New souvenir: "The Maker Event"

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

This potentially good idea has been rushed and thrown out without enough thought or time.

 

I'm sure that there will be many good or even great events but I fear that many will be little more than an excuse for another smilie and a new "maker" souvenir. for instance one listed as a flash mob that as a throwaway comment says if you have any interesting caches bring them along. Hardly making a big thing about excellence and improving the overall quality.

 

Why are good ideas not developed properly? it would have been so easy to make the criteria for holding one a bit more stringent and allowed them to happen all over the summer. not let people publish one purely for the icon make them MAKE a good event.

 

It's a shame.

I see a monthly trend going on. If you blink, it's too late, but a new theme may be right around the corner. I see a few Maker events in the area that are organized by COs that I'm sure will hold a great event. I too am a planner. I spent February making a great I <3 GC in my head knowing that I would never get around to getting it done. Just think of it as a lightning round thing for which some of us are not well suited.

[Jayme H]

it would have been so easy to make the criteria for holding one a bit more stringent and allowed them to happen all over the summer.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

I would LOVE to see more events that encourage creative cache hiding, as well. Hopefully, hiding experts will be newly inspired to pass on their amazing knowledge to the community, year round - whether there is a souvenir or not.

[+thebruce0]

^--- That.

[+tozainamboku]

^--- That.

Sorta.

 

I'm pretty sure that given the guidelines, most Maker Events will be just ordinary events for people to get a souvenir. But there will probably be a few where the event organizers will find some way to recognize people who hide creative caches. Some of these will get reported, either here in the forum or, more likely, in the Geocaching.com blog. Then other people may adopt some of these ideas and hold events to thank cache makers and encourage more creative hides all year long (not just in March).

 

I don't care that some people will get a souvenir for eating pizza or just showing up to chat with other geocachers. As far as I'm concerned, points don't matter in Geocaching, so I find it amusing to see how people can get so concerned over someone getting a souvenir for something they feel doesn't merit one. Almost as amusing as seeing people get worked up over getting souvenirs they don't want, or getting worked up over having some caches count one way but not another.

 

What I see here is Groundspeak using the mechanisms they have with souvenirs and lab caches to encourage geocachers to try out various ideas and then to use social media to inform the rest of us of the good ideas that may come out of this. It will be up to geocachers to take these ideas and use them for their own events and caches. I am also sure that if you have ideas when there isn't a special promotion, you can till share them here. I'll even point out that the old canard that Groundspeak doesn't care what is written in the forum has lost credibility given the recent posts from JaymeH and Moun10Bike.

[+T.D.M.22]

 

...As far as I'm concerned, points don't matter in Geocaching...

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

 

But come to think of it, isn't that it? Since there's no right way to play the game, and everything's pretty much made up here....

 

And yes I agree that we can't say they don't care what happens here. I mentioned that-or something to that effect, a JaymeH had replied to me, and has been here quite often. Granted not as much some of us, but they are there.

Edited March 19, 2014 by T.D.M.22

[Mr.Yuck]

^--- That.

Sorta.

 

I don't care that some people will get a souvenir for eating pizza or just showing up to chat with other geocachers. As far as I'm concerned, points don't matter in Geocaching, so I find it amusing to see how people can get so concerned over someone getting a souvenir for something they feel doesn't merit one. Almost as amusing as seeing people get worked up over getting souvenirs they don't want, or getting worked up over having some caches count one way but not another.

 

 

Yeah, but a Flash Mob? In a thread "announcing" Maker Madness at another forum within a couple of days of the announcement, I joked about a Flash Mob maker's event. Someone wasn't really supposed to go out and do that.

 

Earlier I had mentioned I had seen one that has nothing whatsoever to do with maker madness. But I do not, by any means think this is a souvenir grab, but rather the event host "just not getting it". And I'm not going to link to it, but trust me, this event has NOTHING to do with maker madness.

 

I really have to say, it does take on the appearance of the concept being rushed out, not properly defined, and with not a stringent enough criteria for hosting one.

[+NeverSummer]

Don't the events have to pass muster to be considered an "official" Maker Madness event? I don't think that every single event in that timeframe will net cachers the souvenir.

 

But, how carefully is the Groundspeak staff looking over the submissions to vett them? Jayme?

