Events and Lindens

Yaknow, I sat back all night and thought about this. Tis about the charity ball held last night. I didn't want to hurt anyones feelings, upset anyone, but....There comes a time when you just gotta step on some toes.


The charity ball was a wonderful, awsome idea. I'm positive plenty of money was raised for it, and donating to help is an excellent thing. I wouldn't know too much about how much was gathered though, because, see, I wasn't "cool" enough to attend the main party. Neither were quite a few other folks. We got the overflow area. Now, in comparison, the main event was held in a nice ball-room, full of pretty people, conversation, with nice music going, the works. It was full of....forgive the Prokism, FIC. Now, our beautiful overflow area, now there was...a plot. Of Land. Nothing else. No music, no repeaters for what was going on, nada. We were told, if we wanted to follow the auction going on, to pay $250 to join the IM group.

Now, I'm not going to point fingers and lay blame now. We all know the limitations of Secondlife. I am going to call people out though.

Linden Labs, if you guys are going to "pimp" an event like this, you NEED NEED NEED to have the resources on-hand to accmodate EVERYONE who wants to attend. Co-ordinate with the event hosts, figure out a game plan. Leaving people in the cold like that garners hostility.

Event planners, you guys NEED to talk with LL, if you want to plan something THIS big. Set it up before hand. It garners, again, alot of hostility, When you look at the list of the big name people attending the "main event" and your stuck on a blank "overflow" parcel.


Now, I'm gonna call out AnneDroid, FLipperPA, Bub Linden, Nova Linden, and espically Blue Linden, for actually coming over to the overflow parcel to help liven things up. FlipperPA, THANK YOU for donating a server so we could have a live DJ, and setting up a web-based relay so we could sorta participate in the action.

In the end though, I don't want to hurt feelings here. It was an excellent idea, and the money that was raised will help Katrina victims immensely.


(Ohh,and BTW, for anyone who was listening last night, flight to Iraq was commandeered for Katrina Relief. I'm not leaving today!)

I couldn't afford the tickets to it.

And ditto all your wonderful cause and efforts comments, and all. But in the future, seems to me like whatever overflow areas there are ought to receive as much attention to decoration and whatnot as the main place, so the party can be good there, too.

coco

This is absolutely true.

BUT

I don't agree with "calling the lindens out" though. They did a good thing with the system as it is now - incapable of handling many avatars in one spot. I think the bigger picture is worth looking at it in this case.


Does the system need to be improved upon? Yes. Should we stop events until things are perfect? Nope.

I agree, Ingrid. However, in just the time I was sitting in the overflow area, I thought of a solution. LL donate, or event hosts rent the vehicle sims for the occasion. Host in the corner, thats quad the number of people who can interact. LL could have donated a 4 sim island set for the evening. Anshe could have donated/rented a quad sim set in dreamland. This all would have taken prior planning, though, which is what I feel this whole event lacked.

This event was my idea, so I will address your post. However, first I would like to say that I am not offended in any way by your comments.
My intention was to get a group of high-profile residents to auction themselves off in the hopes that we could raise a bit of money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. One such resident challenged me to get a Linden to auction. So I asked Pathfinder. He said he would have to check with the Lindens to see if it was acceptable.
I thought, "Why not ask Philip too? What do I have to lose?" So I asked, and was told that while he would love to participate, he would not be available that night. So I asked if he could issue a memo stating that it was ok for other Lindens to participate. He did so.
Meanwhile, Pathfinder was collecting a list of Linden who agreed to participate. Prior to this, the event had garnered very little interest. But once I posted (in a separate thread) "Lindens to participate," ticket sales soared.
When we saw that we were going to run out of space at Cocktails Ballroom, we decided to try to find another location and have a script that could run an auction. I spoke to Jeffrey Gomez, and he listed some problems we would have with running a script. At that point, we decided that we would run the auction via the group IM. The $250 ticket price (which was really optional as we wouldn't exclude anyone who couldn't afford that or to bid, but wanted to watch) was for entry into the charity group.
In trying to set up a second location for people to enjoy a ball-like atmosphere, I posted in a thread what I needed. Garnet Psaltery volunteered her just bought land and a castle she had in inventory. She then, with several friends, spent hours fixing up the site.
She had the same stream as the primary location. I don't know why that location did not have music. Anyone who paid for a ticket was invited into the group and had the opportunity to participate and know what was going on. We never intended to exclude anyone.
At the primary location, we mainly had those who were being auctioned off, those who bought their tickets first, and some who just showed up there. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with who is COOL -- or else I would not have been there.
ANd YOU were there. I have no idea why you went to the second location, or if anyone told you to leave the primary site, but it had nothing to do with coolness or any affliation with an organization.
The decision to "pimp" the event, as you say, was made by Pathfinder, I believe. And that was to inform people, so that no one would feel excluded. That is why he made the announcement thread and why he made it a MOTD.
I am somewhat new to SL, and this was my first time hosting an big event. I learned a lot and will do a much better job next time. My heart was in the right place, and I never wanted anyone to feel excluded or "less than," so I hope you will consider that before posting anything negative.
On a final note, we did raise over $700k.

