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AuntieNae 4 years, 9 months ago.
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We are in a pandemic. Who would ever thought of that in our lifetime? That being said, how will you touch base with the members?
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
I think there are some great resources in place already for communication. The WGA Facebook place is a great starting place to communicate with a wide audience. Additional pages like the Lonely Cache Game page allow for communication specifically geared towards that part of the game.
Safe events still encourage that face to face communication, however the individual comfort of members may deter them from attending. Perhaps there can be some sort of local challenges that members can participate in and then post their results either on a social media platform (as those who find lonely caches do) or on the WGA website. There could be additional games within the game (similar to the #youvebeenducked game) just to encourage some good natured fun and the ability to promote that.
Anything that we can do to encourage connection and communication will keep the human element of the game alive which I think is the goal of this question. This might require some creativity, but I have full faith and confidence that it can be achieved!
The views expressed here are that of myself only and do not necessarily represent that of the WGA Board of Directors
As I’ve said, social media is one of our best tools at this time to get out the word about the wga board. Granted there are some that don’t have social media. I’m not sure what we have currently set up besides the website. I’m not sure how often that is frequented by the average geocacher in our state. Next is word-of-mouth, which is a powerful platform. This is irregardless of whether we’re in a pandemic or not. Most of us were told of geocaching by another person. We could ask our membership to be ambassadors and ask current “muggles” to join us caching. We could have a geocaching 101 events and invite people via flyers at local parks.
Please note: my comments are mine alone and may not necessarily reflect an official stance of the WGA Board of Directors.
At this time, social media platforms are the quickest, easiest and most far reaching ways to communicate with the membership. The WGA website is another great avenue for reaching out to the membership in sharing important news and information. But, as I stated in a different thread, I believe we can improve member communication, first, with text notifications. So that members can get those quick real time updates directly from a WGA representative without going through a third party app to get the information.
Pandemic? Did someone say pandemic?
I think your question is specifically asking how the WGA BOD should connect with WGA members and hopefully, I am understanding that correctly.
As others have mentioned, social media is a great platform to connect. Most of our WGA members are on some aspect of Social Media, whether it be the WGA website, a Facebook geocaching group, a messenger chat room, instagram, WhatsApp, blogging, etc. Let us also not forget “old school” e-mailing!
I firmly believe we should not rely on any one specific platform to get information out, but rather to blast on several platforms so that we are sure to communicate with the largest audience possible. Watching posts on Facebook groups is also helpful, in that when we see a newer cacher or a name we don’t recognize, we can reach out and private message that person and ask if they are familiar with the WGA website, LCG, COTH, POTM, etc.
If I am doing an event, I will reach out to newer cachers who have logged my hides and personally invite them to my event. Often times, that is what is needed – a personal invitation.
Hosting events during this time is also important. We should have no problem in following CDC guidelines in hosting events, especially those that are outdoors. We need to trust that each and every geocacher will make their own decision to attend or not attend based on their personal needs and health concerns. We need to be respectful of all people! Whenever possible during this pandemic, we should offer a virtual option for those not comfortable attending in person. Geocachers are people and they just want to feel that their presence is important and just as important in person as it would be virtually!
The views expressed here are that of myself only and do not necessarily represent that of the WGA board.
While I agree that social media can be a great way to reach many people across many different platforms, I happen to be old school and prefer face-to-face (or I guess mask-to-mask!) interaction. As long as everyone keeps CDC recommendations in mind, I hope that more events can be held. I also am hoping that something virtual can be worked out so that cachers who aren’t comfortable attending events due to health issues or personal concerns, can still log in at events. I think that the WGA BOD can help steer some innovative ideas during the pandemic.
I have held Geocaching 101 classes in libraries and church basements in the past, and hope that going forward we can have them again. I have been torn between being thrilled at all the new cachers joining the sport, and being a little sad at the brevity of their logs. Recently I have been putting out puzzle caches that I’m hoping will help new cachers learn a little more about tools that are out there and possibly some etiquette. I think that the WGA can help new cachers learn aspects of the game.
jodibee
Views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent that of the WGA Board of Directors.
I agree with all that social media has been the backbone of our most recent communications with members. I would like to see the BOD utilize more of the email as we do still have several members in the Great Northern part of Wisconsin that still utilize email since high speed internet may not be an option where we are located. This makes things like Facebook a bit more limited. I would also like to see more virtual events held for the time being as in person events are going to be difficult to ensure everyone’s safety at until things settle down.
How should we reach the members? A good starting place is right back on the geocache pages and encouraging members to use the WGA banners.
I also think, we need to use multiple channels because we have geocachers across the state that represent different generations, that have different resources available to them, who may not be on social media, who may have limited internet capabilities.
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