Albany UNY Gathering '09 The results, and whys, and memories.

[Myriads]

Hello folks,

Over the past superbowl weekend a gathering was held in Upstate NY, Albany, thus the 'UNY' part of the name. It was also jokingly called 'Tzarfest' by some of us who organized it.

Some of us (Venray, Raya, myself) felt that there was a huge gap in the larger gatherings of the year, held in the fall, and NEST in Spring, and wanted to see if we could fill that gap with the Albany gathering where we could see folks from all over the nation, as opposed to a smaller local meet.

We'd never run a big event before, so we chose to use this years as a big live test. And because of that we chose to make it a 'by invitation' event. We pulled our gust list from NEST, and other gatherings (NHlee and Bella's bash) and wanted to keep things smaller and controlled with people we knew well for this first run.

Things went very well. This was not an 'event' driven meet. It was a make your own fun sort. And people did that very well. We virtually took over the majority of a hotel's building, and people circulated between our home base suites and other rooms, and talked, played, and so on. Some videos were shot (look for Bella being tickled, and Tortunga being mummified from MTP.) and people seemed to have a lot of fun.

We learned a lot of things to do, and to avoid, and feel that we are ready for a solid try next year, and we'll be having the gathering with open requests for attendance that will be screened and approved. So come the fall look for us to be getting things ready for Albany '10.

I want to give my thanks to Venray and Raya who helped with almost all of the planning and getting of things for the rooms, and such. And Bella for acting as our payment hub. Thank you very much.

To all people who helped with 'gathering moderation' thank you. And a hats off to those who made sure that bondage was done with care and that energetic lees were not hurt.

I had a wonderful time over the weekend, and it was a pleasure to see a lot of members for the first time, and to get to talk with, and even play with some of them. I don't travel much these days, so it was a nice vacation for me, that was well needed.

I'm sure that this thread will fill up with folks sharing stories and such, and I look forward to that.

To those who are curious about next year please feel free to drop me a PM, or ask a question here in the thread. We want UNY Albany '10 to be an accessible gathering that is a good 'first gathering' for a member who wants to see what these are about, but not feel totally overwhelmed.

And now, lets see what folks have to say!

Myriads

 

[venray]

No Joke about it...Tzarfest 2010 will take place..

As Myriads has said, the guest list this year was limited only as we needed to work out the logistics of hosting a successful gathering with a good sized group of people.

We learned a lot, and things went well and we will open it up for next year after we get things planned and in motion.

I was almost unable to go myself what with work and a little one to juggle around. I must thank my lovely wife for going up without me to make sure things were set and folks that needed shuttling would be taken care of.

In fact I had to cut my time there short and she is still there seeing that the last of our group gets on their way safely.

We had a lot of help from the folks that attended with store and food runs and shuttling. Much appreciated by all of us.

As usual the time we had to spend with each other felt as if it were gone in a blink of an eye. But now in a little over 2 months, we will get to see folks again at nest. The superbowl weekend is a nice time of year to fill the gap as Myriads has said.

Tracy and I will open up Tuesday night's radio show on TMF Radio for discussion on what goes into (and what should go into) the planning of such an event and we will share the things we have learned.

All questions will be welcome, so join us on Tuesday night.

It was a great pleasure seiing so many friends again, even if only for a short time. It never ceases to amaze me how so many will travel so far just to hang together and have fun for a few days. Wow!

I thank you also Myriads for joining with us to make this a fun get together that we could all enjoy by relaxing, renewing old friendships, and starting new ones.....

More to come as others tha attended share their thoughts here....

Ray

 

[kis123]

This would've been a great way to celebrate my birthday weekend, especially since things didn't go so well this year! I'd love more information about tzarfest 2010 and hope I can make it there.

 

[-Hari-]

woop , sorry I couldnt make it

Im really glad it went well!!