This was about a good cause to help people who are left with nothing after Americas worst natural disaster ever. It has nothing to do with being cool.

Now, we have more information! Thanks Katt! I see there was a breakdown in communication. The overflow area we were sent to, wasn't the intended overflow area. With the typical information overflow (I host events too!), noone found out until the damage had been done. Thanks for the clarification, Katt!

And Kona!

Ohh Jeezits, I forgot Kona. That's like, a loss of 50 FIC points, right?

I have some more information that will clarify things even more, I hope. Although I donated the land and my time, money and efforts to setting up the last-minute overflow, I wasn't in any sense an organiser of the event. Indeed when I went back to my castle before the event there was an event host already provided. It was very hard for me to know what was happening - even she didn't seem to have been told much.

I was told there'd be a music stream available a little before the start of the event so for a while I tried various URLs that people gave me to see what would be suitable (my usual stream is classical - not so suitable). About 20 minutes before the event the DJ's stream seemed to be active so I put it on. No-one liked the music it seems so we went back to our assortment. At 5 to 6 I put the DJ's stream back on.

Shortly afterwards I heard plaintive shouts from beyond my boundary that people couldn't get in. I'd been instructed to limit the area to members of the group (people who'd bought a ticket, basically) but the ones outside had been trying for 20 minutes to get a ticket, they said, and couldn't get IM replies from the seller (the only way to get a ticket). I thought "what the heck" and opened up the land anyway. The new arrivals wanted to pay for their tickets but there seemed no way to do it. I thought of putting a 'Buy Pass' on the land but that would mean people paying money to me and I thought that was unacceptable.

At some point we had a nice number of people and then the sim crashed. When I got back in a lot of people had not returned. Don't blame them at all. Then via IM I was told I had to be at Phoenix Isle for the auction (though I'd said I'd be at my castle for the event) so off I went. Just before that, in a flurry of confusing IMs, I picked up that there was a special URL for the event and I reset the land media to that URL. I found out afterwards that it was the wrong one and that's what caused the silence. For that I apologise. It was an honest mistake.

There was at least one other confusion - someone arrived to place a white ball in the castle to relay the auction (I think) but we had been told before that it would be done via group IM. I didn't use my IM after that for a while and I'm not sure if anyone else did. Again we were in the dark.

What can I say? I thought it was worth the effort to bring in more contributions for the charity. I meant to be in Grindlewald to look after everybody (and I'm upset that I was forced to be the host for a time while the hired help was dancing with her lover or sitting on a couch with her, and I couldn't really help people - furthermore Ms Lover-in-bling, when I say I'm not interested stop trying to grope me).

I heard a Linden at the main location suggest more of these auctions, to which I can only say 'yes' but please do it professionally in a way the organisers here didn't have the time, expectation, or experience to do.

Related thread here.

Says the person who lost my tables, which cost $2600L, in her inventory. Let the finger pointing begin.

