Geowoodstock XVI

[Woodwalker9]

For those who attended Geowoodstock XVI in Cincinnati, what are your thoughts. Likes, dislikes, ideas for improvement, etc. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[arkfiremedic]

I enjoyed my time there and the variety of things to do. Especially alternate things at the venue for 2ter as we always divide our trips to Geocaching and other things she wants to do. Therefore we were able to stay at the GIGA and still swim and ride rides. I do think time changes could have been communicated better. Several live updates were sent via Facebook page alerts during the event for those who liked the page, but I don’t recall one listing all time changes. Also we even volunteered 2 hours for the welcome committee and only knew limited information about the event starting at 09:00 am and the first speaker at 09:15. But other than that minimal bump in the road good caching with good friends makes a good time.

[Nukeworker]

We really enjoyed our first Giga Event. Overall the committee did an outstanding job, considering the number of attendees. The venue was large enough for a group of this size, parking went smoothly, registration packet pick-up was quick and efficient, and the lunch lines were quite short with plenty of food. Free beverages throughout the day was so beneficial and appreciated. The lego displays were amazing and fun to hunt the trackable numbers. We were a bit confused as to why the arm bands for lunch weren't already included in the packets. Cachers had to take the plastic (credit card sized) card to a separate line, in a different tent, to receive the arm bands. Many folks getting into the lunch line Saturday didn't know this info, so they were turned away and had to retreat to a different area in the picnic grounds to trade the card for the arm band. Sadly, despite downloading the free hot spot Cincinnati Bell cellular app, it didn't work for us once the lab caches all published. It kept kicking us off, so we weren't able to work ANY of the Augmented Reality Lab Caches. The cell service was so frustrating we finally gave up. Even a dear caching friend who is much smarter than us in IT couldn't get our phones to work. If not for the generosity of our caching friends, we would have only been able to work a handful of the lab caches. Unfortunately, many of the lab caches were housed under ONE tent which was waaaaaay too crowded and Hot with the 95 degree temps the day of GWS. All the announcements up through the day prior to the event kept insisting that cachers not arrive at the venue until the start time of 10:00 am. Saturday morning we received an updated announcement that the gates were opening at 9:00 with the first speaker starting at 9:15 am. We quickly changed our plans to arrive as that first program started. Sadly, the Lab Caches published while that first speaker was still talking, so cachers quickly left to hunt the labs. The second speakers scheduled to talk had a tiny audience and most cachers didn't even make the group photo because of the lab caches. The speaker's schedule almost seemed like a secret. Finally, around 2:30 we saw a printed schedule of speakers taped to a post. Unfortunately, we had already missed some we would have enjoyed hearing.