I have to agree that the "quantity vs. quality" theorem doesn't work for me with FT 'dos. I've had wonderful times at a very large "do" (Chicago 2) and equally great times at the small "do"s we've had in the Bay Area, a couple of which I'veorganized. At the large do, the challenge, as so well said by magic111, is to make an effort to meet as many as possible. Chicago was a classic opportunity to meet FT legends as well as occasional or rare posters who were there to -- meet other FTers! Similarly at the small events, almost all have had at least one or two FTers who have not been to a do before. What's so great about the 'dos -- big or small -- is that you not only have the common bond of heavy travel, upgrade scoring and mileage bonus accumulating, but you meet genuinely great people, whether they are famous on FT or not.

I have only attended two meets. The first was a tiny one (four people) in a town outside of Tel Aviv. The second, with 30 people, was in FLL last May.

I enjoyed both immensely, met some fascinating people, and am currently organizing a Venice Meet. Considering that it won't be until November, having 14 people already in the "definite" column and another 8 having expressed interest, it promises to be a fairly large gathering.

It also seems to have taken on a life of its own. It was originally a one-night meet but has now spread over 5 days, including a guided tour of Verona. Obscure2K, our resident Venice freak, had the connections to get us a great deal at a luxury hotel and a boat standing by to shuttle us to the Rialto and St. Marks whenever the mood strikes.

To tell the truth, I have never been a fan of things which are too organized, so I am doing my best to keep this a mixture of scheduled events and free time for small groups (or individuals) to do what they want.

What surprised me most about the FLL meet, and it appears to be happening again with the Venice one, is the lack of local people who show up. F/T is full of people from Southern Florida, but the great majority at the Meet flew in.

We only have one Italian attending the Venice Meet and she is not a F/Ter (she's my girlfriend). The only other European who is going to attend, so far, is from Germany (RalfKrippner).

What is it about F/Ters that encourages them to get to hop a plane from LAX to VCE to go to a Meet but not spend 30 minutes in their cars?

Points & Miles! No EQM's for driving 30 minutes in our cars to reach a destination :)

Which Flyertalker actually first coined the phrase "DO?"

Could it have been me (for Catman "DO?")

I started this mess!!!! :)

Sorry I went off on Mega Dos and other things... Maybe what I meant to say is "Why does size matter?" It's the quality of the event, the restaurant the venues and the people that make an FT event special.

Why worry about having the "biggest" of anything? Or the "best."

I would never say the Catman's DOS were "teh best FT events ever." Lord knows there were problems at "2" (payment) and "3" (too much pre-event drama.) THey were special. "3" in the end came out to be a special weekend (Cite still wants us to come back for a re-do! ;) )

My Dear Friend Rudi... to be honest, I kind of forgot about the PIP but I never thought of it as a DO (that was before the DO became the thing.) I thought of it as a family reunion of people from far away. It was a special and magical weekend that probably won't ever come again. PIP brought me out of my fear of meeting new people and even being part of organizing a big event. Out of PIP I got to know one particular Flyertalker who has become a very special friend and very important part of my life. I

With CMD4... I Even toyed with the idea of a smaller event, putting a CAP on the number of attendees. But I fear another round of drama.

It would be nice to attend more FT events. But life sometimes gets in the way. I have a job that I LOVE, workign with people who care about me and I the same. I hate not being there for them for an extended period of time. Friends, many

Plus, and my apologizes again, there are Flyertalkers I don't like. TO be true to myself is most important. If that means I don't to events with them there. I have to be comfortable at a place to enjoy myself. So be it.

Flyertalkers can come to NYC to see me. :)

That's all.

You really need help.

I have attended many Flyer Talk parties, both large and small, in many cities all around the world. I have had a ball at each and every one of them. ^

It is really easy to have fun at a Flyer Talk Do, even in a large crowd where you don't know anybody. If you are feeling uncomfortable, pick out somebody who is sitting by themself and go over and ask them what airline they fly, what hotel they favor or how they first learned about Flyer Talk. FlyerTalkers are for the most part fascinating people who lead very interesting lives. Once in a great while you might run into someone who doesn't particularly appeal to you, but, so what? Be polite and move on. Life is way too short to waste even a tiny part of it worrying about the people you don't like. ;)

Once when I was very upset over something someone had done, my Dad told me, "There are at least a million people in the world with whom you just won't get along, no matter what--fortunately you will never meet the vast majority of them. :( On the other hand, there are probably twenty million people on earth whom you would adore, if you had ever time to meet them all. :) Why waste time worrying about the losers, when you could be spending that same time seeking out the winners?" Great DO advice! @:-)

The DOs we have attended have really enhanced our travel and our lives with rich experiences, wonderful friends and a new sense of freedom and adventure. While in Dusseldorf this past weekend I was thinking about all the wonderful people at the party, and, trust me, all of them were wonderful. Old friends, new friends and new experiences. What more could one ask?

