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graphicsgirl19 4 years, 7 months ago.
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What do you think is the biggest opportunity for improvement for geocaching in our state and how do you intend on implementing changes to achieve that opportunity?
Overall, I think the board has improved upon itself the last few years. I think the promotion of the WGA to newer cachers is paramount to continue its growth. In the last year, with the pandemic, there have been many new geocachers. As I’ve alluded to in other posts, I think one of the easiest ways to get the word out is through social media. The WGA has some great games within games like the lonely cache game and photo of the month. Both of which have been promoted to varying degrees in social media. I would like to get back to promoting outdoor and covid following social distant events. I would like to see a social media page for the Cache of the Month contest like we have for the lonely cache game.
Please note: my comments are mine alone and may not necessarily reflect an official stance of the WGA Board of Directors.
I echo chevyole’s sentiment about the promotion of the WGA to cachers. For the first few years of my caching career, I didn’t even know about the WGA. It wasn’t until I started attending events (which is scary, particularly if you cache solo like I do sometimes) that I learned about who we are as an organization and all of the things that we do, the games within the game. Events made caching less of a solo activity (which don’t get me wrong, I do plenty of and there’s nothing wrong with that) and more of a community. I think of the Snowbuster event I attended recently. I walked in to a room of mostly strangers and walked out with people who wanted to include me on caching adventures, who wanted to introduce me to their caching friends. It was awesome and made me a part of something. That’s what I want to continue to promote if elected to the board and also just as a cacher moving forward.
Social media is where I first heard about geocaching all those years ago and I still think that is the best way to promote and attract a wider audience. Personally, I post more of my geocaching fun on Instagram. That’s not to say I don’t use Facebook, but that is another avenue to engage with Wisconsin cachers, particularly those that are digital natives. I follow other cachers and cache-related hashtags and see what geocaching adventures exists around the world (#geocachingadventures, look it up, it’s good stuff!).
Social media would, as I’ve said previously, allow for a more human element to the game and the ability to put names to faces. I could easily see expanding things that we already do as an organization. Various social media challenges (like the Cache Advance GeoChallenge of the Month or a Caching Bingo Challenge) would increase participation and encourage page followers to engage with content as well. These would of course add an additional element to things we already do like the Photo of the Month and Lonely Cache Game.
The views expressed here are that of myself only and do not necessarily represent that of the WGA Board of Directors
Great question! In my opinion, in the broad scheme of things; communication between the WGA and its membership needs improvement. Please don’t get me wrong here. It seems that there has been some improvement in different avenues of communication recently, but more can and should be done.
We have heard much talk of using social media to promote what the WGA can bring to the membership. And, I do agree that using social media is very important in spreading the word, but do not believe this is where we should hang our hats. There can be numerous issues in relying upon 3rd party applications to carry the business of the organization. As an example, just look at what is currently happening with Parlor. Who’s to say that this can’t happen with Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media platform in the future? Another issue with social media is that there is bound to be a pretty decent percentage of members that just do not have any type of social media account for a wide variety of reasons.
I think we have all realized that good communication using strictly the WGA website is probably a thing of the past. The website is a great place to visit to get a few tools and some information about the WGA. It is also a good spot for the administration of the few games that seem to be operable on the site. But, as far as passing along information in the forums, it is cumbersome at best. As an example, even when I want to review current posts made in the candidates corner it takes some time to look down the list to see which one has the least amount of time since the last post in it. To me, it would be much simpler if the thread that had the latest post would automatically move to the top of the thread list, unless of course a thread was pinned to the top of the forum page (e.i. Rules of Candidates Corner). The other thing that we must think about is that not all of our members have a computer and internet connections within their home. More and more are relying on the smartphones for this convenience and the website is not the most mobile friendly for use.
So, implementing change to me would mean putting the WGA into the hands of more of its members. And that means into the one thing that nearly everyone carries around with them all of the time; their smartphone. Yes, I would love to see an app created for the WGA that everyone in Wisconsin and around the world could use in the blink of an eye to do nearly anything that is currently offered on the WGA website. I truthfully have no idea what something like this may cost, but obviously it is definitely going to take a much deeper fundraising campaign than what is currently being done. Until the time a WGA app is attainable, why not use a mass text alert to send out to the membership? These alerts could be used as reminders of events and such that are already posted on the website. This also would take some great effort in gaining and storing the data necessary to put out text notifications, but if we start by asking for that information from the members (at their choice of course) on the website and/or at events held by the WGA, I think we can start reaching more members. And, hopefully, the participation of the membership would begin to climb.
This is a great question and one I have thought about many times. I agree with all of the thoughts penned by my fellow candidates above. Communication is key, without a doubt.
As mentioned by others, the WGA has done some great things and if elected, I am excited for the opportunity to build on that. My main objective would be to get more geocachers involved in the Wisconsin Geocaching Association. One of the things I have done with the LCG is reach out to cachers who log a find on a cache on the LCG, but don’t submit an LCG report on the WGA site and ask them if they know about this “game within the game.” More often than not, they do not and I will walk them through how to submit a report. I have done the same when a new WGA TB Race starts. I keep an extra stash of travel bug tags so that I can set up a racer for a new cacher to get them in the game, if they are unable to get a racer to me on time.
I would also like to see more Geocaching 101 classes held and perhaps expand on educating geocachers. We have a new generation of cachers (especially this year) who don’t understand that a simple TFTC really is not adequate. This new generation, more often than not, is logging from the field and doesn’t understand the significance of awarding favorite points. They don’t understand to carry a bag with fresh logs, baggies, etc. with them. They don’t understand the etiquette of geocaching. We could do so much more to help them be better geocachers
I would also making establishing some committees a priority. Our WGA members need to have a voice. We need to figure out who is passionate about what and get them working on that committee. There are so many options – LCG, Newsletter, Photo of the Month, Cache of the Month, Historian, Campout, Picnic, Chili Event, etc. Ultimately, the WGA Board needs to make decisions, but many hands make less work and getting our members involved more will provide for more ideas and options for the WGA Board to discuss and make decisions on. I would want to make sure the WGA was an organziation of the Cachers, by the Cachers, for the Cachers!
The views expressed here are that of myself only and do not necessarily represent that of the WGA board.
As the WGA, our biggest opportunity is potential for membership growth now coming out of covid. At least in this area of the state, I have seen so many found logs by new geocachers. WGA needs a new push to put the WGA logo on individual geocache pages once again. If new geocachers sign up to be a WGA member, they are receiving a welcome email inviting them to upcoming events. The WGA logo on cache pages would help increase awareness to these new geocachers. At WGA events years ago, there was a published meet and greet time geared towards new geocachers that perhaps should be revisited and/ or bring back a modified Geo 101 to explain and answer questions.
There have been plans started within the WGA current BOD to offer a Geo 102 or 201 to build upon the Geo 101 that was offered last Fall as a way to reach out to both potential newer and seasoned geocachers.
I will be teaching a Geo 101 this Spring via Zoom for both Greenfield and Whitefish Bay Recreation Departments in April and did the same for the Recreation Staff in Appleton last Fall.
I agree with all that WGA promotion to new geocachers is on the top of the list. I also believe in this day and age of COVID, virtual events give the opportunity for cachers to chat when physical events are not possible. I believe no one is perfect, but the WGA is doing what they can to adapt to the times.
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