Good luck with future events

 

[venray]

This would've been a great way to celebrate my birthday weekend, especially since things didn't go so well this year! I'd love more information about tzarfest 2010 and hope I can make it there.

Kis..I am already working on the plans for next year. Myriads and i will compare notes and begin to set things in motion and I will let you know as soon as possible what is going on. It will be held on Superbowl weekend again. That time of year makes it easier to get enough rooms at reasonable prices.

 

[milagros317]

I had a lot of fun there.

It's clear that Venray and Raya did lots and lots of work to organize this event and make it work. A huge thank you to them.

One thing I learned: Watch out for a drink called a mudslide. It tastes so much of chocolate that you hardly notice the alcoholic content.

 

[baldadonis]

Jay (kraziedog) and myself were both privileged to attend this event and we will be discussing our opinions of the weekend tonight on TMF Radio, along with our main topic of the emotions of attending gatherings both before and afterwards.

Many thanks to Ray and Tracy and Myriads and Rob and anyone else involved in the organization and hosting of this event. It was a great trial run and I look forward to coming again next year.

 

[RobAce]

Well I was not there in body, but certainly in spirit.

I felt bad when it was finalized last week that I could not go, and did have a weekend missing my friends. But thanks to all of you for the phone calls, updates, and even though I was not there in person I know how much fun you all had just by what was described to me, and how it was described.

My sincerest apologies to Myriads, Ray and Tracy for my not being able to attend, but you know, the medical things....and the freaking doctors that come along with it....have to come first.

I will be just spending my time looking forward to the Charlotte Munch in March, and of course NEST in May.

You all did a great job with this, and even though I could not make it, I can still feel the appreciation by the kind words and wonderful experiences that are being relayed to me!!

Congrats all on a successful re-launch of 'UNY' Tzarfest.

Rob

 

[JPie1]

I think the event turned out wonderful, it is always good to see familiar faces and to have a gathering that is close enough to drive to for me. I thank my husband for watching the babes so I could go...

Thank you to Ray, Tracy and Myriads...

It was wonderful to meet the new faces...

Thank you all for opening your arms for great hugs and love...that is always the best thing!

 

[Raya]

I got home a little while ago.. Just thanking God that NEST is just around the corner, as it made the goodbyes today much easier than they would have been otherwise. I had so much fun visiting with old friends and meeting/making some new ones! I hope everyone has made it home safely with some good memories.. regardless of which team you were rooting for!!

I don't have much to say right now.. just wanted to add my "YAY!!!!" to the list.

I'll also second Milagros's warning about the mudslides.. (MORE!!)

 

[Sultrybrunette]

I find it odd that most people that probably were involved with this already knew what goes into getting a gathering going. Why do I have a feeling that there was a more underhanded reason behind the "invitation only" premises. Obviously with NEST and so forth its already been done with a big crowd. I am also curious as to why MTP (Michigan) wasnt included? Why was this so hush hush? Why couldn't this all been explained before hand? And they say there is no favoritism in the forum? Not that I would have been welcomed anyway since I am not part of the "IN" Crowd but it definitely brings the perception of elitist going ons in my humble opinion.

 

[ticklesaurus]

Glad a good time was had by all.Hats off to the organizers for a job well done.

 

[Raya]

I find it odd that most people that probably were involved with this already knew what goes into getting a gathering going. Why do I have a feeling that there was a more underhanded reason behind the "invitation only" premises. Obviously with NEST and so forth its already been done with a big crowd. I am also curious as to why MTP (Michigan) wasnt included? Why was this so hush hush? Why couldn't this all been explained before hand? And they say there is no favoritism in the forum? Not that I would have been welcomed anyway since I am not part of the "IN" Crowd but it definitely brings the perception of elitist going ons in my humble opinion.

