This is getting long, and it's broken up into two sections.
While the objective part of the survey gives us valuable info, it's all averaged and aggregated. The comments are more personaland individual and gives more insight into the thoughts and the feelings of the individual attendees.
. . . . . . . . . .
{sigh!} Let's get this particular issue out of the way first ...
>when an event is in the mainstream, the ball gown has to go.
. . .
>Fairy God Mother needs to go, as well as the androgynous stuff.
. . .
>Did I feel like giving constructive criticism? Yes, the hoop
>skirt gown.
. . .
What I'm gonna suggest here is a cooperative effort by all.
I don't think we need any more rules or enforcement. I do think, however, that some consideration of others is in order.
I'm going to suggest that those who wish to dress in a manner that tends to be attention-getting exercise some restraint and consideration and tone things down a bit when attending our more exposed general-public functions.
Likewise, I'm going to suggest that all make an effort to not be easily annoyed. It's very much a two-way street.
There are plenty of activities where it's perfectly fine to dress with few limits. Our "safe venue" activities (Bar Crawl, Pajama Party, Sassy To Classy, etc.) are just fine for very open self-expression. We have a few public activities where it's OK to dress up in attention-getting outfits, such as the Erotic Heritage Museum and the Limo tour.
What I'm hearing is that it's the very mainstream activities at which it becomes annoying and uncomfortable for some. Things such as Trevi, Bahama Breeze, smaller mainstream places such as the buffets, etc., is where it's an issue.
Let's all please try to consider others and cooperate on this!
Please?
+Help me understand this. Do you or do you not enforce dress
+code? You say no costumes for main-stream, right? An antebelum
+ball gown is a costume, no? Why is this not being enforced?
I can answer most of these questions. First, "costumes" are not allowed for mainstream venue activities. From the guidelines:
+Unless otherwise noted, costumes, clubwear, and slutty/fetish
+attire are not allowed at mainstream activities.
Again, from the guidelines:
+Outfits must be occasion-appropriate, meaning within the bounds
+of what is usual and customary for a woman (or man) of your age
+and size to wear to such an activity.
I must admit that the outfits in question are not within the bounds of what's usual and customary to wear to such places as Trevi and Bahama Breeze.
Now, as to why no action was taken (that I'm aware of). As far as I know, no complaints were made to the coordinators of those particular activities.
We discussed this in some depth last year, all of which is still relevant, and we summarized it in the "If something is wrong" section of the Large Final Mailing this year as such:
+If you sincerely believe that another attendee's manner of
+dress is out of compliance with our guidelines, to the degree
+that it is negatively impacting your enjoyment of the current
+DLV activity, or if {etc. ...}
Unless something is said to those in charge at the time, most likely nothing will be done.
Our people have made it very clear that they (you - we) do not want a police state and do not want any kind of "enforcement committee" or Sergeant At Arms patroling the activities and proactively enforcing dress regulations. Lacking that, it's up to those who coordinate the various activities to be the ones who take action, if it's to be taken.
. . . . . . . . . .
I heard of no major restroom incidents this year! Big thanks to all for making this happen, or for making it not happen!
Two respondees indicated that they had issues or incidents with restrooms. For those who did, please write in and give us a summary of what happened, so we can learn from the incidents and spare others the difficulty.
But anyway ...
Going to the restroom in groups is an extremely poor practice, but there appears to be the need by some for the comfort of having someone else along, and a tendency to "tail gate" with another perhaps more confident attendee.
In the past, I have personally had to remind some "We do not go to the ladies room in groups" when they started to follow me to a restroom, but not in recent years.
>You say not to go to the batroom in groups, but it's extremly
>hard to tell another gurl to not follow you in.
and
>No problem, but if you excuse yourself to go, someone will
>usually want to go with you. Just don't say anything.
I have a feeling the second remark had to do with a conversation I had with another at the Paris. She asked where the restroom was and she remarked that she was sneaking off so others would not follow.
You do have to be assertive in some cases. Just remind whoever wants to tag along with you that the best practice is to use public restrooms individually.
>No issues. The restroom guide helped. I found a family restroom
>once and used one by the convention facility at Paris.
