Two North American Mistresses of Revels

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Has there ever been discussion of having two groups of people organize our North American events? That way we wouldn't have to wait until one event was over before starting our planning for the next. That would eliminate a lot of frustration for those who are traveling or need to request time off of work to attend. Just a thought. I know our planners work insanely hard, but with the community growing this might be the way to go.
 

Yelenia Hylraren

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Actually, planning for both 2013 events is ongoing. Planning for FB has been going on since before it was officially announced. Planning for Anni 2014 will go into affect in a few weeks, when we call for bids, and start in earnest as soon as we select a site (which is selected before it is announced at the event). The hold up with Anni 2013 has not been an issue of not enough hands on deck - but not being able to find a site that meets all our needs. As someone who also needs to schedule travel and time off, I understand the frustration, but this event has a Local Liaison and a team of 5 other assistants working to find a site. Having a dedicated MoR for Anni, for example, would likely not alter this delay. There is already a redundancy in the department, should the MoR get overwhelmed with event A, the Executive Director is on hand to to step in and assist with event B.

I hope this clears up any misunderstandings regarding the position. I'm pretty sure Sonea would be willing to answer any other questions you may have if you email her at events@tarvalon.net.
 

Jeffan Caliarthan

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Thanks for the clarification! I must have misunderstood your post saying that planning for Anni 2013 would take place after fall ball was over. My mistake then. So maybe I am confused about how locations are selected. It was my understanding that to submit a bid for any large event you had to submit a venue at that time, that the location was not only approved but the venue was as well. Am I mistaken about this?

Also, the responses, other than Yelenia's, were not necessary.
 
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Bids contain possible venues where the bidder provides us with (usually) multiple options to show what's in the area. However, we don't select a venue until closer to the date!
 
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Ah ok. Thanks!
 

Sonea Ilandred

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As Yele says we are hard at work on planning Anni but things haven't been simple this year. Hopefully we're on the home stretch but we can't risk making promises till it's all 100% set in stone.

That said we are already drawing up the plans for Fall Ball 2013 which is giving us pretty much 12 months of planning time. Again as soon as we have concrete details we'll announce them, but we have to balance a level of flexibility between what looks great with a year to go vs 9 months etc.
 

Kitan Tataru

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As mentioned, we are already working on Fall Ball 2013, and we're lucky enough to have 2 Local Liaisons for it, so hopefully planning for that event will go more smoothly. We have several very promising venues and are coming close to setting a date.

I'm not involved with planning anni, but I do want to mention that even though we're only in the early stages of planning Fall Ball, I'm quickly realizing that planning an event is a FAR more involved and taxing process than I ever would have guessed. It takes so much time and energy personally for each person involved in the planning. It's like planning a substantially sized wedding, and I am very happy to bring Fall Ball to Salt Lake, but I'm so thankful to have a fellow Local Liaison, and I do not envy those who plan more than one of these events each year (Mistress of Revels and other department staff).

I've been to several events, and I've always just paid for my ticket and shown up when and where I'm told. So the planning that goes on in the background for these events astonishes me.

I am feeling as frustrated as everyone else about not knowing the date and specific location of anni. I wish things could fall into place faster. But I also understand that we have some unique needs and that the situation with Riley introduces some challenges we have never faced before. I know our staff is working as fast and as diligently as they can while also balancing their RL commitments.

Fall Ball information should be forthcoming fairly soon. I know that the anni difficulties may make it so some people who want to attend anni won't be able to (myself included), but we are going to have an amazing Fall Ball in Salt Lake next year, so I invite everyone to consider attending.

(I'm posting this from my phone, so I'm sorry if the formatting looks weird)
 
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I certainly understand that it is a lot of work to plan such an event, and I never intended to imply that someone wasn't doing or wasn't capable of doing her job. I was just wondering if having one person to plan each event has been considered as a possible solution to this issue. I'm sure there are other ways to solve this issue, and I'm sure that when one is suggested it will be enacted (I haven't noticed the administration to sit around and needlessly deliberate things that make sense). Just wanted to bring this up! Thanks all.
 

Yelenia Hylraren

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Suggestions of this nature are often better received via email - posting in SA (that even non-users can see) can certainly feel like being called out. Which is likely why our lovable resident gif-bringers decided to stop by for tea.

As Leora and Sonea mentioned - we do ask for locations in the bidding process. I was in training at the time the deliberation for this event was taking place - but I now have a strong preference for a place that's been scoped out and can handle our numbers. Now that I've been MoR for a while, I do anticipate updating the bid request (as I have done in the past) to make it clearer what those putting in bids should ask about, be it hotel or cabin. Some struggles we've discovered for various events: we've found the initial bid location to be completely booked for our 6 to 8-week window of weekends, a totally dry site, strongly against any food/beverages being brought on site, and the biggest culprit: not large enough to handle our numbers. These are all things that we cannot overcome, and end up having to look elsewhere. It can be a long and frustrating process, especially when you think you've got a site nailed down - just to find out there's one glaring issue we cannot work around.

And to further clarify the process - at some point, one events' planning must come before another - that point is usually about 2 -3 weeks right before the event takes place. It doesn't mean all planning stops for the other event - that's what the Local Liaison(s) are for. It means the focus for the MoR and/or Department is focusing on getting past the event that's right on our doorstep. In my case, I absolutely will tell folks I'm gonna get to project B once I have project A out of my way. Doesn't mean I'm not thinking about it, and not working with the LL, it just means it's not my top priority. It also means that if my project is after a Euro project, I expect my boss that the other MoR to be focusing on getting to and past the Euro project. Clear as mud? tl;dr if I say something will happen after something else, it just means that it's not my top priority at that moment. Priority designation shifts often.
 
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