Local clubs......Lots of ?'s

[+inceptor]

For those who have local clubs, I have several questions.

1. How often do you meet?

2. How is your turnout?

3. What classes are you offering?

4. How often do you have just social events?

5. Do you have sponsors?

Any other input you may have would be appreciated.

 

inceptor

the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys

[+a182pilot]

We have just formed a club in the Middle TN area.

 

1. We meet every 4-6 weeks.

2. Turn out is excellent and rising. We've double our attendance over the last 3 meetings.

3. Our first 2 meetings were basically organizational meetings and officer elections. Our last meeting I taught a class on compass usage and set out a compass course to practice on with a cache at the end. Our next meeting we are going to have a tech corner with folks who will upgrade to the latest firmware in your gpsr.

4. Our meetings are more like social events we all are real friendly here in Tennessee.

5. We really don't have a sponsor per se. The Nashville Zoo provides us with a meeting room for free and we are permitted to hide 10 caches in the zoo proper. Most of the club members voluteer anything the club needs, but we did set up a membership dues of $5.00 per year.

 

As a club we are signed up to do search and rescue assistance if needed, we are teaching a class in conjunction with some of the local state parks on how to use a gps, and we assist the Boy Scouts with their orienteering merit badge.

 

We have great plans and a great group of people.

 

:flyer:

 

We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing.

[+mtn-man]

I will chime in for the Geocachers of Georgia.

 

1. We meet once a month generally on the second Saturday on the month with some exceptions. In May we are going to meet May 4, which is the day after the second anniversary of the first found Geocache.

2. Our turnout has ranged from around 25 on a rainy day to up to 50 or 60 people.

3. As far as classes and topics go, we have discussed things like first aid, snake identification, poisonous plant identification, State Parks and Forest Service concerns, bearing and compass applications, topographic map reading and software, hiking stick carvers, leave no trace experts, making your own Geocaching decals and creating cache containers, and so on.

4. We have had tight schedules in the past, but we now take a break in our two hour event caches so people can just chat with each other. I personally love to hear caching stories. Socializing seems to be a nice break for everyone. We are also planning a Challenge Event for mid summer.

5. We really have no sponsors per se. We have decided not to have any "dues". All you have to do to join our club is show up at an event cache -- very simple, easy and fun! We meet as an informal group and have decided not to have officers. We just have volunteer committees that take care of different business. We do have a "Steering Committee" that consist of six members that discusses issues, coordinates event caches and works as the liaison with our State Parks and the Forest Service, etc. We "pass the hat" to pay for pavillion rentals and such. We have had a CafePress site where we sell items with our logo and we raise a few bucks off of that site to help offset these cost too.

http://www.cafepress.com/_GGA

 

It has really been fun to meet the Geocachers in Georgia through the event caches that we have held. I highly recommend attending event caches or creating them in your area.

 

[+mtn-man]

I will chime in for the Geocachers of Georgia.

 

1. We meet once a month generally on the second Saturday on the month with some exceptions. In May we are going to meet May 4, which is the day after the second anniversary of the first found Geocache.

2. Our turnout has ranged from around 25 on a rainy day to up to 50 or 60 people.

3. As far as classes and topics go, we have discussed things like first aid, snake identification, poisonous plant identification, State Parks and Forest Service concerns, bearing and compass applications, topographic map reading and software, hiking stick carvers, leave no trace experts, making your own Geocaching decals and creating cache containers, and so on.

4. We have had tight schedules in the past, but we now take a break in our two hour event caches so people can just chat with each other. I personally love to hear caching stories. Socializing seems to be a nice break for everyone. We are also planning a Challenge Event for mid summer.

5. We really have no sponsors per se. We have decided not to have any "dues". All you have to do to join our club is show up at an event cache -- very simple, easy and fun! We meet as an informal group and have decided not to have officers. We just have volunteer committees that take care of different business. We do have a "Steering Committee" that consist of six members that discusses issues, coordinates event caches and works as the liaison with our State Parks and the Forest Service, etc. We "pass the hat" to pay for pavillion rentals and such. We have had a CafePress site where we sell items with our logo and we raise a few bucks off of that site to help offset these cost too.

http://www.cafepress.com/_GGA

 

It has really been fun to meet the Geocachers in Georgia through the event caches that we have held. I highly recommend attending event caches or creating them in your area.