Changing up the way the Ball is run.

[AugureyRiddle]

Mushyung

Yes, that is a great idea! While many of the members do frequent gaia, the email reminders would be useful if anyone needs to take a hiatus or something. Though, I'd rather limit those to maybe twice a month because the line between spam and help is thin. The Annual Ball mule could be used to send out a guild announcements every week if needed.

I suppose the deadlines would have to be set after the two week break! I hope the theme is voted soon, by the start of November maybe? If that happens, there should be a month dedicated for people to volunteer as hosts/secondaries, and choose then. If anyone has a good reason for needing an extension, that is a neat idea too!

I saw that you were suggesting more people to deal with administration tasks for the AURB, and a group dedicated to helping the main host. Do you think they could be merged into one group, and handle both? And, how do you think they would operate? Because, these tasks could be attached to the room hosts responsibilities if we need to, especially looking at the small amount of staff this guild. These responsibilities (like running contests, writing plot summaries, etc) could be divided among them. Do you think that may be too much?

That's true! Maybe even just once a month unless things are moving extremely quickly.

As for having an administration team, I think we could merge them into one group. And maybe even have the person dedicated to keeping everyone updated being a part of that team. The main host would still be in charge but they would have people they could delegate to. (I am honestly not too sure what the main host does. I know they take care of trying to keep everyone in the guild on track, deciding and finalizing plots and themes. But I don't know what is required of them in the Gaia bureaucracy and the behind the scene requirements.) Honestly I don't know, it would depend on how much each person on the team has going on in real life. It could be more manageable. And if someone know that they can't handle a lot they should be up front about it and maybe take on a little bit less than someone who has a crazy amount of time?

 

[Madame Mae]

Right now the guild has all of 13 members, and some of those are people that want to help in non RP related ways. Although it would be nice to have at least two rooms, we also need to plan for the worst.  

[Love Renewed]

I have hosted many things. And I am one of those people who do not get worn out by it. I could 100% host as it was this year, and have rped. But I do it daily. I host 11 charities while running events and participate in over 20 rps. Every day.

I believe you can have too many cooks in the kitchen. So if we go with more than one admin/host I wouldn't do more than two or three. At max. But know that there are people who enjoy doing all of it. The more I have to do the better. I find myself bored as it is lol.

And too many people leads to miscommunication. Sometimes the best thing is the most simple, one host. Whoever it is might just need to delegate more. Unless a person is chosen that can/wants to handle everything. Few people can lol.

As I type this I'm replying to three rps, running two Halloween events, planning a Fall Fest, planning a Winter Carnival, on Facebook, listening to music, taking care of my son, texting, and selling for two fundraisers. All while working(granted I work from home).

Google Docs is also amazing as a tool for organization lol.  

[Love Renewed]

To rps, I am literally in over 20 and have more rpcs. I can take on any roles if we are short on people. Rping is why I joined Gaia.  

[Love Renewed]

Mitsuko Yukimura

Madame Mae

Mushyung

ZoieAmandaSaxon

Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to agree with Mae on this one. We should think about a ball that is capable to have just one room, but if we have more help we can expand.

Love Renewed

You ring up a good point with the 3 max hosts. Also one would be admin for the ball, the others would technically be regular hosts.

I agree on it all. And organize it like a business, where the admin/main host is the manager, the hosts being the assistant managers. They work together but the manager is in charge. And then they have a staff. Like we do here with room hosts, designers, coders, advertisers etc. The admin could be overseeing everything while assistants make sure people are doing what they're suppose to. Like one takes half the group(all artists let's say) and the second takes all rpers and rooms. Then the main one oversees it all and add ons like advertising.

That's my two sense. A set up like a business/magazine/department. With the BTPD it was Police Chief, Deputy, then HR Commander and Operations Commander. They were department heads taking care of things so the deputy and pc could focus on the over all.  

[Love Renewed]

Mushyung

Madame Mae

Love Renewed

Mitsuko Yukimura

Smaller number of rooms probably means it'll be better to have to have a more specific theme for the ball this year haha. What do you guys think?
Also, It would probably be best to have maybe two changes of scenery, so once every two days if we still have a four day ball this year. I saw that changing the environment was causing confusion for the guests, and a bit of stress for the hosts trying to get the plot going.

