This topic contains 8 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by 
Scrappy Scout 14 years, 9 months ago.
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Candidates, given your druthers, would you as board member direct the focus solely toward current projects such as CITO plans, community education, membership, and so on? Or would you also want to include (perhaps introduce/suggest a motion) new initiatives? And if you are willing to share them here, what would those be?
These are my priorities:
1. Maintain the excellence of our existing annual events, the Geo-Picnic and the Campout.
2. Continue the process of expanding our 2 annual events, to 5 annual events, with the addition of the annual Cash Bash Pancake Breakfast, the Winter Bonfire, and the Lonely Cache Game Event.
3. Expand our outreach to all parts of the states with smaller regional events, including 10 CITO events in the coming year.
4. Maintain the excellence of our website, appropriately funding improvements and maintaining the excellence of content here.
5. Expand our outreach to geocachers who do not use this website by expanding into social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter.
6. Development, production, and sales of a state geocoin on an annual basis.
7. Continue to develop our program of empowered committees so that more people can contribute to the success of the association, and expand what we are able to do.
8. Partner with the DNR to develop a statewide series of caches within the state parks, and have the series marketed by the DNR.
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I would definitely support the direction that the WGA has been heading.
But I would also like to see:
1. I would like to see the WGA events move more around the state and get into the north woods,
2. I would also like to start a “pathtag creation contest” that we could have sold directly on the Geocoin club page other organizations do this for extra funds with nothing out of pocket for us. Ive seen others have up to 4 fundraisers a year like this.
http://www.geocoinstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=532
http://www.geocoinstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=462
3. I also have a few other ideas that if elected would like to see come to light
I’m very excited with the direction of/and activities that the WGA is behind. I believe they are doing a good job.
These are two areas I would put on my to-do list.
1. If you look at the members list on the website, I see few north of HWY 29. Of those on the list, I see infrequent participation on the site, listed by their last visit. I think they have a a voice to share but they aren’t using it. I want to know why.2. Outreach into the schools, clubs, organizations. The WGA grows when we grow. We all bring something to this activity that we can share with others.
These are only two of the many questions I’m looking for more information and answers on.
Thank you Amita17 for your question.
I believe the WGA Board of Directors is currently on the right track. I believe the initiatives are strong and vital to our membership and certainly should be continued. There are three areas that I would like to see more emphasis in or changes to:
1. We certainly need to develop much stronger community education tools. Generally, when there is bad press associated around geocaching it can be related directly to poor community education.
2. We need to focus more on a statewide resurrection of the WGA. There is a clear divide, that at times has been hurtful, between groups of cachers in different geographical areas. The WGA needs a clear plan of action to address this. One of the things that can be done is to plan more quality activities in the Northern part of the state. Which brings me to my third point…
3. The WGA seems to be leaning towards niche group activities which concerns me. I think this could further create the feeling of isolation amongst cachers and also create the image that the WGA is only about certain aspects of the sport. Obviously, due to the sensitivity of this subject I will not elaborate at this time.
As a returning board member, really my answer will depend upon which role I will be asked to serve. I can see my role taking either 2 different directions. For those unfamiliar with the process, the roles of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer are decided upon by the Board members at their Annual Meeting.
If I continue as the Treasurer, my focus will be on keeping up with all the new events being proposed. As Treasurer, I handled the day to day reimbursements necessary following the events to the event hosts. The Treasurer will also be handling the reimbursement from the special edition back pathtags and the monthly payment of webhosting fees. My goal would be to keep everything timely. This past year was perhaps the busiest ever starting with the new Winter Chili event that involved pre-payments, our first time pre-sale of groundspeak items at the campout event, the pathtag and geocoin sales, the new sale of the geocoin theme logo apparel at the west bend cache bash and the addition of shirts at the picnic event in Fall.
If I am not asked to serve as Treasurer, I would like to focus on the Community Education Committee. I can see the need to mentor other geocachers to prepare them to lead more Geo 101 type classes around the state. It serves as a great avenue to bring in new members while involving current members. Additionally, I would also like to mentor other geocachers who would like to host events but feel they do not know where to get started or what they all need to consider to do it.
I feel that as a whole the WGA has made great strides this year in a number of areas.
Some things that I would like to see if elected to the board is an increased outreach to other organizations that might benefit from geocaching in their programs. Such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boy and Girls Clubs, etc.
This type of outreach can help both those organizations as well as the WGA and the whole geocaching community as a whole.
I too feel the board is moving in the right direction, and has been for some time. So much has been accomplished recently and I’m excited at the chance to be more involved with it.
I however, am never content to just go with the flow, or be satisfied with how things are. I believe that as a board member, I would carry this strength with me, to strive for more improvements, while upholding and maintaining what has already been accomplished.
One thing I have learned from serving on the committees that I serve on, is that good enough, is rarely good enough, and we are always looking for ways to make improvements and satisfy the needs of the members, and the community.
I think the WGA is moving in the right direction. I would like to see the BOD keep moving in the same direction but I think they should also do some thing like law enforcement training or even media training get people involved. Maybe we could try to have some sort of media (TV/Newspaper) come out to an event and see and hear what it is the WGA is about and that it is a family affair. That way they can help us get the website and the community to know we are not bomb toting people and that we are not anti environmentalist who leave garbage in the woods or environment. Those are just a couple ideas.
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