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How was Geowoodstock 14?


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I liked the event overall, but I must admit that there were some deficiencies as well.

 

The Bad:

 

1) Registration could have been a LOT better. Now, I worked registration and I can tell you it was a very stressful time. Instead of having packets already filled just to give to people, they had an assembly line of sorts where people picked up what they bought as a package, one piece at a time. It slowed things down a lot. Another person and I worked the line, passing out name tags and it took us a while to get them because we had to search for each one. At least each letter was banded together on its own.

 

Also on the subject of registration, they did not make it plainly known that free or walk-up registrations did not get a printed name tag, so we had a lot of those attendees wait a long time in line, only to be told that they needed to be in another line. Guess who got yelled at about it?

 

2) If you didn't read the Facebook page or website, you mostly had no clue about any kind of schedule unless you had a paid registration that included the complimentary program produced by FTF Geocacher magazine. I didn't see any signs detailing activities.

 

3) On the previous subject, the entire event seemed fairly disorganized.

 

4) No discussion forum. The organizers said that the Facebook page was the place to communicate, but user posts had to be approved and almost all were not. This meant that people had to ask unrelated questions in topics posted by the event. Either set up a forum or allow people to freely post.

 

5) LONG lines for the food trucks. Now, this was not the fault of the Geowoodstock organizers. I know some trucks bailed out on them. All of this meant trucks were running out of food to sell.

 

6) Some of the Geowoodstock-sponsored side events. Some, especially the Microbrew event, had horrendous parking. Given the crowds that come to Geowoodstock, having events in locations that obviously could not handle the crowd parking-wise was an oversight.

 

The Good:

 

1) The swag was pretty awesome. The event coins were HUGE. Loved the real backpacks we got.

 

2) People were very friendly overall. They made people feel very welcome.

 

3) The location was pretty nice. I liked the way they did the VIP area. It was nicely done.

 

4) I liked how they showcased much of the better things about Colorado.

 

5) While the parking might have been a headache at times, some of the spots were awesome locations.

 

Overall, I am glad I went. I had a lot of fun. While I have attended better Geowoodstock events and some of the things this time could have been done better, it was still a generally decent event.

Edited by Arthur & Trillian
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I liked the event overall, but I must admit that there were some deficiencies as well.

 

The Bad:

 

1) Registration could have been a LOT better. Now, I worked registration and I can tell you it was a very stressful time. Instead of having packets already filled just to give to people, they had an assembly line of sorts where people picked up what they bought as a package, one piece at a time. It slowed things down a lot. Another person and I worked the line, passing out name tags and it took us a while to get them because we had to search for each one. At least each letter was banded together on its own.

 

Also on the subject of registration, they did not make it plainly known that free or walk-up registrations did not get a printed name tag, so we had a lot of those attendees wait a long time in line, only to be told that they needed to be in another line. Guess who got yelled at about it?

 

2) If you didn't read the Facebook page or website, you mostly had no clue about any kind of schedule unless you had a paid registration that included the complimentary program produced by FTF Geocacher magazine. I didn't see any signs detailing activities.

 

3) No discussion forum. The organizers said that the Facebook page was the place to communicate, but user posts had to be approved and almost all were not. This meant that people had to ask unrelated questions in topics posted by the event. Either set up a forum or allow people to freely post.

 

4) On the previous subject, the entire event seemed fairly disorganized.

 

5) LONG lines for the food trucks. Now, this was not the fault of the Geowoodstock organizers. I know some trucks bailed out on them. All of this meant trucks were running out of food to sell.

 

6) Some of the Geowoodstock-sponsored side events. Some, especially the Microbrew event, had horrendous parking. Given the crowds that come to Geowoodstock, having events in locations that obviously could not handle the crowd parking-wise was an oversight.

 

The Good:

 

1) The swag was pretty awesome. The event coins were HUGE. Loved the real backpacks we got.

 

2) People were very friendly overall. They made people feel very welcome.

 

3) The location was pretty nice. I liked the way they did the VIP area. It was nicely done.

 

4) I liked how they showcased much of the better things about Colorado.

 

5) While the parking might have been a headache at times, some of the spots were awesome locations.

 

Overall, I am glad I went. I had a lot of fun. While I have attended better Geowoodstock events and some of the things this time could have been done better, it was still a generally decent event.

Thanks for the detailed response. I'm sure your towel got you through it.

