This topic contains 10 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by 
huffinpuffin2 7 years, 7 months ago.
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Shortly after the election closes in 10 days, the WGA will hold its annual face to face meeting in an undisclosed location somewhere in Wisconsin where they will plan out 2018. It will be an entire day discussing the needs and wants of the membership and the upcoming events.
If you have comments, suggestions, ideas or anything else you would like the new board to discuss, please post here.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
-Henry David Thoreau
Hmm, I’ve tried to post a 15-point list four times now. The first time it put 4 spaces between each point. I deleted and tried to resubmit via copy/paste, but the last three times it just showed a blank entry. So I thought I’d try this post and then resubmit the list again, in case there is some setting that blocks a resubmitted post as possible spam.
Thanks for asking. Just brainstorming some possibilities here…
1. New promotional items to consider (merchandise that has not yet ever been offered before might have robust sales since it’s new): ammo cans WITH a geocaching label applied, soft 6-can coolers (for snack or drinks for those geocaching day-trips), two-port USB car charger, 2200mAh or better portable battery backup charger (I actually like 4000mAh or better but they probably have a significant cost increase), rainwear, small geocache stickers, mosquito head netting (without a WGA logo), 2”x3” and 3” x 4” ziplock bags (without WGA logo), waterproof phone pouch, playing cards, and log books (with or without WGA logo). Some of the items without WGA logos we would potentially only be a reseller of popular geocaching essentials (like 2” x 3” ziplock bags or perhaps geocaching.com small logbooks).
2. Host a WGA-sponsored GSAK class/event.
3. Ability to create photo albums (on the WGA website or FB site) where members can upload pictures or albums.
4. Host a Geocaching 201 continuing education day with 3 to 6 seminars.
5. Making available (on FB and WGA website) and *promoting* printable geocaching log sheets in assorted sizes.
6. Making available printable “stash notes” (explanation cards to include inside caches). Laminated if possible to resist the wear and tear of being inside of a cache.
7. Making available weatherproof geocaching labels in assorted sizes to place on the outside of caches. Either free or for sale, I bet a bunch of cachers would label their caches if it was promoted and readily available.
8. Create a downloadable PowerPoint presentation for Geocaching 101 for use by members when promoting geocaching.
9. Creating a glossy geocaching brochure (or making available an existing one?).
10. New WGA geocoin or pathtag
11. Create a document with an annual status report (“state of the state”) of our ongoing relationship with the Wisconsin DNR and what is currently being done to educate, inform, and partner with them regarding geocaching. I would guess only a small handful are aware of the initiatives taken and who has been our connections in the past.
12. Reach out to current and previous members that have created pathtags and other trackables to establish a WGA pathtag collection for viewing and promoting. Possibly send an email to past & present trackable owners to ask for one or more copies of their pathtags/coins. I bet many have had their pathtags sitting in a drawer for years and don’t know what to do with them. Any extra copies of the pathtags could also be used for fundraising opportunities.
13. Have all nine of the BOD occasionally take a more active role in nominating caches for cache of the month, and then all nine (not just one newsletter post) promoting the voting and nominating through social media and other means.
14. Regarding trackables, if the WGA were to create a new one, my own preference is with geocoins and pathtags, rather than extagz and others. They have a long history (relatively speaking) and are easy to display as a set. When logging pathtags online it keeps of record of your collection and wish lists, but other types of trackables don’t quite have this service.
15. Creating a Facebook GROUP (where members can post) as well as the current Facebook business page (where members cannot post).I think that reminding the new and current BODs that they have been elected for a 2 YEAR TERM. This means that “coasting” the last few months of their term under the guise of “let the new BODs handle it” is in poor taste. If you start your term in February, your BOD responsibilities should be honored until the February two years down the road (and further, if re-elected for another term).
You know how I feel about the member survey issue. If the current website administrators are unable to program this aspect of the website, the BODs should take action to update the website or find someone that can add this valuable resource. If a third party programmer needs to be paid for the adjustment, it would be the best expenditure to serve the membership in years. I appreciate the time and effort that our volunteers put into the website, but it’s the WGA’s website…not the Administrators.
If you have comments, suggestions, ideas or anything else you would like the new board to discuss, please post here.
Just a couple things off the top of my head. Maybe they’ve been beat to death in the past:
How to appeal to and retain new members (marketing, education, etc.)
