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Geowoodstock 4 Travel Bug Information


Snoogans

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GeoWoodstock III had some impressive TB stats and a rather impressive TB dog pile. Nothing like it had been seen before.

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Next year’s GW4 will be even bigger. But this is a sight that won’t be seen there. Read on….

 

The GW3 staff had the most thoughtful and organized travel bug trade I’ve ever experienced and on a grand scale. I was very observant, because I had a feeling that I might be involved in the next one. Hmmm, I was right. The people handling the bugs worked their butts off writing down TB numbers and handing out drawing tickets. I watched how hard they worked while missing out on some/most of the fun and buddy, there’s gonna be 3 times as many, or more, involved wrangling TBs this time, because ‘Ol Snoog ain’t missin’ out on much of the fun just because I raised my hand to help out.

 

So, some folks want the skinny on improvements to an already great (GW3) system. Here they are:

 

As soon as the first bug for the event is posted the TB volunteers will step into action getting the TB traders and owners involved in the process. An event form letter will be drafted and sent out to TB owners and traders.

 

The TB traders will be asked to put the individual TBs into a new baggie (over any existing baggie if there is one) and give it one of several mission labels with either a Sharpie or sticker:

 

Mission catagory #1 No specific mission / task (Label TBs “NO” or “Task” ONLY for ease of sorting.) For bugs that can basically go anywhere to complete a mission, or have none at all.

 

Mission catagory #2 Destination TEXAS (Label TX.) I took 5 bugs back from GW3 that wanted to STAY in Florida. Oh well. They had NO mission tags. Maybe this will prevent that.

 

The next several mission destination categories are set up just like the regional forums here: (psst: Where the tb wants to go. Not where you're from.)

 

#3 South & Southeast (Label S. or S.E.) Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

 

#4 West & Southwest (Label W. or S.W.) Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

 

#5 Northwest (Label N.W.) Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

 

#6 Midwest & Great Plains (Label M.W. or G.P.) Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota

 

#7 Northeast & New England (Label N. or N.E.) Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

 

#8 Canada (Label C & try to give a province.)

 

#9 Europe (Label E.U. & try to give a country.) I suspect quite a few of these will return home with GeoPirate & Husky.

 

#10 Overseas (Label "O" & try to give a continent and country. I.E. “O-Asia-China *OR* O-S. America-Peru *OR* O-Africa-Nigeria” ) For all other areas outside the U.S.

 

Mission category #11 will be a catchall for unlabeled bugs and we might even try to look some up if we have WiFi, but I doubt it.

 

Mission catagory #12 is special. It will be TB Amnesty for long lost bugs/Jeeps/Coins. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. The box will not be opened until the end of the event to insure anonymity of those leaving bugs there. The TB staff will personally contact the owners and send them on their way after the event.

 

TB owners will be given the option to opt out, but that will strictly be between the holder and the owner. Non responsive owners will be considered to have given tacit approval for their bug to attend the event. No whining allowed there, or from the owners who approve. We can't control EVERY trade nor do we want to so a TB trader that disobeys the owner’s wishes for their bug NOT to attend can answer to the owner. This will be one heck of a lot of work for us volunteers, but we are willing to do it.

 

At this point everyone’s arse is covered. Anyone doing ANY whining about bugs after the event prolly doesn’t have a bug actually missing at GW4 and is just looking for something to whine about since, if you’re worried about other people’s bugs at this point you should just give up on TBs and whine about urban micros in the general forum.

 

On the day of the event:

 

As at GW3, each bug turned in to the TB wranglers will get 1 drawing ticket. I.E. 5 bugs = 5 tickets. Prizes will be awarded to winners at the proper time. You MUST be present to win. There should be more TB trader prizes at GW4, or really, what's the point of handing out all those tickets?

 

After you turn in the bugs you brought, you will be allowed to trade (immediately) an equal number of bugs to the tickets you hold. The categories you trade from will be up to you. I.E. No one will have to prove that they are headed to Mexico to grab a TB headed there. Take the bugs that you think you can help. That’s right folks, no infamous truck bed (black hole) of doom for folks who didn’t even lose a bug there to whine about. It would be another great photo op, but I'm not gonna want to hear about it later. :ph34r:

 

Any bugs left over will be divided among the entire GW4 staff and then anyone else that is interested. Trust me on this. There will be lots of bugs left over. There was at GW2 as well as GW3.

