Launching Australia's First Ever Mega Event-Wagga Wagga 2010

[homedg]

Peagle Boy had a good idea (which I copied) to Recommend the cache on GCA. Might inspire some more will attend logs.
Gotta give the OS cachers a bit of time to pre-plan.

[paegle boy]

Peagle Boy had a good idea (which I copied) to Recommend the cache on GCA. Might inspire some more will attend logs.
Gotta give the OS cachers a bit of time to pre-plan.

thank you i will let you cope

[Riverina Geocaching]

Just curious, given that some of the mega events appearing in the latest notification have fewer than 100 will attends but the Oz Mega Wagga Wagga event currently has 225.

The ruling from Groundspeak on this is as follows -

Nearly every intended Mega Event starts as an event. After the event is competed and log sheets and registrations are verified, that particular event is upgraded to Mega Status after the actual event. Sounds a strange system, but thats how it is.

Once you have completed the first year, when the event is then listed the second year, it is allowed to be advertised as a "Mega " from its listing day.
So,what you are seeing are events in their 2nd, 3rd 4th year etc etc. It is a rare announcement that an event is upgraded before the fact.

Thankfully,
Greg
President
Riverina Geocaching Committee.

[andiamo]

Thanks for the clarification - we must have misunderstood the information appearing in previous threads seeking expressions of interest in attending.

It would have been good to see all your hard work rewarded by seeing the event listed each week in the Groundspeak notification. Congratulations on what you have achieved so far, we look forward to being there.

[Dicksontwo]

To support the committee who bravely picked this ball up and ran with it we have to keep raising the Mega (yes, it will be ) Event profile. One thing I do is add this text to every log
"Are you going to Australia's First Mega Event? Easter 2010 in Wagga Wagga. See GC1YJ5R and http://www.rivcache.com/ It will be amazing. Support the hard-working committee"
Keep the ball rolling.

[Riverina Geocaching]

To support the committee who bravely picked this ball up and ran with it we have to keep raising the Mega (yes, it will be ) Event profile. One thing I do is add this text to every log
"Are you going to Australia's First Mega Event? Easter 2010 in Wagga Wagga. See GC1YJ5R and http://www.rivcache.com/ It will be amazing. Support the hard-working committee"
Keep the ball rolling.

The whole Committee is working daily on constant updates and procedures to put this huge logistical event in place on a 4 day weekend that is virtually 4 public holidays when looking at infrastructure.
We have about 450 individual people from "Will Attend ' posts that includes every state in OZ except NT at this stage, plus NZ, USA and Switzerland.

It has taken the whole Committee over 1 year to put in place all the needed components of sponsors, catering, merchandise, entertainment, and a swag of infrastructure that will only be witnessed at the event.

We have another "Gold Sponsor" going onto the sponsorship page this week and many more ideas and excitement being implemented into the 4 day program of which some will be released prior to the event and some saved as surprises until Registering on the day at Camp Kurrajong.

Remember, the "Will Attend" posts are just as important as the "Registrations", so you must please complete both.
We understand, a huge percentage are away on holidays until the end of January and expect the final 2 months to see a steady rise in entering, which is what occurred at other MEGA'S.

If you are coming and staying within Wagga, now is a real timely reminder to book your accommodation via our page links, as Easter can be a busy time in Wagga, plus the Car Rally will have around 700 people here.

Thankfully,
Greg
President.

[Riverina Geocaching]

A few more updates from your Oz Mega Committee to keep Australia informed of any details.

As teams start to return to work after a few weeks holidays, a reminder that Registration is now open and up and running. Please take your time with all the details, especially the names section. This is exactly what will go on your nametags. Every single person will receive amongst dozens of items in their "Registration Packs", their NAME TAGS. Each name tage will state FIRST NAME, CACHING TEAM NAME, CITY / TOWN and STATE. This will be a clip-on tag and will also be your "Camp Pass" to re-enter the camp site over the 4 days, as you will be required to show your tag to pass through the front entry gate.

If you haven't placed a "Will Attend" yet, please post your intent as a huge amount of "logistics" have to be calculated including food for 4 days, camping , merchandise, stages and seating areas for the surprise acts at the entertainments nights, infrastructure and much, much more including the fact that Groundspeak in Seattle are monitoring daily "Will Attends".

