Leave it as it is
Make the BBQ the "forum event" and scrap the Friday session
Keep the Friday night forum event but with more differentiation
Make the Friday a general, non-forum-specific, "Welcome" session aimed at weekender newbies
Other ideas - see below
I'm anti-social and wouldn't talk to anyone anyway
Where's Southport?
As far as I can tell/remember, it all started here...John or Wes will no doubt correct me, but I believe it that time slot was basically given for forumites to arrange their own gathering - I don't think Jive Addiction had much to do with it.
However, as Ducasi says, there's now not much to distinguish it from other dancing at the weekend.
I also believe that for people who've never been to a weekender before, it can be quite daunting, and a chance to meet put names to faces on Friday night can be really helpful - and getting to meet people you already know online is good.
In past Southports there have been name badges at the forumite gathering. Although some people are organised with T-shirts etc., for the rest of us , a box of sticky labels and some marker pens (which happened at least once) were nearly as good. It does however rely on someone organising them and also maybe introducing folk to each other.
The barbeque is popular, but for me it did clash with dancing this time, and it relies on hot, dry weather which (despite John & Wes's best efforts) can't be guaranteed. The odds on successful barbeque in February aren't as good, for instance.
So what should happen to the forumite gathering?
Love dance, will travel
bah the Forum gathering officially started at our home event, the October 2002 Ceroc Scottish Championships no less - see here
I remember that, we were all trying to figure out who Dancing Veela was
"If you rebel against high heels, take care to do so in a very smart hat.'' George Bernard Shaw
The first one was in the Latin Quarter (which was called the Dance Den at that time I think) and it was only forumites. As it was a separate room that worked well. Of course non-forumites were not refused entry, but it wasn't a 'through area' the way the blues room is.
It made a big difference to my first weekend, as aside from the few folk I came with, I knew no-one and it was a great way of meeting forumites, who then introduced me to other forumites...it made a real difference to my weekend experience and I still remember UP and DavidY asking me to dance two nights in a row and me thinking 'I can't have been that bad if people are asking me to dance again!'. (Remember I'd never even been to a freestyle before my first SP so things like that were a real boost to my confidence. Sorry, I digress.)
The 'Friday dance meet' is much more welcoming and inclusive to new forumites, the BBQ feels more for those who already know each other quite well. And for me, a big part of wanting to meet other forumites is to dance with them - so meeting and dancing is ideal.
So I'd suggest keep the Fri night 'gathering' to meet and dance but move it to the Dance Den so its something for the forumites rather than just part of the general dancing as it seems to be now - its only an hour and its a great way for new forumites to meet others as well as those who already know each other well.
Why not? I mean, what's the point of having a private party and then letting it be public?
Seriously, I think a general "Southport Freshers night" would be a great idea - somewhere where there's an official "meet and greet" policy, for people to come along and to be introduced to other newbies.
But an "official" Ceroc Scotland forumite gathering? As a Jive Nation event? That's just more and more weird every time. Especially as it's now not even credited to Ceroc Scotland, it's just the vague term "forumite"
Because it not a private party!
Its a time and place for forumites to get together, meet and dance. Its good to have it in a separate place so that loads of people aren't asked 'so who are you on the forum?' and they say 'what forum?' which is what happens at the moment. But its not exclusive - its not 'you have to be on the forum to dance here' - more 'well this is a forum gathering so you'll understand why we are talking about it/wearing badges/strange t-shirts etc'.
Yes, it is - admittedly it's not enforced, but it's clearly not for "everyone", therefore it's private. How many non-forumites just wander along by themselves to it?
Well, that sounds pretty exclusive to me - OK, it's informally exclusive, but it's still exclusive.
And again, I see we're returning to the "people-inside-a-clique-never-admit-it's-a-clique" argument.
No, I hate you all
In fact, last June, I managed a record of turning down 4 forum invitations in a single weekend .
Of course, one could argue that, in mixing with the 90% of people at the weekender who were not on the forum, I was actually being more sociable than you lot.
And I repeat, why have a Ceroc Scotland forum gathering at a Jive Addiction event? And why did Jive Nation drop the "Ceroc Scotland" bit from it, huh?
Last edited by David Bailey; 19th-September-2007 at 10:58 AM. Reason: Oops, Addiction, not nation
I thought you spent 90% of your time hiding in the dark recesses of the Latin quarter ?
So you have been to one Southport never attend a forumite gathering and yet are the most vocal about it
Nice to see the forum working well
Id probably recognise 40/50 out of the 104 who went , so why not have a gathering ?
why would Jive nation want 'ceroc' advertised in their brochures ?
Of course ceroc can still have their VIP invite only events at weekenders, isnt that nice
Is David James sounding more and more like Victor Meldrew ? or is it just me ?
Interesting that the most popular vote is to make it more exclusive...
Someone should change DJ's tagline to "The Victor Meldrew of moderating"
On subject though... whilst I've not been to Southport either (is it something to do with names beginning with Lou since I'm Louise in reality?), I found the "forum corner" at Bliss last year great for getting to meet people from the forum - without the likes of Witty to introduce me, I'd not have met anyone. So I think that a forum gathering at weekenders generally is a good thing, if you want to meet some of the people you talk to on here anyway.
Whether it should be made more exclusive or not I don't really care - it's not as if you're talking about having an entire room set aside for the forum with a strict no entry policy for people with real names... or are we? At least it'd keep certain riff-raff out anyway, won't it DJ
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