The Calendar
Schedule an Event - SIGs - Privacy
Policy - Photo Policy - Suggested Format -
Missed Deadlines - Submit an
Event - Reminder Service
Schedule an Event:
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I maintain a rough version of the
upcoming months' calendars for Orange County Mensa.
Check to see if there is already an event which might conflict with yours, and
send me a "Save the Date!" announcement as soon as you can. That way, other
event hosts won't inadvertently schedule their events against yours.
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Photos welcome! Especially from a similar event from last
month (or last year).
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For
events taking place next month, feel free to submit a complete
announcement before deadline
this month. After this month's
proofing party, feel
free to submit a complete announcement for month-after-next. Otherwise, please
submit only a "Save the date!" announcement, or I'll I get "confused".
Special Interest Groups ("SIGs")
Most
of the events on the calendar are placed there by Special Interest Groups, also
known as "SIGs". Here is a complete SIG list, along with easy instructions for
adding your SIG to the list.
Privacy Policy:
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The host's phone
number will appear in both the on-line calendar and in the in-print calendar.
Telemarketers don't scan the Internet for phone numbers; they scan the phone
book.
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The host's street address, if a private home (we
don't like stalkers), will appear only in the
in-print calendar, and not in the on-line calendar.
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If an event takes
place in a restaurant or other public place, then this place's street address will appear both in the in-print calendar and in the on-line calendar.
If you choose to also submit this place's phone number, or
website, or whatever, then that will also appear both in the in-print calendar
and in the on-line calendar.
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If I think that
your event would be of interest to the calendar editor of an adjoining Mensa
chapter (GLAAM,
Inland Empire,
San Diego), then I'll forward it to
said adjoining editor. Well, assuming that it's not past the adjoining deadline!
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Any or all of this
will be changed on the host's request. For example, Tim Bentley, the host of NTN
Trivia, has requested that I provide his email address (and not his phone
number) both in-print and on-line
-- so that's exactly what
I do.
Photo Policy:
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I
welcome photos from previous events.
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Especially from recurring events, so I can run them with the
announcement of this month's/year's event.
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But
also for one-shot events. Attendance improves -- even for one-shot events --
when potential guests know that showing up leads to a decent chance of having
"their picture in the paper".
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Really good photos will be run in the in-print edition, where space
is limited. All photos will be run (or at least linked to) in the
on-line edition, where space is not limited.
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Photos are a great way for hosts to demonstrate what cool events they host, and
for guests to demonstrate how cool -- and how "A list" -- they are.
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Try
to not submit photos which make folks look fat, dorky, stupid, or such like.
They have a substantially reduced chance of being run in the paper, whether
in-print or on-line.
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I
will cheerfully publish -- in print -- the names of people at an
event, especially if they appear in a photo taken at the event.
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Unless they ask me to, however, I won't publish -- on line -- the
names of people at an event, or in a photo.
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Welcome to the age of Google. Permanent archive Google.
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This
policy applies whether the person appears in a photograph or not.
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I'll
remove even the photo itself, at least from the on-line edition, if anyone in
the photo asks me to. Catch me before the in-print edition goes to press, and
I'll remove the photo from the in-print edition as well.
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I
urge photographers to adopt (and follow) a similar policy of removing photos
from their websites (including Facebook and other social networking websites) on the request of anyone in the photo.
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I
also urge event hosts to note (in their event announcements) if non-removing
photographers will be present, so that members can decide whether to
show up or not.
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I
further urge members to notify:
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the
host/hostess, if they prefer to not be photographed; and
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their
accompanying guests, that accompanying guests are subject to the same photo
policy as members are.
Suggested Format:
It's nice -- but
by no means necessary -- if your event announcement (as submitted) already
conforms to the following format. If it doesn't, then it'll probably get conformed
before it hits print.
Yes, of course you
omit the bracketed numbers. That's for check-list purposes only. Optional
items appear in italics.
[1] Day. [2]
Date.
[3] Time.
[4] Title of event.
[5] Description of event; be as creative or as pedestrian as you choose.
If your description is 100 words or less, then it will be published verbatim. If
is it more than 100 words, then it is subject to "editing".
[6]
Door charge (if any).
Directions: [7] Location ("At the home of ..."; or "At the ...
