2 proposals for thursday's 7 pm SLSF meeting in Joiner

1.) I'd like to solicit SLSF support for getting the Lindens to put void water sims around the outside of the far southern continent and elsewhere in the mainland. Until someone can afford a private island with 20-30+ sims, long distance races are going to be something that happens on the mainland. ZATZAi has already put forward a request that Nova Linden forwarded on, and she and I are trying to organize landowners in the korean/southern sim to support this as well. SLSF seems like a natural ally here. Can we get an expression of support, please?

2.) Use SLSF funds to purchase some ads that list the regularly scheduled events of SYC and VYC, and venues with windsetters and SLSF starting lines. I beleive this list consists of Tompson, Torch, Sanchon, and Hollywood. With the population explosion in SL, there have to be a lot of potential sailors that are unaware of sailing, where to sail, and where to buy boats. Ads could help, and we can track their effectiveness by looking at turnout at organized racing events.

Nber and I support both proposals in concept.

7pm, I might dream of you, but there's no way I'll be there I'm afraid.

Both ideas seem sensible to me. I'm not sure how likely a further ring of voids is - they do constrain mainland expansion somewhat, but that's no reason not to ask at least!

Where are we planning to advertise the start lines is my only thought? I think we should, but are we aiming at SLB and SLEx? MM? Others?

There are free to advertise places like barounnet (which has technical issues associated with spam, but is free) and you might well be able to ask Squagmire Stravinsky if he'd put the add into the infonet servers so it would be at every former telehub as well as at other infonet terminals. There's also an inworld news service on the cards: I think Venya Salome is the person to chat to about that, an interview and an ad that way might well not hurt at all (and be free). There may be other systems coming along for that sort of advertising soon too - and once we get html on a prim a webpage listing them wouldn't hurt either.

Whilst we're doing it, might also be useful to indicate *who* can use each start line. I think the Hollywood one is set to SYC? The Tompson one is SLSF (and will be upgraded to the new system later today), but what about the other lines? It's not much extra in terms of characters, but it does help sort out confusion when people try to use them!

The start line in Hollywood will be set to SLSF soon (today?).

I of course support this, especially in the new southern continent. Its already almost completely surrounded by void sims, just a few patches and it will be perfect for circumnavigation.

Some areas I suppose will never get a void sim, like the space directly between landmasses in the southern conitnents, as there already have spots purchased. But at the least we can have voids where it seems they were meant to be, like south of Purlsori, and along the northern edge of the continent,

Some of the answer depends on how much money SLSF has. So maybe that is another agenda item or something that can be posted here. What is the state of SLSF's finances?

free is good! Before we start using any of the free or fee channels, we will probably need both a text version and a texture version of the ad.

The VYC lines in Torch and Sanchon have always been SLSF were updated to the new system last Saturday.

...the cosy island course-in-development uses SLSF to activate its start line...i think we should all just agree (really we already have) to use SLSF as a matter of course, no need to change anything on that account...

Helen Dayton is the SLSF treasurer.

She reports a total of $50532, though she neglected to mention if that was L$ or US$.

If SLSF decides to fund advertising of our events and venues there is very simple way we can do this. Both VYC and SYC have used the classified ads feature to promote sailing at their venues. For my two cents classified ads are a very cost effective way to generate traffic. We use classifieds to promote Hollywood, Starboards Yacht Club, and Hollywood Apparel and Gifts. We find dollar for dollar it gives us better results than display advertising. A simple way SLSF could promote sailing would be to provide a stipend to those groups that host SLSF races. For example currently SYC and VYC run races. SLSF could provide 500L per week to each group earmarked for classified ads to promote the races. If Doc decides to start races in Tompson again, she would also qualify for the advertising grant.

If we decide, on the other hand, to do display ads in places such as M2, I volunteer to create an ad that when approved could be run in any number of locations. In such a scenario there would of necessity be an ordering of venues. I would argue in favor of Hollywood being the first among equals based on a variety of things. Since VYC would want to have two venues listed, that seems a fair compromise to me. In any case here is a sample ad I whipped up on my lunch break.

...a couple of comments, which i'm sure i'll reiterate at tonight's meeting...

...first, i believe any listing of venues should be alphabetical - it's arbitrary by default and thus confers no preferential treatment to anyone...

...i don't belive we should list every SLSF-sponsored start line, however, just those host to active racing/touring groups at present...as more and more SLSF venues are brought into play across the grid, we risk both cluttering up our publicity and diluting the likelihood of a new visitor stumbling upon a welcoming skipper...for this reason, i'm more in favor of listing by active club/venue, each with a single associated location...

...second, i love the SLSF logo in your ad!..is that something which has been around for a while, but i've just never noticed before?..

...the ad itself is very eye-catching, too - good basic layout...

Hmmmm. I see your logic. Let's see I hear Cosy Cays will be hosting races? Heheheh. I can see it now. AA Sanchon. AAA Hollywood. Grin. JK, of course.



Thanks! This has been the official logo since last summer sometime when SLSF members selected it from three submitted designs. Take a look at the graphic in the SLSF group profile. It's also found in SYC a couple of times. I THINK Kanker still has it on display in Gray but not sure. Also it is prominently displayed on the SLSF t-shirt that Nber and I distributed to all SLSF members some time ago. The one that says "Got Wind?". Anyone that does not have one can IM Nber Medici or myself for a copy.

...oooh, i could really go places with your evil genius at my disposal!..

...seriously, though, whenever cosy island hosts races we hope they'll be part of a plain-vanilla SLSF series; just a linked location without any further associated yacht club title...i imagine everyone's mature enough not to play silly AAAA games...

Indeed, that is a great logo. Is it possiblke to get a copy/mod/no transfer (Modable to get UUID for some scripted items)version of it as a texture for inworld promotions? Preferable one with alpha and one with a white backgroun?

Yup. One TGA and one JPG version is on its way. However it will be TRANS. No reason to keep it No Trans. I hear my $50,000L commission check is in the mail from Kanker.

Hehe, ok then. Figured you would want to control who had access to the logo. Here's hoping that check is in USD and not Pesos.

Yep, that would be me!

Just shoot me an IM, or you can drop a notecard into my Mailbox (look in my Profile/Picks for a landmark) and I'll work it.

Wrap the list of venues around a circle (so the words form a ring), and there is no first or last to argue about. We ought to list sites with windsetters and starting lines, so that at a minimum people get a consisten wind to sail in, and they know where they can hold informal races, if they are so inclined.