Events - How To & Vendor Support

[+Jackalgirl]

Howdy!

 

I'm helping with the start of a local geocaching group (the Misawa Geocachers Organization), or MiGO for short). We're doing a Meet & Greet and we also plan to be in on the 09/09/09 event cycle.

 

All well and good. However, I have two questions:

 

1) Is there a pinned thread or article somewhere that has some event basics? My plan for the first one is to keep it simple: it's just an invitation to come to a local restaurant and hang out, and I picked a local restaurant that's extremely kid-friendly, which is handy if you have one or more curious & rambunctious almost-two-year-olds (there will be at least one in attendance). However, I'm relatively new to Japan and have never been to a geocaching event: what goes on at these events? Are meet & greets just that? Are there other things that can be done without turning the evening into a scripted mess?

 

2) I was approached by a vendor who explains that his company does event support for promotional purposes (essentially, the company hands out discount coupons and, occassionally, coins for events). I can see where this could be pretty handy from a door prize point of view. I'm not thinking so much of the meet & greet (although having stuff to give to people would help in terms of keeping people interested in MiGO, I would think), but I'm thinking more of the much bigger 09/09/09 event. So the question is: Is there a posted list of businesses who provide support to events in the form of promotional swag? Would such a thing be allowed on the Geocaching boards (perhaps if the companies were all featured/official businesses, like the geocoin vendor thread on the geocoin forums)? If you're a vendor, would you prefer to contact people, or to be contacted? (Would it be okay for there to be one central "event seeking swag" thread somewhere, like the pinned "geocoin trades" thread?) Is there already something like this?

 

Thanks for bearing with the wall o' text. : )

[+Team Shydog]

You are on the right path, keep it simple! Take a look at this brochure, it does a very good job at explaining events. I can't comment on the vendor question because I have never dealt with sponsors for my events. Good luck.

 

Chris-Team Shydog

[+Jackalgirl]

That is an awesome brochure -- thanks so much for linking to it! There is some excellent advice in there; I'm definitely going to utilize it. Thanks again!

[+The Blorenges]

With reference to your comments about being "approached by a vendor", we also received an unsolicited email from such a vendor yesterday...

 

You might like to read this thread on the UK forum:

 

To report, or not to report...

 

Good luck with your event - We're hosting our first one in a couple of weeks - a simple early evening meet and greet in a town's public garden for an hour (with a convenient bandstand in case it rains ), then all those who want to extend the evening can join us for a meal at a local pub. There will be the opportunity for geocaching chat, general socialising and the swapping trackables. Can't get simpler than that.

 

MrsB

[+Jackalgirl]

With reference to your comments about being "approached by a vendor", we also received an unsolicited email from such a vendor yesterday...

 

You might like to read this thread on the UK forum:

 

To report, or not to report...

 

Perhaps the vendor saw that thread and saw the light, because I didn't receive the solicitation through geocaching.com; they found our website and sent an email via the webmaster's email. I don't mind, tho, since they are (in essence) possibly offering freebies. Raffles and door prizes are fun. : )

 

Edited to add: No, nope, I'm wrong. They did send it through the geocaching.com system. Uh-oh.

 

Good luck with your event - We're hosting our first one in a couple of weeks - a simple early evening meet and greet in a town's public garden for an hour (with a convenient bandstand in case it rains ), then all those who want to extend the evening can join us for a meal at a local pub. There will be the opportunity for geocaching chat, general socialising and the swapping trackables. Can't get simpler than that.

 

MrsB

 

Hey, good idea! Didn't think of the "meet outside first, meal optional". We'll have to do the same thing for future events. Thanks! And good luck with your event, too -- sounds like fun! : )

Edited June 2, 2009 by Jackalgirl

[+SaltercreaseRangers]

You are on the right path, keep it simple! Take a look at this brochure, it does a very good job at explaining events. I can't comment on the vendor question because I have never dealt with sponsors for my events. Good luck.

 

Chris-Team Shydog

 

Excellent brochure, thanks for sharing