Get out and DO!! :cool:

I had help....does that count? (meow, meow...)

Great saying, Punki. We need a Do calendar with this at the top!!

SanDiego1K ,

Oh no. Not another sticky. :eek: :p

I've attended many dozens of FT gatherings, (on 5 continents) and even helped organise a few - big and small.

There has never been one I did not enjoy attending, and where I did not meet some great folks.

At FT Doos - as with every social event on earth - like weddings, business meetings and dinners at friend's houses etc you'll come across folks you do not especially care for. And just like at those occasions you are free to politely move on and mingle mostly with those you do. That is what all sensible and mature adults generally do. :D

I think it is important to note that holding get togethers in large English speaking cities like London, Chicago, New York or LAX or SFO will clearly get very good numerical attendances as large 4 figure numbers of FT'ers clearly live in each city. And a 5 figure number probably live within an hour's commute from some of these cities most likely.

In my mind the most successful and consistent Doo to me has to be bernie's Dusseldorf Doos, where AFAIK he is the only FT'er to actually LIVE in that city. :D

Despite that, for 4 years on the run, quite a few dozen folks attend each year from all over (most from outside Europe.) They are consistently well run and perfectly organised, there are no problems or hassles with monies or payments or venues (AFAIK), and they are attended by folks who genuinely seem to enjoy each other's company. Dus Five seem to be a firm starter for 2005 - hope so. ^

Someone mentioned to me on the weekend in DUS he was literally ready to get on a plane and come punch my head in a couple of year's back, but we are now good friends after meeting a few times, and he now wants to fly down and attend OzFest 2005 when we get it organised. ;)

For those reading this thread who have NOT attended any gatherings I urge you do try and get to a few if you can. It will change the way you view FT, and often change to way you perceive other posters. :p

Amen to that! :)

This is not universal. In DC, there are regular monthly get-togethers that draw a mostly local FT crowd. There are pretty frequent get-togethers in other places as well, such as Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco, again mostly attended by locals.

Somehow I don't think 1000 (four figures) FlyerTalkers live in Chicago. And even with 1 hour flight time to Chicago, I don't think 10,000 FTers are within sixty minutes of ORD.

I guess we will never know for sure. :D

However I think we sometimes forget that there are close to 38,000 registered FT'ers. I agree of that figure many are not active at all times, but that is the number of members Randy gives us daily on the entry page to FT. My observation over 4 years has been that the vast bulk of FlyerTalkers are resident in North America.

Say 25,000 to be very conservative - although my real guess would be more like 30,000 of the 38,000 of FT'ers reside in North America.

If "Chicago" has roughly 1% of the population of the USA, (which I understand with assistance of my uncle Google that it does) and by virtue of O'Hare being such a major airline hub, I suspect you'd find many times 1000 FT members live in "Chicago". :)

It is a philosophical question as to whether anyone lives in Chicago?

How can one be considered to be "living" in a place where the gourmet dinner is deep dish pizza?

Compare this to Philadelphia's sacred cheesesteak sandwich or hot pastrami on rye in New York City (with a knish side order).

I do, however, tend to agree with your estimates of the number of inhabitants of the Windy City.

My opinions closely reflect those of catman. I have been to DO's small and medium (not sure what is large but none over 30 or 40 for me).

It was nice meeting some folks I have conversed with on a regular basis electronically, but at the same time I met some folks who I would rather have not met - just a fact of life.

One DO I was at it was impossible to not have been offended by the organizers. It was like they decided who they liked on the first night and those that made the 'A' list got the invites for afternoon activities the next day, evening cocktails, even inclusion as to where the dinner would be that night. Not having made that list, I had to wait until I ran across a fellow FT'r to find out the locale of such events as the group dinner. It was the epitomy of rude and tacky.