[+fuzziebear3]

If you don't like it called 'Maker Madness', just translate that in your head to 'Creator Celebration', and all that angst can go away.

 

I am looking forward to the event I am going to. It is kinda open ended as to what exactly will be there, but here is what I am thinking:

It is in someone's backyard, and there is the opportunity to have food and friendships and geocaching chat. (That is the most standard part).

Additionally, we are all bringing and sharing supplies and ideas for caches and cache containers and any thing else.

I am taking and there will be other materials available such as paint and glue and tape, and other kinds of camo;

There will be assorted containers from raw film cans, lock and locks, ammo cans, as well as anything else interesting anyone is playing with --

I plan on also taking my incomplete cryptex to show and tell. I plan on taking the plans for my puzzle box that floated away;

I plan on taking my tools and materials that I use to make stamps for letterboxes -- I want to show people that it is not hard to carve;

I plan on taking my laminator, and some TBs that I am working on ...

 

Everyone else will surely bring their own ideas and even materials as well.

[Jayme H]

Don't the events have to pass muster to be considered an "official" Maker Madness event? I don't think that every single event in that timeframe will net cachers the souvenir.

 

But, how carefully is the Groundspeak staff looking over the submissions to vett them? Jayme?

One of our amazing Community Managers is in charge of approving each of the submitted events for Maker status - one person for over 950 submitted, so far. Not every event that gets submitted gets approved and we've had a few come through Appeals that we've had to take a second look at. We are thrilled at the amount of events that have applied for Maker status and that the global community is excited to recognize the hider side of the game.

 

There was an initial discussion about whether to let flash mobs participate in this...the outcome of that discussion was that it would be very hard to police them for this particular idea and that there could be some creative uses of that concept:

• A geocaching community wants to show up at a popular "Maker's" workplace and throw a mini thank you celebration to promote them sharing their skills with the community.
  
• One community wants to see how fast they can make a well camoed geocache...everybody is bringing supplies and they are all going to work together to create a new, creative geocache.
  

We recognize that not all communities that are holding flash mobs (or a typical event, for that matter) for their Maker events will be this creative and/or get together with the intention that we have proposed. It is our hope that the excitement surrounding Maker Madness will help promote great discussion within the global community and bring a special awareness regarding those who enjoy hiding geocaches. Each geocacher attending an event has the opportunity to contribute to the discussion about quality hiding. We would love to empower each geocacher to bring their knowledge to the community about what makes a geocache special to them. We are seeing all kinds of events being submitted:

• meet & greets: where making geocaches will be discussed
  
• geo101 workshops: where community members will be exhibiting creative caches and instructing others on how to make them
  
• maker celebrations: where community members will recognize special hiders in their community that help improve the game for them
  

Maker Madness events come in all shapes and sizes...just like geocachers.

[+K13]

I saw one Maker Madness event that, by reading the page, the event seemed to be centered around making tacos. There was one line in the write-up about talking about caches, so I guess that is how little needs be added to qualify as a 'maker' event.

One I am very familiar with has the theme as its central purpose: Meet Your Maker Madness

[+-CJ-]

This was a long thread to get through it from the beginning to the end... have mercy next time please

 

There are three moments that sounded interested to me as we discussed them in our community.

 

First, that strage line about photos. Being not a native English speaker I could harldly understand what was meant by "Would you be interested in sharing photos and stories from your event with Geocaching HQ?". Was it a sort of request for sending photos/stories to Groundspeak? We're planning a rather small event indoors, no impressive photos to share. Since English is not our first language I seriously doubt that anyone will agree to write a story in English to be published on the website. Do they need our stories in Russian? Can't be. Or did Groundspeak request permission for publication of stories and photos that our fellow geocachers may attach to their "attended" logs? The most intriguing issue was that this answer was mandatory in their webform so I could not just omit it.

 

Second, since our meeting will be conducted in Russian language and for the Russian audience and its description is published in Russian too - I wonder how can Groundspeak judge whether our event is "in the spirit of Maker Madness" or not? Do you read Russian fluently enough? I noticed the same question raised by Finnish cachers recently.