Sultry,

I am sorry that you would think this. Quite honestly, while many of the attendees of this gathering have hosted gatherings themselves, this was the first gathering hosted by myself, my husband or Myriads. We are very excited to have an opportunity to host a gathering as we do not have a home that is suitable for something like that. Many of our friends have been happy to provide tips and such about hosting a successful gathering, which we are forever thankful for.

In this case, we simply turned some of our friends into guinea pigs. We were very happy to get positive feedback at the end of it all! As we will discuss on our radio show tomorrow, we learned some dos and donts from this and look forward to taking these new tips "live" for next year when we will open this up to the forum and make it a real gathering.

I prefer the term "personal friends" to "in crowd" in this particular case. If we were going to try this and things bombed miserably, we wanted to make sure it was in front of those who know us and love us enough to simply make sure we were ragged on for the rest of our lives..

 

[Ayla ny]

Sultry, I think it was a trial run, with people known personally by all of the organizers.

Kind of like a rehearsal with friend and family before deciding to throw a wedding.

Count me in for the wedding!

 

[venray]

Can't say it any better than that babe! When Myriads, Tracy and I first tossed the idea around we went back and forth and decided we would have a party with people we had already socialized with in order to see if we would be comfortable in hosting a community event. Many of those that attended have hosted gatherings, munches, and other events already so we had a pool of knowledge to draw from..and they were people that most of us had already been to other events with..

We were smart in doing so as there were things that were forgotten (transport to and from bus, train and airports for example) that would have been a major clusterf*&K with a larger group of newbies that relied on us and would have been lost.

There is nothing "underhanded" about inviting a group of friends to a party. Happens all of the time in this community. We have attended dozens of "gatherings" over the years held by personal friends that you will never see a post about in the general forum as they were private events that were not meant for the general community....

The only reason we have announced this now is that we have the confidence that we were lacking and the input from our friends (and some helpful volunteers) to make it easy enough for us to make this an annual community event.

I have already contacted the hotel to begin preparations for next year and we will announce things when we are ready to roll.

When we open it up to the community there will be screening and security measures in place that we did not need for this trial run, but all will be welcome to join in.

As Tracy said, we wil discuss the pitfalls and successes we had this past weekend on the show tomorrow night and all are welcome to call in with questions and or comments. And of course our friends will call in to rag on us...we would have it no other way..

 

[baldadonis]

I find it odd that most people that probably were involved with this already knew what goes into getting a gathering going. Why do I have a feeling that there was a more underhanded reason behind the "invitation only" premises. Obviously with NEST and so forth its already been done with a big crowd. I am also curious as to why MTP (Michigan) wasnt included? Why was this so hush hush? Why couldn't this all been explained before hand? And they say there is no favoritism in the forum? Not that I would have been welcomed anyway since I am not part of the "IN" Crowd but it definitely brings the perception of elitist going ons in my humble opinion.

I also am sorry that you have had this reaction. While I understand one's natural feeling of being left-out, understand that the organizers of this event are brand-new to organizing gatherings. This gathering was not thrown by someone like LeeAllure who has been running NEST for several years and is familiar with handling very large crowds, all the planning and hosting logistics, as well as the screening process. The organizers of the UNY gatherings did not have any of this experience and wanted a test-run with a small crowd of people they know personally and closely that would support them regardless of whether the event was a success or not.

Since they were not comfortable doing a fully-public, no size-limit gathering on their maiden voyage as hosts and organizer, its only logical that they would do an invite-only gathering. When that decision is made to do an invite only gathering, by definition there is going to be have to be exclusion. Ray and Tracy and Myriads can't invite every single friend and acquaintance they have on the forum. At some point, a maximum number of attendees has to be drawn, and at that point, no more invites are sent. Its just how things had to be in order for them to feel comfortable running a rookie gathering.

So for those that are upset at not being invited, understand nobody meant to exclude people, but the hope was that the gathering would be a success amongst a small. loving test-group of friends, so that it could be opened up as another full-blown gathering in 2010. So instead of being upset, please be happy for Ray and Tracy and Myriads that this event went successfully enough that they feel comfortable repeating it so that all interested may register for it next year. This is nothing but good news for this community.

