I have more questions and answers about the next item here ...
>My only negative experience was raw salmon at the Artisan
>Monday night, I sent back to the chef and then it was burnt;
>I have never sent food back to the kitchen my entire life. I
>woke up sick the following day and that pretty much ruined
>Tuesday as it took 20 hours to recover.
My first question: Was this reported to the staff? Not the undercooked one, but the second when it still was not to your liking? Was an appropriate adjustment made to your bill? The Artisan impresses me as a place which will take customer (dis)satisfaction seriously.
Second, are you sure that this was indeed a foodborne pathogen?
We've had a few reports of suspected food reactions over the years and most of these blamed the previous night's dining venue.
We have yet to hear of a situation where multiple people have suffered the same symptoms after dining at the same venue or consuming the same dish.
I had a case of this myself at Pinkfest a few years ago, I had woken up in the night with what I called a screaming case of "Franco's Revenge" and I was very quick to blame a certain tapas bar at which we dined the night before.
I realized that it could just have easily been something I ate at Boston Market for lunch, or at IHOP for breakfast on the way to the airport, or maybe it was due to the fact that I had several beers that evening along with sangria cocktails.
. . . . . . . . . .
We had some differing opinions on the Limo Tour as well ...
>I suggest that you find bigger venues, or rent more limo's
>for the Activities. I could not get in on the activities,
>because there is a limited amount of seats or space.
We've learned by trial and error (and some lessons learned the hard way) that some things work and some things do not work on the Limo Tour.
One of these is that there's a practical limit to the number of limos we can have. Six is the comfortable limit, but seven can work, and we had seven this year simply because of the demand.
So, why can't we have more?
The biggest limitation is the logistics of parking, loading, and unloading that many limos at the stops. The Strip casinos tend to be loaded with traffic, and getting seven limos in and out and loaded/unloaded can be a challenge. This year we had to reject a couple of the newer casinos as Limo Tour stops just because they do not have the parking/staging room for seven limos.
Another factor is the volunteer force. The Limo Tour is one of the high-maintenance activities which involves handling and accounting for well over a kilobuck, and a lot of "real work" is involved to pull it off. Supplies for 6-7 cars is about all which can be comfortably handled by the volunteers who agree to do the purchasing and the loading of supplies.
>Longer limo ride. I swear this used to be longer with more
>stops.
Nope, as long as we've had it, it's been (with homage to Gilligan) a Three Hour Tour.
>2. As a fairly closeted CD, limo tour was a little too much
>public exposure for me. Not a criticism -- probably not the
>best fit for me.
Of all of our activities, the Limo Tour is probably the one with the most public exposure, and our feedback says that the Limo Tour riders want it that way. It should have been noted on the sign-up screen that significant exposure to the public can be expected.
>Forget the limo tour. When girls want to blend in and relax
>you can't do it when twenty or thirty girls all gather just
>to take pictures of them selves at every opportunity. I felt
>like most of the girls went to take pictures and that was all.
We do try to emphasize that there will be significant public exposure on the Limo Tour, but this still comes as a surprise to some. Yes, quite a few of the regular Limo Tour fans like the interaction with the "normals" and like to be seen. And yes, photos, in abundance, are part of the Limo Tour.
For those who don't want that degree of attention, there are a few things you can do and still enjoy the tour.
First is to not hang around with the groups which are attracting the attention. When the limos unload at a stop, the majority seem to gather in one big bolus, which attracts a lot of attention from the public. Simply steer clear of this group and go off on your own. (It's also interesting to listen to some of the comments made by the public.)
Another option is to stay in the car at one or more of the stops. Several in our car did just this at the Paris stop,
not that we were shy of the public, but because we were having a good time just shooting the shi^H^H^Hbreeze, enjoying the company, and getting pleasantly buzzed on the champagne.
>Favorite events: Erotic Heritage, Limo tour
Yes, the Limo Tour usually rates highly. (Noted exception was in 2009 when some of our lessons were learned the hard way!)
I'm glad you enjoyed the EHM. I enjoyed it too, and as you can see, it was very highly rated.
. . . . . . . . . .
A couple comments about the volume of information and again perhaps some misunderstandings about how things are supposed to work.
>Clean up the email notices. They are way too long, repetitive,
>and contain a lot of stuff that can be condensed.
>I printed out the schedule and it was all of 25 pages long.
. . . . .
>One concern was I thought that the e-mail leading up to the
>event were overkill. It got to the point I stopped reading
>them and probably missed info I could have used during the
>event.
Yes, the items on the announcement list tend to be long, and as we get closer and closer to the event some items are, quite intentionally, repeated.
