LogFest '94 and the Lojban "live-in" afterwards

[Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>]

It is about time to start talking about LogFest for this year.  We have
to decide on a date within the next couple of weeks.

Although our official "default" day for LogFest is in mid-June, we know
that enough people have regular problems with that day that we no longer
try to hold LogFest that day, or any other day in June.

Last year we did reasonably well with the first weekend after the 4th of
July holiday, and I will use that as a starting point for discussion
this time; I believe the dates are 9-10 July.  Neither Nora nor I have
any particular problems with any other day in July or August.

An extra consideration this year is the proposal we discussed a couple
of months ago to try to follow up Logfest with an up-to-a-week-long
period wherein only Lojban would be spoken in this household, with all
LogFest attendees invited to stay on to try to participate.  The
Lojban-only restriction will be modified, given the novices and kids
that we expect to have present:  we will permit other non-Lojban
languages besides English to be used.  Such language use will not likely
distract from the effort of others to continue in Lojban.  We will also
set aside one (out-of-the-way) room where people can retire for an
English clarification discussion, or a quick lesson in something about
Lojban that is confusing.

We are also looking for ideas for activities for that week-long period.
"Everyday living" isn't really possible, since guests will be unlikely
to be working and/or going about exactly the activities they would do at
home.  Last night we discussed some possibilities.  I'lll mention a
couple and let Albion and Sylvia add to them as appropriate:
- various games; cards, board games, D&D, computer games
- serious intellectual discussions
- sightseeing excursions (the Smithsonian was suggested) and a shopping trip
  with most of the participants taking the role of non-English-speaking
  tourists from 'Lojbanistan', and one designated 'translator' to interact
  with English-speaking locals when necessary.
- Some locals may be participating but going to work in the daytime.  They can
  talk to the rest about what they did at work.

Other ideas are welcome.

Obviously we will need aids for people participating, the most important
being the dictionary (but people have pointed out that it will probably
be too big for everyone to carry around everywhere.  But we may need
impromptu sessions before any new activity to create vocabulary and
ad-hoc reference lists of useful words for each new thing that we try to
do.  Obviously, planning more activities in advance allows us to
collectively start on such lists before LogFest.

We will also need a fall back capability to stop, talk things out and
give some quick Lojban lessons to EVERYBODY, and then restart the
experiment if things go particularly poorly.  We don't want the first
conversational hiatus to end the experiment.

So:

Are you interested in coming to LogFest this year?

Are you interested in participating in the Lojban "live-in"?

Is the date suggested (9-10 July and the week following) satisfactory
for you?  If not, can you suggest other dates that would be better?

Can you suggest any other ideas for activities at the "live-in", methods
to make it go more smoothly, increase participation (especially among
those who don't think their Lojban skills are up to the challenge yet)?

Any other relevant ideas or comments?


lojbab