A big thank you to everyone who participated (or tried to) in raising money for the people affected by the hurricane.

The efforts made are a great example of the big hearts the residents of Second Life have!

/me claps

Hey, you misunderstand me. I was defending you. No-one could expect you to do more. I expect a whole lot more if the Lindens do it.

I honestly don't know what happened to your tables - they never arrived. I'm happy for a Linden to search my drawers thoroughly to find them if it would help.

very well said, and I like that in your reaction you took no offense. i hear it was a blast! sorry i was not able to attend.

I'm sorry if I misunderstood. I was up til 1am with auction stuff and up at 5am with paper stuff. But the above statement doesn't seem like you are defending me; instead, it seems as though you are saying I was too inexperienced to handle the event.

My comment in return was not to suggest that you are purposely keeping the tables from me, but that perhaps you are not experienced enough to find them in your inventory.

Anyway, I don't want this to turn into a huge argument, especially when you worked so hard on making the second location look so attractive. I do appreciate that.

First, thanks to the hosts for their efforts and congrats on the final tally of funds raised for this cause. The popularity of the event attests to it being an ingenious and effective fundraiser. Since calls to next year were already being sounded last night, it is probably wise to review and benefit from lessons learned.

I'd make the following recommendations for improving the process. Display the names of the individuals and the order in which they will be auctioned off available at all event locations as well as in the forum thread. Have those being auctioned in attendance at the secondary party site. Transfer 4-5 of them at a time to mingle with the crowd at the main site during the period around their auction time. Conduct the auction of individuals unable to attend the evenings festivities during the transition of a new group of "dates" to the main site.

Thanks once again for everyone's efforts in providing a very festive and profitable fundraiser.

For what it's worth, I thought I'd mention that Drift Monde, cua Curie, Schwanson Schlegel, and probably other people I don't know about, bought parcels on four sim corners on the north continent for exactly the purpose of large events. The area currently houses the Bunker club, and can hold up to 160 people, if the four sims aren't otherwise occupied. Live performers such as myself are fililing sims regularly (Clementina filled up at my regular Tuesday show last night), and I'm grateful to Drift et al. for taking this issue in their own hands. The night that they bought the area, we piled a bunch of people in there and got the number up to 100, with 90 connected to my audio stream.

Of course, it would be wonderful if LL would provide a four-corner mainland area or four connected islands for public performances and events, perhaps for a fee. I predict that this will NEVER happen, as they see that as the business of residents, not LL, and they'd rather just sell the land and be done with it.

Well, I was looking forward to the auction. I arrived at the event waypoint 30 minutes early so I didn't get locked out. It turned out to be a bare patch of ground with several other confused avatars wondering what was going on.

Several folks were IMing the event hosts to find out where we were supposed to be without getting a response, and finally a guy showed up with a LM. We all headed over and found a building with the Charity Ball sign, but nothing there to explain how to bid, and no information was forthcoming. It was very frustrating. I asked several times if I needed to join the group to bid, and how I could do that with no answer.

We stayed until 30 minutes after the event was supposed to start, with some folks popping in and then teleporting away to the apparently secret "FIC" location.

The sim finally crashed, still without a single clue as to how to bid, if the auction was already taking place, or what one needed to do to become involved. At that point I just shrugged it off and gave up.

I think it's wonderful that so much money was raised and that alot of folks, including Lindens, volunteered their time. But I would very strongly suggest that next time there is a person that can answer questions and sell tickets or group memberships, at each location. I would also suggest that more details be given in the event description and announcement forum, as the event hosts were apparently swamped with IMs and unable to respond to everyone's questions. Also, having the event waypoint lead folks to a place of information or the actual event itself would be a great idea.

It was frustrating, and though I'm sure I could have eventually found out the secret ritual for involvement, I just didn't have the patience.

http://secondlife.com/land/rental.php

Relay for Life recently used them...and the SLCC will be using them next month.

Katt, that is wonderful!! Yay! This, I think, should be the focus.

