+GEM's Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 Last year the NCCE Conference was in Seattle. We had many cachers volunteer their time to help the 3,500 participants learn how to geocache. This year the conference is in Portland. Hey Portland cachers we need your help? Anyone interested in volunteering at the geocache booth during the conference hours 8 - 4 on 2/8, 9 & 10...Last year we did 4 hour shifts and all volunteer got free admission to the exhibit hall featuring the latest greatest equipment in educational technology. Here's the rough plan...we'll be placing 5 temporary caches in and around the general area of the Oregon Convention Center in downtown Portland located at 777 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Participants at the conference will stop by the both hoping to win a GPSr..to do so they will have to complete the geocaches to be entered into the drawing. You'll check them out a GPSr and show them how to use it. You'll give the basic Geocaching overview and send them on their way. They will return with the GPS and turn in their ticket for the drawing. We also need help setting up the course and checking it throughout the day. We'll need help programming hte waypoints into the expected 100 GPS units. Are you interested? Can you help? What questions do you have? You can contact me at GEMalone@comcast.net. Quote Link to comment
+WeightMan Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I helped GEMs with this last year and had a blast. It was great fun walking about the area during a break seeing all these erstwhile cachers hard at work trying to find those elusive caches. Quote Link to comment
+evergreenhiker! Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 might want to contact www.pdxgeocaching.com Most of the pdx geo folks probably hang out there. Quote Link to comment
+EleriandBlade Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 there's an off chance we might be at that, if Blade's employer is exhibiting. Quote Link to comment
+Stump Posted December 13, 2005 Share Posted December 13, 2005 Way too far in the future for me to give a firm "I'll be there" but I should be able to do this. I'll put it on the calendar and find out if it conflict's with my wife's calendar. (hers is bigger, tougher, and a real bully so it always wins conflicts ) Quote Link to comment
Operation Doblave Posted December 13, 2005 Share Posted December 13, 2005 I wanted to start a geocaching school so other people could participate in our game. I didn't think there really was such a thing but I guess I overlooked it. Well I'm glad that there are other people doing Geocaching-like schools because it would be better if people like them showed people how to do it, partly because I would probably lead people into a swamp or something. Well have fun with the school. Quote Link to comment
Operation Doblave Posted December 13, 2005 Share Posted December 13, 2005 I wanted to start a geocaching school so other people could participate in our game. I didn't think there really was such a thing but I guess I overlooked it. Well I'm glad that there are other people doing Geocaching-like schools because it would be better if people like them showed people how to do it, partly because I would probably lead people into a swamp or something. Well have fun with the school. Quote Link to comment
+GEM's Posted December 17, 2005 Author Share Posted December 17, 2005 So far: Mountain Mule Herr Fritz Stump Fractal Soup EleriandBlade are interested. Others? Join the fun! Quote Link to comment
+MattandLaura Posted December 25, 2005 Share Posted December 25, 2005 (edited) since I plan on coming at of retirement for 2006, count us in for now. It might be tought to get the time off during the work but I'll try. The Friday would be best Edited December 25, 2005 by MattandLaura Quote Link to comment
+DoodleCat & MisterKrrk Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 I can be there all day on February 8th if you still need volunteers. -DoodleCat (of DoodleCat & MisterKrrk) Quote Link to comment
+GEM's Posted January 15, 2006 Author Share Posted January 15, 2006 YAHOO! More volunteers! Yes, we still need volunteers!... Any other takers? I spoke with Groundspeak's Nate Irish (Jeremy's Bro) and we'll have some appreciation gifts for all volunteers! You can post here are on the PDX forum. Quote Link to comment
+Palm Grunt Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I'll see if I can get the time off for all 3 days. I have 62 days of leave built up so it shouldn't be a problem. Quote Link to comment
+GEM's Posted January 21, 2006 Author Share Posted January 21, 2006 I got the Free Geocaching giveaways today. The first 20 volunteers that work for at least 4 hours will receive this free shirt! The first 10 volunteers that work at least one full day will receive a shirt (above) and a free official Geocaching container (Decon or Ammo can) complete with official sticker. The first 5 volunteers that work at least two days will receive a shirt (above) a container (above) and an official State Geocaching GeoCoin (either 2004 Washington, MIGO Michagan, GOWT Tennessee, 2004 Pennsylvania, or Canada) Random additional prizes will be awarded! Join the FUN...Come to Portland! Who do we have so far? And what prize are you hoping to claim? Quote Link to comment
+GEM's Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 We found last year that it was nice to have 4 volunteers at the booth at all times from 8-4 each day while shifts from 8-12 and 12-4 seemed to work best. 13 cachers considering: Bazzle Soup Man fractal pdxmarathon charliewhiskey Palm Grunt Herr Fritz Mountain Mule doodlecat geodonkeys Stump Blade mattandlaura It's time for a schedule. What time slots works best for you? 2/8 8-12 12-4 2/9 8-12 12-4 2/10 8-12 12-4 Did I miss anyone? Quote Link to comment
+GEM's Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 NCCE & Geocaching Take a look at this document on a wiki called Writely.com for more planning details. It's a slick tool for collaborative online document editting. I'm using this tool to put this year's Geocaching Event @ NCCE together. Join us! Quote Link to comment
+Mountain Mule Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 I'll be at the conference starting Monday evening, I'm sure you will let me know what I can help out with. I'll also work in at least one 4 hour stint at the booth and help out between conference events. Still have a dozen containers from the Frontier Park training as well as the big box with the locks, if any of that stuff would be helpful. Talk to you next week. Quote Link to comment