Remember, also you can register and return later to order Merchandise and Meals. There will be a close off date of some merchandise on Feb ' 1 st for stubby holders, key rings and waist bag and bottles. All other items have a cut-off date around mid-march.There are still spots available within the 81 bunk rooms with about half booked to date.

Dont forget our many proud sponsors who have made this unique event possible, especially Riverina Campingworld, who are the major sponsor. If you need any camping equipment leading up to the big event, they will be happy to reserve something for you for pick up. Every sponsor has their website address under their logo on the sponsors page. So, Campingworld's gear is all there at the click of a link. Here it is here too....http://www.campingworld.com.au/
For all those many teams who are making a 7 to 10 day holiday of the area, try to book your Wagga accommodation via our link on the page as Easter time in Wagga is busy with travellers anyway plus the "Car Rally " has 700 people attending. For those deciding which week to holiday extra on, perhaps the weekend prior might help you decide as the very exciting "Food and Wine " festival is on and expecting 10,000 people through the gates. Visit link..http://www.waggafoodandwinefestival.com.au/
Many more frequent updates will be posted, now that the xmas, new year has passed and most on holidays are back.

Please pass on the need to post a "Will Attend " to any caching teams if they are attending.

Thankfully,
Greg,
President
Oz Mega Wagga Wagga.

[Bundyrumandcoke]

Is it too much to ask, if possible, for the number of people in each team be listed beside the team name in the registered list? Just a number. I am keeping an eye on who is coming, and currently it shows 109 teams, but that doesnt reflect an accurate number of people who will attend. I'm just interested in the numbers, not that its a numbers game, lol.

Cheers
Bundy

[Riverina Geocaching]

Is it too much to ask, if possible, for the number of people in each team be listed beside the team name in the registered list? Just a number. I am keeping an eye on who is coming, and currently it shows 109 teams, but that doesnt reflect an accurate number of people who will attend. I'm just interested in the numbers, not that its a numbers game, lol.

Cheers
Bundy

We will see what we can do . The teams have been averaging around 2.5 people per team consistently through the interest for the past year.
We understand that many original posts on the forum over the last 14 months stated they had to see about time off from work and would only find out a couple of months prior.Once we get to February,you will see Registrations really gather momentum .
Thankfully,
Greg
President.

[Dicksontwo]

Congratulations, you've got MEGA status Well done, this is going to be a great Event.

[Riverina Geocaching]

A few more updates from your Mega Committee.

The Easter Monday 5th April CITO Event has been listed now and you can place a "Will Attend for it as well .The GC code is GC22TKY.

Registration entries are flowing in and you can see whose entered on the "Registered List " on the website.A friendly reminder that 3 items on the Merchandise page close tonight .That is the Keyring,Waistbag and bottle and Stubby Holder.All other items will be available for orders up till March 15 th.
The event details are constantly being streamlined with updates.You can place yourself on the Watchlist to see whose entering.You can also start to place TB's in the inventory for the event.

If you were not aware yet,Groundspeak made a rare exception on Friday morning and upgraded the event to Mega Status .
If you want to check out something very unusual ,click onto the Committee "who are we " link and look out for a very unusual character who has a very different appearance,at times !!

A reminder from the Committee also that you have to place a " Will Attend " if you intend on coming and also if you have Registered already.
:
Thankfully,
Greg
President.

[Bundyrumandcoke]

As a service to those attending, I will have laptop with internet access, and a printer at our camp, so if anyone needs cache pages printed out, or anything else within reason, just come and find us, it wont be too difficult. This will be free of charge.

Cheers
Bundy

[Richary]

For those attending with 3G capability on their laptop, I can confirm that Optus and Telstra have 3G coverage in the area. I can't speak for Vodafone.

I am now working on getting one of the two to provide us with some data use for the weekend and if all goes to plan the camping area will be WiFi enabled (at least 802.11g if not 802.11n). Stay tuned.

[Hoojar]

Does anybody know how much notice we will be given as to which caches will be unavailable during the event. I am starting to think about routes and how best to utilise our time down there; it would be nice to know in advance which caches will not be available!

Cheers

It would also be nice to know so that we don't start solving puzzles that will be offline

Thanks in advance!

[MtnLioness]

May I ask a dumb question by asking why would caches be/need to be taken offline during the event?