Since then I have gone to a couple of events, where I know the folks in attendance quite well. I seriously doubt I will fly off anywhere to meet a group of strangers and take the chance on being treated as shabbily as I was at the previous one (oh yeah, I wasn't the only one who did not make the 'A' list).

If others enjoy it, then great, but I will stick to the small dinners, pre-arranged coffee or drinks instead.

Of course, if we really want to "break the bank" when it comes to attendees, we just need to schedule a run to the Buenos Aires Grill here in SEA six months in advance. We have had folks cross oceans for the meat, and based on debua1k's fish dinner, it's worth crossing oceans for that, as well. :)

And Kell's can hold lots of people for after-dinner aperitifs (sic).

I just hope fredmarten's hot tub is big enough. :D

Though a Seven on Heaven run and pub-crawl in Chicago could probably grab a lot of folks, as well. ;)

I guess that I have been lucky. I have truly liked all the FTers I met to date. In fact, I will go as far as to say that I was actually surprised by this fact.

I agree with you about it being wrong to have an "A" list which is invited everywhere while others are not. However, at a meet lasting several days, it will be impossible (and probably not even desirable) to invite everyone to everything.

A good compromise between the two is easily worked out.

At our Venice Meet, for example, everyone will be invited to the initial drinks in St. Marks. They will also be invited to the big dinner and the tours of Verona and Murano. If another major event is planned, that, too, will be open to all. There will be no need for an invitation as the schedule and locations will all be publicly announced on FT.

This does not mean that I will automatically ask everyone to join me wherever I go during those days. I might well have lunch with three or four people on one day and go to the casino with four others that that evening.

By the same token, I don't expect to be asked to join every gathering. I am certain that one small group will head to the museums while another will prefer doing some shopping and a third one will decide to attend Sunday Mass together.

How many FTers were at this years Freddies?

That question was already asked earlier in this thread, but nobody seems to have given a definitive answer.

The tub holds 8 intimately, 6 comfortably and 2 very nicely. Just the right size for a mini-do!

Yeah, but how many flank steaks?

BTW, I just got my credit card bill from the time I crossed an ocean for BA Grill. $134 worth of mini-bar. :eek: How did I manage that in two nights, especially with most of the spong...er, other FTers safely ensconced in said hot tub? :confused:

Someone mentioned above that they had a bad experience at a Do one time. I can imagine that must be rough, but I guess you just have to go on. The first Do I organized one of the guests walked in, announced they were a "**** disturber" (not sure I know what that is), and spent the evening making inappropriately-familiar come-ons to several of the other attendees. Said interloper was ostracized by the group and spent the remainder of the time on the sidelines. The rest of the group seems to have enjoyed themselves, though. I'm not really sure what the best way is to handle someone like that, but it's the risk you take inviting strangers to visit you. I've decided that the rewards in fun and friendship outweigh the risks though, by a long shot. :)

There are always a few people who dont join in..
 

Each of us heads to Dos for different reasons, some more innocently than others. I think most Host i know always try to include everyone, but there will inevitably be a few people who prefer not to join in all activities, or prefer to spend time alone, or are just on a different agenda !

So, it is important for the Host to set up activities which are a mix of formal and relaxed. Ice breaker/getting to know each other events are the best to start with. Alocohol helps.. but not everyone drinks.

Now of course, we expect to know some of the people attending, but also expect to meet new FT'rs. This means making an effort, as the Host and as anyone else attending, to ensure we try to speak to everyone... something that was nigh on impossible for me at the London Pub event last November (apart from when SanDiego1k made me stand on a table and give away raffle prizes).

As an organiser, I agree with MissyDarlin on this.. go do things you want to do, and everyone else can work their own activities in around that. Yet even if you leave 'free time' in a weekend schedule, sometimes there will always be one or two people expecting full 24hr tour guide/decision making, which is at bit too much.

Payment issues always crop up, so like bernie, I try to make sure everyone knows how much cash to bring. I know you all want to earn miles onc redit cards, well you can pay for your own flights and hotels, just let me sort out the event meal costs !

