Improving Customer Traffic at Clubs: What Can I Do?

You're so difficult.

Tell me about it. I'm babysitting tonight as well.

And starting next Wednesday, I'm going to work in RL.

Which explains why I won't have time to do any courses in SL.

Yes.

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Family Feud sounds fun.

I never thought of 'alts' voting but I dont think Im'ing the host/ess would change that. Also, some people don't vote that way because they don't know how to IM. Or don't want to bother finding the host/ess in the club. If the host/ess is also IN the contest it's doubly awkward.

Having a group tag on before voting/playing for money might cut down on cheating - also not posting tallies during contests, (though I haven't seen any clubs who do, that may be what the person meant - people send alts in to win if they're trailing).

With any game or contest make the rules clear up front. For instance, in a trivia contest - is a full name required in an answer or just the last name? Spelling/typos shouldn't count, IMO, as long as the answer is legible and there's no question who/what the person meant.

YMMV but one thing that has made me leave clubs/groups before is constant announcements. In my opinion - one announcement sent to the group per day is plenty, all the day's events can be put in that. Most clubs do one per event which isn't TOO bad - but those groups/clubs that send several times during each event, I have now left. I've had to click on 20 announcements upon logging in if I've been out a few days. And the interruptions while trying to have fun in SL or make clothes etc., were beyond annoying.

if you do have a contest please set clear rules. I recently entered a best in latex with my dog av wearing a condom.

Ok i didnt expect to win but the person who did wasnt wearing any latex at all.

Having hosted more than my fair share of events through the years, I fought with that one a long time. I used contest boards for quite a while, and it always frustrated me to see events turning into a contest to see who could TP in the most friends during the last 10 minutes of the contests.

I tried ending contests at random times, not announcing in advance. That helped, but soon people just TP'ed their friends in as soon as they entered. So much for avoiding the TP contest.

I tried having people send me their votes via IM, but that didn't work well either. People would accuse me of just picking whoever I wanted and not really counting the votes sent to me. I had one girl pissed at me because she had her boyfriend and three other friends with her. She just *KNEW* she was going to win because she had 4 votes "in the bag." She confronted me immediately after I announced the winner and I had the joy of telling her "Hun, your BF and your friends ... *none* of them voted for you."

I tried letting the staff vote on the patrons, taking the guests out of the voting process completely. But, I quickly saw a pattern there ... whoever gave out the most tips was the person getting the votes. It didn't matter if they were in-theme or not. I quickly canned that voting process.

In the end, I found myself going back to contest boards. I found a good set of boards with a lot of anti-TP options. I set it up so that you had to be a group member to enter and/or vote. It not only discourages the TP contest, but adds people to the group ... which means they will get the notices for future events as they are announced.

I still get people sometimes try to buy the votes, especially for the larger prizes. They will IM people "If I win, I will give you L$100." Fortunately, the staff shares some of my values and will let me know if someone is attempting to buy votes.

I also will monitor the event and the contest boards. If someone shows up and enters the contest but is not in theme, I may choose to DQ them and remove them from the contest board. Likewise, if I see someone suddenly have a dozen people TP in around them and nobody in their group says anything in open chat during the entire event, they run the risk of being DQ'ed. I run a tight ship. Love me or hate me ... I'm the queen bitch at my events and I try my best to ensure it is fair for everyone. I want the contests to be something more than just a popularity contest. I want the best person to win, not just the person who has the most friends to vote for them.

Having had complaints in the past about people winning contests that were not even in the proper attire - or having staff win - I set some rules in place for hosts and contests at my venues. No staff can enter contest board contests (only on Sunday at a sort of 'staff pool party' can they enter the contest board - this is sort of a staff appreciation event and the patrons know this in advance). I insist that the host walk around the room and check the avatars in the contest before voting is activated. If someone is not in the proper attire they are removed from the contest. And I use a contest board that splits the winnings between everyone based on how many votes they received. This way the people that took the time to hang out there for two hours or more get some reward.

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LOL! I would have relished a situation like that. Too bad you could see the look on her face. Priceless, I'm sure.

LOL "Millions of Avatars"

The name of the club is irrelevant because no matter who it was they likely aren't like that anymore. When you were new (and when I was new a year later) it was common to find chatty, helpful people everywhere. Now you have to know where to find them, and they hang out at very few clubs. Most clubs are populated by afk staff, bots and an occasional hapless visitor. My used-to-be favorite clubs, including the ones I hold a sentimental attachment to because they were my earliest SL experiences, are crowded but lonely these days.