How to get the word out there

[+mullyman]

Hey, guys, I'm in a unique situation here. I live in Shizuoka, Japan. It's not the middle of nowhere, but at the same time, it's not Tokyo or Osaka. I'm looking at the map of my area, where all the caches are hidden, and coming to realize that at the pace I'm going now, pretty much every weekend, I will run out of caches to find before spring.

 

In my opinion, I think GeoCaching would appeal to a lot of people.....if they just knew about it. So, here is my question. What can *I* do to get the word out to the people? I already record and upload all my cache finds on YouTube, no spoilers. I was thinking of maybe renting a room at the local community center and maybe having an "Introduction to GeoCaching" event where I can introduce this to the people of my area.

 

Anyone have any other ideas? I'm going to be running out of caches in the not too distant future and I'm enjoying this way too much to just let it die.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

MULLY

 

I'm not plugging my YouTube channel but if you're interested in seeing any of my videos here is the link

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/warmothstrat

 

In the event you go there, I have the GeoCaches separated into a playlist so click on the playlist option to find them easier.

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

Hey, guys, I'm in a unique situation here. I live in Shizuoka, Japan. It's not the middle of nowhere, but at the same time, it's not Tokyo or Osaka. I'm looking at the map of my area, where all the caches are hidden, and coming to realize that at the pace I'm going now, pretty much every weekend, I will run out of caches to find before spring.

 

In my opinion, I think GeoCaching would appeal to a lot of people.....if they just knew about it. So, here is my question. What can *I* do to get the word out to the people? I already record and upload all my cache finds on YouTube, no spoilers. I was thinking of maybe renting a room at the local community center and maybe having an "Introduction to GeoCaching" event where I can introduce this to the people of my area.

 

Anyone have any other ideas? I'm going to be running out of caches in the not too distant future and I'm enjoying this way too much to just let it die.

 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

MULLY

 

I'm not plugging my YouTube channel but if you're interested in seeing any of my videos here is the link

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/warmothstrat

 

In the event you go there, I have the GeoCaches separated into a playlist so click on the playlist option to find them easier.

 

Place a really tough find with decent money inside (you were going to rent a room anyway, right?) Place a few less difficult nearby. Get the word out that there is cash in a cache. It may be enough to draw-in some newbies. Or some on this forum may be willing to send you their newbies.

Edited September 29, 2011 by Sharks-N-Beans

[+BlueDeuce]

When I first heard about geocaching I was in, completely. I couldn't contain my excitement. I spread the word and found out that hardly anyone was even slightly interested other than asking what it was. "Oh, I see".

 

My advice to to put the word out and see who responds, those are the ones you give the 101 training.

[+JeepFreak81]

When I first heard about/read about it I had the same reaction as those in BlueDeuce's post "Oh, I see". But when I read a bit further and began to understand it, I was like....hmm this might be fun and a good excuse to get outside. After I found my first cache....me and the family were hoooked!!!!! I'm always planning what caches to look for on my next day off

[AZcachemeister]

Many cachers (even here in the USA) are in the same situation. Few local cachers, and not that many caches to find.

 

It is your destiny to hide some quality caches in your area, and thus become the local caching overlord and guru.

There is no escaping your fate.

As the locals see your interest in putting out your amazingly innovative caches at highly interesting locations, they will begin to awaken...and follow suit. The word will spread of it's own accord.

 

Or, you could just sit around the kotatsu, and whine about the situation.

[knowschad]

I can understand your dilemma, particularly regarding the number of possible finds, but in general, I am not a fan of trying to popularize geocaching. Those that should be involved in it will hear about it and will take an interest and will do the necessary research and learning needed. Those are the people that you really want to be involved in the activity. Those that you need to spoon feed will be those that hide lame caches and them abandon them as soon as they lose interest. Many caches is not the same as many good caches. Please note that this is from a guy that has hunted "for the numbers" but has learned that he is not a "for the numbers" guy. Many others would totally disagree with my opinion. I find it awesome that so many are wrong.

[+mullyman]

I can understand your dilemma, particularly regarding the number of possible finds, but in general, I am not a fan of trying to popularize geocaching. Those that should be involved in it will hear about it and will take an interest and will do the necessary research and learning needed. Those are the people that you really want to be involved in the activity. Those that you need to spoon feed will be those that hide lame caches and them abandon them as soon as they lose interest. Many caches is not the same as many good caches. Please note that this is from a guy that has hunted "for the numbers" but has learned that he is not a "for the numbers" guy. Many others would totally disagree with my opinion. I find it awesome that so many are wrong.

 

Thanks for this. I'm not a for the numbers type either, I just enjoy doing it so much that once these run out, I'm screwed. There are a few hurdles to what you said though. Biggest one being the language barrier. There isn't a GeoCaching.com page in Japanese so that right there will discourage a LOT of Japanese people from getting involved. There's so little information out there in Japanese that the Field of Dreams "build it and he will come" method really won't work. And so few Cachers that the word doesn't get spread. I agree, I don't want to get a bunch of people into this that are just going to drop it, but we gotta get more people involved.

 

Anyway, I'll carry the torch over here and see what can be done. I also agree with whoever said I should drop a lot of good, quality caches. It will attract outsiders and hopefully they'll drop caches while they're here.

 

Thanks for the input, guys.

MULLY

[+EdrickV]

While the website may not have a Japanese language version yet, there are Japanese language brochures:

http://www.geocaching.com/tools/default.aspx#Guide

 

While I don't know how things are in Japan, I do know that a local county park system that allows Geocaching in certain parks also promotes it a bit by having info on it on their website and I think a Geocaching event even showed up in a city event list. Don't know exactly how well all that may work here, much less over there, though.

[+mullyman]

While the website may not have a Japanese language version yet, there are Japanese language brochures:

http://www.geocaching.com/tools/default.aspx#Guide

 

While I don't know how things are in Japan, I do know that a local county park system that allows Geocaching in certain parks also promotes it a bit by having info on it on their website and I think a Geocaching event even showed up in a city event list. Don't know exactly how well all that may work here, much less over there, though.

 

Wow, thanks so much for that link. That is getting printed out and hung up on the bulletin board at my school with a memo to contact "Jim Sensei" if they are interested in learning more. haha!!

Thanks again for this,

MULLY