Event Management

[+BlueDeuce]

My experiences so far.

 

Planned an event at a restaurant that had a buffet. I told them ahead of time that we were coming so there were no surprises, probably twenty people (I'm thinking they would know to add a little extra to the buffet). I walk in with nine people and they say "Oh, with twenty planned we have to put you in the banquet room with you own buffet and a dedicated waitress".

 

Oh no.

 

Fortunately a half an hour later 17 more cachers showed up almost the same time.

 

Whew!

 

Another event at another place, 35 cachers planned to attend so I get the banquet room. 75 cachers show up and suddenly the place can only get one cook in that day and they still have to serve the regular Saturday night crowd as well. It took hours for everyone to get food

 

Another event at a pavilion, Potluck. I bring a main dish - sloppy joes and everyone else brings whatever. That worked pretty well.

 

What is the best way to feed people?

[+giddeanx]

Wow! Its hard to plan any event if you can't get good final numbers. The potluck idea is a good one as long as most of the people bring a dish. Are the events usually that unpredictable sounds like a pain. I wonder if there is a way to get better numbers like a notice to contact you to guarantee a seat. Coordinates to a mystery cache if you RSVP?

[+funkymunkyzone]

We've put on a few reasonable sized events and gone down the potluck avenue. We've usually gone with the plan that we organise a bunch of food ourselves, and ask people to bring something if they can. So far that has worked out. Using a restaurant/bar it's always a bit of a gamble, so when we've used those venues, we usually go for more of a bar that has decent food, rather than a restaurant that needed to be booked.

[+ngrrfan]

Another event at a pavilion, Potluck. I bring a main dish - sloppy joes and everyone else brings whatever. That worked pretty well.

 

What is the best way to feed people?

The majority of our events here are potluck. The organizer will get a couple of others and they foot the bill for the main dish, hot dogs, burgers, sloppy joes, and buns, and the rest is up to the attendees to bring. When they post a "Will attend" they say what they will bring. We've never lacked for anything.

 

An event held in a food joint is usually held at a fast food place and everyone purchases their own food. The most receptive for this have been Culver's.

[+T.D.M.22]

I've only been to one major event with food (More than 20 people)

 

The started out year one with a couple people at midnight, then year two 10 or so, so they decided to make it an official event for year three. The organizer figured 15-20 people and booked the restaurant's back room a couple months before. Then when everyone logged a will attend within a week or so he had to phone in and re-confirm the amount of people. It ended up being at least 50, as high as 80 people. At midnight. Luckily the owner was able to help, but they learned from that. I held a halloween event there with 20-30 people and the brought a waitress in just for us. I am running the big event this year, and am telling them to expect at least 50 people, not all eating. We are also telling them if they want food show up a half hour early to not overwhelm the kitchen staff.

 

Thing I've noticed that work for other events; BBQ dogs and pre-cooked burgers. Fast, easy, and everyone likes them. The thing is that depending on the size you might need a permit form the health inspector, meaning you need someone certified in food safety. No problem for us, as we have a owner of burger place.

 

Something else could be hotdogs/smokies on a fire. You won't hae too much food cooked, and you don't have to worry about cooking except for yourself. The negative is that this only works for smaller groups, or groups with a whole afternoon planned for the event.

[+The_Incredibles_]

I've hosted many events but never experienced such a surprising turnout as you had. Usually there are some people that no-show and others that show up unexpectedly so overall I've gotten about the same number of people I expected. I think maybe the wording of your events needs to be stronger. Don't be afraid to let people know you've made certain arrangements or can only accommodate so many people. Maybe try warning them that you'll have to close RSVPs 1 week ahead of time (although I found even if you do that, you STILL get people RSVPing last minute, but I think it helps).

 

As for the best way to feed people, I vote for potlucks. We've done a couple of outdoor potluck+weiner roasts which worked out very nicely. The location we had was perfect, in that there were lots of picnic tables so it could easily have accommodated more people. It also had a shelter in case of rain and didn't have to be booked ahead of time or paid for. Plus ample parking and washrooms. I asked people to state in their RSVPs what they'd be bringing. This helps people decide what to bring. It was amazing the variety we got. Also it was amazing how much food people left and we, as the hosts, got to take home.

 

With the wiener roast part of the event, I've done this a few times, basically I ask people to bring their own meat, then I supply the roasting sticks, a variety of buns and condiments, plates, cups, utensils, napkins. I've found even these things which I promised to take care of, people will often bring their own.

Edited June 28, 2013 by The_Incredibles_

[+J the Goat]

Potluck works the best in my experience. The problem I see with events at food type establishments is that, although there is no requirement to buy food, folks feel pressured to pay for dinner if they're at an eatery. A fast food place, you can get away with a soda or a dollar item. At actual restaurants that's not usually the case. A bar/pub would probably work out okay, as you can still just grab a soda or a beer and just sit and visit, it's more the atmosphere of the place.

 

Potluck still gets my vote

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

I have hosted a variety of events with a variety of different food plans.