Oh and from experience.. best to check that the pub you plan to start crawling from is actually open that night ;)

So are we done
 

Now that we have established that no one seems to want to jump foward to plan " the largest gathering ever" and that either London or the Freddies was the largest gathering ever - are we done :)


Having attended small, big, and bigger, as well as having had the dubious distinction of hosting the smallest FT do ever ( a "girls spa weekend" in Nov 2001 that turned out to be me and AnnaS :) ), I must say I have enjoyed them all. My first was SanDiego1Ks' SAN DO in July 2001 - I had never met a flyertalker and on the plane over I kept telling myself I was insane ( ok ok I know that is still up for debate :D ) and I had a great time. We had a icebreaking game at the dinner ( a list of affiliations and you had to find a FT person present that met that requirement - I was the only HP PLT at the time - I was in demand :p -of course everyone also told me I was insane :) ). This forced everyone to talk to everyone to get their paper filled out. I made friends at that event that I am still friends with to this day and it started a "love of DO's" that I have never given up.

Jan

Our Mixer Game
 

I had forgotten that mixer game! I thought the funniest status was MartinElk's La Quinta Gold.

Given that I am very Type A, I actually found that 2001 game on my computer. Here are some people who attended:

I picked all of that up from FT posts, as I had never met a single person (other than Captain Mike) who attended.

FT newcomer lisamcgu won the game. There's a competitive, talented lady!

I think bernie has sorted out payment issues nicely, as he gives all attending a very clear Euro figure that is required for each event - and gives it well in advance. He works on a "trust" system for drinks as he did Saturday night - you tell him how many drinks you had and he takes your word for it, and the applicable cash. As most attendees have been to 2, 3, or many of us to all 4 Dusseldorf weekends it seems to work.

I have been to several FT Doos where folks who commit in writing simply do not turn up for pricey events they clearly signed-up for, and thus cost other attendees extra in many cases if a guaranteed number has been promised. Or folks who simply skip and do not pay their food and/or drink bills. Sad but true. It is rude, and it is unprofessional, but both these scenarios do and have happened.

For the recent OzFest we had I think a unique situation where Joh got everyone's credit card in advance of the weekend, and their approval for all events they were signed up for to be charged to that card. Took her a lot of work up front, but it ensured a smooth weekend for all.

Worked like a charm and there were no complaints. Everyone - no exceptions - paid up front of the weekend via their credit card. Everyone earned miles from it, and there were no foreign currency hassles.

I used my own merchant facility to do this, at no surcharge or fee to those attending, just to make sure we were paid up in full, and could go ahead and guarantee and secure all bookings in advance. I had several $1000s already charged to my card account for Sydney Harbour Dinner/Dance Cruise, airport tarmac tour, and Hunter Valley Winery day tour etc, and I did not want to get stuck for any shortfalls. These were all firm bookings for set numbers for our party on a busy weekend and were all non-refundable once booked.

Even for the Saturday lunch we came up with a set $$$ figure everyone paid up front on their card. We ate at the place before the day, and simply averaged out in advance the prices of all meals on the menu, averaged out the price of a few beers, wines, champagnes or sodas a person, added a tip to that figure, and charged in advance that figure of $A35 ($US25) a person which covered EVERYTHING.

It saved all the often encountered hassles and argy-bargy over who ate what and drank what, and tipped what - and it worked perfectly - I think everyone there agreed. I think in the final wash-up I owed the venue about $6 more than we collected which was perfect IMHO if it saved the frequently encountered 20 minutes of check-debating hassles for those responsible for paying the restaurant account. ;).

SD1K, why don't you give us a list of the FT handles and see if we can match the names with the descriptions you listed? ;)

Kathy, the funny thing is that I can't necessarily answer all of my own questions any more. One of the descriptors was a UA flyer with 10MM FLOWN miles. I've got the guest list at the bottom of the questions (helped people cross off who they had meet and who they still needed to reach for signatures) - and I kinda sorta think I know who it is but am not absolutely sure.

By the way, 2 Many Miles and cigarman have both danced with Madonna, and chexfan was on Letterman - in the audience, warmly bundled up in muffler, hat, and gloves.

Having someone or someway to break the ice is really important. At the Freddies I didnt know anyone and it was made worse by the fact that we had our real names on our name tags. So I was wondering around more aimlessly than usual and didnt really know anyone. Fortunately, Spiff made a point of drawing people into conversations and introduced himself and then introduced me around to people. It was a great help and really started me mixing in with people more.

