Dear all, 

 

I appreciate and commend the spirit of gracious professionalism displayed in
the e-mails concerning this topic.  This is a very fine group of people
indeed.  

 

Can I mention, the digest method, while cutting down on the stream of
e-mails, does not solve the problem of trying to discern the e-mails I
critically need from those of (well-deserved) thanks.  

 

I do think putting thank you in the subject field would help immensely.
Perhaps that could be tweaked by also putting "thank you + advice for other
coaches," when applicable.  Or perhaps in those cases, coaches can just
separate their thanks from their advice into separate e-mails.  I think this
is the best solution I've heard yet.

 

As one last thought, please keep in mind what would happen if every coach
(say around 40/tournament) sent a thank you for their tournament (how many
are represented by this list, I just don't know.  Is it 20, 50, ++? ).  That
number would be immense. To continue that thought, please keep in mind that
many (most?...all?) of us who don't send the e-mails may not be any less
thankful (seriously, I LOVE this program and the volunteers are truly
awesome).  We just are concerned about the e-mail volume.  How can we allow
all coaches to express their thanks equally and fairly without bogging down
this forum?  Keep in mind FIRST Lego is a growing program.  The benefit of
solving this issue is real.

 

In the meanwhile, it would be sad for Ms. Pantaleo or anyone else to stop
volunteering, so I guess I should encourage those of us who feel the need
to, to keep right on thanking :-)   I can deal!  But can we try the thank
you in the subject field thing?  I personally will consider sending a thank
you this year, now that that good idea has been suggested!

 

Peace and goodwill, 

 

Jeff

 

From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eric Palmer
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 11:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] Giving Thanks

 

I'm with Darlene on this one. I appreciate the thank yous and love seeing
those from other tournaments as well. 



On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 10:39 AM, Darlene Pantaleo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

'Tis unfortunate, however, that most volunteers do not stick around long
enough to receive the thanks, and most teams bolt immediately. A blanket
email is appreciated and reaches more than the few volunteers a team can
catch.

For those of you who do not like receiving all of the emails, change your
setting to "digest". For everyone who wants to give thanks, make sure your
subject line says so for those who want to filter or delete without opening.
These are easy fixes that should satisfy everyone.

The day that the positive notes are no longer written is the day that I will
stop volunteering and/or coaching FLL.


Darlene Pantaleo
FLL Judge Advisor
Maggie Walker
P/F: 804.745.2493




On Nov 8, 2010, at 10:30 AM, Robert Haskins wrote:

> Speaking as a volunteer referee at states for the past two years, a
> personal thanks from the kids at a tournament directly to me means
> *much* more than a blanket email to this list from a coach. :-)
>
> And on the topic of interruptions, it's more than the 10 seconds, it
> is also the "context switch" time that these emails take. So, for some
> people (like me), a thank-you email can cost me more like 5 minutes of
> time, once you figure in the "context switch" (interruption) time.
>
> Also everyone, please trim your email/posts!!!
>
> On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 10:19 AM, Mandy Wilson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I understand that right before a tournament you have 20 hours worth of
work
>> still to do and 3 hours to do it all so you are trying to be efficient
with
>> your time and prioritize those things that are important to you. and you
are
>> stressed about the lack of time.  Been there.  But I'm sure all of the
>> volunteers who put countless hours into this had something else pressing
in
>> their lives too and yet they were still there for us.  So if it takes
some
>> people 10 seconds to sort out that unwanted email in order to help pay
back
>> volunteers for hours of their time, that's ok with me.  Or just set your
>> filter to take all email with thanks in the body to put in junk if that
10
>> sec per email is really that important to you.  But let's not stop giving
>> thanks.  At the end of the tournament, regardless of your results, I do
hope
>> your team takes the time out of their busy schedules to stop and give
thanks
>> to you.
>
> --
> Haskins Family Farm
> Middletown, VA
> blog:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Middletown-VA/Haskins-Family-Farm/114984971161
> web site: http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M20435
>
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