 

[kilitiinko1]

No need to be bummed!

I'm really bummed. I didn't know anything was going on in Albany, I could have easily been there.
It's my fault though, I wasn't paying attention to gatherings.
Better luck in the future.

You didn`t miss anything as far as info on this,Matt.It was a private affair.You weren`t invited.

 

[CrystalLight]

I'm not in Ithica.

I'll post more once I get my head back together.

- Jo.

 

[venray]

I'm not in Ithica.

I'll post more once I get my head back together.

- Jo.

Thank Gawd for that!..once is enough for anyone...

 

[slacker2114]

As trial runs go, I'd say it was a smashing success. What a great gathering to have as my first. Steelers win of the Super Bowl aside, it was the best weekend of my adult life. I look forward to seeing you all again and to the new attendees that I'm sure will be there next year.

Thank you all again.

 

[Tiger.Lily]

Hit: I like cheese and pizza and playing and shit

Miss: We need to leave that damned hotel next time instead of holing up in it all weekend. >.<

I love you all. Thanks for a great weekend.

 

[venray]

Hit: I like cheese and pizza and playing and shit

Miss: We need to leave that damned hotel next time instead of holing up in it all weekend. >.<

I love you all. Thanks for a great weekend.

That is part of the plan.

 

[Raya]

Although we did get help from many people, I personally have some thank yous I need to throw out there.

Ray was not able to come up until late Friday night (1am) and I needed some assistance with the pickups and drop-offs from the bus & train stations.

JPie helped me Friday night with the assistance of Betty, her GPS unit, even driving in a snowstorm to do so!

Likewise, Classy helped me with some departures Saturday night with the aid of her box-bitch (this name stolen from Mistress Aura just because it's so cool and appropriate!). She also helped me shop for the food for the actual Superbowl party.

Bella was also a great help just being a sounding board and sweetheart in general. Thanks for the sanity babe!

Thanks so much for your help ladies!!! I luvs ya all!

Other than that, I hope everyone understands that this was only a success because each of you attended. I can't tell you all how exciting it was to be able to check off names on the list and discover that all but 4 people were already there by Friday night!! It was awesome and a little scary and sooooo very wonderful. This was our opportunity to bring together some close friends we have met over the years. In some cases new friendships were formed because of it. That has got to be one of the best parts of hosting a gathering, in my opinion.

CapnMad.. thank you so much for the Chocolate.. Ray & I have been "just one more"-ing for hours now.. YUMMY..

I was sad to see everyone go, but am still riding a little bit of high... I love you all and cannot wait to see you again!

 

[VINNEES1]

I find it odd that most people that probably were involved with this already knew what goes into getting a gathering going. Why do I have a feeling that there was a more underhanded reason behind the "invitation only" premises. Obviously with NEST and so forth its already been done with a big crowd. I am also curious as to why MTP (Michigan) wasnt included? Why was this so hush hush? Why couldn't this all been explained before hand? And they say there is no favoritism in the forum? Not that I would have been welcomed anyway since I am not part of the "IN" Crowd but it definitely brings the perception of elitist going ons in my humble opinion.

I kind of do agree with Sultry on this one....I can see how some might feel slighted by it being an invite only (private) gathering and then going public about it right after....I personally am not offended. I know of many who attended and hope they had an awesome time!!! I'll catch up with everyone at Nest...Hope they all remember me!!

 

[venray]

The only reason we went "public" was to aanounce that we will be hosting a new annual event....

People have private gatherings all the time....anyone feeling "slighted" has no reason to feel that way....

sorry if we offended anyone by our trying to establish a regular event to fill the gap between other gatherings...

now that the bugs have been worked out, this event will be open to all.....

anyone who wishes to come may sign up when the particulars involved are posted in the regular gathering section....