Yes, I was there last night, and, yes, I had a blast! Yes, there was a great deal of confusion, but, no, there was no favoritism that I was aware of. Goodness, if I am at a party, the geek squad and the wallflower krewe are totally represented.

If that is the case, and judging from Pathfinder's incredibly incomplete and misdirecting response, it likely is. I must say, with no respect toward Linden Lab whatsoever and much toward Drift, cua, Schanson, Astrin, Jamie, Froggy, Merwan, et al.:

Your stance of "our world, your imagination, your efforts, your money, our appalling lack of professionalism" makes me so proud of the years that I've invested teaching people to make use of your poorly engineered, wholly undocumented, astoundingly buggy, not-a-game that I am personally embarrassed to be associated with Linden Lab in any manner.

I place all responsibility for the firm's utter duplicity and ineptitude at Philip Rosedale's feet. I now feel I fully understand why you have been unable to hire the positions you have long unfilled at http://lindenlab.com/employment.php in an area teaming with available talent, as no salary would be worth having to suffer your stewardship. I have no doubt that Philip may be technologically visionary, but all engineers I know who have reached your 'peter principle' level of incompetence have had the good sense to yield the helm to someone with actual business acumen (that is, excepting the ones unable to see past their own delusions of competence).

Philip's treatment of the Avalon project, GOM, SL Exchange, and many others has been contemptible and I strongly caution him to check his ethics before Linden Lab becomes synonymous with "entrepreneurial pillage" and comes to the attention of the real world firms he is currently courting. There is a reason the Houston Astros paid $2.1M to get Enron's name off their stadium, and you'll likely find the Wells Fargos of the world similarly interested in distancing themselves from a firm of ill-repute. It is important for me to mention that I have high regard for all of the Linden Lab staff that I have had any interaction with and extend them my sympathy and pity as I've seen how demoralizing it can be to work for a manager with meandering moral compass.

For those who may not know "me", I am currently unable to post as Malachi Petunia, as my forum account has yet to be reinstated following my three day suspension of September 2. A mail that I received on the matter today (which also includes my SL C.V.) can be found at SLUniverse.com.

If they hold another auction like this, perhaps they will ask someone how to run an auction event properly. I got very frusterated at the announcement TPing to the wrong sim, waiting for no answer from those running it, finally finding out where we should be, being ignored by the person that was responsible for the auction group and the person collecting the 250L ignoring everyone. Almost an hour after the event was scheduled to start, I left with my date.
They would have made more money, but I gave up trying to join the group so I could bid and put myself up for auction. I was also going to make a straight contribution, but there was no object set aside to make contributions. I would have given it to one of the organizers, but they were so unorganized I was worried it would have been accepted as a tip instead and not get to those that it was intended for.
Here is a tip. Don't just run around trying to grab a bunch of high profile people. Learn some organizational skills first. It will be easier and more fun for you and your guests, and more money will be collected for the charities.

Well, I may not have learned any organizational skills yet, but I have learned something else. When you try your hardest to do the right thing, some people will appreciate it while others find fault with everything you do.

I didn't run around trying to grab high profile people. I posted on here asking for volunteers. One person said she would volunteer if I could get a Linden. So I asked a Linden to particiapte. He agreed.

Maybe before your next post, you can learn how to state your feelings without personally attacking someone.

Katt,

It was a wonderful event and you held up gracefully under fire. Whatever technical problems occured, the results were still spectacular. You also managed to get a lot of people into one room who don't often associate with one another (I do believe there is a picture of Anshe and I standing next to each other floating around) for the best of causes. One piece of advice I would offer is to consider the venue next time. While the ball theme was nice, the building had a lot of ornate features (spiral staircases, etc..) and a lot of prims that are murder on the frame rate with a lot of people. An outdoor location would probably have been better in hindsight, but as always, that is 20/20.

It is a shame that at a time when you want to go all out and decorate beautifully, SL technology is just not up to snuff for large scale events (anyone who has been to a wedding in SL knows that). Lessons learned, regardless, it was an event to remember. Congratulations on pulling it off, and thank you for your efforts.