WGA member games- rule changes, improvements, new game suggestions, kids games
website improvement, mobile device improvements, WGA app
I believe hack 1of2 has provided some excellent examples for discussion going forward.
I am unsure how to read the post from Jim. I believe he brings up a good point that the website could use improvements, but there also is more of a movement today for users to get instantaneous results through social media and mobile apps. More and more people are simply not sitting in front of their computers to go online, because they carry that ability around with them all day long in their pockets. As far as your opinion about “coasting” goes; the nominees that I see here up for election I would not consider “coasters”. I believe that every one of us understands what the term length is, and when it comes time to turn things over to the next group coming in, we will do so with a smooth handoff. If my answer is off base, because I read something into your post that wasn’t intended, please feel free to reply.
Website v. Social Media? Perhaps take a survey of preference…….. Each has pros/cons and may fulfill differing needs of importance, communication efficiency/timeliness, reference source/knowledge base, etc. Age spread of WGA membership likely runs from 8 – 80+, and membership access to WGA might run from smart phone to terminal/mainframe, well, at least desktops. Determine/examine membership demographics, needs and wants to help steer the organization, or perhaps steer the membership profile: does the membership shape the WGA, or does the WGA shape the membership? Membership recruitment AND/OR retention? Who on the BOD would not say “Both”?
Related…is there an official WGA Facebook presence, and an easy link between the WGA website and WGA on Facebook?
Another two topics for discussion. Involvement of non-board members or past board members on WGA committees. If you were to post that x amount of people are needed for a specific committee, or a general solicitation for participants for certain committees, you may get a bunch of volunteers who don’t feel ready to run for the board but would like to do SOMETHING. I first got my feet wet by serving on a committee, among other things. Some of the committees are fairly dormant, but if you read the definitions of those committees (most recent revisions in 2010 I believe) they spell out the duties of the committees, and how many BOD vs non-BOD members they can have. See GC4NBQA for additional notes on WGA committees. 🙂
The other topic is how to communicate to and encourage the membership to use the WGA banner on their cache pages. The different banners of different sizes could be shown. It might be good to repost every few years. Here’s an example of a possible statement to post. “If you are already a WGA member, why not help “spread the word” about the association to other Wisconsin geocachers you interact with. Also, please consider placing a WGA banner image and link to the WGA website on your own cache pages. It’s easy! You can get the HTML code to copy and paste by visiting the Cache Banners Page.”
I can agree and disagree with the needs for a mobile app. Depending on the information or reasoning for it as well if changes are made to the website. Downsides it creates another location and object to be maintained and updated. But if we put some of the WGA games on there like ability to log LCG reports or more.
The website could use a face lift and redoing in most cases, and with that could be updated to fit the needs of WGA members today of finding information. I think there is a plus to keeping the site as well as social media. Got to have one source for accurate and Official information plus the ease and ability of doing things like the LCG, BOD Voting, or even easy organizing/finding past forum topics as other information gets lost on facebook. Doesn’t mean discussions can happen there. But with todays market, making the site mobile friendly is a big need though in my opinion. If its mobile friendly, do we need an app then that would have the same info????
Another more of an idea suggestion I saw on another association website is to have maybe a “Member of the Month” voted by other members, just like the COTM. Then after the MOTM is voted, have a questionnaire, like what do you like about geocaching, whats your favorite cache, what do you do outside of geocaching, etc…. and post it on the blog/website. Maybe the voted member could get a special MOTM Geocoin or pathtag or nothing at all. But could be fun to learn about members from across the state.
Climbing To New Adventures
**The views expressed here are that of myself only and do not necessarily represent that of the WGA board.**
Discuss ways to promote family-friendly caches…make caching great again 🙂
Oconto...the birthplace of western civilization:)
Related…is there an official WGA Facebook presence, and an easy link between the WGA website and WGA on Facebook?
There is an official WGA FB page: https://www.facebook.com/Wisconsin.Geocaching.Association/
Anything that gets posted on the front page of the WGA website automatically posts to the FB page but not vice versa.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
-Henry David Thoreau
There is an official WGA FB page: https://www.facebook.com/Wisconsin.Geocaching.Association/ Anything that gets posted on the front page of the WGA website automatically posts to the FB page but not vice versa.
Thanks! Quite the parallel universe over there! (On wishlist: Incorporate the FB link into this Website’s upper or left-side menu)
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