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Question for a Volunteer or Lackey: Hosting a Caching 101 at a Freemium event


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I'm hosting a Caching 101 panel at an artist's retreat in a few weeks (barring CDC updates) and am unsure about the guidelines about listing it as an event cache.

 

The retreat is in a state forest that is not currently shutting down, and my panel will be conducted in a free day-use area. While the artist's alley and vendor areas are a pay event, all of the outdoor areas are free. There will also be a group hike to an earthcache GC14TVP after the event.

 

Would listing this as an event cross the border into commercial territory, or can this still be listed as a standard event?

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I think it might be possible if the event listing is entirely independent, doesn't link to or isn't connected to the non-geocaching event, and if anyone can freely attend without having participate in the other event.  The GC event couldn't promote other activities (like the hike for the EC) as "part" of the event (since they can't be gatherings in order to find other geocaches) and the event must be in the one place for the duration from its start time to finish.  Afterwards (or beforehand) attendees could do anything together they wish though participation can't be required. You could swing an announcement to will-attendees informing them of goings-on after the event; or you could ask a reviewer what wording would be acceptable to mention an optional hike after the event.

But again, being this is a reviewer judgment, you may get a more definitive answer about what they will allow in your region if you ask a local reviewer :)

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3 hours ago, IceColdUK said:

I’m neither a lackey nor a volunteer, but that’s never stopped me voicing an opinion! ?

 

I think your main problem may be:

An Event Cache... Cannot be added to an existing non-geocaching event, such as meet-ups at concerts, fairs, sporting events, and scouting events

 

https://www.geocaching.com/play/guidelines#event

 

Yes, that's the rule I am questioning. The way I read it, you can't use it to drive traffic to an existing non-caching event, or to organize a post-event cache run, but those are mostly concerns about the commercial/advertising guidelines.

 

My question is more along the lines of whether or not this precludes using the event cache type to attract newbie cachers as well as allow old pros the ability to answer retreat attendees questions regarding the Caching 101 presentation, as long as the GC event description does not mention the artist's retreat.

 

Here's a slightly simpler scenario:

  • There's a large public park.
  • Pavilion A is being used by a free concert, but they're selling signed T-shirts and CDs. The concert promoters are goobers, and over ordered Ts. They don't have any way to take the unsold Ts away with them, so they've worked out a deal to give them to the park. These Ts are unsigned, and what that deal is doesn't matter.
  • You want to host an event at Pavilion C after the concert. The park rangers have promised to give you all of the left-over T-Shirts for free to give away as swag since they don't want to deal with them. This is what puts you in the grey area, since you now have the potential for attendee overlap between the concert and your event cache, but any concert attendees would have to have active GC accounts to count the event cache, and any cachers who are attending the concert are probably going to be there to support the band in the first place.

 

Hopefully this scenario is more cut and dried. 

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9 minutes ago, DiverCTHunter said:

My question is more along the lines of whether or not this precludes using the event cache type to attract newbie cachers as well as allow old pros the ability to answer retreat attendees questions regarding the Caching 101 presentation, as long as the GC event description does not mention the artist's retreat.

I've helped with a number of our county parks system's intro to geocaching classes. None of them have been listed as events on the geocaching.com site.

 

They aren't really a social gathering for geocachers. The experienced geocachers are there to accompany and guide small groups of newbies. We aren't there to socialize with other geocachers.

 

Also, I'm not sure we spend the required 30 minutes at the posted coordinates that is required by the current event requirements. There is a brief explanation of how geocaching works at the parking lot at the trailhead, then they are encouraged to find a "hidden in plain sight" geocache there, and then they split up to go on a geocaching hike with their assigned guide.

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9 minutes ago, niraD said:

I've helped with a number of our county parks system's intro to geocaching classes. None of them have been listed as events on the geocaching.com site.

 

They aren't really a social gathering for geocachers. The experienced geocachers are there to accompany and guide small groups of newbies. We aren't there to socialize with other geocachers.

Same here.

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22 hours ago, DiverCTHunter said:

I'm hosting a Caching 101 panel at an artist's retreat in a few weeks (barring CDC updates) and am unsure about the guidelines about listing it as an event cache.

 

The retreat is in a state forest that is not currently shutting down, and my panel will be conducted in a free day-use area. While the artist's alley and vendor areas are a pay event, all of the outdoor areas are free. There will also be a group hike to an earthcache GC14TVP after the event.

 

Would listing this as an event cross the border into commercial territory, or can this still be listed as a standard event?

 

While I have a reviewer hat, it's as a geoaware, and I don't review events.

 

That said, yes, this should be reviewed against the "existing non-geocaching event" rule.  If your event is merely adjacent to the artists' retreat, and not an integral part of it, your local reviewer may deem it may be sufficiently distinct to be publishable.  You may want to implement ways you can set it apart from the retreat, so that it's truly open to the public.

 

If this is just a few weeks away, you may risk running into the 14-day limit - events must be submitted at least 14 days prior to the event date.  I would recommend submitting this for review now and then working with your local reviewer.

 

I would also highly stress that you keep in mind health concerns during the COVID 19 pandemic.  If you haven't see the Groundspeak blog post on COVID 19 and community, I recommend you read it.  Even if this is publishable, and risks are low in your area, conditions may change enough that your reviewer ends up retracting the event.

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