With very rare exception, the repeated items will be "pushed down" with the newer material up top. If you're reading the announcement list and come to items you've seen before, in most all cases you can safely skip the rest.
One item this year, however, we intentionally repeated over and over and over. We had previously announced that we would have a hardcopy printed map and schedule. Unfortunately we lacked the volunteer resources to make that happen and wanted to be absolutely sure the word was passed.
>Also regarding the final event listing had info that was not
>really applicable like the venue phone number. It would have
>been better for me to have the coordinators phone number there.
As I (think I) said, next year you'll have a few more schedule options, one which will be to list the fields you want and skip those you do not.
We can try asking for coordinators' phone numbers, but some of our volunteers may be a bit shy about having their phone numbers widely available. In all cases, the main DLV contact people will be able to get you in touch with an activity coordinator if you need to contact him or her.
Please don't be hesitant to phone the DLV contact people.
. . . . . . . . . .
>Being directly on the strip made the trip much more expensive.
Strip hotels are not your only option. We did have one off-Strip hotel, but no, it was not a bargain. We'll always have at least one reasonably-affordable hotel. This year it was on the Strip (Imperial Palace) and was priced in line with many off-Strip hotels. Some got rooms at the IP for the high $20s per night.
The Artisan offered us some attractive rates, but unfortunately they missed the cut-off for being a suggested hotel and they did not announce the prices until long after most of our people had already booked their rooms. I have a feeling the Artisan will give us some good rates sooner in the process for DLV 2012.
. . . . . . . . . .
>need more events to be spreaded out a bit instead of togethere
I'm assuming this means close together in time, as opposed to in physical proximity.
Yes, timing is tight between some activities, but it's never intended that someone do all or most things. The times are set by the individual Coordinators, with the guidance of the ORG group, but in many cases we're locked into various constraints on time.
When things start late or run long, yes, this can cause a chain reaction causing issues for subsequent activities.
. . . . . . . . . .
>I thought that some of the event coordinators did not take
>their responsibility seriously and it led to chaos on more
>than one occasion.
You will see a wide variety of leadership styles among our many volunteers. Some will go into very explicit detail in organizing their activities. Others will paint in very broad strokes.
I really don't think that anyone who is a current volunteer shirks their responsibility.
There is a certain degree of informality at DLV which can give the impression that things are not tightly organized. Without knowing which activities you think were disorganized, it's difficult to respond to this, but I do know for a fact that all volunteers with whom I worked on DLV 2011 took their responsibilities quite seriously.
Chaos and confusion at an activity (yes, I've seen it) is not always the sole fault of the Coordinator. Participants arrive at the activities (and at DLV as a whole) in various states of preparedness and attitude.
Speaking from years of experience, when an activity may appear to be chaotic and disorganized, particularly one which requires the entire group to be there and assembled before things can get underway, it's often not due to Coordinator inattention. When people arrive late, arrive unprepared, arrive under the influence, and disregard instructions, the best-organized activity can easily fall into a state of chaos.
. . . . . . . . . .
A few wanted to check more than one response on the survey ...
>above question about discussions online: yahoo group discussion
>and my dlv - can only choose one button, but actually wanted to
>select both
and ...
>I used both email and MyDLV, but couldn't check both.
In subsequent surveys, when there is a "choose one of many" type of question and more than one may apply, we'll try to add notes to select the most appropriate answer. I'm hoping that was what was done in cases like this.
. . . . . . . . . .
>I had a fair number of not so nice comments made to me at the IP.
>It was not the hotel staff, who were pleasant. It may just have
>been the mix of people there, but it occurred.
... and ...
>I enjoyed the opportunity to be out in public in a non
>threatening environmrent however I did feel somewhat threatened
>and to some extent hurt by by some of the comments made by
>tourists.
This is difficult to respond to. Yes, in this world there will always be more equine derrieres than there are equines! IMAO the best thing to do is to ignore jerks like that.
. . . . .
>Check In lines at IP were about 50 minutes.
Not much we can do about this, except to encourage our people to do what they can to avoid peak arrival times, particularly when checking in on a Friday or Saturday. Hour-long waits to check in are not uncommon when things are busy and every large hotel, from the cheapest to the most expensive, has this issue.
Now back in the Bad Old Days when the Mob Ran Vegas<tm>, they would serve you drinks if the wait for check-in was long.
Stardust used to do this. I assume most of the other legacy places did it as well.. . . . . . . . . .
A few suggestions for things geared toward beginners ...
>I hope this isn't to far out. A "beginner dinner out" if you
>get what I mean. For newer girls who are nervous about a main-
>stream restaurant. You know, taking the seat, ordering off the
>menu, what wine to order, holding the wine glass, how to eat
>like a lady.
