Denver, Day 9, Part I

I think I slept around 5 hours last night. As much as I want to get another, oh, 80 hours of sleep, it isn't an option. I have 100 early bird registrations for the 2009 convention to distribute at 8 AM.

My own roomies, cuyahogarvr, tdjohnsn and rlegters also would like a crack at the early bird rates too so they're coming with us to line up, which consequently means we all have to get out of bed at an unholy hour, me first. Leadership by example occassionally sucks although the pain is somewhat dulled by the miracle of caffeine. Lots of caffeine.

As much as I'd love to get a nap during the day today, that's not in the cards either. We have the brunch 11 AM to 1 PM, the LJ tip at 1:30 PM and the convention planning meeting 2:30-4:30 PM. Shortly thereafter, we're meeting cuyahogarvr's brother & sister-in-law for dinner and then be back in time for the closing ceremonies and all of the good-byes.

Is there any square dancing going on at this square dance convention?

Denver, Day 9, Part I

I think I slept around 5 hours last night. As much as I want to get another, oh, 80 hours of sleep, it isn't an option. I have 100 early bird registrations for the 2009 convention to distribute at 8 AM.

My own roomies, cuyahogarvr, tdjohnsn and rlegters also would like a crack at the early bird rates too so they're coming with us to line up, which consequently means we all have to get out of bed at an unholy hour, me first. Leadership by example occassionally sucks although the pain is somewhat dulled by the miracle of caffeine. Lots of caffeine.

As much as I'd love to get a nap during the day today, that's not in the cards either. We have the brunch 11 AM to 1 PM, the LJ tip at 1:30 PM and the convention planning meeting 2:30-4:30 PM. Shortly thereafter, we're meeting cuyahogarvr's brother & sister-in-law for dinner and then be back in time for the closing ceremonies and all of the good-byes.

Is there any square dancing going on at this square dance convention?

Denver, Day 9, Part II

The day started with the distribution of the early bird registrations for the 2009 IAGSDC convention. Traditionally, 100 discount registrations are distributed to the first 100 people in the line at some unholy hour of the morning.

In prior years, the organizers opened the registration table at 6 or 7 AM; we chose 8 AM as a more sane hour. Also in prior years, the registrars would receive each person, give them the form, have them complete the form on the spot and present immediate payment. One might spend an additional 45 minutes in line in addition to queueing up early, only to find that one is 101 in line, making the effort a complete waste. Instead, we simply distributed the 100 envelopes, one per person, and invited them to return at their convenience during the day with the form and payment. Persons #101 and higher knew within 5 minutes if they were wasting their time.

The new methdology was very well received: everyone was happy to get up a little later and still join their friends for breakfast. We had to apologize to about 40 people remaining when the 100 envelopes were distributed but they seemed content that we didn't hold them any longer than necessary.

Interestingly, even with our later 8 AM time, the first participant queued up at 5:20 AM. Even more interesting IMHO, we distributed 100 forms but only 94 came back to us by the end of the day. Why would someone endure this early morning procedure if they didn't plan to follow through? Go figure.

DC Diamond Circulate 2009 Registration Table Denver, CO 2007-05-25

The brunch presentations went fairly well, although there were glitches. The presentations started later into the meal time than I would have liked, thus forcing the entire production to run 20 minutes longer than the scheduled 2 hours. The All Join Hands presentation went on far too long: one speaker (rather than two) would have been sufficient, and the script could have been cut to 1/3 its length without sacrificing content. The presentation for next year's convention in Cleveland was undermined by the loss of audio. Our own 2009 presentation went fairly well but the PowerPoint slides seemed to go entirely asynchronous with the soundtrack. Oh, well... I think ours was the best of the lot.

At 1:30 PM, we had the LiveJournal square dance tip. In all, we had four squares on the floor, and I was particularly delighted to meet annoyinghandle in person for the first time. He doesn't square dance, but he's very cute.

LiveJournal tip Denver, CO 2007-05-27

I staffed our table for a while, taking more early bird and regular registrations for our convention, then headed over to the convention planners meeting.

