SELEM 6: Aug 16 - 19 Sign up now!

[buffo]

I would have partaken in the Absinthe if invited.

Everyone was invited. The Absinthe was on the table backstage with the rest of the alcohol provided by X-laser. It was in a green bottle with a black and orange label and a black cap. They put it out there Friday evening, and it stayed there all weekend.

I believe Aaron was the only one drinking any though. After everything was taken down Sunday night, Aaron brought it to the Holiday Inn Express, but again, he was the only one brave enough to drink any. (I tried a small sip, and it was every bit as nasty as I expected. I *hate* anise though, so that figures...)

I wish there would be less emphasis on trying to set up everything that can be set up and just setting up enough to have a good time and then having a good time.

The main issue is that some people want to see just graphics shows, some people want to see choreographed beam shows, and some folks want live beam shows in a club-style environment. So there is a minimum amount of gear that does need to be set up to satisfy those three wants.

After SELEM last year, several people stated that unless we could run more graphics shows, they wouldn't be attending again. So that's why we expanded the event to include the cafeteria, and I think having those two separate areas available really worked out well.

But I agree that we probably had more audio equipment than we needed. (Still, it sure sounded great, so I'm willing to suffer through the heaving lifting again next year.)

Half the time SELEM is a ghost town. I don't know where everyone goes but they aren't at SELEM. Not sure how to fix that.

Part of the problem is that the attendance this year was *way* down from the last two years. We only had 38 members signed up, and several folks either arrived late or had to leave early. True, we also had a few more guests this year, but even when you count all the guests, the venue staff, and anyone else who poked their head in the door, we only had a total of 53 waivers signed. By comparison, last year we had 83 waivers signed, and we didn't make the venue staff sign any.

Then too, many times when the auditorium was empty, it was because people were in the cafeteria, or when the cafeteria was empty, it was because people were in the auditorium. And when both places were empty, that meant that people were upstairs in the classroom attending one of the presentations. With so few people present, if you take 20 people and stick them in a classroom, the rest of the venue will end up looking like a ghost town.

Also, there were a couple times when I noticed that the buy-and-sell area had a ton of people in it (like 8 or 10, which is really crowded for that small room), and the same thing happened in the ion laser work room when Matt had his projector running in there. In general, people tend to spread out depending on what they are interested in seeing or doing. We just didn't notice this as much in previous years because we had so many more people present.

So... is the expectation that the dates for next year will be August 15-18?

That is correct. I'll be locking in those dates with the venue in the next week or so.

Join us at the Holiday Inn next year. As I recall it was available for the "after-hours" discussions...

I normally don't go to the Holiday Inn until Sunday night, because I can't afford to stay up until 3 AM when I have to be at the venue at 9 in the morning to get things opened up. But yeah, every night (starting as early as Wednesday night, and continuing through Sunday night), there was a party going on in the conference room of the hotel. Frequently this would spill out into the sitting area of the lobby (around the fireplace). Some very good times were had in that room this year!

Lots of folks were at Club SELEM this year - I had to remind myself to walk around both areas if you were looking for someone.

True. There were also people hanging out in the balcony of the Auditorium, but with the lights off it was easy to miss them.

I enjoy talking to people more than the lasers at this point lol

I have to admit that Sunday night in the hotel was one of my favorite memories of the event. My sides actually ached Monday morning from all the laughing. Good times man...

the after hours at the HI Express are the highlight of SELEM... between plenty of alcohol and Adam's stories, awesome

My stories? Hell, it seemed that everyone had a cool story that night. (And when we couldn't think of a cool story, we just went out and found something on Youtube to laugh about!) But yeah, it was a great night. Wish I could do that every night, but I learned my lesson in 2009. If I stay out drinking until 3 AM, I'm useless the next day. (Guess I'm not 25 anymore, huh?)

Adam

[DrEvil]

My stories? Hell, it seemed that everyone had a cool story that night. (And when we couldn't think of a cool story, we just went out and found something on Youtube to laugh about!)

Such as a guy dancing in bikinis while participating in chat roulette.

[buffo]

Erm... I don't remember that specific video... But maybe I was re-filling my glass at that point.

Regarding SELEM itself, after thinking about Gary's post some more, I must admit that he's got a valid point. The first SELEM (with everything on-stage and the lasers pointed at the cyclorama scrim at the back of the stage) was probably the most social SELEM ever, because we were all in one big room. Sure, we didn't get a lot done, but everyone got a chance to see everyone else.

Thinking about this some more, I realized that FLEMs have always been like this (everyone in a single room), and even though they are shorter events, everyone always says that FLEMs are more social than SELEMs. So that's got me thinking...