Hmmmm ... (thinking out loud) ... I'm wondering if something like this might be worked into one of our Beginner Open House sessions? Get the group together for the Open House, then do dinner at a known-TG-friendly place?
. . . . .
>New Beginner introduction or orientation session, please.
We've had the Beginner Open House sessions for the past two years and I would think these would serve just this purpose. These have also occurred on multiple days.
Question to recent newcomers: What would you like to see covered at such a session which is not covered by our Beginner Open House sessions?
. . . . . . . . . .
All of the venue and activity suggestions (some very good ones this year!) will be forwarded to the ORG group for discussion and possible implementation.
Again I repeat, if any proposed activity is high on your personal priority list, the best way to make it happen is to volunteer to make it happen.
Just contact our ORG group (dlvorg@geekbabe.com) and summarize what you wish to have happen.>How about that sky-line rope ride down on Freemont st.
How about this? I'll watch!
. . . . .
>A thought; might we consider a listing of recommended restaurants
>for small groups? By type/price?
We already have this, to an extent, anyway, on our Big List:
http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/vendors/
Last time I counted, there were over 40 restaurants listed in the "Food" section. Most of them have notes as to type of cuisine, if it's not obvious, and some have clues as to price range. All of those noted with the green light will be appropriate for small groups of DLVers. Read the comments on each restaurant for more information.
. . . . .
>The dance floor at Paris is just way to small.
Intimate.
. . . . .
A suggestion so nice, she said it twice:
>Yes. Toby Keiths bar at Harrahs. I went alone. I don't think
>anyone read me. Absolutely stealth.
>Yes. Toby Keiths bar at Harrahs. I went alone. I don't think
>anyone read me. Absolutely stealth.
I know we've had people go there off and on, but I don't recall anything on the schedule -- yet.
. . . . .
>cosmopolitan - vesper bar
Yes, how about 4:00am?
. . . . .
>How about a designated "free" night just to go off with who
>you want and do what you want.
We've actually put a "Do your own thing option" on the schedule a few times, to suggest particular timeslots for just this, but not recently.
. . . . .
>Trip to see the Pawn Stars. They might even put it on the air
>if 20 girls showed up and tried to sell something.
All it takes for this to happen is ...
I haven't been to the Pawn Stars Shop, but I do know someone who was, and from what he told me it was nothing like it is on the show. They don't tape every day, and when they do they are very selective about who (else) they let in at the time. When they are not taping, most of the showroom area is filled up with Pawn Stars paraphernalia such as t-shirts.
Even though the sign says they are open 24 hours, the showroom is only open during normal business hours and when it's closed there is only a drive-thru window (Ya want fries with that?) for quick pawns.
Also, the four "stars" apparently keep very irregular hours.
. . . . . . . . . .
A couple comments about schedule times ...
>Move Charles bar earlier. Too tired
Since Charles' shift starts at 2:00am, it's going to be rather difficult.
It wouldn't be the Charles Bar without Charles.. . . . .
>I would also like to see the golf tournament start at a more
>sane hour like 10:30AM to 12:00 Noon start time.
We'll bring this up to the ORG group, but this has been brought up before and the consensus is always that a fairly early start time is what the majority wants.
. . . . . . . . . .
>The question of how much we lost gambling should have allowed
>us to put in how much we won.
Actually, on the survey we ask for total bets or coin in, not win or loss. This is the same as how player action is tracked by the industry and is an apples-to-apples comparison.
If you want to tell everyone how much you won (or lost), just post a note in the Discussion Forum.
. . . . .
For this next one, let's circle back to the pertinent question on the objective part of the survey:
+Did you find the other DLV attendees to be friendly and
+inclusive?
+Mostly yes: 85
+Yes, somewhat: 14
+Neutral: 5
+No, somewhat: 3
+Mostly no: 1
During our growth years of the early-mid 2000s, one frequently heard remark, both on the survey and in person, was that the group was cliquish and somewhat standoffish to those who had not established a close circle of friends.
Over the past few years we've been emphasizing hospitality, to newcomers in particular, and my own observations are that we've come a long way. This year I paid particular attention to look for things such as groups giving off "closed" body language signals, individuals being excluded, etc., and I didn't see any. This would agree with the 92% figure above, as well as a number of textual comments, such as ...
>Great bunch of gurls, and guys too. Everyone a lady or gentleman.
>Friendly bunch of new gurls this year.
>The gurls are very friendly and just a joy!
However, it appears that somebody did feel excluded. This bothers me, even with only one report.