I've attended one very large do and countless smaller ones. Almost everyone I've met has been fun and/or interesting. It seems that lately there is alot of tension, on OMNI in particular. I'm curious as to what has happened when some notorious "combatants" have come across each other at a do. I'm not asking for details of specific situations (you can send me a PM if you wish ;) ), but, in general, have people found that someone who is very "opinionated" on the board the same in person, or a pleasant surprise?

that BlairVanHorn character ... oh wait, he's a ...... in person too ;)

Meeting the FT'ers that annoy the hell out of you can be very enlightening. People are more than their politics, or their status, or their feeling about babies in FC. The part we see (and sometimes dislike) online is a small part of what makes up anyone.
I can think of several instances where I was suprised to find that I ended up getting along famously with someone who's posts drove me nuts.

I think it comes down to the fact that all of us have friends in real life who have different beliefs, attitudes, habits, etc, but because we know and love the whole person, we can overlook some of their more irritating idiosyncrasies because their good qualities far outshine them. And because they know and love us, they put up with our crap too. Once you get an FT'er out from behind the keyboard and see who they really are, opinions can and do change radically.

I completely agree. In fact, my UIG (Used Italian Girlfriend) is so far left wing that she makes the Omni ULNG (Ultra Leftist Nut Group) look like a Rotary Club meeting.

This hasn't stopped me seeing her for the past six years.

On the other hand, because I am a psychologically-healthy individual with intelligent political opinions (translation: conservative Republican), she would probably want nothing to do with me if only knew me from my well-written, highly-sensible, fact-filled posts.

Why didn't I post this question in Omni? ;)

You didn't want Dovster's input?? ;)

Because then I wouldn't have answered. :D


Edited to add: Blast! SanDiego1K beat me to it!

I've Never Met A FT'er I Didn't Like...
 

I've only had the occasion to attend one FT "DO"..the Great PBI/FLL DL Meet of a couple months ago. It was seriously one of the best experiences of my life. There were around 30 or so at this meet and many of the attendees were folks I'd conversed with on FT. It was a distinct pleasure to meet one and all.
As a result of that one Meet, I've already signed up for the Venice Meet in November of this year.
I've also met with several FT'ers on a one-on-one basis including
Canarsie, jfe and obscure2k. These individual meetings have allowed me to get to know those FT'ers a little better than if I had met them as part of a larger group.
I plan to participate in more "DO's" next year as I expect to have more free time. And I'd be glad to pitch in and assist in planning a "DO" if someone needs a helping hand.

Come to SeaDoo then :)

I know this may seem stupid (I can already feel the flames coming)... but what is a "DO"

FYI, I've tried to search on the topic, but "DO" isn't a long enough thread search for the engine to recognize. What ever they are, they sound like alot of fun!

Ever heard of a dictionary? ;)

From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

It's definition 3a above (usually). ;)

I have yet to scientifically test the number of flank steaks that the hot tub can hold while still being safely suported by the deck, but going by the "whole cow" method, I'd say two smallish bovines, safely. :eek:

BTW, I wouldn't necessarily venture to say that we were all "safely" ensconced in said tub; Missy wouldn't stop splashing, and remember that SeeYa was drinking Grenadian rum with orange juice and Diet Coke...in the same glass. IMHO, no one was safe. :p
FWIW, you can trash the mini bar at the Calderon in October if it makes you feel any better. :)

As for Do's, I've only attended one, so far....and it was a blast. The FT'ers that I've met so far have been a blast...and in general, I hate people as a rule. :D

Other than the early events I organized back in 1997 and 1998 (the Long Beach PIP!), the Queen Mary where I first met Premex, QuietLion and Hunnybear, Shadow and others and the famous episode when Jailer in a tux tackled a waitress who was carrying a half-dozen martinies (the drinks narrowly missing Punki who was dressed to the nines and would have killed Barry) while he was giving a thank you speech for wining the Omni award, I haven't been to too many Do's. Like Catman I value quality over quantity. Especially after learning how difficult it can be to organize a very large event. I think we had about 50 at the 2nd Long Beach event? I remember something about a $6000 tab at Madisons!

The other difficult thing about Do's is that I travel during the week and hate to leave home on the weekend. On the rare occasion that I happen to be in a given town on a weekend when they are having a DO, I'll drop in. But as many of you know, being a true frequent flyer (flying over 45 weeks out of the year) doesn't leave much opportunity for a social life.

OTOH, one of the great values of Flyertalk is having the opportunity to meet someone in nearly any city in the world. One on one or small meetings for a drink after work in some far flung burg are always welcome events.