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Vegas Message Board meeting?

Discussion in 'Vegas Get Togethers' started by 75VWnut, Oct 28, 2012.

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  1. 75VWnut

    75VWnut Low-Roller

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    Has anyone ever thought about having a get together that everyone would come to????

    What I'm trying to say is, maybe we can select a date in the future and the members here can work their vacation plans around that date.
     
  2. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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  3. 75VWnut

    75VWnut Low-Roller

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    Re:

    Shifter, what I was thinking about is, instead of everyone here planning a meet around a date they were planning on, i.e. MM; they would plan a vacation, specifically to meet everyone on this board.

    Everyone could stay at their favorite hotel/casino, but during the afternoon or evening we could "meet" at a specific place for a few hours.

    Could you imagine if a majority of us show up in town at the same time and the hotels/casinos know this; they would appreciate the impact this board makes on a future Vegas visitor decisions.;)wink:wink
     
  4. gamblersruin

    gamblersruin Low-Roller

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    Interesting idea but good luck. I have a hard enough time coordinating with a handful of friends, much less strangers around the world.
     
  5. Auggie

    Auggie Dovahkiin

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    Small meets are easy to set up and coordinate: you will book your vacation, then ask in the "Get Togethers" forum if anybody else is going to be in town on your dates and if they want to meet up. If you get a couple of interested people then you pick a date, time and location that works for most, hopefully all, who can make it.

    If you have ever tried to do anything with a larger group, even 10-15 people out for a bachelor party or just going out for a night out together, it gets a lot harder to do things like finding activities everybody wants to do, a restaurant where everybody wants to eat, a club or bar where everybody wants to go... and thats not even dealing with the size of the group: 15 guys walking up to a nightclub en masse are going to have a hard time getting in at the same time or the restaurant might not have that much seating together. And much of the time just trying to keep everybody together and going to the same places at the same time can be like trying to herd cats.


    So to actually do a big VegasMessageBoard.com meet what you need is:

    1) A leader
    Somebody has to volunteer to coordinate the meet, make arrangements and be the main contact.
    This person needs to have a cell phone and be willing to use it while in Vegas (IE: having somebody from Canada or the UK as the leader where their phone is going to incur something like $1.50-2.00 per minute charges is a stupid choice)
    This person should also be well organized and reliable themselves, as well as having enough free time to devote to this.

    2) A date
    First, you can't poll people for "what date would work best for you?"
    Somebody will need to just pick a date and thats the one you go with.
    For what date to pick: you need to consider a whole bunch of factors like what is going on in Vegas at the time, is it a weekend or midweek, etc. Because weekends will generally get more people able to show up and while you might be able to get comp rooms all year long scheduling a meet for something like labor day weekend might keep a lot of people away who can't afford to go or have other plans.
    You also need to pick a date far enough in advance, probably 7-8 months, where people can make arrangements and schedule time off.

    3) Time and location
    The time is probably going to be mid afternoon, somewhere in the area of 1:00PM to 4:00PM.
    For location it is most likely you won't be able to pick a location until about a month before the meet: you need to know how many are going to show and how many might show so you can coordinate with the meeting place. Like you don't want to have 50 people show up at a bar that might normally seat 75 people but when you show up the place is half full already and now a dozen or so people have to stand around and wait for a seat or something.

    4) Who is going
    Then you have to figure out who is definitely going and who might show up. This is overall easy to do as you just need a thread where the original post contains a list of definites and maybes that the leader updates from time to time with new additions to each list.


    So that is most of the work. It doesn't sound like much but its mainly just time intensive, especially off the start and you might have to be answering a lot of emails as people come up with questions and then keeping track of who has what answer, etc.

    But the big thing is usually just finding somebody off the start who is willing to step up and take control of something like that.
     
  6. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    There is a pretty decent sized group of us that get together 2x a year, spring and fall. Right now everyone is here for a wedding of two board members. :)

    It's really difficult to coordinate things for a gathering that large. I know that in the past we've had one of the mods host a suite party, but even that has gotten difficult as the crowd size grows. (both logistically and financially)

    I'd certainly be open to planning something like that, but I would not be the person to organize it and my brain fries at that kind of thing. :)

    But feel free to post your travel dates and try to arrange something. Usually there are a bunch of people whose dates overlap.
     
  7. 75VWnut

    75VWnut Low-Roller

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    Re:

    OK, if this could happen, what time of the year would everyone be interested in doing this, i.e. summer, fall, winter, or spring?
     
  8. LucyR.

    LucyR. VIP Whale

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    Here are some of ideas for a Meeting dates

    I think that the month of February during the U.S. Presidents week would
    be a possibility since a lot of people have two holidays off and some can take vacations days to make it a longer week.

    Another possible time would be the first week of March before school/college
    Spring Breaks. School breaks are in March - April.

    The first week of May would also be good before the school kids are out of
    school starting at the end of May through summer months.

    The week of 4th of July is a slow time in Vegas I am guessing since it was
    slow this year.

    The month of October during the week before Halloween would be good too
    because Vegas is fun the whole month of October.