I'm glad the restroom guide helped. That was from safe2pee.org and is probably the best resource for finding single-occupant and unisex restrooms. IIRC, nothing at the Paris was on that list, and I'm going to make a note on the Big List that there is a unisex restroom by the convention center.
>Suggest more of a designated-bathroom approach.
This is sometimes practical at the more traditional TG conventions where most activities happen in one facility. At DLV 2011 we used 40-some venues for activities, and it's really impossible to make arrangements for restroom use at all or most of them even if we wanted to do so.
We can make suggestions as to where to find single-use and out of the way restrooms, but there are some practical differences between DLV and the other TG gatherings. The restroom situation at DLV varies quite a bit from location to location.
. . . . .
The thing about buffets is that they are consistently inconsistent!
>Harrah's Buffet was OK, but the food selection was the most
>limited of any buffets we visited. The service was OK, but
OK???
OK????!!!
I think we can do better than that!
I felt bad about missing the Harrah's Buffet this year, but I understand it had slipped. On the other hand, the Las Vegas Hilton Buffet has improved over the past couple of years.
I've been pleasantly surprised at the Stratosphere Buffet in both 2010 and 2011. It's one of the cheaper ones, but it's been very enjoyable.
IMAO, the clear winner on the buffet scene this year was the Paris Buffet on Friday. This one definitely rates the Charles Atlas Seal Of Approval.
. . . . . . . . . .
There were a few related issues and concerns regarding maps, directions, and getting to venues this year.
Let's discuss maps first:
>I copied the online DLV map. It was usually so bad, I was late
>to a few activities and got lost MANY times!
>I suggest posting a better City map. Or, leave it up to individuals
>to get their own!
Here's the story on the maps this year. It was made up with the intention of having it printed and passed out in hardcopy form.
That never happened.
Why?
Nobody volunteered to duplicate it.
Unfortunately the webified version did not print very well on most home computers and printers. Yes, the legend was very difficult to read. Sorry 'bout that. This was not known until it was too late to do anything about it.
There are some enhancements to the scheduling system which will incorporate linking to maps, so the need for one activity map will most likely diminish over the next few years.
One very good suggestion came in regarding maps, which we will most likely use, in one form or another, next year:
>First, I commend you for being as paperless as you are. Here
>are a couple suggestions, from a fellow geek to another as I
>know you are. For the map, you really need detail. Use a Google
>map and set up points of interest for the event locations.
>Somebody needs directions, they can get them from Google. Needs
>more detail, zoom in. Want to know distance, easy.
Very good suggestion. Thanks.
Those who want a hardcopy can print this out, those who want the turn-by-turn directions can get them, etc.
This suggestion is continued with ...
>Next, don't use tweets for free drinks, do them for important
>things like schedule and deadline reminders. Don't send out a
>huge ginormous mailing, break it up and send out a mailing and
>schedule daily. Everyone these days should have a laptop or
>phone which receives text.
The free drink "reward" Chirps were really a proof of concept this year. I sent out two of them and they were both claimed literally within seconds.
Yes, we'll look into things such as schedule reminders next year with one important caveat: The risk of an outage!
We can sure send out daily schedules each day, and we can do activity start time reminders via the Chirp mechanism, but should there be a disruption, we don't want to have these real-time methods be our only source of information.
Although the chance of an outage at any particular time is a fraction of a percent, should it happen during DLV, we would be in deep doodoo if some use it as their only method to keep to the schedule. (For those who might have noticed me pulling out the netbook and talking on the phone during the Bar Crawl, we did indeed have a brief network outage affecting the server which handles the "Chirp" mechanism that evening.)
Let's plan on trying out automated daily schedules and reminders next year, with warnings that people should print out hardcopies in case of technical difficulties.
Another thing which will be happening next year is that there will be more options for displaying our schedule. Those who want to print out the schedule will be able to select which items appear on their copy. If you don't want taxi and parking instuctions, you don't have to waste paper with them.
In addition, we'll plan to have a tabular schedule on line, with drill-down to each activity's detail, further drill-down to the venue detail, and a link to the Google Map. We'll be trying this out at Pinkfest this fall to see how the concept works. Only caveat, again, is the risk of an outage, for those who plan to use this as their main reference during the event.
