Stop Complaining

Well, the evidence is in and its not pretty. You know all of those people who complain that there is too much Tringo and Sling on the Events Calendar? You know the ones, who complain that the Events Calendar is to commercialized?

Well, that's all they are: complainers. They don't actually do anything but complain. You see, I held a trivia event this evening. Gave out L$600 in cash to the contestants, no including payouts from the Free Money Drawings. You would think that 20 or 30 people would show, considering how much complaining has been done, but only 6 people showed up for the trivia contest. 6 people. What a shame.

I think its time for either the complainers to actually attend events that don't have anything to do with Tringo or Slingo or stop complaining. I am getting tired of all of the complaining about not enough non-Tringo/Slingo events.

I agree with you somewhat, but while I'm a complainer, I attend Primtionary and also host a Show and Tell once a week. Show and Tells have a turnout of 8-16 people most of the time, with 4-9 people showing items, that's not too bad.

Still, I have to aggree with you, when I tried to hold a quiz (mind you, an EASY one with multiple choice), only ONE person bothered to come

Anybody have ideas/insights on how to attract more people?

I think time matters, too, and maybe there are tricks to event listings (list it a day before, try not to do it in the same timeframe as another popular event (fashion show), etc... dunno).

If you look at the list of attendees as the Events forum held by Robin and Daniel Linden, you will notice quite a few "complainers". They railed against Tringo and Slingo and against other commercial property owners. Not one of them has attended a trivia contest, a best avatar or any other type of contest at Night Mountain that I have hosted.

Either step up to the plate or stop your belly aching. Hosts cannot continue to have contests if so few keep showing up.

I have no complaints about the existence of bingo tringo slingo etc. What I have complaints about are the lack of other options. From the beginning of my time in SL I wanted to be a part of the events scene, making community as this is the aspect of SL that most excites me. I do not begrudge how others spend their time: but I do want to have my own interests available too. I don't so much like trivia as often when I have gone, my own area of expertise (and slow google capability while ingame) have seldom coincided with the event host's expertise or interests, so in other words, I never know any of the answers! lol. What do I like? I like storytelling, poetry, sceners competitions, truth or dare, Acro-phobia, the stuff we do at the spa regularly. (Continue to do in spite of a lack of ability to sustain this activity at my own expense, hoping to see some change from the Lindens such as some kind of incentive program that lets us pay events hosts.)

I don't begrudge you Tringo. Many people enjoy Tringo. But, for those who don't, it is nice to have something on the calendar. For my own events, I do not rely only on calendar postings (if I did I wouldn't get anyone very often). I have a marketing system of which the events posting is only part. This and paying a very modest fee to quality staff seem to make our events quite well attended until people drop off due to lag.

However, essential to seeing a diverse calendar is the return of events host payments from the Lindens. Those who are tired of seeing nothing but bingo and tringo and slingo (not that there is anything wrong with those games for folks who like them) might consider voting for the proposition to bring back events funding. So far it has 690 votes and is one of the top performing features on the list. In other words: DON'T STOP COMPLAINING! lol AND get on the SPA VIP list if you want to be reminded of our events which NEVER include bingo, slingo, tringo, or any form of gambling (other than the very rare Acrophobia game, coz Cherry and Agatha like to play with the letters).

90s music trivia is a bit obscure.

One of the problems with trivia is that they are generally quite specific - I stopped attending trivia when question setters kept setting questions that a non-American couldn't answer.

If you are interested in story telling, check out the event's calendar for Thursday night. Night Mountain is hosting a story telling contest.

Then you missed a great contest last night because it was a Canadian who won most of the L$500 in the "I Love the 90's" music contest. BTW: I have never thought of 90's music trivia as being "obscure".

We, as hosts, can only provide those contests that we have some knowledge/interest of. To try and cater each event to a different nationality would be ludicrous.

I'm a big fan and player of a lot of inworld games. Their names are popularly known. I hardly win "per se" but I'm there for the social atmosphere and the delightful cameraderie that comes with mingling and getting to know my fellow avatars on a deeper level.

I too, encourage a greater variety of events in SL and more diversity. As the community grows, I would hope that alongside the mainstreams run alternatives that cater to less-popular, "niche" interests. Similar to how LL is committed to Mac development despite the fact Macs (and I grew up on them) have only a 3% marketshare. And parallel to how we have so many subcultures here from furries to goths to robots to some people who are a combination of all three and more.

More choices, easier ways to find them.

Lotsa fun!

My RL work schedule means that some nights I can't get on till quite late, but I will check that out if I am on, Timmy. TY!

These fun, funky events are few and far between though. The way we tend to play is we choose from what is available when WE are available. I seldom make an "appointment" to play SL unless I am leading an event or teaching a class (and of course, I work that around my own RL schedule). This is why diversity and multiple times for events other than gambling are important to me. What I am noticing is that there are very few times per day events other than bingo/slingo/tringo are offered, and I'd be willing to bet that in large part this is due to the cut of events host funds and inability to sustain those events otherwise. Folks need to vote to bring back events host funding if we want these events to happen more than once or twice per day.

