It's funny you bring that up because that does seem to be a more recent occurance. When I attended my first DO (hosted by bollar and studley in 2001) in my own town, I remember being a bit shocked that besides the two night's dinners and some very cool planned airport activities (one mid-afternoon on Friday and one late afternoon on Saturday) that there were no other things. I remember thinking (as a novice DO attendee) "how are folks going to know where to shop or what to go see or what to do".

Several "veterans" assured me that FTers were a very resourceful group and that folks would find ways to fill the off hours and find people to do things with.

They were right.

I'm not sure when the tide turned, but I've noticed so many DOs now that fill entire days from morning sightseeing to lunch to afternoon stuff to pre-dinner drinks to dinner to post-dinner drinks to post-post dinner drinks.

It honestly makes my head spin.

At the last DO (and I don't count the local dinners that I've been helping organize for six years among the "DOs" I've been involved with), I had a person calling my hotel room at a very early (pre-breakfast-ish) hour wanting to know where we were and what we were doing. (This after I went out of my way to NOT stay in the same hotel as everyone else and not tell folks where I was.) They apparently called every hotel in the area until they found me. At others where I've been an attendee, I've made plans to do things during the day with other non-FT friends and I've apparently offended some of these "purists" because they ran into me and I did not include them in my plans.

I think you can't please all the people all the time. And its why when I attend or organize (or at least think about it) a DO, I like to leave in plenty of free time where people can do their own thing. A dinner here, a lunch there - nice events where folks can meet and mingle and then subdivide into smaller groups where they are most comfortable. Folks can (and will) find ways to occupy themselves on the road.

And if they can't, perhaps they don't "fit in" as well with FT as they would like to believe and maybe an organized bus tour with a travel agency would be a better way to see a new city?

Finally, I *do* commend those of you who organize the mega-dos. I think you guys have probably (unintentionally) raised the bar for all of us. Welcome packets, prizes, sponsors, special websites - there wasn't much of this going on when I first started attending DOs. Now I fear its what folks have come to expect - which is a far departure from the DOs I used to know and love - just a few likeminded folks flying halfway around the world to break bread together in a new city. It definitely puts a lot of pressure to perform for the rest of us thinking about organizing - and it may have raised the expectations of those who attend many events.