Now, as somewhat of a digression ...
These types of suggestions are ones which are most helpful and things like this are the most likely to help with the problems reported.
In both cases here the respondee did not simply complain about a problem, but offered some simple constructive suggestions which are indeed workable without adding to the complexity of the event or incurring cost.
. . . . . . . . . .
A few getting around issues ...
>On the instructions on how to get to an event. I have a hard
>time finding Trevi's. It would have been most helpfull to have
>said it was at Ceaser's Palace. Anytime an event is located at
>a consino, it should be mentioned if it is inside a consino.
>Or if an event is at a shopping mall it should be so stated also.
This is the second report we've had in recent years regarding difficulty finding Trevi.
The final schedule did have references to "Forum Shops At Caesars", but for some reason this particular venue seems to be one easily missed - for multiple years.
We can put more and more detail into the documents, but when someone gets lost, they are lost. What I think we need to emphasize is that when someone gets lost, phone the DLV contact people immediately. The person answering the phone should be able to get someone on the right track quickly.
I was one of the contact people this year and yes, I did get a few calls asking for help finding a venue.
>When a locale is further away than the map might indicate
>(i.e. Chalupas) it might be worthwhile to mention it is four
>miles (or whatever it is) out. I really thought I had gone too
>far and missed it.
... and ...
>Chapalas Mexican food was excellent but to far away from the
>strip. Made it difficult to be at Erotic Heritage on time.
>Felt rushed.
Using the linked will hopefully alleviate some of this. Those who need distances, travel times, and turn by turn directions can get this using the Google services.
+First time people will find it a daunting task to find their
+way around like I did last year when it was my first time.
... and ...
>Suggestion. Your information was helpful and accurate from what I
>saw but missing in one important area. Pleas add a "Getting there
>and getting around" section for those who never visited Vegas
>before. Example. When I landed I had no idea how to get to the
>Imperial. I took a cab and I think I was long routed but there's
>no way I know. $18 dollars not counting tip. Then I found out
>there were shuttles for $8. Also a general familiarizing of the
>streets. Your information assumes I know something about Vegas
>already.
This is a very good point, and yes, we can certainly add an item for those who are visiting Las Vegas for the first time as a general familiarization of the area.
$18 sounds a bit high from the airport to the IP. However, it sounds a bit low for someone who was "tunneled", meaning long-hauled through the airport tunnel to I-215. Do you remember going through a tunnel?
We'll most definitely add a "Getting Around" item this coming year. Another very constructive suggestion and I thank you for your input. It's simple, do-able, and although it does require some busy work it's quite practical.
. . . . . . . . . .
It was mentioned to me a few times that the lack of some kind of a central "headquarters" was obvious to those who were new and were familiar with such a set-up at the usual conventions.
>I had trouble findng places and people to direct me. There
>should be a central place staffed so new people can find their
>way. I missed many events. Too bad since all the girls seemed
>nice. Any way a central depot is needed, please put one in,
>taxis are expensive.
and ...
>A central registration desk or "help" center. I arrived late
>and found it difficult to find the organizers to answer some
>questions I had.
Of all of the suggestions, however, this one is probably the least likely to happen due to the expense and the staffing issues.
For us to have some kind of a central "headquarters", standing hospitality suite, or walk-in "information center", someone is going to have to pay for it and volunteers are going to have to staff it. Lacking a sugar-mommy, such is highly unlikely.
It will take at least one volunteer to staff such a place during all expected hours of operation. This would be our real challenge. Not many of our volunteers wish to "stand watch" during their vacation.
However, even though we don't have a central headquarters, we do have at least two people you can turn to in case you have any difficulty finding a location or have any other kind of difficulty. The DLV contact people are just a phone call away and at least one of them will be a local call. If you get lost or confused, give them a call.
Please think of our contact people as a "virtual headquarters" open during all reasonable hours.
. . . . . . . . . .
There are differing opinions on dining, particularly the number of options on some evenings, and possibly some misunderstanding of what we're trying to do regarding this:
>What I really liked was the choice of food venues. You did great
>in choosing places for the big events with varied menus. And,
>for the smaller events, more exotic spots which not everyone
>would enjoy. I would add a Bar-b-q place and a Chinese place to
>the collection. Missing this year. You might also try a buffet
>for supper time and not just lunch.
and ...
