Constructive Feedback for the Next Mega Event

[Mr Router]

If you dont like it Mr Router, dont read it.

[caughtatwork]

to all that have had "constructive" comment, put your heads and financial resources together,name a location and list a mega event !
and see if you like the "constructive" suggestions that may be handed out on trivial issues.
This post is aimed at no individual and is my "constructive" comment for the "next mega"

I have no constructive feedback on the event, because I wasn't there.

I did provide some small assistance, very small assistance in the background. Even though my assistance was trivial, there was constructive feedback provided on that assistance and I took the constructive feedback and would now consider that feedback in any other assistance I provide for a future mega event (or indeed anything for the Geocaching community).

So your point is not valid. I have been involved in some aspects of the mega and I did get feedback, and I accepted it. Feedback, when posed constructively, is a great opportunity to learn where some things could be improved so that the same components, if used in the future, would not suffer the same impacts.

If everyone kept their mouth shut or were only interested in the things that worked, then the next group would not be in a position to know what didn't go well and would repeat the same mistakes. Then people would be complaining that "nothing was learnt from last time". If we don't know what could be improved, we don't know that something needs to be improved.

[Mr Router]

[Cheesy pigs]

to all that have had "constructive" comment, put your heads and financial resources together,name a location and list a mega event !
and see if you like the "constructive" suggestions that may be handed out on trivial issues.
This post is aimed at no individual and is my "constructive" comment for the "next mega"

I honestly don't know why you are taking this as personally as you seem to be. I haven't seen the organisers get upset by the comments that have been made in this thread. Nor should they, this is a learning experience, not a personal attack.

[caughtatwork]

Let's keep strictly on topic which is constructive feedback.
Failure to keep on topic will result in moderation of the post.

[gardengorilla]

We thought about a few ways the registration process might have worked better, but came to the conclusion that it was probably the easiest (and ultimately cheapest for everyone) the way it was. Any tighter way of ticketing with a per person element, combination, or whatever, just results in having to police it at the gate, and that could just get messy and expensive. We understood that registering and paying the fee meant you got the registration pack and the event coin, the right to enter the competitions, and most importantly, the right to log attendance to the event under the registered caching name. So a family registering under one name only gets that caching name to log attendance. It certainly wouldn't be fair to register under one name and then have all the family members log in their individual names, otherwise a lot of people could have gone together paying 1 fee, and log it separately... It's ultimately cheating the charity that received the leftover money. Effectively for gardengorilla, it means they all get to log attendance separately, because they all paid.

fmz

Yeah, we didn't care if we had a coin and multiple entries in the contests...but to suggest that you are effectively paying for the right to log strictly goes against geocaching policy. It is also against policy to expect left over money for charity. (I'm not trying to be grinch...I know a cacher who is the main fundraiser for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and who tried to organize a fundraiser by way of geocaching. She had a hard time of it but jumped through all of Groundspeaks' hoops and the event was a success! And yes, I went caching with Blind people...it was pretty fun!)

I didn't think the registration form was clear enough and by including multiple lines under one caching team, they did open themselves a can of worms....I wasn't looking for freebies for the whole family and as I told the fellow I had contact with I felt that with all the entertainment and cool things going on I was happy to pay a fee for each person. I really think having a per person/cacher fee as well as a family group fee would have been the way to go. Just my two cents.

BTW, I think it's great there's some sort of feedback forum. No event is ever perfect but this provides a place where we can effectively work together to make a great event even better! Well done Mundoo!

[funkymunkyzone]

...but to suggest that you are effectively paying for the right to log strictly goes against geocaching policy. It is also against policy to expect left over money for charity.

Well, I didn't mean it to be that blunt, but the fee was clearly to pay for attendance and, one would think therefore, subsequent logging. If not, then huge groups of even unrelated geocachers could have all registered together as one "team", very little money would have been raised to pay for all the activities, and the event would have flopped. We thought of the registration cost as a contribution to the success of the event, not a price tag, and like you we were happy to pay.