+GEM's Posted January 29, 2006 Author Share Posted January 29, 2006 I have created a page including a description with tasks defined. You'll find links to all cachers that have expressed interest. In addtion, we have a link to review the volunteer work schedule.. This is gonna be a hoot and the volunteers will get some free stuff. Quote Link to comment
+EleriandBlade Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Looks like Blade's being sent to San Jose for some big industry hoohah those days Darn, cause this sounded like a fun thing. Quote Link to comment
+DoodleCat & MisterKrrk Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 pdxmarathonman and I will be making final decisions for the cache placement for this event. We're meeting at 9:00am on Saturday 2/4 @ 45 31.630 122 39.660Grand & Hoyt (Coffee People). I should have created an event cache to do this but I didn't think about it soon enough. Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else scouted out any hiding spots for the caches for the NCCE conference? If so, please come join us Saturday or drop us a note to let us know where you thought good hiding places would be. So far only 5 of the folks who said they were interested in helping out at the 3 day NCCE conference have actually put their names on the schedule. If you can't figure out how to add your name (I was stupefied ) then just ask GEMs to do it for you. Quote Link to comment
+GEM's Posted February 7, 2006 Author Share Posted February 7, 2006 (edited) Headed to Portland! Stop our booth and say hi. Here's the details..special thanks to doodlecat and pdxmarathonman for their hard work to date! Please do not disturb the caches but you can help one of the 3,500 people looking for them around Portland. Booth set up up tonight and open at 8 am tomorrow, we don't expect many cachers until later tomorrow and Thursday. Edited February 7, 2006 by GEM's Quote Link to comment
+pdxmarathonman Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 This was a lot of fun. Who knew teachers could be so diverse and entertaining? We had a great time showing teachers how to use a GPSr and then sending them out into the neighborhood around the Oregon Convention Center to find some caches that we placed for the event. One of the teachers won a brand-new Garmin 60C just for finding 5 of the 7 caches It was especially cool to talk with the teachers that had just a vague notion of what a GPSr could be used for when they came to the booth, and after seeing what they could do in navigating to the simple caches to go away with new ideas to bring this technology into the classroom! Awesome stuff. We met quite a few teachers who were already geocachers! MountainMule was a conference attendee and a volunteer! Doodlecat, CharlieWhiskey and fractal, (and MountainMule too!): I really had a lot of fun volunteering with you guys. Good luck to GEM's on the upcoming national conference in San Diego. I wonder if I can get a volunteer coins for my 24 hours at the conference Quote Link to comment
Team Misguided Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I wonder if I can get a volunteer coins for my 24 hours at the conference Quote Link to comment
+fractal Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Yeah.. This really ended up being a blast! And like pdxmm said, it was so cool to see how many teachers actually "got it" and saw how it could be used in an endless number of ways in (and out of) the classroom. Met a lot of really cool teachers and saw a TON of technology that I wish I would have had in school... Really cool stuff. If you have the time, I HIGHLY suggest volunteering for the NCCE the next time they are near you. It's hard to explain the joy and satisfaction you feel after teaching someone how to play the game, and they return with a big smile on their face, telling you that "they loved it!" Great fun, and I'll TOTALLY be there next time in Portland! -fractal Quote Link to comment
+GEM's Posted February 11, 2006 Author Share Posted February 11, 2006 WOW! What a great group of Cachers in Portland! In all 6 Portland cachers evangelized the fun of Geocaching to over 2,000 teachers from across the great northwest. doodlecat bought, labled and assembled all of the caches and even a few extras! doodlecat & pdxmarathonman set the course the Saturday before the conference fractal & pdxmarathonman manned the booth all day every day! charliewhiskey manned the booth every afternoon doodlecat manned the booth manned the booth all day on Wed & Fri Mountain Mule stopped by and helped inbetween sessions throughout the conference. & Soup stopped by the booth with his little souplet for encouragement! It was an honor to meet them all! & a Huge Thank you to Groundspeak for their generous support! We'll be in San Diego on the 4th of July and Spokane next year. More info on both soon. Quote Link to comment
+DoodleCat & MisterKrrk Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Thanks to everyone who helped out. I was amazed at how well we all worked together, keeping the caches filled, helping the teachers, keeping the handout updated... Special note to Palm Grunt: sorry you couldn't be at the conference. Hope you come home safe from your deployment. It was cool to hide so many caches in such a short time. Since the area of the convention center is so urban I was a little out of my element but Pdxmarathonman helped make it work. I found that getting property manager permission made planning the course a lot easier. Almost every property manager was glad to let us place temporary caches. We were able to use courtyards, outdoor smoking areas and landscaping features to hide the boxes. A coffee shop even let us hide one inside their store which probably kept it from being stolen. The main reason we were there was to help teachers learn how to use GPS units but I think we drummed up some new visitors to geocaching.com. When teachers asked about buying GPSr units, we suggested they check out the geocaching.com forums that discuss different models and software and also the garage sale forum. They were also happy to hear there was a forum for GPS's in Education. It would be great if there was a flyer or brochure from geocaching.com that could be handed out at events like these. Especially one that emphasized using the website for group events, youth activities, or education. Quote Link to comment
+Allanon Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Sounds like you guys had as much fun as we did last year here in Seattle. Such a rewarding experience isn't it? GEMs, you are really getting a roadshow going there...Congrats!!! Quote Link to comment
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