Okay, Fizz, you asked...
Pick a date in March/April '09. Do some research to make sure we plan around any big crazy conventions, like, say Tranvestites of America or something. Is this a busy time of year for Vegas? Avoid Easter as well.
Would your parents really be up for hosting people at their house? How many can they comfortably host? How close do they live to other hotels? How close to the strip? Compile some prelim data on possible hotel info/prices, places of interest, tentative timeline, airport info.
Take a poll at SSD. See how many people express semi-strong interest. Jot down their screennames in case you need to send future PMs with more information. Share prelim research w them. See if any locals will do some further research for you and/or share planning duties.
What will be the weekend's focus? Just people who happen to scrap having a gurls' weekend or do you want dedicated scrap time? Clubbing or sightseeing? Will we need to rent cars and/or arrange own transportation to/from airport or are there any locals/drivers who can pick up and drop off those flying in? A standard weekend or more of a 3-4 day long weekend? How can we save money for those on a budget: more people to a room, staying further off the strip, coupons from local tourism board?
Is Robin interested in attaching the SSD name to this meet 'n' greet? Will the guest list be exclusive to SSD members or can anyone invite whomever they want from Digi World? Will you be advertising it in the SSD NL, posts on other msg boards, blogs? Do you want more of an intimate gathering of friends or a big getting to know you meet 'n' greet?
How will everyone pay for their rooms? Will you be setting up a block of rooms at a certain hotel? Can people pay you at the weekend or do you want them paid beforehand? Do you want people to book their own rooms?
How will you further communicate details to those planning on going? Do you want to set up a blog? Email list? Google/Yahoo! group? What will be your cutoff deadline for people to decide whether they are in or not? Do you want name tags? Get to know you games?
Will you make reservations ahead of time for any particular show or event? How do you want people to pay for those? Will everyone be traveling together en masse to each activity or are you cool with people splitting up into smaller groups to participate in different activities? Will there be an appointed time to get a group shot once everyone arrives and before anyone leaves?
How will you share pictures post-gathering? Uploading to someone's personal server? Flickr? Shutterfly? Do you want people to have some kind of souvenir from the weekend? Personalized teeshirt or other memento?
*lol* Can you tell I've done this before??