Looking back at the rivcache website, it says registration is $X per "Geocaching name team". I would think that means that if that "geocaching name team" wanted to attend (and subsequently log attendance) then they registered and paid the fee. It would follow that a family that consists of multiple "Geocaching name teams" would need to register them all in order for them all to log attendance?

Doesn't matter anyway - I guess it goes to prove your point about the confusion right...

fmz

[Big Matt and Shell]

So many things already covered but just a few more cents nothing too new just wanted to add weight.

We managed to camp up the back and were close to 20 odd teams that we know. We much preferred this type of camping to the organised rows and it kept the dogs away from everyone who didn't want them. We thought this was great. It would have been great to know who was where but a wander round soon found a few people and we introduced ourselves to some new people.

Shell and I had a ball, this was probably more due to the company than most of the events. We have no kids so the events were not probably not as high on our list but we did seem to struggle to hear events and when we thought things were on we headed over to the main area but they were not. Perhaps the noticeboard would have been great to let everyone know what was going on. We went planning on finding a few (20-30) other caches but mainly spending time catching up with other cachers. There was a bit of confusion initially about logging the event that caused some unnecessary tension but we moved on.

One thing we never actually found was the TB and coin drop off. I'll admit that we only went looking each afternoon, we found the mad path taggers but not the coins. We ended up just giving them to another cacher.

As to the showers, I must have been lucky as I got a great shower each time, Shell got the opposite!

Thanks to the committee for their efforts, what you did was far and above what we expected. And a big thanks to Team Crackers, Molly and Simba didn't really enjoy the show but we thought it was great. Whoever steps forward for the next one will have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Thanks!

[Richary]

I think from discussions the "fee" thing could have better worded, though I never had a problem registering under one name. Camping fee per person makes sense (discounted for kids). And a registration fee entitles you to one goodie bag with the coin and so on. If you are a family of multiple team names then if you choose to only pay one registration fee you can fight it out amongst you as to who gets to claim the coin.

I'm not sure of the rules about events (or megas) being pay access, and I guess it should be set up so as long as you sign the logbook you were there, whether you stayed, paid or not. That said the money was a very small part of the whole wonderful time we had there, and would happily have paid more.

[Big Matt and Shell]

I guess it should be set up so as long as you sign the logbook you were there

Logbook, What logbook? The only two things we signed was our rego form and Postie Girls t-shirt! No one said anything about a log book.

[Damo.]

I guess it should be set up so as long as you sign the logbook you were there

Logbook, What logbook? The only two things we signed was our rego form and Postie Girls t-shirt! No one said anything about a log book.

Sorry, you will have to delete your find then!
I signed the banner near the traveller table, was there another log?

[Mr Router]

Yes on the first table on the left hand as you entered the registration hall !! and on the l/h outside of same hall was a official manning the TB/Coin tables just near the banner that all signed ! we are bottom right corner of the banner.
and as for the pa system it was pointed out to us within the first 2 minutes that the pa was an fm radio station that any fm radio could tune into, this answer could have saved a lot of comment.

[winterdragon]

Yeah, I only noticed and signed the pathtag tent and Postiegirl's T-Shirt - they seemed to be promoted more than the official(?) banner. So I guess that's useful feedback right there...

[Big Matt and Shell]

Yes on the first table on the left hand as you entered the registration hall !! and on the l/h outside of same hall was a official manning the TB/Coin tables just near the banner that all signed ! we are bottom right corner of the banner.
and as for the pa system it was pointed out to us within the first 2 minutes that the pa was an fm radio station that any fm radio could tune into, this answer could have saved a lot of comment.

All three were missed upon our arrival, I was not told about any of them. Oh well I suppose that is what this is about learning things for the next one!

[Richary]

Whoever I dealt with in getting my back of goodies pointed me at a book where I was supposed to write my team name and that of all attendees. I guess this was partly so they knew who was there in case of emergency.