>I would only attend another DLV if I knew Girls who were going
>and had my own little click to hang with.
I really wish this person would come forward with more detail regarding how she (he?) felt excluded, so we could do what we can to prevent similar situations from occurring.
A related comment came in regarding those in the lower age range ...
>better outreach programs to appeal to a younger crowd. like
>in most support forums younger girls (like myself) tend to get
>sidelined/ignored by the older crowd.
Our average age has been in the mid 50s very consistently over the years. I don't expect this to change significantly in the near future. The reasons for this average age have been discussed in the past.
As I look over the schedule from this year's event, it appears to me that most everything is intended to appeal to all, regardless of age.
This year about 6% of the survey respondees reported an under-40 age.
If you're younger and feeling ignored, one thing you can do is to get active in the discussions and in the volunteer force. One of the activities I was involved in had a younger volunteer, and I can certainly say that she was not ignored by the others.
. . . . . . . . . .
>Sorry for calling so many times for schedule and directions. I
>ignored printing them and surely paid for it. My fault, sorry.
No apology needed for phoning the contact people. Those numbers are there to be used. (So use it, Rosie, that's what it's there for!)
. . . . . . . . . .
>The Rio was ripe with hookers and one of tehm looked like could
>be TG. I was afraid the secutity cops would approach me. Next
>year I'm staying at Artesian, far more feiendly.
Working girls are everywhere in Las Vegas, and one perpetual pastime is playing "spot the hooker" in casino bars and such.
Just take the high road and keep your distance. Oh, and don't hang around the Vesper Bar at Cosmopolitan by yourself at about 4:00am. in the morning.
. . . . . . . . . .
>Is there any way to publish who is signed up for each event?
I have a feeling that some do not want what they are signed up for to be made public. Besides, we want you to choose your activities by what you find of interest, not by who else is doing them.
. . . . . . . . . .
>When signing up I would like to sign up for alternative activity
>if I am put on waiting list for first activity.
This may not be practical, since one's waiting list status is often times not known until just before the activity is to happen, and several Coordinators do all they can to squeeze in those who want to participate.
What I would suggest is that if you find yourself on a long waiting list and wish to do something else if you're not cleared, get in touch with both of the Coordinators involved, explain what is going on, and get a feel as to which would be your best option.
There are really too many variables to make a "second choice" sign-up practical.
. . . . . . . . . .
The DLV volunteers take the survey results and comments quite seriously, particularly those which indicate that somebody is not happy. If things can be improved upon, we want to do it if it's practical.
Another set of very meaningful comments, which is very prevalent this year, is the positive feedback telling us that we are doing something right, and that our efforts are appreciated.
Comments along this line are read and appreciated, every single one of them! Thanks again, gang, for a highly successful event this year!
>I think DLV was VERY well planned & carried out ...
>1. I think DLV is an amazing production and a great opportunity
>for a CD like me to have new experiences in public. I am very
>grateful to all who made this possible.
>I have to hand it to you. Of all the CD/TG events I've been to,
>Diva is the funnest and the best organized.
>Please keep up the magnificent hard work that goes into planning
>these events. I had the best time of my life....Well done!
>Thank you for everything! This is one of those high points in
>life. I haven't come down yet.
>Diva just keeps getting better and better every year.
>Oh what a week. Best time of my life. Only regret is not doing
>this sooner. I'm counting the days allready.
>Overall DLV was the Best vacation I have ever had. In fact, I
>would say it was one of the most enjoyable weeks of my whole life.
>I will be back again next year!
>The only thing I can say about DLV is why in the hell did I wait
>so long to try it? I've known about you for maybe 10yrs and finally
>got around
>I know Diva is not therapy, but I owe my life to Diva. Without Diva I
>don't know where I would be.
>I know Diva is not a support group, but the support I've got from
>those I've met is invaluable.
>I know Diva is not a convention but you've got SCC and CGR beat
>hands down.
>Diva is one in a million. Keep up the good work.
>Diva was the most fun I ever remember, thanks again so much.
>All in all, a truly great event - the above comments are just nits.
>Keep up the good work!
>Keep up the "good work" Thanks so much!!!
>Best Diva ever.
>Diva 2011 exceeded my expectations by far! The best every.
>It was the best yet, and I say that every year. This was my fifth.
>Oh what a week. I'm still decompressing. Love you all....
>The best DLV out of the 4 that I have attended. No criticisms.
>This was, for me personally, the Best DLV I've attended. It is
>a wonderful group to be associated with.
>Wonderful, wonderful event. I appreciate all the effort that went
>into making it possible. Thanks.
>I could not be happier with how the event was run and the
>acceptance I received.