    I am a senior lady with no school kids but I have grandkids who can see me
    during June for summer.

    My final advise is to plan for any month or any day YOU WANT TO MEET US.
    Not everybody will be able to attend even if you plan a perfect date that
    everybody would want. Some people will RSVP and then back out for some reason and others who didn't RSVP will show up and it will all even out.

    I will try to attend whatever month or day you plan. This is my RSVP.LOL. Lucy
     
  9. mjames1229

    mjames1229 # of visits includes only trips w/ hotel stays

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    Let someone else do the planning and go to the Vegas Internet Mafia Family Picnic (or VIMPF for short), which is held in the fall.

    Chuck Monster from Vegas Tripping and Hunter Hillegas from Rate Vegas are the ones doing all the legwork... get the location, special guests, organize meet-ups, etc. All you have to do is buy your plane tickets, book your hotel reservations and show up.
     
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  10. Tammy58

    Tammy58 Frugal Slot Jockey

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    Wow, never heard of VIMPF...and I have been Vegas internet searching for years! You are going to get 100 different answers if 100 different people respond to this. I would start with the basics...weekend or weekdays....during big events OR during slow times.....I already disagree with many of Lucy R's options...no offense Lucy. Holiday weeks/weekends mean higher airfare, Been to Vegas the first week of May the past 2 years, never again. 1st Sat in May is always ...Kentucky Derby, Cinqo de Mayo celebrations (even if it is not the 5th on that date) and a big fight at the MGM. I would poll people based on slow/busy....weekend/midweek....and then use that to pick a date. There are "slow" and "busy" weeks around specific annual holidays and events in Vegas. If you are looking for slow...there are specific weeks in June/December that tend to be that way...busy, there are PLENTY of weeks to pick in that direction. Have fun and good luck.
     
  11. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    I think it will be difficuly to organize this event, let alone get people to come to Vegas for it. My suggestion, plan it around a time or event that already brings a lot of people to town. I don't know for sure, but I assume that's why they did the event aorund MM last year (already lost of board members in Vegas). I like these little get togethers. Heck, I even ostensibly hosted one a week ago (although all credit goes to BlueSkadoo for organizing it). But speaking for myself, I would not plan a trip around attening a get together. If I am there when one is planned, sounds like fun. But not worth planning my trip around. That being said, good luck! Its a lot of work, so I hope it is rewarding and comes off as you envision
     
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  12. Auggie

    Auggie Dovahkiin

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    The one they just had (mid October) was only the second time they had this event... from 2010 and earlier it was "Vegas Podcastapalooza" where three of the Las Vegas podcasts would host a get together.
     
  13. Nevyn

    Nevyn VIP Whale

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    I still don't get what is so different between what the OP is suggesting and what the MM / NSF crew were already doing anyway.
     
  14. leo21

    leo21 VIP Whale

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    Uh, ditto!
     
  15. mike_m235

    mike_m235 Tourist

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    My take, for what it's worth. When I schedule Vegas, I usually am looking at 2 to 3 possible weekends. If someone told me there was a get together, and they told me 6 months out, then I'd skew my decision making toward that weekend if it was already one that was in consideration.
     
  16. 75VWnut

    75VWnut Low-Roller

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    Re:

    Because I didn't realize they were doing it. If I want to get information about Las Vegas for an upcoming trip, I go to this board or the LV Journal to start planning it. I know there are a number of sites that are Vegas oriented, but I like the people on this board and that is why I proposed this idea. It would give us regular users a chance to thank the moderators/people-in-charge for the great job they are doing.:nworthy::nworthy::nworthy:
     
  17. SH0CK

    SH0CK Stylin' and Profilin' Quasi Tech Admin

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    Anytime an event gets to be a certain size, we can easily sticky the information in this thread so it easier to find. Some of the best posts have come from the anticipation of these types of get-togethers.

    I've met a lot of people because of the March Madness and S&M/NSF trips. Some are a bigger part of my life off the board now than they were before. Definitely proud of that :thumbsup:
     
  18. ORANGECTYNY

    ORANGECTYNY Tourist

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    I've been to several M&Gs that were organized on another board site. The biggest one was for over 150 members and s/o. It was in the planning stage for over 6 months. Went to another 6 months later that was 75 people.

    The 1st was the last week in June,allowing for most school teachers to be able to attend. The next one was just after Rodeo week. There have been many other large meetups since then. Both were held on Tuesdays. This allowed people to fly in on Mondays and miss expensive weekends if they so desired.

    Set a date and then work on a venue. There are quite a few that will not charge for a large group as they feel the bar will make up for any outside lost business.

    You will need a small committee to help with the meet. I also found with these, that smaller mini-meets formed from the major one...ie...let's go to brunch, lets go see a show....let's go dancing at such and such club.

    These M&Gs formed some very strong friendships and many of us still plan our trips around when we all can go.
     
  19. pattiinontario

    pattiinontario "PATTI-O-LANTERNS"

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    Yes we have had alot of laughs over the years and as Scott stated have made close life long friends.
     
  20. angel81chick

    angel81chick Abuelita

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    Leave it to you to be all sentimental LOL :evillaugh
     
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