 

Third, "a creative cache" may have different meanings in different geocaching communities. You might be surprised if I tell you that a LPC would be a highly creative hide around here. Why? Because lampposts in Russia do not have those nice skirts that I can see on many photos publised at this website. Actually, I've never met an LPC here. Moreover, those well-known metal nano containers seemed really creative only a year ago. Why? Because they are not sold here and very few enthusiasts have purchased them from online shops, mostly from German ones. Thus, we understood the idea of a "Maker" event as a "Cache Author" (Cache Owner, Cache Creator, etc.) event.

Edited March 24, 2014 by -CJ-

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

Second, since our meeting will be conducted in Russian language and for the Russian audience and its description is published in Russian too - I wonder how can Groundspeak judge whether our event is "in the spirit of Maker Madness" or not? Do you read Russian fluently enough? I noticed the same question raised by Finnish cachers recently.

I assume that would be fairly easy. Please respond with a hypothetical short paragraph for a hypothetical Maker Event and I will give it a try.

[cezanne]

Second, since our meeting will be conducted in Russian language and for the Russian audience and its description is published in Russian too - I wonder how can Groundspeak judge whether our event is "in the spirit of Maker Madness" or not? Do you read Russian fluently enough? I noticed the same question raised by Finnish cachers recently.

I assume that would be fairly easy. Please respond with a hypothetical short paragraph for a hypothetical Maker Event and I will give it a try.

 

Just take the Russian part of CJ's event description only and ignore the English version.

 

Cezanne

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

Second, since our meeting will be conducted in Russian language and for the Russian audience and its description is published in Russian too - I wonder how can Groundspeak judge whether our event is "in the spirit of Maker Madness" or not? Do you read Russian fluently enough? I noticed the same question raised by Finnish cachers recently.

I assume that would be fairly easy. Please respond with a hypothetical short paragraph for a hypothetical Maker Event and I will give it a try.

 

Just take the Russian part of CJ's event description only and ignore the English version.

 

Cezanne

Thanks Cezanne. I only saw the St. Petersburg event on the map and it is in English. It was pretty easy to get Google to supply the following translation. I identified the part in bold relating to the event requirement.

A great chance to see how create geokeshi abroad to discuss and share their experiences. In such a short time, we will not have time to get acquainted with all the stuff even for this country, so that we regard as the first meeting of its kind. Like it - do more.

 

I like the comment regarding doing more such events if the attendees like it.

[+-CJ-]

I added the English translation yesterday so the event to be approved easier. I already see it on the map, great!

 

Frankly, I didn't even think about using Google Translate to evaluate anyone's texts When I heard of a published event to be approved as a MM event I thought that this could be similar to the procedure of approval of a new geocache. Our reviewer knows Russian language however. His decisions have been based on the guidelines, not "spirit". When I read here about some listings being not approved and going to the appeals things became even more confusing

Edited March 25, 2014 by -CJ-

[+flyfshrgrl]

I hosted a Maker Madness Event. I registered it; it's on page 6 on the bookmark list. All attendees logged the event. I have archived the Event. However, none of us has received our Souvenir. Is there something else that needs to be done? Thanks for the help.

[Moun10Bike]

I hosted a Maker Madness Event. I registered it; it's on page 6 on the bookmark list. All attendees logged the event. I have archived the Event. However, none of us has received our Souvenir. Is there something else that needs to be done? Thanks for the help.

 

This should be corrected now.

[+jellis]

I went to one of the events and got my souvenir. Also bought two Maker Madness Geocoins prior to the event and gave one to Event hostess for putting the event on.

[+terratin]

We have our event tomorrow, with a barbecue on a beach. I first wanted to host this event but was down with a really bad cold for almost two weeks So, since yesterday I'm having a cold again, the second within 4 weeks. We'll see tomorrow if we're going or not.

[+Gealabhan]

I attend a Maker Madness event but did not get my souvenir. My fellow geocacher BerkeleyBoomers received his. The event has now been archived. How do I get the souvenir? Thanks!

[+TriciaG]

I attended a Maker Madness event. Well, it was a regular monthly event approved as a Maker Madness event. The only "maker" thing that happened officially was that someone added up and announced how many caches had been made by the attendees. Perhaps some of the tables talked about making caches while munching on their breakfast, but I didn't hear any. At our table it was more about the 30-something caches that had been placed and published right before the event.

