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Everybody Gets A Gpsr At Our Conference--i Have An Idea...


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My company is having a conference in Las Vegas in the fall (we manufacture infrared cameras for thermographers). I work in the Marketing department, and we are giving away GPSr's as a promotion for attending. Since I am obsessed with caching (and have hidden 20 caches myself) I was thinking of setting up a cache on the hotel property and have the attendees try out their new GPSr's there! We would put some sort of a FTF prize only in it, I am thinking. Perhaps people could collect number clues around the hotel that translate into coordinates...or maybe that would be too complicated...Has anybody out there done a similar idea in a similar situation? I could use some input. Thanks!

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Can you get me an invite to that conference? B)

 

Your idea for a cache probably won't fly for at least two reasons. First, the cache, the way you described it, sounds like a commercial cache (not usually allowed). Second, the cache would, by guidelines, be required to have permanancy and be available to everyone. :rolleyes::anibad:

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Rather than submitting it through GC, set it up as a one time hunt. Type everything up as a Word document and give everybody a copy. That way you'd avoid issues like commercialization and longevity. If they enjoy your hunt, you can then introduce them to "The Dark Side" and create a whole new batch of cachers.

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After visiting a few conferences I noticed that the giveaways are usually designed to get folks into the exhibitor room. If you're trying to get them to go to things like the keynote you could give out part of the coordinates as part of the talk. The usual puzzle style cache takes the final coordinates and replaces the numbers with letters, like B=8, C=6, to make 47 BC.AED 122 TA.RFD. Start with the earlier coordinates which are obvious (BC and TA in this example) and towards the end give away A,E,R,F then finally D. Instead of a final cache prize you could just put some cards that they could return for a prize. That way everyone's a winner.

 

You don't need to list it here to make it fun, but if you provided a list of caches and coordinates for folks at the event they could go try and find them during the breaks.

 

Another idea is to do a scavenger hunt-style "go here and tell me what you find" game. Have a list of coordinates with blanks beside it and hints. They fill in the blanks on what they find with their GPS and return the paper for a prize.

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I'd agree that it might be worth looking into the Geoteaming link from the homepage. They have been longtime business partners with Groundspeak and I hear good things about them.

 

You could also put together a team-building exercise on your own. I did this once for a local company right after it had been bought out by a company in another city. Nobody knew each other, and they were having a big conference as an icebreaker. We mixed people from the two companies into small groups, and basically gave each group a puzzle cache to solve. It was a mix of indoors work, some of which related to their industry, the history of the two companies, etc. This gave everyone a chance to talk about their backgrounds, and to learn how to work with new colleagues on problem-solving skills. Then, with the puzzle solved, they were led to the first waypoint of a short multicache around downtown Pittsburgh. It gave everyone a nice one-hour break to walk around and see the sights. The Pittsburghers were proud to act as tour guides and everyone had fun. And as the "expert consultant" I got a free dinner and free drinks.

 

I did not even *think* of listing this as a Geocaching.com cache.

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One other thing to remember, if you are going to hide it on the Hotels property make sure to get permission from them first. You may even want to consider making sure that the cache is at a secure location to prevent it from being muggled. Like at an outdoor bar or something else where a hotel employee can keep it safe.

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I'd agree that it might be worth looking into the Geoteaming link from the homepage. They have been longtime business partners with Groundspeak and I hear good things about them.

 

Our club worked with them several years ago and had a great time, even in the downpour that occured all day. They bought everyone ponchos, it was a blast.

 

:anibad:

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If the hotel is surrounded by other large hotels, theres a good chance that your attendees won't get a good lock on satellite signals. At least not quickly.

 

People that have never used a GPSr often assume it works as quickly and as a cell phone and they're accurate to a few feet at all times. If you want to keep them from getting frustrated you might want to have a short discussion on what reception they should expect in a city with tall buildings vs. what they can expect at home in their neighborhood.

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I was in Las Vegas with my company recentally. Stayed at a very nice strip hotel. I will say that we certainly did not have time to cache (although I was prepared!). There are a number of virtual, webcam and micro caches on and within a very close walk of the strip. Why not prepare a list of local caches, with brief instructions, perhaps some sort of lessons, and let them go at it? Just brainstorming. That way nobody is obligated to do it, and it encourages them to see the locale that is Las Vegas.

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One other thing to remember, if you are going to hide it on the Hotels property make sure to get permission from them first. You may even want to consider making sure that the cache is at a secure location to prevent it from being muggled. Like at an outdoor bar or something else where a hotel employee can keep it safe.

 

Seriously. I just moved from Las Vegas and the security and police take hiding anything on hotel property VERY VERY seriously. Unless you want to be a news piece on a blown up cache, make sure you clear everything through security at the hotel, BEFORE you hide anything.

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