I tried retiring once, but as it turns out, I'm too much of a control freak to let someone else plan "my" do. Maybe I'll try retiring again after SeaDoo 10.

Well... I started the thread because I have been toying with taking a break. I loved doing the Mega Do and I loved doing the Island Do 2 this year. But the others I've done, I find as I get better at organising, I get less organised (because I know I can leave things later and later) which causes me more stress. It is a bizarre inverse reaction.

I'm also aware of, for want of a better term, do inflation going on. When I started, most people were perfectly happy just to meet for drinks. Now I find an expectation that I will organise a dinner... and now even afternoon events.

At the same time, I'm also aware that, like missy, I might be too much of a control freak to give up... the thought of someone else doing 'my' annual Christmas BA drinkies

In the long term, I will still continue to do Island dos, and possibly megas if anyone wants to do one again I'll decide about the other stuff in due course. But this is the first time in ages I don't actually have a Do on the go...

I think you misunderstood what Stimpy was trying to say. I believe he means that there is a contingent of FT 'purists' who believe that any event involving FTers, should be posted and open to all. I remember early into my FT experience, I had some of those purist feelings. No one wants to hear about a fun party of Fters that they weren't invited to. But it didn't take long for me to realize that attitude was kind of silly. If I want to have dinner with one of my FT friends, or 6, or 12 of my FT friends, I shouldn't feel obligated to invite all 100,000+ members just to be PC.

I do think it can be tricky, and sometimes bad form, to hold a mini-private do in the middle of someone elses public do.

I've hosted plenty of public as well as private do's. Which one of those I choose at the time, is usually based in how much control I want over the number of attendees. For example, I hosted a BBQ at my house at the end of SeaDoo. I specifically chose Sunday afternoon, because generally, the majority of the attendees are gone by then, and the number is manageable. This year, I had just about the same number of attendees at the BBQ as I had at the main event. Luckily, it was only about 30, and I think it worked quite nicely. But had 60 people shown interest, I would have been forced to scramble and change plans, because they wouldn't have all fit.

That can be nipped in the bud.

Them: What are the plans for dinner after drinks?

You: I hadn't really thought of dinner... but what a great idea. Let me know what you put together so I can post it on the thread.




The first couple years, I tried to have every detail scheduled, then I realized that these are adults who are well travelled. They know how to rent a car, find a bus schedule, call a cab, or decide how they want to spend their afternoon. Decide what you want to plan, then let other people do add on's... as long as they don't conflict with yours.. it seems to work out fine.

I've been involved with online groups since 1982 or so. It was pretty common to have two or three GT's (Get Togethers) a year for each local BBS. Some were just pizza parties, gun shooting parties, large rocket launchings or the occasional leafleting of a bothersome poster.

I've bookmarked this thread to come back to after ZQN Do (link in my sig).

Indeed this has been the most difficult aspect for me (so far) with ZQN Do. I've changed arranged activities a few times as numbers fluctuated up and down, and ruled out some activities that in hindsight could have been done after the provider advised of a maximum number they can cater for that I felt was potentially too low.

Organising a Doo for 50+ is enough to put anyone off...

I too worry about Doo inflation... gourmet dinners, delivery of packs to hotels, laminated or airside badges - all very nice, but quite onerous for the organiser(s), especially while trying to juggle work and family and normal life with travel and Doos.

Seems to me that 1 person cannot hope to put together a polished professional event. A team is needed. But is this what a Doo is really about?

For me a Doo is about meeting FTers in a new location, some old friends, some new, picking up a few piles & moints along the way and having a good soak of local poison and a bit of an adventure... leaving me with some memories, some photos and a world class hangover. Equally happy drinking yak's milk in a back street in Almaty as in the exec lounge in the Mariott in Zurich on this basis.

I was very relieved to see the Pop the Cork Doo emerge... the number of people who wanted me to organise another Shamrock Doo was quite frightening. Whenever it does happen, there will be sticky badges and dinners paid by the table. No Eventbrite for me... but each to their own. The Doo has become an important part of the FT experience for many of us. Long may it continue.

Were you waiting for me to chime in?

The 2007 tour was the 7th BRT. What folks don't consider is that besides these things becoming tiring and dare I say ho-hum, they're a lot of work.

First you have to pick a date (that fits into your schedule); then, hope that something doesn't come up that will interfere with the arranged date.
Then, with so many repeat riders , I have to worry about
adjusting the trip highlights. Lord knows that repeaters shouldn't be bored.

After last years diasterious tour, (I made a few changes, or should I say that I messed with success), I decided to call it quits after 7 tours.

After a conversation with 3 people (one who posted above), I decided to not be dramatic, and go for #8 in the Spring of 2008 (May or June).

Next year I will go back to the 'tour as usual'. I won't try to change the tour for the repeaters (some 3, 4 and 5 timers ). The 2008 BRT will operate just like the previous ones.

Jenbel, these DOs are in our blood. All of the DO organizers are the type that want to make Flyertalk a better place.

FYI, the first Brooklyn Tour (the name changed to Brooklyn Reality Tour when magic111 had an idea to name it after the Kramer Reality Tour of Seinfeld fame), was an offshoot of CatmanDo 3. It was just a way for 7 people to kill the day before the CMD3. So you see Catman, this alleycat still acknowledges its early beginnings.

Sorry for rambling. But if you want more rambling... feel free to join me and 24 others in 2008.

I decided to total up what my do total actually is - 14 dos since 2004 And that doesn't count the ones I've been an associate do advisor on, providing help, advice and conference calls on...

These have ranged in scale from drinks for 5, up to dinners for 40-50, to the Mega Do (where we had a great team) to an entire weekend away on a remote Scottish island. Currently, if I have less than 40 turn-out, it's a small do.

No wonder I'm tired!!! It does get easier... and it doesn't get easier.

Hey, good idea.

Maybe I'll organize one for some of the regulars in Travel Safety/Security.

20 years ago you could just head outside the city limits of Phoenix, find a gully and start plinking, or open wide up depending on what you had. Given that these areas are now full of housing developments, it'd probably be a bit harder. In fact, many of the activities would almost be considered terrorist activities (launching a 8 foot tall rocket at 1000 miles an hour freaks some people out). It's strange to think about this, but one of the wildest guys there, was in the security department at Sky Harbor.

paging alanw!

You are sheer evil!

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.