Welcome to Gaia! ::

Once I found out that I was nominated as host I did start some random brain storming the administration food chain a tad bit, too. Which I based on how the planning of this year went. Mind you its not entirely ironed out, but ..

My idea is more of a revolving council of 7 to 9 people (Cus I like those numbers). These people are in charge of everything from public relations, to treasury, etc. Now they are not permanent positions that could change either month to month or prolly bi-monthly. If the person on council remains active they are likely to retain their position, but if they have to go inactive either due to personal reasons (a leave of absence, a vacation, etc) or because there attention seems to be moving away from the ball a new person would be placed into that spot based on their activity.

These people are versed in whats going on in not just one thread-- but the overall ball. They're also likely the group that would be holding the mini events/fundraisers throughout the year-- hence why they are needed to be active to retain their positions and those who want these roles should one of the people holding them need to step down would also need to be active.


Where as I know that most people will be more interested in one theme over an other-- I honestly don't like the idea of placing a lot of focus on dividing the teams based on the themes that interested them.

If the teams were based on anything, it would be based on art, plot development, contest developers, public relations and even rehearsals/auditions. I'd go as far as to say that I'd want the threads set up (assuming they are official threads) long before we determined who would staff them.

I won't lie when I say that an artist doesn't always make for a good hostess, nor does a writer always make for a good artist-- but lets face it..

How many of you ran into hosts or co-hosts who slid right into an esteemed position and did not live up to their role due to inactivity? Setting up a system where they must be active should eliminate some of that. It will also eliminate anyone who gets on board with just the intent to host or do nothing at all-- while also keeping most people on the same page.

Some of the threads in the 7th had like 20 artists working with them, others had like none.. or barely adequate artists volunteering. I also noticed that rooms that might have lacked in art had great writers. Me for instance, I'm great (I think?) in coming up with off the wall contests ideas would most likely be better on a contest development team. Why not assign a contest developer to each thread and a artist to each thread? If they're not on the same team we stand to have the issue where again in the 7th.. I think the vast majority of us all ended up doing very similar contests in our rooms.

and anime might be versed very well in steam punk and she will likely be someone who contributes a lot to that aspect of the ball but she might not be a great creative writer or good at coming up with unique contests. (sorry anime if you are versed in those forgive me, I don't think I have figured out all of your strong points/weaknesses yet-- so its just a random example.)

But what I do know is Val is someone who is awesome in proof reading and editing. (look at how she cleans up my points!) why let her skills go to waste by assigning her to doing what she does best in just one thread when it could essentially be her task on all of the threads.

And yes, Envy is sneaky, she has another motive on why she would set it up this way verses keeping a team for each thread - people are more apt to know what is going on in all of the threads and not just their own. And then we won't have too much swiss cheese action going on (hopefully).

I love uniformity - on the flip side it would run the risk of taking away some of the individual personality of the various threads. But putting people in their strong suits, as well as potentially advocating a bit of competition could progress us to bigger and better things.

Oh and.. another thing I know.. artists like fame and they also like contests where they can compete against other artists (Well many of them, not all.) Hell.. scratch that, everyone likes fame and when something is exclusive and they have to "compete" they tend to want to do it all the more than setting up a thread begging for artists to help us.

Set up some competitions! Something like. "best thread layout" for steam punk or whatever.. or even various categories. Should they win they get to be the one who has their layout used at the ball for all to see! And a credit back to them and/or their shop. The biggest prize being that they are showcased, but maybe even add in a thank you letter, too. Not a huge monetary prize that blows our budget, but a lil something to show appreciation. Same could be said for the writing aspects of the ball or contests. Meanwhile while doing the mini-events we are already in the position to net work with various artists who might be interested in adding art. etc.

One thing of the 7th I'd likely continue to keep is the set-up forum. Only difference being the deadline aspect (as I'd want the threads done and out of the way long before it was time to do the ball). I'd recommend that forum being something like that of a wiki project where various people are constantly contributing and expanding on it.


In short: a tree like/hierarchy formation of power. Ball Coordinator - 2 Sub coordinators who are in the position to replace the coordinator on a moment's notice, advise the coordinator, and an appointed position by the ball coordinator since they are someone who would need to be able to work well with the coordinator and be trusted by him/her- and a council of 7 (more or less depending on needs) who would be overseeing various aspects, art, writing, contests, public relations, thread set-up manager, treasury etc, . - Council would be the subject to activity and the most likely to have a revolving door in who holds those spots. Council members would need to be able to work hand in hand with each other and the ball coordinators-- while also delegating responsibilities to those who were on their team. In a nut shell, Val, I think we both have the same theory on a tree like operation, we just have a difference in opinion on how their roles should be.