nwogeo.org

We would like to help with the re-org and attend the meeting depending on when it is. Evenings work best for us but whenever is fine. We would really like to see this group continue moving forward. It's been a lot of fun so far and we've met a great group of people. Agree with the others - need to keep the monthly meet & eats, CITO's, holiday shindig, spring picnic, etc. We are willing to step up and help at some of the events as well. Unfortunately the timing wasn't the best with last year's shindig and the spring fling thing this year.

If any website help is needed, Mr. PBZ could help with that. Mrs. PBZ can assist with marketing-type items, for the promotion of NWOGEO. It would be great to have something like a brochure we can hand people at the meet & eats that are new to the area, or new to caching in general. Remember seeing something about this in the forums.

Let's make this happen!

I agree with PBZ on the brochure. That would be a great way to promote this group and the sport in general. If we still have a connection at Bass Pro Shops, AND it's possible, we could leave something there as well. If people are interested enough to be looking and possibly purchasing a GPS unit, then this might give them a push to buy one and maybe contact the group for more information about it and the sport. Just a thought.

I have the brochures to leave at Bass Pro and I am printing off some "What Is Geocaching" Business Cards for them to pass out when they talk to people about GPSrs. I still do have a contact there & talk to him frequently, he just sold my parents their new GPS.

Your the greatest Jen.

I know where your camped at the Geobash I'll bring you some. We got the rack cards for free this time and some more details are posted in one of the other threads.

It seems like just about any time I run into a few cachers these days this subject comes up.

Slagle is a very busy guy but I was very impressed by his thoughts on this subject. Guys like Slagle, Good Dog and Gizmo seem to really want what's best for the group and over the years they have really gone above and beyond to get things done, I for one am very grateful to them.

At every meet and eat and get together we seem to have a lot of folks willing to help in any way they can. They really step up and find a way to get things done when they see a need. Not everyone I talk to really reads the forums and that's too bad because this is where a lot of great ideas get presented.

I would be very interested in coming to a meeting when it gets scheduled. Will the date and time be posted here?

The conference room in my office is available, but with 5 little ones at home, I do not have the time to take the lead on this so do not wait for me. I might suggest the first meeting be organized at a public meeting room at one of the libraries. I believe they are open to the public and free to use. You just need to reserve them. There are restrictions on repeated use.

The first couple of meetings of the first attempt of this were held in a library meeting room. They can hold more people than my conference room. We had a lot more people at the first couple of meetings. We probably will with this go around too. Alot of people came early on to see what was going on and voice their opinion. As things progressed, the number of people with the interest and the willingness to put the time decreased and we moved it to a smaller space (my conference room).

Hi guys,

It's been awhile since I've pestered you all, but I think it's time I emerge again at least here. What I really need is some of you local cachers to pester me to cache, and perhaps tag along till the bug bites me again

Anyways, on to my actual reason of posting.

I'm going to steal a lot of language from my LAST (ha ha) posting on this subject here, as well as an email I sent a little over a year ago.

Well I can't find them so I guess I have to engage my brain.

So, here goes. I tend to rant so stick with me.

As a first note, I'm only posting this here this time. This is intentional. As we move forward I feel that any personal involved with nwogeo on an organizational level will need to pay attention to this forum. I know I am guilty of not, but I think we CAN make it better.

Anyways, as many of you have probably noticed (and some have even posted about), NWOGeo is a bit stagnant as an organization. We kinda hit a stalling point in the upper and, and while the group can continue to go on like this as long as it wants to (I'll continue hosting the page indefinitely, and as long as Gizmo or someone handles the day to day maint, which I'm sure I could help with it'll be fine). However, I think the group can be better. How it becomes better is largely up to you.

A bit of history.

Way back in yesteryear I started caching. I was immediately hooked. It was the PERFECT nerd sport. Nerdy and outdoors. I quickly found a good number of the caches in the area, and then when International CITO day came, I decided it was time for an event. CITO events didn't exist back then, so I posted an event to help clean the metroparks on their earth day work day.

Needless to say, Good Dog, my wife and I were the only 3 to show. We did a good job pulling garlic mustard that day, and I met another cacher. Mike and I chatted, and both expressed an interest in trying to start a group. He said that Yogi and him had been discussing it.

That night I registered nwogeo.org and created a terrible webpage and a mailing list.

At some point or another we got big enough we decided we needed some leadership. (It actually didn't take long looking at the mailing list archives).

We decided that the simplest way to structure were a few point people. We kicked around the name and ended up with the Steering Committee with Hydnckr as our Grand Poobah.

As time went on, we added several other members to the committee. It was also kicked around a handful of times becoming a non-profit or taking organization to the next level. That was usually shot down.

At some point, some of the cachers started to drift off. I think Hydnckr was the first to go - he still caches but doesn't have time to dedicate to it. A few more dropped off the face of caching. So we added and dropped people as necessary. A couple left due to some issues with representation as steering committee, and several left due to frustration over a lack of action on the part of the steering committee. Fast forward and I think it leaves myself - the ever-present refuses to quit member, and Gizmo who has said he would leave if there were other active members. I'm not sure where BBD stand on it. Additionally the committee voted that the original members (Mike, myself and Yogi), although "retired", would retain access to the forums.

The main goal of the steering committee was originally intended as a way to direct the group. We never intended to be "elitist", excluding, OR to do all the work event planning etc. We've been accused of being several things. We DO have a "secret forum" area, but it's really boring, I promise. We don't sit there and make fun of you or anything

Anyways, on to the next era.

Last year we had a failed attempt to reorganize. There just wasn't enough blood that was interested in a formal organization, so it defaulted to an informal one. That's what we've had for a few years.

However, several cachers who were new when the last round came up have contacted several us with interest, so it's time to approach this again.

I think we need to do what we did last time - have an informal meeting at a library to discuss where we all want it to go. I can moderate again if need be. Then we can break into a smaller group (It'll happen naturally) and see if we can't move something along.

So, this is where I need input. Is this something with interest from you, the community? Where do YOU want to see us go? Are there good times to meet? Do I smell?

Anyways, post away. It'll be a healthy discussion.

Thanks for listening to me rant.

Jason

Jason,

As part of last year's failed attempt at reorganizing I welcome the renewed interest. OnD'Hunt and I were the only ones that were going to attend the last scheduled meeting. On the morning of the last scheduled meeting we spoke and he decided to stay with the family and decided to cache.

I agree with library as a good starting place for the meetings. Maybe starting in the fall will work better than the spring as we did last time.

I was hoping maybe we could have an open meeting around the 3rd week of October somewhere in BG, like the Public Library so that it's kind of central to ALL NWOGEO members. Most people can attend a Tue/Wed meeting (just from past experience with Meet & Eats), and most people can make a 6 p.m. meeting. Could we set this for October 20 or 21? I was thinking the week before, but I don't want it to interfere with the Meet & Eat on 10/14!

I like the idea of the central meeting point for "most" all of NWOGEO and the evening time hopefully will work for everybody. See you all there.

It could be held around a M&E if it was one of the joint ones I think.

Jason

I think this is a great idea and I will gladly try to attend. As I predicted during the "last failed attempt" my home life (5 kids) has become a lot more complicated and I will not be able to take a leadership roll. I am more than willing to help out in whatever capacity makes sense.

I think Jason is right that we should start in a larger meeting spot like a library. As happens with anything like this, the size of the group will shrink and we can move it to a smaller meeting spot.

I think it makes sense to locate somewhere central for everyone. Bowling Green may not be as good for someone coming in from out West or East.

Opps! I almost forgot.....

Jason, you do not smell, that's me!!