Cache Bash 2009 – suggestions?

[LMcGisme]

We had a great time at the event last year. The ability to download the coordinates the night before, or even early the day of the event, would be really nice. Maybe add in some ice-breaker games, like cacher bingo, for something to do between the time the sheets were handed in and the time the prizes were drawn. It seemed like most people sat and chatted with their group – there didn’t seem to be much mingling going on. Maybe by then people were too tired to mingle anyhow.

We probably would have gone even without the big prizes, but hanging around for the prize drawings did cause us to eat at a West Bend restaurant instead of heading out of town right away.

[SammyClaws]

Unfortunately, I was not able to read the file Jeremy had sent the morning of the event, but did manage to download all the caches from GC.com so there were two less people requiring the download. It would be nice to get them the night before so one can plan a route.

How about a night cache on Friday night?

Also I agree, it would be nice to have something going on between the time you turn in your card and the drawings. We headed back to our room and watched TV. Perhaps some local vendors could set up some stands that we could purchase food at. A days each summer Saz’s sets up a grill in the courtyard of our office complex and sells, grilled chicken sandwiches, burgers, brats and hotdogs, chips and a soda. Maybe someone could come up with something like that.

These are only suggestions. We really enjoyed the event and plan on coming back next year even if nothing changes.

[ecorangers]

Did someone say, “free beer?” You should have been at Muggles Friday evening. They have happy hour 4:00-7:00 with buy one get one free!

We are trying to get a “bigger” establishment for Friday’s event to have a meet and eat.

I’m sure some of us will still end up at Muggles afterwards.

WE talked about having Karokee going on for 1-2 hours after you turn in your card and are waiting for the prizes. So get practicing on your singing everyone. StarWArs Family really knows how to Karokee as well as Opps5 and MisterGreen Thumb. Mrs. Sunshine provides just that, sunshine!

Thanks for everyone’s input….now what can we do to get it to a Mega event status????? Tami

[Jeremy]

@notmuch wrote:

@Team Deejay wrote:

I’d like to see a download file made available on the event page or WGA site at around 10PM on Friday before the event. This would ease the burden on those helping with the downloads

I second this thought. With the wide variety of gpsr’s out there, we ran into some really “old” ones and fancy-smanchy new ones that, frankly, I had no idea how to download to. This would ease the burden of….”Hey Jeremy, come help here,” and would ease the frustration of cachers who were annoyed when the volunteer downloaders didn’t “know” every nuance or how to operate their unit.

I’m all for anything that reduces the crunch and madness at the download area… I don’t know if my nerves can take another big event like this. 😉 We asked if a GPX file could be posted in advance last year, and the Chamber folks were adamant that this information not be released early. Hopefully they are more open to doing it this year.

It was (and probably still is) nearly impossible for them to get the file up on their event website at a specified time, and putting it on the WGA site could be construed as showing favoritism. It would probably be easiest if we just email it out to registered participants the night before (like a Pocket Query). Of course, a few folks may have theirs caught in a spam filter or otherwise lost in cyberspace…

@SammyClaws wrote:

Also I agree, it would be nice to have something going on between the time you turn in your card and the drawings. We headed back to our room and watched TV. Perhaps some local vendors could set up some stands that we could purchase food at.

There was a group selling soda, drinks, and snacks in the park at the end of the event (as well as a group selling coffee and hot chocolate in the morning). I believe they could have also sold brats, hot dogs, and burgers if they were asked to, but the Chamber wasn’t sure there would be enough interest.

While Tami’s karaoke idea would give people something to do before the drawing, I think that people were happy NOT having things to do for this hour. They spent the time relaxing, socializing with old and new friends… and there was also the treasure chest to keep the kids occupied.

If anything, something like Geocacher Bingo could be introduced to facilitate more socializing during this time period. I think having loud karaoke music playing would keep people from talking to each other, and if the singers suck (and you know they will :)), I don’t even want to be within earshot of the park. Karaoke would make more sense later on Friday night after people enjoy the drink specials at Muggles. 😀

[Jeremy]

Jeremy’s wish list:

– Adopt some sort of formal registration system. Last year people could sign up on gc.com or separate event website. Either way they signed up it was difficult to estimate attendance (it was being done manually in a spreadsheet) and there was no way for attendees to change or cancel their registration. There was also no easy way to do a mass email of event information to participants.

– Convince the powers that be at geocaching.com to list the event as a mega event. The attendance was pretty close to the 500 required last year, so hopefully this is an easy sell.

– Combine another activity with the flash mob event. Attendance was kind of low at the flash mob, probably because people were out caching, they went home, or were too tired. If they had more incentive to come back Sunday, I think many would.

– Include more local geocachers in the cache hiding. All the caches were great last year, but expecting an individual to hide 20 high quality permanent caches (and then maintain them after the event) is asking too much.

– Several people already suggested night caches, and I like that idea. I don’t know if it would make sense to do these on Friday night to give people chomping at the bit something to do or Saturday night following the big day of caching (some may be cached out at that point).

– Saturday morning start time should be a (little) later. 😀

[thepharmgirl]

@Jeremy wrote:

… and if the singers suck (and you know they will :)), I don’t even want to be within earshot of the park.

Party pooper. 😉

[Lostby7]

1. I would love the coords the night before the event with the books handed out in the morning. I’m huge into planning routes in advance of my hunts. If that information came out as an email a puzzle or two could also be included for folks to solve….