 

No one (on the TB staff) is going to waste time writing TB numbers down. NOBODY is going even try to keep track of who took what bug. It’s a waste of time. If the owner OK’d it and the bug goes missing, C’est La Vie. BTW- If the bug is at the event, the TB staff will assume that the owner approved. We’re not asking for permission slips for every stinkin’ bug. We’re adults.

 

Questions? (Ummm, read it all one more time first.)

 

Suggestions? (OK. Read it again and then suggest.)

 

Thanks to Roland Oso, Irish-Texan, PRanger, Loveleigh, and many others for helping me streamline my ideas at our planning event. :ph34r:

 

Thanks most of all to the NEFGA folks for giving me a template to work from. You guys did an AWESOME job. :ph34r:

 

If this works maybe it will become the "system" to use at all big events. :):ph34r:

Edited by Snoogans
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Because we'll be watching this for how we deal with TBs at the Midwest GeoBash, I have some questions.

 

1) How do you handle all those personal coins, TBs and direct exchanges that still hit the cache page? I think that's where half of the leftovers from the 2005 GeoBash came from. Come to think of it, I left three non-moving Geocoins in our last monthly event that I should remove.

 

2) Are you automating any of this? If so, I'd love to see it!

 

3) There are more and more event oriented coins that want to do things at events. Is there a way through the official channel to get them out into the event right away or do the registered bugs need to wait until the last day (or day 2) for distribution?

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Because we'll be watching this for how we deal with TBs at the Midwest GeoBash, I have some questions. 

 

1)  How do you handle all those personal coins, TBs and direct exchanges that still hit the cache page?  I think that's where half of the leftovers from the 2005 GeoBash came from.  Come to think of it, I left three non-moving Geocoins in our last monthly event that I should remove.

 

2)  Are you automating any of this?  If so, I'd love to see it!

 

3)  There are more and more event oriented coins that want to do things at events.  Is there a way through the official channel to get them out into the event right away or do the registered bugs need to wait until the last day (or day 2) for distribution?

#3) GW4 is just one day in a 4 day weekend of events.

 

It almost goes without saying that event oriented bugs should be handled outside the normal mission catagories. The person who brings the tb should handle that. (I have several coins and personal TBs that I carry to events. I wouldn't expect to get a drawing ticket for each one.)

 

#2) Hey! Cool concept, but I haven't the foggiest way to impliment it, or to get a program to fill out the blanks on a form letter for each bug. It's strictly volunteer work.

 

#1) I have a very simple solution for leftovers. All TBs not logged out of the event in 30 days will be marked missing and rightly so. One less thing for the whiners to worry about unless they want to do some digging.

 

Some of the personal TB owners might get a form letter from a volunteer, but most volunteers will see the owner and holder as the same person and know that it doesn't require notification. (I however, am someone else's bug, so I bet they get a letter asking if I can attend.) :laughing::laughing:

 

I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IF THE SYSTEM WORKS AT OTHER EVENTS BEFORE GW4. Please post your experiences here if you use it. Maybe some tweaking can be done. :lol::lol:

Edited by Snoogans
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Prizes will be awarded to winners at the proper time. You MUST be present to win. There should be more TB trader prizes at GW4,...

I suppose I can only hope the prizes will be traveler related. I would be terribly disappointed to win a prize only to discover that it's a ready to hide cache or mapping software.

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I do not think anyone else topped my special travel bug only carry on suitcase I brought to GW3. I had people giving me bugs to take to the event up until I left for the airport practically.

 

After swapping out the 80+ bugs, I put the suitcase in the car for the trip home. Gulp, I never opened the suitcase before it went through airport security .. it passed thank goodness. I opened it first when I reached home and began to return bugs to the cachers who had given me bugs to take so the bugs got back into circulation quickly.

 

I am glad to see an effort to move bugs in the right direction versus the pile of bugs at GW3. I had printed out the goal tags at the last minute for all the bugs I brought. I did end up with bugs that wanted to stay in Florida end up back with me in Wisconsin.

 

I will gladly goal tag and sort the bugs I bring this year so they can be sent towards their goals. Any bugs with midwest goals will be very welcome to return with me too.

 

AuntieNae

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I've been reading the ideas for GW4, and am planning on implementing a similar program for the

Geo Jamboree.

 

I have a few questions. Why the tickets? Have you found that many people take more bugs than they bring? And if so, if there are so many leftovers, what's the big deal?

 

Any plans or ideas for special "sought after" bugs? I know of one bug that will be raffled off at a local event because it is sure to be desirable. I know of other bugs that have been passed "under the table" at events because so many want their hands on them.

