120?). In order to have chosen either of the other
dates it would have required a fair number of ADDITIONAL people to have
voted for them.

I have felt that some of the comments made by those that are upset by having
Mothers Day weekend at the end of DLV are quite resentful and bitter,
hurtful to those that have done so much to make DLV what it is and are
clearly quite selfish.

What reason can any of those people have for saying that my reasons (or
those of others that disagree with them) (whatever they might be for having
a particular set of dates) is more important than there's?

Annie, Monique, Mindy, Densie, Gina, Aiko and numerous others that
immediately escape me have a right to say when DLV dates should be, given
how much work they put into the whole organisational effort both before and
during the event.

I CAN understand why Tina and Cindy have been so upset about the dates,
missing out on one (if not the only) opportunity to "go femme" for a week in
2004. It becomes a long time between DLV's to have to wait until 2005.

It is, however, unfortunate and unfair to criticise a process that clearly
arrived at a decision on which week to hold DLV.

We've seen a lot criticism about:
- the discussion
- the voting
- the early decision
- the discussion period
- the lack of a review
- the lack of consideration by the voters
- potential conspiracies

Get over it!

This is how its been for quite a few years now and its basically been very
successful as a formula and process.

The early recognition of the week of DLV is essential to its ultimate
success. Web sites can start advertising the dates, organisers have concrete
information to present to prospective vendors and venues, and decisions can
be made on shows and other activities in a reasonably stress free time
frame.

For many, the early adoption of firm dates is essential to get time off or
organise to be away. Even for me, (I'm self employed) it allows me to warn
my clients well in advance of my absence and reduce the impact to both them
and to my ongoing business opportunities. I imagine its even worse for those
in companies with overly oppressive or restrictive vacation policies.

There have been comments about the Mothers Day week dates being a cause for
a lower total turn out. Maybe; probably not.

Numbers will continue to grow at DLV, maybe not as dramatically as in the
past, maybe more so. Who really knows?

If the numbers are lower or static in 2004 then I don't see that as a bad
thing. We saw some of the pains of growing big in 2003 with a higher
proportion of incidents and issues to deal post DLV. The new policies on
behaviour are reflection of the concerns raised by those issues and it may
be better that these and other things are tested in an environment of
similar or lower numbers than this year.

There have been comments to the affect that peoples' opinions are being
ignored. In reality, the voters (all 24 of them) may well have given a lower
value / weighting to some of those opinions and comments compared to others.
Who's to know?

I considered numerous issues when I choose a date and the Mothers days issue
was one, in fact, I wrote about it several times prior to the vote. BUT TO
ME it was less important than other things that I felt were more relevant.

Just because the ORG group, or individuals, choose not to agree with your
opinion, it DOES NOT mean that it was uncalled for, ignored or discarded. In
most cases it was probably weighed up with other things and a decision was
made that did not agree with that particular perspective. Of course, some of
us may (or may not have) given some opinions much weight, which I guess is
paramount to ignoring them!

As for DLV 2004 and its schedule, it does seem to me that the vote will be
for an earlier start. In many ways this was always likely to be the case
from comments made in the discussions prior to the original votes. Annie's
concern, shared by some others, is the extension of dates MUST be
accompanied by additional organisers who will step up and follow through
with activities that will fill the time up.

In many ways this is actually a core issue with the scalability of the DLV
concept:
- Finding organisers
- Finding appropriate activities that are:
- likely to attract a reasonable turnout
- aren't too expensive
- can be done in femme mode
- won't hurt, maim or kill anybody
- won't upset or offend anybody (or at least the minimum number possible)
- unlikely to create group raids on the women's restrooms!

I know several people have stated there personal impression, somewhat
indelibly, about some of the proposed activities. We all have different
limits and views on many things, so when some of the more outrageous
suggestions are made there will be some that disagree, sometimes vehemently,
with the proposals. We do need to temper our comments about these proposals
and get less heated and emotional about objecting to them.

Logically and practically I could not / can not see Densie's nun escapade
getting off the ground as a group activity as part of an organised DLV
activity schedule. I can see her, Tony and maybe some others doing something
that will ultimately become one or more of the following:
- DLV folklore
- Get someone arrested, shot or both
- Appear on the local, national or international news bulletins
- Be incredibly humorous
- Be the subject of DLV conversation and discussion for a 100 years to come
- Give us all something to analyse, criticise, debate and comment on in the
post DLV review period,
- Be the basis for another policy rewrite!

Realistically I personally think some of the other proposals are a little
suspect as well, but then again I thought the High Tea was a bit suspect as
well and look how successful that has become!

By now you've probably got sore eyes from reading this and got pissed off
with the NZ spelling of many words. While in part I suspect this e-mail adds
fuel to the fire, let all try and "get over" the Mothers Day dates and the
Nuns proposal.

Lets focus on suggestions for the extended DLV period as well as working
through the schedule to make sure it all fits together without the glitches
we've had in the past such as:
- Too much travelling between activities in the same period
- Late Night finishes (Limo Tour) and early morning starts (Golf, Flying)
for activities
- Overcrowding of venues
- High NO show rates

Anyway that9s it for now.

Hugs
Michelle

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