UK Mega Event 2009

[+Happy Humphrey]

One way to guarantee a Mega turnout: get the GPS Maze exhibit!

What a good idea! Maybe Groundspeak would like to comment on the possibility.

 

I'm sure we've all had the experience of looking in the windows of the kind of shops with very little merchandise in the window, but what there is looks gorgeous and Italian and has no price tag on it. The motto I taught myself (I'm still working on the female members of the family ) for these circumstances is "If you have to ask, you can't afford it".

 

However, if you want to pluck up the courage to cough discreetly and ask the perfectly-manicured shop assistant how much it costs, look here.

 

With that in mind, I suspect the dollar will have to weaken considerably before the GPS Maze Exhibit becomes an affordable option for a Mega Event Committee, unless Sir Allan Stanford changes his allegiance from cricket to geocaching.

My idea was to open the Maze at the Mega Event, then leave it running for 3 months (or whatever) under the control of the site managers (whoever they turn out to be). It would only be under the control of the event organisers as far as ensuring that the event date coincided with the first day of the exhibit. I believe that the Maze is of interest to many different groups, not just geocachers, so could be a good crowd-puller. The event committee wouldn't have to arrrange finance for the Maze at all, except to negotiate a "hire" charge for the day.

[+keehotee]

Has anybody seen any stats for the maze as far as visitor figures are concerned? Would it actually pull in 500 people a day?

[+Happy Humphrey]

Has anybody seen any stats for the maze as far as visitor figures are concerned? Would it actually pull in 500 people a day?

I guess that depends on how it's set up. For a mega event, the idea was that the Maze would act as a magnet to draw in those who would otherwise be unwilling to commit, or who had planned for the 2008 event to be a one-off and weren't going to go to another. It would also solve a lot of the problems with keeping people entertained on the day.

It would be up to the people renting the Maze to decide whether the post-event setup would pull in enough people to make it worthwhile for the remaining period.

 

I only suggested it because I feel that it's going to be much harder to get cachers to go to the second UK Mega - the first one has the obvious novelty factor, which for the second one has to be replaced with some other big draw. If the Maze is a non-starter then I think something of similar attractive power will be needed.

 

Personally, I'm going to the 2008 event partly because it's the first. But if the 2009 one is going to be basically the same type of thing I suspect that I'll be unable to justify the time and money to attend. If the Maze was there I'd definitely turn up anyway!

Edited July 21, 2008 by Happy Humphrey

[+keehotee]

Has anybody seen any stats for the maze as far as visitor figures are concerned? Would it actually pull in 500 people a day?

 

Personally, I'm going to the 2008 event partly because it's the first. But if the 2009 one is going to be basically the same type of thing I suspect that I'll be unable to justify the time and money to attend. If the Maze was there I'd definitely turn up anyway!

 

I'd agree with you that any subsequent mega event is going to have to have crowd pullers to even hope of getting the numbers in.

But speaking personally again, the fact that this years is the first, and the icon, just weren't big enough magnets to get me to drive all that way. And if I were being even more honest, I can't in all honesty say I'd have gone even if it were closer as the format doesn't really appeal to me....

[+sTeamTraen]

Personally, I'm going to the 2008 event partly because it's the first. But if the 2009 one is going to be basically the same type of thing I suspect that I'll be unable to justify the time and money to attend. If the Maze was there I'd definitely turn up anyway!

 

Are you one of these "icon ho's" I hear about? Tsk, tsk. Now, does anyone know where can I find a CITO near an APE cache? (CITO's are like hen's teeth round here.)

 

Actually, apart from the icon, I'm not sure that there's much in the Maze which is specifically of great interest to geocachers. It sounds like a great way to introduce muggles to GPS technology and outdoor applications thereof, or perhaps to park the kids for a couple of hours while you nip out for a crafty micro or two.

 

Also, the kind of venue which could take it, is probably not a good place for an event. You would need a substantial museum or exhibition arena, with a season-long exhibit to do with technology in general. It's probably a bit much to expect them to accept tents as well, especially as they will probably be located in one of the top 8-10 cities in the country.