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.