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This was the first GeoWoodstock where JoGPS wasn't there. That was odd, and a bit emotional for those who knew Joe well, as I did. I was very happy to see how Joe's memory was honored, in everything from having his face on the "play money" for the meal tickets, to Monkeybrad's emotional and heartfelt tribute speech at the closing ceremonies. Joe was there in spirit, each time I saw someone having fun. More so if they knew him.

 

I did see the long lines for registration and food. Since I didn't register or purchase anything, and I'm a light eater, this didn't affect me. I spent my entire day talking to people, which is what events are all about. Two hours of that were formal -- I coordinated the Q&A session on challenge caches, and participated in the general reviewer Q&A session. Both were fun, but sparsely attended -- perhaps due to the schedule not being widely available.

 

In 2004, on the day after GeoWoodstock 2, JoGPS took me and a friend on a 24 hour cache run to set the world's record for most finds in a day (240, back before the days of power trails). At GeoWoodstock 14, I logged one geocache on the day of the event: the event listing. But my find count for people was through the roof.

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I was very happy to see how Joe's memory was honored, in everything from having his face on the "play money" for the meal tickets, to Monkeybrad's emotional and heartfelt tribute speech at the closing ceremonies.

 

Don't forget that one of the Lab Caches as well!

 

Pro: the dozen or so new caches that came out the day of the event, on the event grounds.

 

I loved the new caches! I know some complained about them not being exactly publicized, but what can you do, I guess...

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Another cacher reminded me of another thing about GW14er that left a lot to be desired:

 

7) People not receiving the items they paid for in advance. It wasn't just one or two people, either. Here's an excerpt from a couple attended logs:

 

"I wouldn’t change anything about my trip except the end time...and your registration process. Both XXXXXXXXX and I didn't expect our items that we paid for in advance to not be there for us, no matter what time we were to have arrived. I understand the day didn't go as planned for everyone. But as a paid customer we shouldn't have to get attitude from your volunteers when we get angry after we're told we can only get one size shirt or nothing at all."

 

"When we did arrive at 2PM, which is NOT that late, we (XXXXXXX and I) had found out that most of the stuff that we registered for was GONE or SOLD already. What the hell? I registered for this event 10/12/2015, WAYYYY ahead of the event. I spent $80 for the Base Climber package. XXXXXXX registered for both of us in January 201, again WAAYYY ahead of the event. We got ONE coin out of the 3 that were purchased. Yep, only one. We were told that the others had been sold. Who the heck does that? We got our t-shirts and a few other small items, but out of 3 registrations, NONE of them were 100% complete. I am very disappointed. I do realize that things happen and we did hear that people didn't show up to fill the registration bags and some of the vendors didn't show up, but come on...when we cachers pay good money for stuff, we fully expect to get it."

 

I'm sorry, but this is just unacceptable. You take care of people who pre-ordered first and THEN deal with the rest.

Edited by Arthur & Trillian
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This was the first GeoWoodstock where JoGPS wasn't there. That was odd, and a bit emotional for those who knew Joe well, as I did. I was very happy to see how Joe's memory was honored, in everything from having his face on the "play money" for the meal tickets, to Monkeybrad's emotional and heartfelt tribute speech at the closing ceremonies. Joe was there in spirit, each time I saw someone having fun. More so if they knew him.

 

I did see the long lines for registration and food. Since I didn't register or purchase anything, and I'm a light eater, this didn't affect me. I spent my entire day talking to people, which is what events are all about. Two hours of that were formal -- I coordinated the Q&A session on challenge caches, and participated in the general reviewer Q&A session. Both were fun, but sparsely attended -- perhaps due to the schedule not being widely available.

 

In 2004, on the day after GeoWoodstock 2, JoGPS took me and a friend on a 24 hour cache run to set the world's record for most finds in a day (240, back before the days of power trails). At GeoWoodstock 14, I logged one geocache on the day of the event: the event listing. But my find count for people was through the roof.

 

I would have enjoyed this, HAD I KNOWN. As others have stated, the lack of information about the event schedule was a real shortcoming of the hosts..

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Pro: the dozen or so new caches that came out the day of the event, on the event grounds.

 

I see that more as a Con: When there are a lot of caches created on the day of the event, participants spend time finding geocaching rather than socializing with other participants.