This particular meeting is for those who are working on IAGSDC conventions or thinking of hosting one. We share lessons learned and generally give advice on what to do (or not to do). The Denver management team was clearly near burn-out but were still able to give some very good advice. The IAGSDC itself is planning some initiatives to make the convention work easier for future teams as well. I could write up my notes here but since the meeting facilitators will be assembling their own official documentation, those interested can fetch it from them.

kent4str, cuyahogarvr and I joined cuyahogarvr's brother & sister-in-law for dinner. Our first choice, le Centrale, was in an area of town which had lost electricity so we were forced to move on to John Elway's steakhouse. The grilled half-chicken was delicious and very filling.

Upon returning to the convention, we decided there was no reason to keep the desk open any longer so we packed up the materials and took down our table. We're done. Our weekend of convention preparation is over. We can now sleep again.

In all, we took in about 150 registrations, both early bird and regular. I'm delighted with our progress, my first venture into convention registration. It's real now: we really have to provide some service for the cash collected. :-)

Denver, Day 9, Part II

The day started with the distribution of the early bird registrations for the 2009 IAGSDC convention. Traditionally, 100 discount registrations are distributed to the first 100 people in the line at some unholy hour of the morning.

In prior years, the organizers opened the registration table at 6 or 7 AM; we chose 8 AM as a more sane hour. Also in prior years, the registrars would receive each person, give them the form, have them complete the form on the spot and present immediate payment. One might spend an additional 45 minutes in line in addition to queueing up early, only to find that one is 101 in line, making the effort a complete waste. Instead, we simply distributed the 100 envelopes, one per person, and invited them to return at their convenience during the day with the form and payment. Persons #101 and higher knew within 5 minutes if they were wasting their time.

The new methdology was very well received: everyone was happy to get up a little later and still join their friends for breakfast. We had to apologize to about 40 people remaining when the 100 envelopes were distributed but they seemed content that we didn't hold them any longer than necessary.

Interestingly, even with our later 8 AM time, the first participant queued up at 5:20 AM. Even more interesting IMHO, we distributed 100 forms but only 94 came back to us by the end of the day. Why would someone endure this early morning procedure if they didn't plan to follow through? Go figure.

DC Diamond Circulate 2009 Registration Table Denver, CO 2007-05-25

The brunch presentations went fairly well, although there were glitches. The presentations started later into the meal time than I would have liked, thus forcing the entire production to run 20 minutes longer than the scheduled 2 hours. The All Join Hands presentation went on far too long: one speaker (rather than two) would have been sufficient, and the script could have been cut to 1/3 its length without sacrificing content. The presentation for next year's convention in Cleveland was undermined by the loss of audio. Our own 2009 presentation went fairly well but the PowerPoint slides seemed to go entirely asynchronous with the soundtrack. Oh, well... I think ours was the best of the lot.

At 1:30 PM, we had the LiveJournal square dance tip. In all, we had four squares on the floor, and I was particularly delighted to meet annoyinghandle in person for the first time. He doesn't square dance, but he's very cute.

LiveJournal tip Denver, CO 2007-05-27

I staffed our table for a while, taking more early bird and regular registrations for our convention, then headed over to the convention planners meeting.

This particular meeting is for those who are working on IAGSDC conventions or thinking of hosting one. We share lessons learned and generally give advice on what to do (or not to do). The Denver management team was clearly near burn-out but were still able to give some very good advice. The IAGSDC itself is planning some initiatives to make the convention work easier for future teams as well. I could write up my notes here but since the meeting facilitators will be assembling their own official documentation, those interested can fetch it from them.

kent4str, cuyahogarvr and I joined cuyahogarvr's brother & sister-in-law for dinner. Our first choice, le Centrale, was in an area of town which had lost electricity so we were forced to move on to John Elway's steakhouse. The grilled half-chicken was delicious and very filling.

Upon returning to the convention, we decided there was no reason to keep the desk open any longer so we packed up the materials and took down our table. We're done. Our weekend of convention preparation is over. We can now sleep again.

In all, we took in about 150 registrations, both early bird and regular. I'm delighted with our progress, my first venture into convention registration. It's real now: we really have to provide some service for the cash collected. :-)