Every SELEM since the first one has seen the groups migrate to new areas (first the auditorium seating and balcony areas, then the backstage hallway and dressing rooms, then to the lobby and upstairs classroom, and finally to the cafeteria). And while having all those different spaces available has allowed us to do a wider variety of different things, I do sometimes wonder if Gary is right... Are we trying to do too much in a single weekend, at the expense of more social interaction.?.

Thoughts?

Adam

[Jimboy3625]

Are we trying to do too much in a single weekend, at the expense of more social interaction.?.

It does seem like the "M" (Meetup) is being put last in SELEM. (ha, no pun intended)

It seems like we may be able to accomplish all those goals still in one LEM but the venue forces us to split up because it cannot accommodate all those goals in one room. Is it time to start looking for a change of location for one that can?

[DrEvil]

Erm... I don't remember that specific video... But maybe I was re-filling my glass at that point.

That was one of the videos everybody was watching in the for sale room Saturday.

[polishedball]

It does seem like the "M" (Meetup) is being put last in SELEM. (ha, no pun intended)

It seems like we may be able to accomplish all those goals still in one LEM but the venue forces us to split up because it cannot accommodate all those goals in one room. Is it time to start looking for a change of location for one that can?

But you couldn't run competing sound systems in the same room, hence the split is needed. imo migration was nice, you could have a little of everything without just being overwhelmed with just one. Sign me up now though, im taking on the schedule next year for shows, will be complete with marquee.

[hakzaw1]

the size of the BST room( actuallly its the men's shower room) has never been big enough IMO. Perhaps that area can be used also for more big gas lasers and the BST moved- the area behind the auditorium where some lumia was last year could be used for BST as this year it was used for nothing.. It has more than twice the sq. ft.- and if thier are enough tables each large seller could have thier own table with those having less to sell sharing one.-

just an idea to discuss----Len


If we all can convince a forum member to give SELEM a try next year AND we all try to bring at least one guest SELEM 2013 could be the biggest ever-- the majority of those who have attended SELEM already need no coaxing--

the time to start this is today.

At TEXLEM we charged a nominal fee for each guest- not much- just a little to add to the pot.
AFAIK all were fine with that.

I also think creating a safe path into the cafeteria for those not familiar with safe zones may be advisable-
especially if we all bring a guest or two next year- Len



************************************************** ******************
if you WANTED to see the REWARDing experience in meeting the 'innocent until proven guilty in a court of law'... here are a few..

[hakzaw1]

The above and those here are ALL repeat offenders and should be approached with extreme caution.
Consider to be armed with lasers.

[hakzaw1]

These are also repeaters- with long records and several aliases... Call the FDA if spotted.... do not attempt to apprehend.

[JohnYayas]

Regarding SELEM itself, after thinking about Gary's post some more, I must admit that he's got a valid point. The first SELEM (with everything on-stage and the lasers pointed at the cyclorama scrim at the back of the stage) was probably the most social SELEM ever, because we were all in one big room. Sure, we didn't get a lot done, but everyone got a chance to see everyone else.

Thinking about this some more, I realized that FLEMs have always been like this (everyone in a single room), and even though they are shorter events, everyone always says that FLEMs are more social than SELEMs. So that's got me thinking...

Every SELEM since the first one has seen the groups migrate to new areas (first the auditorium seating and balcony areas, then the backstage hallway and dressing rooms, then to the lobby and upstairs classroom, and finally to the cafeteria). And while having all those different spaces available has allowed us to do a wider variety of different things, I do sometimes wonder if Gary is right... Are we trying to do too much in a single weekend, at the expense of more social interaction.?.

Thoughts?

Adam

Warning - my opinions coming...

First, I do enjoy SELEM so please don't say "If you don't like it, don't come." That said...

I don't see why you can't do it all... but why try to do it all at the same time? Do set up in the mornings or early afternoon and only actually do a couple hours of shows (if that much) in the evening. Does anyone really want to see hours and hours of laser shows? Make it a social event. Do Club Selem one night, auditorium shows the other. An instead of running the same shows over and over just come up with one big awesome laser show. I can count at least 5 times I saw Battle Without Honor or whatever its called during SELEM 2012. I watched a little bit of the Doors shows and although I recognize it was cool for it's time, it was SOOOOO bad compared to current stuff. I've heard the Doors a million times and I don't want to listen to them again while watching an antiquated laser show.

Anyway, I could go on but you catch my drift. Maybe put together a questionaire to find out what people found most memorable. It would be interesting to send it out now and then send it out again 6 mos from now to see what people remember as time goes by.

If you leave it the same as it is, I'll still go, I'll still have a good time, and I'll still probably have comments about it. So, take these with a grain of salt. You do an unbelievable job of doing this every year. I shouldn't gripe a bit. But, my intentions are only to make it more fun... and I acknowledge that my idea of fun is not necessarily that of the group.