 

I realize mileage may vary, but I actually met a lot of people walking around getting the caches. I teamed up with one older gentleman because his batteries had died to grab a few of the traditions. I worked with another group to get the answers for the Earthcache. And at the end of the day it took a handful of strangers to figure out one of the gadget caches. I socialized more while grabbing the caches than I did just walking around the event itself.

Edited by igator210
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Look, anyone who serves in a volunteer organization understands traps in the people who we work with.

 

Yes, there were issues.

 

BUT, you know what, I give the organizers a huge free hall pass.

 

SoCal was in the house and we socialized and had a great time. More like an awesome time.

 

Then, eight of us spent an memorable day in Colorado logging the oldest cache in Colorado, getting Tarryall birthday cake, and driving to the top of Pike's Peak for new elevation milestones, and another event!

 

It was all good.

 

Sincere thanks for those who got stuck with a thankless task.

 

Réd

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Not surprise at all of the negative reviews...I was treated bad by one of the guys from upcoming GW14 at Maryland. Because of that, thats one of the reasons I didnt go. :unsure:

 

For you GW14 people that was at Maryland, I read body language really well... maybe too well. There was a hint of disorganize. I wont go into details but I saw a few red flags.

 

Now I am really happy that I skip it this year.

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I heard by 2 or 3pm that the entire place was nearly vacant. Our gang left to go caching because I despise lines and there were no activities I had an interest in. I would never attend another GeoWoodstock unless it happen to be in my back yard.

Come to Asheville... I believe the GW5 team will be a big part of the upcoming GW15. These guys got experiences. They got the hotel discount info out, they are really on the roll and I am so surprise. Seriously! Thats a sign of an organize group. The last Geowoodstock I was at was last year in Maryland and there was no long lines and things really got done. I was told by a local cacher that they really did a lot work in the weeks before GW rolled into town. They really took pride of all the time they put into it.

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I heard by 2 or 3pm that the entire place was nearly vacant. Our gang left to go caching because I despise lines and there were no activities I had an interest in. I would never attend another GeoWoodstock unless it happen to be in my back yard.

Come to Asheville... I believe the GW5 team will be a big part of the upcoming GW15. These guys got experiences. They got the hotel discount info out, they are really on the roll and I am so surprise. Seriously! Thats a sign of an organize group. The last Geowoodstock I was at was last year in Maryland and there was no long lines and things really got done. I was told by a local cacher that they really did a lot work in the weeks before GW rolled into town. They really took pride of all the time they put into it.

 

I appreciate volunteerism as I volunteer myself. And I know "things happen" so not blaming any person. I was just more shocked that an event, that early on had a rumor of giga status, was emptied out by 2:30. I was expecting something much bigger.

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I went. We got pretty good parking. We had picked up our swag the day before, along with about 500 other people. The line was long, over an hour. Boy was I glad we didn't have to stand in the crazy long line at GW. I heard someone say GW14 didn't receive swag until the night before so they couldn't put together packets. I agree it was nice swag. The little FTF magazine that came with several random ephemera went into the magazine pile - several days later I found the event schedule. After we had perused the usual vendors (that area was crowded), found a few geocaches, worked on a few lab caches, and traded some pathtags, we were done. We might've stayed longer, but there was nowhere shady to sit. We weren't there long enough to get hungry. The food truck area was on the perimeter of things, I don't remember if they were running generators or something but it seemed like an uncomfortable area. Maybe the proximity to the port-a-potties? All we knew was that the raffle was at 3pm (or was it 4pm?) because the volunteers told us not to enter if we weren't going to be present. People don't want to stand/walk in the heat/sun for that long. I felt a little guilty leaving so soon after all the buildup, planning, and volunteer hours. There just wasn't enough to do to hang around for six hours.

 

Edit to say: The line could've been divided into A-G, H-Q, R-Z or such to make 3 smaller lines. The swag could've been handed out from both sides of the table...

Edited by tallglenn
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Edit to say: The line could've been divided into A-G, H-Q, R-Z or such to make 3 smaller lines. The swag could've been handed out from both sides of the table...

 

I attend and have served on the conference planning committee for quite a few technical conferences. It's typical for attendees to "sign in" at a registration desk, to get a name tag and other conference material (including swag). Even for conferences with as few as 200 people it's very common to see 3 or more lines sorted alphabetically. Many of these conference use professional conference management companies that know how to make things like registration and handling out conference material efficient and quick.