Yep, we had trivia event posted for today where the DJ was going to be playing soundclips from movies on-air for prizes and even an $L bonus for most correct answers.....7 people....6 of them being friends that always hang out anyway.
Maybe it was the time slot, 5-7 EST....maybe not.
Hell I thought it was going to get a decent response...will try again next Wed.

On behalf of some semblence of accuracy, people were not complaining about too many 'Tringo', etc events. They were complaining for lack of tools to filter out what they did not wish to see (and some used Tringo games as an example).

Needless to say, some business owners are quite against the notion of you being able to control what information you read... since it would mean they might not be able to force their advertisements cleverly disguised as events upon you.

Also needless to say, the tactic is transparent and Linden Labs is sagely taking the matter under advisement in their consideration of event calendar functionality.

I went on a little tour of events held at 5pm & 6pm, some had zero attendance and some had two or three people there, only two events I went to had more than 3 people and at one of those over half the players there were employed to be there - until I went to the Tringo/Slingo events.

All of which were rammed.

I noticed one thing immediately - at one type of event the participants were talking,laughing and joking and at the other type there was stone silence,I'll leave it to you to guess which was which.

I asked the same question of quite a lot of people at all the events I visited last night 'What changes would you like to see made to the events board' and the answer was almost universal.

'Add a decent filter'

Guess what we did at the spa tuesday? We had a minimum of 7 storytellers and 4 listeners and (albeit briefly) a Linden show up to tell a collective bedtime story. We started off with a sleepy little village beset by natural disaster, wound through the introduction of a caravan of nudist trapeze artists, and finished with a nomadic lawyer's contact with the divine entity "Bob" who "cut him some slack!" hehe. This was done with each person taking 3 sentences or passing if he or she didn't feel moved to contribute. Then we moved into Alternate Ending Competition with the winner of the alternate ending getting to title the story and get some prizes from the Naughty Fun Store. Everyone said they had a great time. There Certainly wasn't any silence! woven throughout the event was banter and hilarity (IM me in game for a copy of the whole group-told story). It wasn't tringo and people actually enjoyed themselves!

But then came the harsh part: I asked if they might consider tipping the host if they had fun. One person did (TY Lynxie). The others seemed to think that dwell will pay for it.

I want people to pay because they had fun, and in a manner that reflects their income level. The honest truth tho is that people don't think they should pay for events. Some folks say well, run a store at your event space then and sell stuff. Only problem is, that flies exactly in the face of what makes sense to me which is do what you're good at! Don't dilute yourself in a billion ineffectual directions. I do keep trying to build, but I am never going to do something in that arena that is of the quality of the events I can create.

People Do Enjoy quality programming if you give them half a chance to. But, just like with PBS, they don't think they should pay for it. It should be built in. I'd LOVE to see better filters in the options for events. I'd like to see a category for art at ALL! I mean, we have art classes, art galleries, performing arts events and film venues now, but no ARTS category in the calendar! *wonders how that got missed* lol

I love SL and the wonderful people I meet there. I enjoy running events. But it would be nice if people who do that work could make a little Linden for doing it. If you haven't already, vote to bring events funding back (even if on a more modest scale) so that events like the one I described can be sustainable. Thanks for your attention to this cherry took public service announcement. hehe. *gets loopy at 4am PST*

Here's some of my theories about low attendence:

1. People may not be relying on the event calender as much as they once did.
   
2. RL time constraints, as Persephone Phoenix pointed out
   
3. Continuity- I'll bet events held on a regular basis attract more people than one time things. The irony here is that event hosts may be so discouraged by low attendance the first time out that they may not want to hold another one
   
4. Lack of publicity. I'm not saying one should obnoxiously spam everyone or pollute the world with tacky spinning cubes promoting their events (which doesn't work anyway)... but I'll bet savy event hosts have ways to make people remember to show up
   

Of course these are just theories, and open to debate.
~Olympia

Sorry to say Cienna, but I consider any event at a commercial property, including mine, to be an "adverstisement" for my property. Why shouldn't it be? Thinly veiled or not?

I built a beautiful complex, and sorry to say, the only way to get people to know that its there is to hold events there.

Again, I see this as an anti-business attack and not really a problem with diversity of events.

Diversity of events has shown that no one really wants to go to non-Tringo/Slingo events.

Why should we, as event hosts, have to rely on out world resources to advertise our events? That seems counter productive to the inworld experience. Its like the Lindens forcing us to the use the forums more and more.

Please list the new types of events that you would like to see, and I will do my best to arrange them. My land is too small for Tringo and other high-prim games. I'm near the Stillman telehub, so it's an easy location to reach.

If you want to host and have no land, I'll fix it up for you. However, the catch is that if you want to provide prizes, you are going to have to figure out where the cash is coming from.

