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No worries.  We read everything.

The lighting was something we decided on and can be changed.  Our thought was to focus the action a little bit more on the floor in terms of lighting.

We had to change the display format for the Ball this year.  Let us know what you think?

@shashinkun

Way the heck back, we thought that "what you would wear to a wedding" was a decent level of description (different event).  People don't think the same way about a subject, oddly enough :P.

You don't know half the exaltation I'm feeling on reading that about the picture ;).

Just for fun!

I'd rather explain it and answer questions on the forum thread.

Anyone interested in what we used for Stage Zero (demos and Prop Challenges) and the BWBall demos?

Here's a thought -

would explanatory Youtube videos help?

@Nina - Oh, I agree.  Now I get to do something about it :).

I suspect that if I sit here and try to list every conceivable item of clothing that can be worn to the Ball, it would be a rather long day of typing.  We already ran into taxonomy issues on boots this year (dress boots?  Desert boots?  Chukkas?  platforms?  combat boots?  engineer?) enough that it was easier to do the blanket ban except for cosplay.

As for the justification on cosplay, the rationale goes that if you're going to take the time to put together an outfit, we don't want to block you and waste your effort, especially if you flew in and all you could pack was just the cosplay outfit.  On the other hand, I probably don't want to see a Poison cosplay at the Ball.  Yay, more contemplation.

Report from floor vendor - Floor came through mainly in good shape, with a few scuff marks and a few dings.  What does this mean?  More thinking.  Anyone got a psi meter suited to measuring shoe impacts? ;).

@saebel - we can also ban spiky points with the test of whether you are afraid of having it stick in your head if it is swung at you.  ;).  Thank you for the info.

@Charis - was your friend actually given a reason why the shoes were verboten?  Not dressy, mark the floor, etc.?  We tried to stick pictures in the dress code this year, but couldn't find a balance between text and pictures - and if we tried "this not that" photos we probably could have put out our own program :). 

As for safety considerations, there's a sliding scale involved.  We banned boots this year because of stomp injuries last year.  However, we had a crowded floor that might have increased the likelihood of stomp injuries.  This year none were reported (I think the only real injury this year was someone running into a trash can), probably because our dancer density on the floor was much lower.  So, if we somehow end up with last Year's density on this Year's dance floor next year, then is there anything we can do to lower injury severity and likelihood.  Our concern over high heels also has this as a consideration.

I'd like some opinions on the high heel restrictions while we're waiting for the report back from the vendor.  I especially want to hear from the experienced ballroom crowd. Here's the background:

The heel height restriction is based on a concern for personal safety.  Heels higher than four inches do tend to contort the foot and possibly imbalance the wearer.  Couple that with a slightly slick dance floor (which ours now is) and your chances of taking a nasty spill is increased.  Our dance floor also has about an inch of rise from the level of the carpet when installed, which does increase the hazard of tripping, but I'm not quite as worried about that since almost everyone will instinctively step on the floor rather than shuffle their way on. 

The nickel heel diameter restriction is based on protection of the dance floor.  Even on a ballroom dance shoe the heel can have a hard rubber tip that driven with at least 50% body weight can generate enough force to dent a hardwood floor.  Some of the members on our team who have that type of shoe have plastic heel protectors that mount on the tip to protect the floor.  Would it be fair to allow heels in as long as these are used? 

Understood - that's the main reason I'm waiting for the report from the vendor on the floor condition.  Depending on how mangled the floor is, the shoe restrictions can be adjusted.

@Nina - thanks for the comment!

@ScarlettFaythe - And on the other end of spectrum, I winced every time last Sunday I saw someone dressed up completely except for a ratty pair of Converse high tops.  There are specific events/studios that prohibit the use of street shoes entirely on the dance floor because of the chance that grit tracked in will get caught underfoot and scratch up the floor.   As this is a portable floor that can withstand some amount of rough handling, my feeling is that we don't have to go that far :P.  However, I'm still waiting on a report from the vendor on the total damage found on the floor - we found a bunch of rubber streaks on the floor after the Ball that hopefully aren't permanent.  I'll post the results when I get them.  

@kookie - Yes, part of the idea is to post in the eventual new dress code why we're doing certain things.  Of course, this thread is also intended to do that.

As for the rest,  if you were in charge, what would you think would be fair keeping in mind the goals stated?  

Since the overwhelming majority of unhappiness concerning the Ball this year centered around the Dress Code, I have the joy of taking on the task of overhauling it.  :-\  So, I'm posting here to solicit some help from you the attendee.  Let's set up some of the goals -

1)  The Code has to be specific enough such that the Ball Staff, the Rovers and the attendees are all able to understand the contents and apply them.
2)  The Code maintains the semi-formal atmosphere of the Ball.  So, no "let's ban the Dress Code" :-P.
3)  The Code reduces the risk of injury to the ConGoer during the course of the Ball.
4)  The Code protects those assets to the Ball required for continued production of the Ball (that would be mainly the dance floor).
5)  The Code is flexible enough to handle unforeseen situations.

For the record, this year's code went haywire on items 1 and 5.  3 was a moderate success, and 4 was added after seeing how nice and shiny the new floor is and the realization that we have it for the next two years.

Your quest is to come up with a Code that can fulfill the five goals as fully as possible.  You may ask as many questions as you like from me (and other staffers will appear once in a while to weigh in).  

Here's this year's code as a starting point:
http://2012.fanime.com/events/black-white-ball/

Hope your panel went well!

The East Coast Swing class for Friday night is actually from 9-10pm.

Private lessons will be from 10-11pm on Friday night and 9-10pm on Saturday night.

Vans slip on lo pro in leather is acceptable.  All other styles are not.

The Black & White Ball is offering group classes for various dance styles Friday and Saturday during the daytime (pocket schedule is accurate this year, by golly!) and semi private lessons for small numbers of individuals Friday (10PM-11PM) and Saturday (9PM-10PM) nights at Parkside Hall in case you have specific questions.