 

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Hey Colonial Cats, 1more and I talked about you while we were there. Sure miss you and hope you come to Asheville.

 

GeoWoodstock14 had many issues to included but not limited to:

 

Web page was not mobile friendly. Told they were working on it - never was fixed

No forums. Not everyone does FB.

Under used - information was limited and sporadic

 

FB - again under utilized. No open posting, post had to be approved which often they were not. Being open couldn't view all posts that were approved. As not everyone does FB not everyone does forums. People rely on both plus Twitter and the other social media outlets. As a result pre-event information was not up to par.

 

Picking up registration packets

VIP packets were not separated from others despite package stating VIP registration

1 line instead of multiple by name

Missing registrations

Poor choice of preevent pickup location

No preplanned contingency for weather

Giving away or selling registration items before the end of the event. Some "late" comers did not get what they paid for.

Face it how something begins sets the tone for anything and this had a terrible start.

 

Food

Designated area to congested to allow people to line up for food

IF all the trucks had showed up space would have mot be big enough to hold them.

Water vendors - No seperate beverage Bedford. There should have been multiple places to purchase water seperate from food vendors.

 

Parking

Field was to rough for many vehicles

 

Lab caches

With all of Denver's history Beer breweries for a family event - poor choice.

7 of 10 you had to drive around downtown Denver on a holiday weekend - poor choice

 

The FB statement telling people not to "sneak" into the event ground prior to the event rude beyond believe. It is common practice to visit the event site a day or two prior to find the on site caches then visit during the event itself.

 

What was good?

The event location was very nice

Walk to caches at location

Plenty of portajohns, but should have had been distributed throughout the event.

Hand wash stations - something often over looked.

 

The attendees themselves where what made things nice as most refused to let the fails dampen their fun.

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Lab caches sucked, bad.

 

We went to check in and three were on a paper with the answers to three, however we had to hunt all over for the links. Finally we found someone who would email us a link. The others were all pub tours of downtown Denver, miles away. Sorry, do something creative or interesting nearby, don't send me across town. That also meant my friend and i who do not drink, and the families just ignored them. Sad. An opportunity wasted.

 

At a certain time they sold everything they had sitting around. People that had registered and were gone lost out. Hopefully they got their money back if they showed up.

 

Food was a mess. Big mess. Yes it was the food trucks fault for bailing, but someone should have followed up.

 

I loved the caches, nice walks, in the area. Not far away. the location was cool. Near the city, but rural.

 

Seemed sparse on coins, and coins for the event. They were gone when we got there, no one made anything interesting for the event. meh.

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Lab caches sucked, bad.

I've found a total of 24 lab caches in three different sets, and all of them have been very, very plain. With so much latitude given to the creation of lab caches, I had hoped that these special kinds of caches would be, well, special. Instead, they've all been: (1) go to a location, (2) find a word, and (3) enter that keyword on the website.

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Lab caches sucked, bad.

 

We went to check in and three were on a paper with the answers to three, however we had to hunt all over for the links. Finally we found someone who would email us a link. The others were all pub tours of downtown Denver, miles away. Sorry, do something creative or interesting nearby, don't send me across town. That also meant my friend and i who do not drink, and the families just ignored them. Sad. An opportunity wasted.

 

Since quite a few of the side events were downtown, the labs could have been there. A ton of historical and cool places are within a smaller area, and they would have made excellent subjects for the Labs.

 

I didn't mind the brewery/distillery aspect of the ones they had, but parking was a nightmare and I could see how the Smith family with their 2.5 kids would not appreciate it.

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Lab caches sucked, bad.

 

We went to check in and three were on a paper with the answers to three, however we had to hunt all over for the links. Finally we found someone who would email us a link. The others were all pub tours of downtown Denver, miles away. Sorry, do something creative or interesting nearby, don't send me across town. That also meant my friend and i who do not drink, and the families just ignored them. Sad. An opportunity wasted.

 

Since quite a few of the side events were downtown, the labs could have been there. A ton of historical and cool places are within a smaller area, and they would have made excellent subjects for the Labs.

 

I didn't mind the brewery/distillery aspect of the ones they had, but parking was a nightmare and I could see how the Smith family with their 2.5 kids would not appreciate it.

 

Just about everyone I know was passing around the password list for the lab caches. I would have preferred them to be not related to breweries myself. Without even living in the area or using the google, I can name 20 different historical or geological locations which would have made more sense for the lab caches.

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