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how do i throw a good geocaching event


pvtplt172

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So I attended the maker madness event near me and it was awesome. :) Let me tell you I had a huge blast. after the amazing time i had at this event and meeting other cachers it made me want to throw a geocaching lunch event. I wanted some advice on how to do this and make it very successful so that I could possibly do this once a year. any advice ?

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Most of the lunch (and dinner) events I've attended have been at restaurants where everyone could order at the counter separately. One exception was a sit-down restaurant that let us reserve a room, and prepared separate checks for everyone. A few others have been pot-luck events at a park or community center.

 

Some restaurants charge a deposit, which is refunded if the group orders enough food, so make sure everyone mentions that they're there for the geocaching event. If there's a reservation fee for a park or community center, then you can put out an ammo can for donations, and most people will chip in.

 

Don't over-plan the event, especially a weekday lunch event where people want to eat lunch, visit with other geocachers, and get back to work. But even for dinner events and weekend events where there is less time pressure, be sure to leave plenty of unstructured time for everyone to just visit.

 

Flexible ice-breaker games like geocacher bingo work well. If you have a raffle, then don't let it drag on too long. If you have enough prizes for everyone, then just give out door prizes instead of holding a raffle. Completed score cards for geocacher bingo work nicely as raffle tickets; just have people write their own name on the top of their score card.

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niraD's pretty much got it. A good event should probably have food and drink, even if it's at the donut shop. What do you want to accomplish is the question...You could do supper(I cache with people who are not usually available for lunch events) at a family restaurant or beer and wings for the big kids. An event isn't about prizes, and to be honest most events I do don't have any, unless it's a special occasion. But you could have an ammo can, some coins, or other caching stuff. Some toys or other kid friendly prizes as well. One event I attended had some reflective markers outside with a coin hidden near one. Last year they had 5 or 6 different co-ords written in UV ink, and you had to use a black light to find them. One of the co-ords had a coin at them. Another event had someone hide a bison tube and coin somewhere where they where all meeting. It get's people up and moving around and the kids love it. The family restaurant has the advantage of having the kids able to come, but the bar events have the advantage of being able to stay as long as you want, and possibly see some funny people act even funnier...

 

There was an even guide type thing out there at one time. But it pretty much said food and drink of some type was needed, everything else was optional. Even if there aren't games or anything like that there will be stories, "did you find XYZ cache" and other geocaching talk, and that style is great for those events where everyone knows everyone else already....

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Crashing the thread here. What is an appropriate timeframe to schedule an event. Obviously enough time for reviewers to do their thing. A week? Two? A month?

 

A relevant snippet from the Guidelines:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx

 

Events must be submitted at least two weeks prior to the event date. Events are usually published no more than three months prior to the event date. Events may be published up to six months prior if an overnight stay is expected by attendees or if the event is designed to attract geocachers from beyond the local area. After an event has occurred, the listing is to be archived by the geocache owner.

 

Help Center → Community → Calendars and Events (regular, mega, CITO)

 

4.8. Event Cache Guidelines

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=454

 

 

B.

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