 

For my annual summer event, I have tried:

 

1) Pot luck (what you brought was based on the first letter of your caching name: eg A-F brought snack, G-M brought main dish, etc). Did this for two years and it worked pretty well, but there was always way too much food.

2) I bought the food (burgers, hot dogs, watermelon, etc) and asked for donations. This also worked, but I was stuck at the grill the whole time. I couldn't socialize.

3) The last two years I changed the time to be a late afternoon event, and brought snack foods (chips, veggie platter, dips) and soda, and asked for a donation. This worked very well. Having the event later in the day made it a "post cache day" gathering, and donations usually covered my expenses. And I wasn't stuck behind a hot grill for 4 hours!

4) This year I am doing the same thing, but I am going to have the grills at the event site fired up, allowing people to cook their own food if they want (BYO). I just tried this on my paddle event, and it worked very well.

 

For my annual January event (indoors), I have found locations that will let us have a section of the bar to ourselves, and they provide a short menu for us to order off (burger, chicken, salad, wings, fish sandwich). Everyone pays their own tab. I pick a slow weekend (usually between last football playoff and Superbowl) so the bar is not as busy (and Newport in January is not a busy season anyway). These events draw 60-75 people, and has worked very well.

[+suchanana]

BYOB - buy your own breakfast works well in NW Ohio -WaffleStompers VIII ... some only want a coffee and that works...

 

the_Bearclaws has started a Waffles Stompers Breakfast event,Original WSB designed to take place on slow weekend mornings in a small town nearby to meet cachers from the far corners of our area, then cache our way back home... weather bad? we arrange for more local restaurants near xways that get cleared !...eateries have loved the extra traffic and provide additional help to compensate, as they'd like us back...WaffleStompers VII

 

wearing our Waffle Stompers, these events got so well attended that we lost the small time chat effect, so our CO went back and started an offshoot non-event - more like a flash breakfast meet n eat - name the time and place you'll be somewhere for breakfast and see whoever can show up - just for fun and geo-camaraderie...

 

if you'd like to apply for a Waffle Stompers franchise, please contact "the Bearclaws" ...each event is sponsored by a different cacher - next is WSB #9 - c'mon, join us !!

[+Cache O'Plenty]

We have a monthly meeting that has now run for 81 months (yep, almost 7 years). They have almost all been at restaurants that have an outside patio, which we reserve. We've gone through at least four different restaurants. Some have closed and we'd move to a different one nearby. Then the original one reopened under another name. We had problems with only one restaurant that had a back room instead of a patio. They really didn't want to be bothered with our group (major chain restaurant). We find the pizza and/or Mexican restaurants to have the best record.

 

One thing we have realized is that the best for food is "no waiters". You order your food in line and then pick it up (fast food format). Waiters/Waitresses just can't seem to handle the sudden onslaught.

 

We have a rather consistent number of attendees. That surely helps.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

BYOB - buy your own breakfast works well in NW Ohio -WaffleStompers VIII ... some only want a coffee and that works...

 

I have never hosted an event but it seems to me that an option is, as this suggest, not to attempt to make any plans on feeding attendees.

 

I think most geocachers are smart enough to figure out that if "food is not provided" to eat before, after, or find some way to obtain food on their own during the event.

 

 

[+Walts Hunting]

We have a monthly meeting that has now run for 81 months (yep, almost 7 years). They have almost all been at restaurants that have an outside patio, which we reserve. We've gone through at least four different restaurants. Some have closed and we'd move to a different one nearby. Then the original one reopened under another name. We had problems with only one restaurant that had a back room instead of a patio. They really didn't want to be bothered with our group (major chain restaurant). We find the pizza and/or Mexican restaurants to have the best record.

 

One thing we have realized is that the best for food is "no waiters". You order your food in line and then pick it up (fast food format). Waiters/Waitresses just can't seem to handle the sudden onslaught.

 

We have a rather consistent number of attendees. That surely helps.

 

I agree on two of his points. PIzza works great. They can pump those out quickly and there is minimul need for wait staff. No waiters buffet or order and get at counter work great. Trying to guess how many will attend in a sit down wait environment sets you up for problems. Don't even get into the "tip added for groups over eight" thing when you have wait staff.

[+The_Incredibles_]

BYOB - buy your own breakfast works well in NW Ohio -WaffleStompers VIII

 

ROFL. When I first read this I thought it said 'Bring your own breakfast'. I was like, what kind of event is that?

[+suchanana]

originally posted about our newest event innovation - WaffleSTompersGeoBreakfastEvents...

 

i didn't mean to not include that our NWOGEO monthly meet n eats that are at a local fast food deli/restaurant on an evening usually slow for them - tuesdays - where the walk up, order and get your own food works for us...

 

then there's our annual large events ie: Spring Fling and Winter Holiday Shindig are both 10 year old potluck events...

so far, no one has ever gone away hungry or without a whole smoosh of new smileys acquired during the event !!!