Restaurant/Other-public-gathering-place"). [8] Street address. Include city.
[9] Thomas Guide coordinates ["TG page-grid"]
(Optional). [10] Turn-by-turn directions from the nearest freeway. (Optional;
address and/or
turn-by-turn-directions will be included in-print, but will not be included
on-line if it's a private home.) [11] Phone-number/email/website for the venue of the host or of the
restaurant/other-public-gathering-place (Optional; lengthy web addresses are
subject to being compressed to a TinyURL).
Contact: [12] Contact name. [13] Contact phone number.
Include
area code; please use (xxx) xxx-xxxx format.
[14] Contact email address (Optional; may be included in-print, but
will not be included on-line, so as to to least slow down
the spammers).
Here is a good
example:
[1] 3rd Wednesday [2] the 17th
[3] 5:30 PM
[4] Midweek Madness Happy Hour
[5] Come imbibe, eat, socialize and relax. Select drinks and appetizers at
[6]
HAPPY HOUR HALF-PRICE!
Directions:
[7] At the Black Angus in Santa Ana.
[8] 1350 N. Tustin Av, Santa Ana. [9] TG 830-A1.
[10] From the 55 Fwy, exit at 17th St, go west to
1st light (Tustin Av), turn left (south) to 1350. [11]
Black Angus: (714) 558-3057;
http://tinyurl.com/9fn3ka.
Contact: [12] Valerie,
[13] (714) 832-0159 [14]
nospam@nospam.com.
Notes:
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Time designations
(see item [3]) will be shown as 6:30 AM and 11
PM (note space after number). Prose times (see item [5])
will appear as a.m. and p.m.
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Freeways will be
shown as:
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No period after
St, Av, Pl, Hwy, etc.
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Excessively long entries
are subject to being reduced,
especially for the in-print edition. But
even for the on-line edition, maybe you'd like to recast your "announcement to
be submitted to the calendar editor" as an "article to be submitted to the
newsletter editor". Let's talk.
Missed Deadlines:
Post-deadline entries
for events will be included:
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in the print
edition if still logistically feasible -- but don't rely on such feasibility;
and
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in the on-line
edition of the newsletter, but only if the event has not already taken place.
An event which appears to be a repeating event will be
automatically included in subsequent months even if it can't be included in this
month. Please explicitly state whether or not this is a repeating
event if you want to ensure that I don't get "confused".
Submit an Event:
How does stuff get into the Calendar?
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Any
member of Orange County Mensa ("OCM") may, as a matter of right, include an
event in the calendar by contacting me.
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Non-members of OCM may submit events to me.
Perhaps -- in my arbitrary, capricious, and final discretion -- I will deem
them to be worthy of inclusion in the OCM Calendar.
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A
pretty good upside, eh? You get the opportunity to bring your event to the
attention of almost a thousand highly intelligent residents of Orange County,
California. For free!
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And
what is your downside for submitting such an event? If I decided not to
include it, then you've wasted a mere thirty seconds of your time. This is a
damned small downside.
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The usual
rules apply -- I'll include your stuff with:
But, still: you get to bring your message, for free, to the attention of almost
a thousand highly intelligent residents of Orange County, California. A pretty
good deal, eh?
So do it!
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Heck,
sometimes I find stuff on my own, and decide (arbitrary, capricious, etc.) to
include it in the OCM Calendar.
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Or,
maybe, significant numbers (and definitely, if they're in the majority)
of the OCM Board of Directors will suggest to me that an event is worthy of
inclusion in the OCM Calendar.
Reminder Service
Orange County Mensa runs a
Yahoo Group. Any OC Mensa
member can sign up. This allows the member both to post messages to the entire
Group, and to receive messages posted by any other member of the Group. This
feature, however, is but little used.
What is greatly used is the Yahoo Group's
on-line calendar. Event hosts often place their events on this calendar, and --
a few days before the event on the calendar -- the calendar automatically sends
an email reminder to every member of the Group. If you like reminders, then this
is a great service. It's also a great service for hosts who would like to get
more guests at their events. Some hosts arrange for the calendar to send out two
reminders, one several days before the event and the other just before the
event.
Usually the calendar editor for the Oracle uploads
all events on the newsletter's calendar onto the Yahoo Group's calendar, too.
Usually.
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