Hey Everyone,
So I'll chime in on the lanyards discussion that's been started here (and up front let me apologize. This might be a long post...we'll see when I get to the other end of it!
....but if you don't care about this discussion feel free to skip this post!
)
First of all let me say a huge
to the folks who have already voiced their words of appreciation for the lanyards from our last cruise together...and for their confidence in me on the lanyards project for this cruise. Also I did read Nordkin's post about wanting to feel a part of the design process....and I respect and appreciate the feedback. That said, here are four initial thoughts on my previous experiences with lanyards:
1.) This will be my third time being involved with group lanyards for a
DCL cruise...and 2nd time actually designing/leading the project. On our TransAtlantic cruise in May 2007, Jason and I were members of the lanyard team who contributed money to offset costs but the leader and designer of the project was another guy from the DIS (who we loved). In that process he did all the creative work and we were not a part of the feedback process---but we loved our lanyards. On the recent Double Dip cruise I volunteered to lead the lanyard effort, a number of generous people helped offset costs, but the bulk of the work on the lanyards
(except designing the logo...see #2 below) was done by me and we didn't really do a group consensus process---and, again, the lanyards were a big hit. So my experiences with lanyards have been somewhat different than Nordkin's...which is totally cool.
2.) On the recent Double Dip the one part of the process on which there was a group effort was the design of the cruise logo. I started designing it and posted my work in progress on the thread and asked for input. Now I should say, especially for my Double Dip friends who are on here who I adore
, that I ultimately LOVED what we came up with---as did everyone else. That said, however, within hours of asking for group input I was kind of sorry that I had done so!
It ended up becoming a VERY long and complicated process trying to get everyone's input, incorporate everyone's ideas and make everyone happy ("I don't like that font"..."The red is too bright, can you tone it down?"..."I don't like the treasure chest image you chose, I'm attaching thirty others for you to choose from"..."I'm not sure about the background color. Can you make it with blue, green, white, purple and yellow and post them side by side so I can decide?"..."I think the letters should be bigger"..."I think the letters should be smaller"....you get the idea
). So I agree with Hoagie Pie's comment that sometimes involving too many people can actually make it harder. There's a wise old adage about cooks and a kitchen that I think applies here!
(NOTE: We should also note that I don't think we even need to have a conversation about cruise logo for this trip because we already have several. DisneyVegas1 designed some great ones and then Brooklyn tweaked them, added the flags and made them very Disney-esque and family-friendly. Based on the number of us who have put Brooklyn's logo in our signatures, I think most people would be thrilled to use that as the basis for our lanyard name badges.)
3.) On the last cruise it was difficult to even get all the lanyard team, a group of 20 to 30 people, to get their financial contributions sent in to pay for the project and required multiple reminder emails and PMs.....much less getting them all to contribute to an email discussion about the color choices, design, etc.
4.) I also just want to be real honest that organizing the lanyard project involves a
great deal more than just getting input on ideas and choosing the color of the actual neck lanyard. I suspect we will have as many or more lanyards for this trip as we had for the recent Double Dip. For that project it meant that I did do the above...but I also then had to compile and confirm the complete list of names and staterooms for lanyards (with Hadley's help), design the look of the lanyards, order the lanyards and badge holders, input all those names into the Name Tags, print all the name tags, then sit with my husband and cut them all out by hand individually, stuff the nametags into the badge holders and keep them in alphabetical order by DIS name, find someone who lived near the port and would let me ship the completed lanyards to them to hold so I didn't have to carry them on the plane, get the lanyards from that person before embarkation day, carry all the completed lanyards into the port in my personal carry-on (and the lanyards weighed over 30 pounds!!), devise a way to distribute the lanyards in the port, carry the lanyards that didn't get collected in the port onto the ship and then carry them around with me all afternoon and into the lunch buffet until we could get into our cabin and then finally deliver all the unclaimed lanyards to people's rooms on the first night of the cruise. It is quite a time-consuming and costly undertaking...even with the financial support of the lanyard team members.
So.....as we think about about the lanyards project for this cruise (although, again, this cruise is almost two years away...and based on my previous experience that means we don't need to make any orders or final decisions until late spring of 2010)....here are my thoughts:
>>> As stated above, I don't think there is much to discuss/design in terms of a nametag/cruise logo because Brooklyn has already done an amazing job at that!
>>> I was going to just choose a lanyard color from the list of options by the manufacturer that looked like it would compliment the colors in the logo (I, after all, AM gay...I can color-coordinate with the best of them!
)....but if lanyard team members would like to be able to vote on the color of material we use for the lanyards...I can do that. We can send out a PM to everyone for input on that when the time comes.
>>> If people have a vision dramatically different than the two bullets above, however, which I was going to use as my game plan moving forward....then perhaps someone else should take the lead on the lanyards so those ideas can come to fruition. I claim no ownership of lanyards---I merely volunteered to head up this project because I had so recently done it for the Double Dip in Sept./Oct. So if someone else wants to take the project over I will gladly step aside and throw my hat (and $$$) in as a lanyard team member instead!!
Thanks!!
So I agree it would be best to make the lanyards as widely appealing as possible so everyone can enjoy them! 
).
to everyone who has the best intentions on this board for creating a memorable cruise for your fellow DIS members.
because we didn't express ourselves. There are a number of posts on various threads where somebody says something and everybody jumps on them in a way I cannot fathom you would do in person.
