We had a great GT last Wednesday indeed. The atmosphere was wonderful and people were on a great party mood. The food was just fine, and the dance floor was busy even if the music was so so. Gros Minet also added some good animation. Cloudsurf was among the happy participants, maybe a bit overwhelmed like many. 30 agencies and Indy girls is an overstatement. In fact 42 people attended (10 others working), and among them 5 sp (all indy) and 16 mp (1 indy, the others coming from 3 massage parlors). It was our 7th gt in the last 3 years. Attendance has varied from 35 to 55. I have helped in the of the organization of four gt.
The guys attending were a great mix of the core group of around 10-12 old gtists and 8 new participants. I’d say about half are into mp and half into sp. This is not representative of the merb member af the Québec section who are much more into mp. We think that mp clients are of the quiet, married type of guy. They are more hesitant to come.
As suggested by mazingerz, Québec City is a lot more homogenous, pure laine, than Montréal. I am not sure that this is a reason for the success of our gts though. Success has more to do with the organization strategies and the fact that a core group was formed over time.
Some lessons we have learned over time:
1 Organizer’s personal preferences do not automatically fit the ones of the majority. You plan a week-end at the hotel with a few babes in your room and intend to throw a merb party in the hotel lounge to have fun on Saturday night? Good for you but not necessarily for the others.
2 Wednesday nights are the best ones for a GT. The main reasons are: 1) the ladies are more available on week nights then week end nights, often spent with family. 2) The same applies for more than half of the guys: it is easier to find an excuse on week days. 3) Mondays and Tuesdays are to early in the week and Thursday night are often spent at the mall. We did rotate gt between Saturday nights and Wednesday nights. We had some reasonable attendances on Saturday nights also. The problem is that it is a lot more difficult to rent a private place on Saturday, so we end up in hotels or restaurants. It’s less fun. October-november and march-april are the best months. Also, start early, between 6 and 7. We want to accommodate people who have to wake up early in the morning.
3 A rented private place is way much better than a public place. The main reasons are: 1) security is easy to manage; 2) people are not afraid to meet relatives or friends there; 3) you decide what is going to happen: the food, the timetable, the music, animation, etc.
4 The location of the gt is kept secret, the participants being informed only a week before and asked to keep it secret. We do not want unknown merb lurkers to come by. The girls and many guys prefer it that way.
5 Registration is compulsory and limited to merb and mer c members. Posting history of all unknown participants are scanned and the organizers may chose arbitrarily to refuse a registration (we refuse two or three in most gts). We sometime ask for a reference by a sp or mp. The list of registered participants is made public on merb so that everybody knows who is going to be there.
6 A GT is not a sex party. It’s just a great moment to let your ordinary defense down. Having fun without the fear to be juged. Sex is never part of the program. What happens after the gt may be something else, but it is not part of the gt.
7 Do not count on the escort agencies to help. Unless they have the control of the whole thing, it is very difficult for them to adapt. Fortunately, in Québec, we had great commitment from 4 or 5 massage parlors. Some even decide to close on gt nights to attend the gt. They like the fun of it and it is way to make publicity for them.
Why all this? For one and only one reason: most of the guys and virtually all the ladies want to feel safe. The more they feel safe, the more they want to come. Whatever the organizer’s personal feeling on this, I can assure you that it is the most important factor for the majority of people.
How heavy is it to organize a GT? In a way not that much: choose a date, find a place, find a catering service, manage the registration. That is about half the work. The rest is talking to the ladies and throwing invitations.
Costs? 12-14$/pers for the food; around 15$/pers. for the rent, dj, entrance person and other stuff. Charging 30 to 40$/pers usually makes us break even. If we make more money we do one of two things: give prizes during the night or keep it for the next gt.
I hope that helps a bit.