Welcome to the 2000 IMMY AWARDS Ceremony! Whether you have been to the previous awards ceremonies, or this is your first time, I wish you a joyful and laughter filled evening. Please pass this URL on to any Pagan Lakers (or other interested parties) on your ICQ list or via email or however, as my own ICQ list is limited and does not have everyone on it.

The dress code is, of course, formal! If you have not yet "bought" a new outfit, please feel free to go do so now. In cyber terms, this means creating a chat name that is "dressed up" and yet still recognizable. Be creative, but please try to keep the name somewhat recognizable to avoid (even more) confusion. While you're at it, feel free to edit the profile on your new "dressed up" name to suit the occasion. If you take a look at my user profile when you come into the Ampitheatre during the ceremony (or before), you will see how I "dressed up". :c)

The ceremony itself will be held in a specially created user room in the Religion & Beliefs section of Yahoo! The room name will be Pagan Lake Ampitheatre. This room may be secured before the ceremony as the stage and building are prepared for the festivities. Please be patient, it will open, and hopefully close to the 4:00pm PST time given!

During the course of the awards show, you may be asked by me, via pm, to be an awards presenter. I will tell you the name of the award you are presenting, and the name of the winner. To avoid confusion in the room (and to keep the suspense/drama going) please address any questions about this to me via pm. As a presenter, your job is to go up on stage to the podium, make a short speech if you desire and, following tradition, open the envelope and announce the winner. "...and the winner is...."

If you are the recipient of an award, please approach the stage/podium to accept the award and give your acceptance speech.

There are a couple of production numbers planned and entertainment for everyone.  (Although I know that most of you are good at entertaining yourselves and others *grin*)

Please bear with me during the technical aspects of the ceremony (it gets kinda hectic). There are some basic protocols that I ask you to follow to help me produce the show effectively and efficiently.

Do not send me a PM unless it is in response to one I sent to you. It's not that I don't want to talk to you, but that I am so busy lining up presenters, giving them their instructions, checking my paperwork, etc. that I truly don't have TIME for anything EXCEPT running the show! Do not ICQ me for the above same reasons. I keep ICQ up during the ceremony in case I get booted, so that I can relay my online status to someone in the room. Please leave any grudges, fighting or other ill feelings at the door. This is a place to have fun tonight, not argue. Please respect yourself and others enough to not indulge in this kind of behavior. If you are witness to fighting or offensive behavior by another audience member, please ignore them rather than respond to them. Please try not to disrupt the "celebratory" ambience. Feel free to use PMs to communicate with other members of the audience rather than shouting things out. The room gets really, really chaotic during the show. I will be using CheetaChat during the show and will use CAPS and colors to identify more clearly when I am speaking. Please do not use CAPS yourself and do not use the same color as I am - so that my text will stand out more clearly for everyone to see. The only exception to this is the presenters and the winners - please make your speeches in CAPS, too, so that your text is more visible during the speeches. I will have people in the audience serving as transcribers (keeping a copy of the show for future reproduction online and so that I can see the show at a later date, since I'm too busy to read the screen during the ceremony!) and as security, to enforce these protocols as much as possible. Please cooperate with them. I suggest using voice chat during the show now. I'm not doing the show in VC this year (I'm sure it's coming!) because not everyone has the capability yet. But it would be an excellent way for the audience to converse with each other without disrupting the show itself! Lastly, if you have complaints about the Awards or the Ceremonies, I'm sorry. I'm sorry if you didn't find out about the nominations or the voting, until too late. I'm sorry if you don't like who got nominated, or the way it's run or anything related to it.  I do this for fun. I don't get paid. I have spent over 12 hours just in preparation this year for the show. It's not an "official" anything. And, although I've had some help this year from some wonderful people, I AM JUST ONE PERSON. Be it not to your liking, not to your understanding or whatever, the IMMY AWARDS are my gift to Pagan Lake and all of you. So, if you have complaints or gripes about it, please be gracious and keep them to yourself. (LOL, I get slightly irritable at this point) Be a good sport.

Enough of the rules! I hope everyone enjoys the festivities. The goal is to have fun and enjoy each others company!

-- *huggles & oinches...Paz y luz* Immy