 

But I got the souvenir. Yay! I guess.

Edited April 7, 2014 by TriciaG

[+flyfshrgrl]

I hosted a Maker Madness Event. I registered it; it's on page 6 on the bookmark list. All attendees logged the event. I have archived the Event. However, none of us has received our Souvenir. Is there something else that needs to be done? Thanks for the help.

 

This should be corrected now.

 

Thank you! It has!

[+thebruce0]

The event I attended was run by a guy who loves and creates night caches. He signed out a local Maker space where a few others were building things, and took us on a tour of the tools (including a 3D printer) and materials people use for creating..pretty much anything they want to. He (and a few others) brought in some very creative caches that were built with DIY methods, and really helped show how you can be super creative, and even make high quality stuff (well, geocaches in this case) if you put your mind to it. Maker spaces are public-use places, typically with a monthly 'membership' fee to give you access to use and cover some cost of the tools and some materials.

 

Ours wasn't a hands-on event, we didn't make anything ourselves, but there were many who never knew these types of places exist; and these are creative types. So in the end, everyone's eyes were at least slightly opened, with some ideas and creative inspiration given care of this event. Will it produce any fruit? Who knows. I'd be surprised if not one person produces anything inspired in some way from the event.

 

"Maker Madness" theme wasn't the problem.

The events just require hosts who make use of the theme to host an event that is actually interesting and related to the theme in some way. Don't attend an event run by someone who's just doing it for the souvenir. Don't perpetuate that mentality by supporting it. Just like in caching - put out caches you yourself enjoy if you want to see your local cache landscape fall away from LPCs

[+NeverSummer]

I attended a Maker Madness event. Well, it was a regular monthly event approved as a Maker Madness event. The only "maker" thing that happened officially was that someone added up and announced how many caches had been made by the attendees. Perhaps some of the tables talked about making caches while munching on their breakfast, but I didn't hear any. At our table it was more about the 30-something caches that had been placed and published right before the event.

 

But I got the souvenir. Yay! I guess.

It was a fun idea, in theory. Without any real way to "police" what happened at the actual events, they were what they were. I'll guess that the desired impact was made, however. Most people were reading about this via the Blog or seeing the events published--making them possibly ask, "What's this Maker Madness thing really all about?" And that much raises awareness about how people who place caches matter, and quality caches matter, and interesting cache containters or hide types are neat...etc.

 

But I can't say that I'm not disappointed that things like 15-minute flash mobs were approved as "Maker" events.

Edited April 8, 2014 by NeverSummer

[BlueRajah]

I went to two. One was a simple get together. The other was 3 hours long. They had breakouts where people talked to an Earthcache reviewer about how to make EarthCaches. A letterbox geocacher showed her caches, and how to carve the stamps, along with the material for people to carve their owner. Creative caches were gathered by the owners and displayed for the event (after disabling them). One guy was not able to come that was going to speak on Wherigo caches. The host had camo materials and people made some cool camouflaged small cache containers. Coins were on display. It was a well done event. I am guessing people will get some great ideas.

[+thebruce0]

...along with the material for people to carve their owner.

 

[+terratin]

I went to two. One was a simple get together. The other was 3 hours long. They had breakouts where people talked to an Earthcache reviewer about how to make EarthCaches. A letterbox geocacher showed her caches, and how to carve the stamps,

 

Wow, sounds like a great event!

I tried carving a stamp for a letterbox a while ago, from a rubber but found out I'm too double-lefthanded. So I ended up buying a custom stamp

[+The_Incredibles_]

Our Maker event went well.

 

It started with one cacher giving a talk about the guidelines. Then we did a bunch of demos of different camouflage techniques. A couple of people got right into and, using the materials provided, created caches which they will be hiding soon.

[Moun10Bike]

I attend a Maker Madness event but did not get my souvenir. My fellow geocacher BerkeleyBoomers received his. The event has now been archived. How do I get the souvenir? Thanks!

 

Try deleting your log and re-logging.

[+redsox_mark]

I went to one Maker Event.

 

It was excellent! The event owner encouraged attendees to bring in custom containers and there was a contest where you could vote for your favourite. I was very impressed with the variety of clever containers which were on display.