 

I'm also still interested in more discussion about how to handle the massive amounts of coins that are sure to fill up the event page? For instance, 50 cachers brings 10 coins each and pass out slips of paper (or share their coin #s) with 50 other cachers to log them in and out of the event... egads

 

Thanks for the sharing of ideas. Katydid

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I'm also still interested in more discussion about how to handle the massive amounts of coins that are sure to fill up the event page? For instance, 50 cachers brings 10 coins each and pass out slips of paper (or share their coin #s) with 50 other cachers to log them in and out of the event... egads

I agree that much of the clutter on an event page reads, "Bug drop,""Dropping off a coin,""Kerplunk" and "Splat."

 

Most of the coins (and a few travelers) will be brought to the event so that their owners may show them off and allow others to log them as having been seen and handled. I see no need to log those trackables into the event at all. It's easy enough to grab the trackable from a previous cacher.

 

While I believe that those coins and travelers to be traded at the event should get logged in, I see no need to keep the notes that put them there. Cachers (or event cache owners) may delete their notes from the confirmation page or at any time later; the trackable remains. True, watchers will still get emails for the notes but the event page will be cleaner.

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...

As soon as the first bug for the event is posted the TB volunteers will step into action getting the TB traders and owners involved in the process. An event form letter will be drafted and sent out to TB owners and traders.

...

I'm going to assume you mean the owners and current holders of the TBs posted to the event webpage, before the event ("SoandSo will be there and we're bring X Z Z travel bugs"), will be getting these form letters.

And not that you will just randomly email people that might own travel bugs, somewhere. :laughing: .

Edited by welch
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TB owners will be given the option to opt out, but that will strictly be between the holder and the owner. Non responsive owners will be considered to have given tacit approval for their bug to attend the event. No whining allowed there, or from the owners who approve. We can't control EVERY trade nor do we want to so a TB trader that disobeys the owner’s wishes for their bug NOT to attend can answer to the owner. This will be one heck of a lot of work for us volunteers, but we are willing to do it.

 

In theory that sounds nice. But it WAS a heck of a lot of work and we weren't willing to do it. In practice, emailing TB owners raised more questions than we had time to answer. It was enough work to email all the folks that are bringing bugs to trade.

 

In reality it's already the TB owners responsibility to keep up with their bugs or they shouldn't have released a bug in the first place. Sorry, no whining allowed. :anitongue:

 

The event is almost here. I leave to set up in FOUR days. I'm so excited!!!

Edited by Snoogans
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In reality it's already the TB owners responsibility to keep up with their bugs or they shouldn't have released a bug in the first place. Sorry, no whining allowed. :laughing:

My ESP hasn't developed enough to be able to read minds across long distances (or ever short ones :laughing: ), so unless the person says where they're going when they pick it up I have not idea where it will be dropped off. I suppose I could ask each time someone picks one up, but that sounds like a lot of work and I'm not willing to do it. :anitongue:

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I guess we'll see if this system works in a few days...... <_<

 

The system worked beautifully!!!!

 

Except for handing out tickets for the prize drawing (and what a drawing it was WOW!) the tb trading station at GW4 just about ran itself after the first two hours.

 

I would venture to boast that more bugs were helped toward their ultimate goals at one time than EVER before.... :lol:

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2) Are you automating any of this? If so, I'd love to see it!
Hi all,

I will be handling Travel Bugs and GeoCoings trading at an upcoming event,

and am also looking at a possible solution for next year's Mega-Event in Quebec city.

 

Has anyone ever implemented a computerized trading database-thingy for such an event?

 

Thank you,

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2) Are you automating any of this? If so, I'd love to see it!
Hi all,

I will be handling Travel Bugs and GeoCoings trading at an upcoming event,

and am also looking at a possible solution for next year's Mega-Event in Quebec city.

 

Has anyone ever implemented a computerized trading database-thingy for such an event?

 

Thank you,

 

It has been discussed at length behind the scenes and the general consensus is that it's too much work.

 

I would be happy to help you implement the system I developed if you need help. It hs been successful at 2 GeoWoodstocks and 2 Midwest GeoBashes and a few other events that I have heard about.

 

Over 6,000 bugs were traded TOWARD their respective goals at GW5. ;)

 

I've been meaning to post a NEW thread listing the current tweaks to the system for Eartha to sticky for reference. This thread was too event specific and I asked to unstick it.

Edited by Snoogans
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