I also enjoy the friendly events with lots of chat, but they all seem to be too early or too late for East Coasters with full-time jobs. Any East Coaster wage slaves out there want to propose some minglers? I'm will to try, despite my legendary shyness, if only someone will show up!

I personally would also like to see more things that can be done with only one or two people, for those times when your buddies are just nowhere to be found and you want something to do--that's why I keep a running Mah Johg game set up. Any ideas for that sort of thing?

Tell me what you want to do, everyone.

The best way to get a good turnout at events once you have a good event to offer, is to be consistent.

Whether you host once a week or every day/night, stay in one time slot. Once people find your event and enjoy it... they won't have to look at the listings again. They will remember and be sure to attend again.

I know the world has changed and grown tremendously. But my events whether mentor Show and Tells or my personal events at home (Back in the day) were always well attended.

Mind you, this was not the case immediately. My reputation and that of the events I hosted built up over time.

The only reason I no longer host Show and Tells, etc. was the departure of Linden support. I hosted till I ran out of money.

I am currently working on a new line to generate more funds to go back to hosting my most favorite event, Show and Tell.

I still get ims in world to see if I am hosting.

So don't get discouraged and don't complain. The best hosts keep smiling and keep on hosting. Loyalty abounds in sl. The more I gave the more I received in return.

Maybe I am just old fashioned or corny or whatever you want to call it. But its what I believe and its always held true for me.

And once I return to sl next Wednesday, please feel free to im me and let me know when u are hosting.

I have kept trying to smile. But if I am going to continue to give out L$500 in prize money for each event, without support from the Lindens, I would like to see the complainers actually show up at events that are not Tringo or Slingo. BTW: My name is Timmy and I am a Slingo Addict.

I also admit, it is when I have Free Play Slots at Night Mountain that I get my biggest turnouts. Between 25 & 30 people, but those events cost me roughly L$2100 each time and I can only do them once a week.

I will continue with my slate of events, even with low turnouts, but I really do need to see more people show up if I am going to continue to hand out L$500 in prizes.

I agree with Roberta.

So many Americans in SL seem to think that the USA is the whole world.

Even though the rest of the world generally knows more about the US than the US knows about anywhere else, it is still kind of infuriating.

The assumption that we are all Americans I mean.

And I too have had Robertas problem with trivia contests.
But mostly I dont go cause they are alll too easy or based on pop culture instead of anything involving actual knowledge of stuff.



Dianne

BTW roberta, love the "poofy purple" skirt

I work from 5-7, otherwise I'd be there. And I'd whup everyone at it!

I think this is your problem
5-7 is dinner time in the east and quite late in the west. I notice that mos seem to be on PST time.

Log on at 7:00 AM game time, and hardly anyone areound.

Dianne

Misty's advice was great. Don't expect good attendance right away. It can take a long time to build up regular customers/attendees, whether you're hosting events or selling products. Word of mouth is the best advertising and it takes time, even if you're already well known. If I release a new product it can take a few months before people actually come looking for it because they heard about it from someone else. I'd also recommend getting away from the mindset that you have to offer prize money or money balls or giveaways to get people to your events. Most people attend events because they want to be entertained, not because they're hoping to score some L$. You'll get some of both kinds, but the people who are there for fun are the ones you want to keep coming back. Come up with a good idea and do it every week on the same day and time, and keep at it over a couple of months. If you only do it once or twice you'll never build a regular attendance. Give it time. If you're just hoping to lure people with free money you're not likely to survive over the long haul. If I really loved a particular event I'd be willing to pay to attend. I wouldn't be expecting to be paid for my attendance

Actually west coast lags 3 hrs so 5-7 est is 2-5 pst/game time. West side daytime players only at that time.

Captions and Jeopardy are always well attended. I've hosted some primtionary games and played in others recently that were also well attended and a lot of fun. As others have pointed out, the tringo/slingo noise on the event listings tends to drown out the other events, making them harder to find. I stopped looking at the event listings a while ago, because it grew to be mostly pointless.

There has been some good advice on here about how to run events that work. Keep in mind that it is not effortless. There is often a lot of competition, and you must make an event that is appealing. For instance, I would never attend a music trivia contest, but if it was sci-fi trivia I'd be all over it.

And then there is how you run your event. There are some great event hosts out there, but also plenty who are not. I've never been to a Timmy Night event, so I can't say if you do a good job or not, but it might be worth asking people if you are being a good host and running an enjoyable event, or what you might do to improve. I have put a lot of effort into automation systems for my events so that they run smoothly. I also work a lot on the enviroment so it feels polished and comfortable, everyone in the event area can see and hear each other, etc.

Your post sounded to me like a lot of complaining that your event didn't go well, so you are blaming the people who did not attend. I doubt that ranting on the forum will make your events more successful. Though this thread is a pretty clever way to get free advertising for your events