>I really love the choices for eating, but choices choices choices.
>I was really torn between Margaville and Mon Ami, and then between
>Namasta and Marinos. Decisions, decisions, what's a girl to do.
but ...
>Also could I suggest for you to cut down on the number of
>resturant choices. At times there was just too damn many choices.
>It also spread out the people way too thin, some of the people
>who may have showed at the restuarts may have been only 1 or 2
>people who showed up. I suggest only 2 and no more than 3 options.
>4-5 options per nite is just too damn many.
There may be some misunderstanding as to what our overall strategy is for planning our evenings and dining options.
For our six evenings this year, we divided them into three general classes:
1. Maximum-attendance single-track evenings. (The opening and closing large gatherings, Monday and Friday this year.)
2. "Feature activity" evenings, with one featured "anchor" activity and various smaller second/third track options. (Limo Tour, Erotic Heritage Museum.) These were on Tuesday and Thursday this year.
3. Multi-track evenings. (Sunday, Wednesday this year.)
What you're most likely referring to is our annual Eating Out Night and/or Sunday, which happen to have been our multi-track evenings and are indended to be smaller group dining with quite a few choices.
People like choices. Everybody likes to eat, and not everybody wants to eat the same thing. Yes, people will be spread out thinner for these than for the larger group meals, and that is quite intentional.
This year we had two multi-track evenings each offering four dining options. Out of those 8 options, I'm aware of only one which had a less than expected turnout. All 8 scored over 4.0 on the enjoyment scale, which means that their average score was between "enjoyed" and "enjoyed significantly", which does indicate that the concept is working.
We try to balance the evenings between the larger group things, medium-size activities with other smaller options, and small group activities, and yes, when we have smaller group things it means that we'll need to have more of them, thus more choices, to handle our people.
. . . . . . . . . .
I heard very few complaints about our Welcome Meet And Greet at the Artisan during DLV. The only items I recall are the lack of happy hour prices in the dining area and a few remarks of the price range of the restaurant in general. There was one remark about a dish that was quite unsatisfactory.
Since the activities rated over 4.5 on both the enjoyment and the comfort scales, there's no question about the evening being a significant success.
However, there are a few mixed reports here in feedback.
+This was the best DLV by far of all I made it to! Artesian is a very
+nice place. Totally classy.
... and ...
+The welcome event at the artesan was the best DVL event of all times.
... but ...
+Make sure all can participate in happy hours. At the Artisian, we
+missed out because we were trying to help by being early. Paid twice
+as much for our drinks. Will not do that again.
As everyone probably knows, we encouraged those arriving early to eat early to help out their staff. We didn't think of Happy Hour prices. However, on our do-it list for this coming year, should we use the Artisan for a similar affair under similar circumstance will be to make sure our early diners are not penalized for being good sports and dining early.
+I thought the Artisan ended up as a bad choice for the Opening,
+crowded and dinner was long and difficult, never heard if a
+picture got taken. Need a hotel with capacity.
I really don't know what to say in response to this one. Yes, it was crowded on Monday. We had over 110 present. Yes, the meal service was slow at the peak times, as everyone was told.
I have a feeling, however, that we would have had more griping if we would have done the limited menu thing, or set a lower limit and told a percentage of our folks that food service was simply not available.
In past years when we've been forced into a "party menu" type of thing and/or shared checks, there's been a lot of griping, and our experience is that slower service is the lesser evil here.
Now about the Group Photo. ...
Yes, the Group Photo.
That never happened, and I'll take most of the blame for the lack of it.
I and some of the other volunteers discussed it a few times over the evening. As the hour approached 9:00pm we had over 110 present, most of whom were actively socializing and scattered all over the property. We still had some in the restaurant eating. I spoke to a few of the others and our consensus was that it would probably take at least ten well-coordinated volunteers at least 15 minutes to round up everyone (minus those still eating) and get the group out to the pool area where we had planned to do the shoot.
It just was not practical.
We discussed trying it at Bahama Breeze, but that just never happened either.
(to be continued ...)