2. What about 5-10 night caches released the day before the event and 40ish normal caches released the day of the event with a same time or later start.

3. Getting too far out of town was kinda a pain IMO.

4. I have to say no to the singing as well….I was grateful for the rest and quiet of the down time while awaiting the drawing…the treasure chest was a great way to keep the kids occupied….

5. I would have bought a brat or two from a vendor….

[Team Deejay]

the Chamber folks were adamant that this information not be released early.

I understand they were concerned with people taking “gift certificates” and other swag from the caches early. I can tell you that, with us starting at around 9, we found exactly 0 gift certificates in the caches we located. This did not detract from our enjoyment of the event in the least. In fact, I would suggest that, instead of putting these in the caches, it would be better to provide coupons (like the water coupon) to all the attendees, taking maybe $1 off a sandwich for everyone, rather than free sandwiches for a lucky few.

[Lostby7]

There were “gift certificates”? I had several first finds and didn’t see any….but I agree these items do not need to be placed in caches….they could be handed out in some other fashion.

[SammyClaws]

We (SammyClaws, GreendaleSRT4 and Mr. TIP (3Hawks)) managed to get through all the caches early and didnt find one gift certificate. We did like the little hand sanitizers though. But I agree, about putting that stuff in the bag of goodies. Although we really didnt look at that stuff until about 11:00 Saturday night after our second trip to Muggles. And that was after night caching at the boardwalk and sewage treatment plant. Maybe we could organize some group outings after the Saturday event is over to keep peope around for Sunday.

[Team Deejay]

Like maybe a tour of the sewage plant???

[amita17]

I thought of some suggestions since my previous reply, but they are related to being a new geocacher. At the event in August, I went to the intro session. I was familiar with much of what was covered, but still learned something. Maybe there would be interest in another learning session, like some of the other types of geocaching that I have read about, finding markers, or night caching for example. Or in some of the technology available. I read the veterans’ comments on various subjects with interest, but aren’t going to waste a lot of time and space here asking questions that are a given if you know what everyone is talking about. Even a beginner part 2- Q & A kind of session maybe. So I don’t know if there is a good time for it during the weekend. Maybe it could be done at another kind of geocaching event. I will continue to read my e-newsletters, forums, and announcements to learn more.

Also, I agree if nothing changes, it is still a great event and I would enjoy it as much as I did this year.

[zuma]

@Team Deejay wrote:

the Chamber folks were adamant that this information not be released early.

I understand they were concerned with people taking “gift certificates” and other swag from the caches early. I can tell you that, with us starting at around 9, we found exactly 0 gift certificates in the caches we located. This did not detract from our enjoyment of the event in the least. In fact, I would suggest that, instead of putting these in the caches, it would be better to provide coupons (like the water coupon) to all the attendees, taking maybe $1 off a sandwich for everyone, rather than free sandwiches for a lucky few.

This is news to me as well, that there were gift certificates in some of the caches. We ran across none, and had 3 FTFs.

zuma

[LDove]

There were NO FTF gift certficates in any of the caches. The only certificates that were given were those in the goody bags. We did not want to turn this into a race so there was only standard swag in the caches. We had our meeting and have decided to keep our cache placements at 50, I kinda like the idea of ten the night before in a night-time caching event, we will consider that. It was also thought that the Friday event would be more family friendly with the location not at a bar this time, but rather maybe a night-time caching event and then if adults wanted to socialize after that at a bar, they are free to do whatever. We are also looking into a new event for Sunday – maybe that day could be some sort of a race in a park where it would not impact traffic or parking regs. It would probably be a treasure hunt type activity with a 1, 2 3rd place prize at the end. Not sure if we would list it on gc.com as most of the parks are pretty full with caches already, but we can look at it again. It was agreed by all that were at the meeting that the coordinates WILL be released the night before for downloads. We will be probably designing and giving away pathtags for the event also. The Chamber is working with Groundspeak on the best way to make this a MEGA event. The key point is that when people register (we hope to have the cache page up soon) they need to list how many people will be attending in their group. This would be the one and only place for registration as Jeremy suggested. Each and every person counts towards MEGA status. We will be doing more social activities during the downtime between the end of the caching and the start of the prize drawings. We are currently brainstorming on fun activities to do and will be doing the treasure chest again since so many people liked it. The karoke maybe could be done away from where people are visiting to not interfere with that and we are also looking into food vendors for when you get back to the park to eat during the social time. Soooo, hope this makes it even better for all. I think the best thing is the weather – hopefully we will be blessed with another beautiful weekend of great weather for this event. Thanks everybody for your feedback and comments.

[Lostby7]

Yea, my thought for the 5-10 night caches the day before the event was to encourage folks to come a day early for some good, fun night caching (which is always a hoot AND in short supply) then return the next day…after all the event is all about tourism and two trips (or a hotel stay) is better than one for the city.

In as far as Mega event standing goes, I’m not sure if this was done or not last year, but anyone posting a WILL ATTEND without a “# attending” should be/have been contacted to firm up the head count…perhaps add to the page a statement that there will be a special drawing held for folks who post a head count in their WILL ATTEND logs…that may encourage more folks to accurately report how many will be showing up and bump up your numbers as well.

[Author]

Posts