((And I got distracted while writing this post and lost my train of though lmao whoops))

That's the thing, in typical rps the scenery changes as the rp goes along. But when you have people coming in and out especially for a short period, things need more structure.

Maybe a haunted house? The people helping will do the haunting and the outside rpers be those we scare through the house. A chainsaw maze in the back?

Or a Monster High fandom mini thing. Have everything take place inside the school to make it simple.  

[AugureyRiddle]

Love Renewed

Haunted houses with multiple rooms can be difficult but it can be done quickly and efficiently when it comes to planning. But Mushyung is right a haunted house for the ball wouldn't work due to timing. (Though we could try to have one as a mini event as a way to advertise the ball? Maybe during the Halloween event this year?)

Also, running it like a business was kind of what I meant by an admin team. One person leads, everyone else is under them doing their own thing. It is how my office worked when we planned massive events for the community at school.

Mitsuko Yukimura

Madame Mae

Having a smaller number of rooms doesn't mean we have to sacrifice having a group of people helping the main host. After all a person can be on the administration team and have a minor part in the room if need be. (Also I seriously think we need to start advertising more about getting people to join and help plan. I know some people have the current banner in their sigs, but it is just the number Gaia banner so it doesn't really attract attention....)

Also I know I for one wasn't sure how to join in with all of the scene changes. Is there a way to go back to staying in the same main area and just having the plot move or having an 'event' each day in the same location?

 

[Love Renewed]

Mushyung

Love Renewed

Mushyung

Madame Mae

Love Renewed

Mitsuko Yukimura

Smaller number of rooms probably means it'll be better to have to have a more specific theme for the ball this year haha. What do you guys think?
Also, It would probably be best to have maybe two changes of scenery, so once every two days if we still have a four day ball this year. I saw that changing the environment was causing confusion for the guests, and a bit of stress for the hosts trying to get the plot going.

((And I got distracted while writing this post and lost my train of though lmao whoops))

That's the thing, in typical rps the scenery changes as the rp goes along. But when you have people coming in and out especially for a short period, things need more structure.

Maybe a haunted house? The people helping will do the haunting and the outside rpers be those we scare through the house. A chainsaw maze in the back?

Or a Monster High fandom mini thing. Have everything take place inside the school to make it simple.

I really liked the idea Main had in the theme thread. It doesn't look like it needs more than two scene changes (main area to do the investigating-> tower), and is easy to figure out. So kudos to them. I hope that gets picked biggrin The whole scene changing seemed to work out alright this year, and hopefully with more warning and time, it'll work out even better next year?

And usually the ball is not so near halloween, so haunted house wouldn't fit, and we've covered a lot of the monster stuff with the supernatural theme, though it does sound interesting! A school full of monsters haha.

Monster High is a tv show/movie series. And hunted houses work any time of year lol.  

[Love Renewed]

ZoieAmandaSaxon

Love Renewed

Haunted houses with multiple rooms can be difficult but it can be done quickly and efficiently when it comes to planning. But Mushyung is right a haunted house for the ball wouldn't work due to timing. (Though we could try to have one as a mini event as a way to advertise the ball? Maybe during the Halloween event this year?)

Also, running it like a business was kind of what I meant by an admin team. One person leads, everyone else is under them doing their own thing. It is how my office worked when we planned massive events for the community at school.

Mitsuko Yukimura

Madame Mae

Having a smaller number of rooms doesn't mean we have to sacrifice having a group of people helping the main host. After all a person can be on the administration team and have a minor part in the room if need be. (Also I seriously think we need to start advertising more about getting people to join and help plan. I know some people have the current banner in their sigs, but it is just the number Gaia banner so it doesn't really attract attention....)

Also I know I for one wasn't sure how to join in with all of the scene changes. Is there a way to go back to staying in the same main area and just having the plot move or having an 'event' each day in the same location?

As I said, a Haunted House can be done anytime of year. I rp them year round. Though September is fairly close. Plus, it's one scene- the house. I have never heard of a Haunted House where there's something different in each room. It would get way too crowded moving people through. The ones I have been to it's just one one.