May 2 - WWFM V (GC1M6E0)

[addisonbr]

I think it's too early to actually get May events listed on GC.com, but for those who like to think about these things ahead of time the next WWFM will be the first Saturday in May.

[halijusapa]

Wow, it already has a date?

Seeing how straightforward Marksun's event was, had (albeit distant, especially this far in advance) thoughts about doing one of these as our first event. The location I was thinking of was by the Tortoise and Hare statue in Van Cortlandt Park (where there's actually a nano cache, Aesop's Bench (GC1A2CT)....there's other caches nearby). It's at the end of the park near Broadway so it would certainly catch the notice of muggles. However, I do want to note:

1) My wife has pointed out that parking can be extremely difficult there if the weather is nice (though it is very near the end of the 1 train and some bus lines).

2) Because the last Metro NY Geocaching Society WWFM was well in the northern portions of our "membership area" (and the prior one in Queens), the thought was for the next event to be in Manhattan (someone suggested Grant's Tomb, which is a great idea) or somewhere south like Brooklyn (again, suggestion was Prospect Park). We probably wouldn't host an event outside of the Bronx or Westchester, but would almost certainly come to it (even in Staten Island, good excuse to explore there )

[MarkSun]

OK I see someone saw the date for WWFM V is out ... I posted a note (log) on my (soon to b archived_ Event fro WWFM IV.

Here is what I posted there.....

I just got an "WWFM IV wrap-up and WWFM V announcement"... From PodCacher .Com.

....................IT SAID

"Thanks again for participating in this fun world-wide event.

If you haven't had a chance, check out the group photos here: http://flickr.com/photos/sonnyandsandy/ ... 806903759/

Also, listen to shows 191 and 192 at http://www.podcacher.com for great stories of WWFM IV events around the world. There was so much fun creativity this time around!!

Many of you have asked about the WWFM V

SO, if you haven't yet listened to show 192, we want you to know that WWFM V will be held on Saturday May 2, 2009

Let the creative planning begin..."

I have a friend in Bonn Germany & she told me of the local WWFM IV she did not get to BUT saw a write up in the local paper .... I will get her notes & maybe a link or pic from that event & post it Metro NY GS.

I will post this there as well & will Archie the even later this week

Mark

[halijusapa]

Update on thoughts for WWFM, some of which Mark and I briefly mentioned to some people at the Dinering from the Verb event.

Still have thoughts about having one by the Tortoise and Hare statue at Van Cortlandt Park, but want to see what people think. A couple of new parameters I may not have mentioned in my November post in this thread that could either favor this or not:

1) Walkin Ed (who I believe lives in northern Rockland County and came to WWFM IV in Westchester) has thoughts about doing a WWFM V event, but it would probably be in or near the Bear Mountain/Harriman area. Would that be far enough that a concurrent event in the northern Bronx would still work (especially if LIGO and NNJC hold their own events "far out" in their regions like they did last November in Babylon and Edison respectively), or would that give more push to this event being better off in one of the other boroughs this time after being in adjacent Westchester?

2) If WWFM V ended up in Queens or Brooklyn, would LIGO still have an event in Suffolk County (I believe, correct me if wrong, they did NOT when WWFM III was held in Flushing Meadow)? I'm not trying to foster needless "rivalries", just think it makes sense to place it such that it's not too near another event and too few show as a result. I would think for WWFM IV that people from Queens or perhaps even Brooklyn (and certainly Nassau County) would've been tempted to go to the LIGO event because of toll bridges, etc. vs. the location of "our" event (though that location did attract people on the "northern fringes" of the area who may not even go to a Van Cortlandt Park event.....but that could be where Walkin Ed's WWFM fits in in the future.....).

Actually the combination of these 2 thoughts may push more for a Manhattan location this time around vs. anywhere else, and I know it's still a LONG time from now, but thought I'd mention.

[buttaskotch]

Guys, we need to ensure that the Flash Mob is in a high muggle area. the middle of a park won't be a good location.
If you are unsure of how a flash mob works (or what the real concept is), I encourage you to check out the video links I posted previously.
Let's try to make the next one as close to the spirit of a true flash mob as possible.

I can assist in the planning, I just cannot ensure that I will be at the final event due to my work schedule.

[halijusapa]

[lekogm]

First off, IMHO, I don't think we should worry about what other groups are doing. I'm pretty sure we went down this road last year when we first started this group and I said pretty much the same thing. People will go where they want to when they want to. We just have to make sure our stuff is better so they feel left out when they don't come to it.

As for a location and/or planning, I think we should decide as a group the general area we'd like to do the event at and then have a few people who want to plan it go to work on planning it. Nothing against everyone, but when you get 30 people involved in planning something it can take all the fun out of it let alone make it a lot harder to accomplish the task. Even though this may be over complicating things, maybe we should make a poll and we'll see what area people want to go in and then from there pick a location in that area?

Does this all make sense? I'm on this weird proactive kick tonight, which probably stems from unemployment and 13 shows closing on Broadway, so that's why I'm all gung-ho today.

[Tatanka49]

I agree....let's not worry about other groups. I think our reputation is now good enough that we will attract our own following no matter whwre we go.

I have a conflict that day. I know I can't be apart of it no matter where it is...but I would like to see the Manhattan or Brooklyn venue this time around.

So who's stepping forward?

[buttaskotch]

You are missing the point, its not about "the other groups" its about the spirit of a true flash mob.
I have been part of flash mobs prior to the WWFM series, they are fun and themed and put together to generate attention as it shift the perspective of everyday people to that of surrealism.
Again, as I said I can assist in planning. If you guys feel this is should just be about showing up to a spot somewhere for 15 minutes to chat. Then let's go for it.

[addisonbr]

I understand buttaskotch's point - it's not about competing with other groups for awesomeness or anything like that, it's simply about whether or not we want our edition of the WWFM to stay true to the "FM" part of the concept. The original point of the WWFM events as organized by podcacher was/is to have this hyper-brief event materialize out of nowhere with confused muggles all around. After 15 minutes of frenetic activity / trading / logging / etc., people disperse, filter back into the crowd and go on their way, leaving a trail of amused and confused muggles in their wake. (A few of the WWFM events in the past few months have stayed even truer to the "FM" spirit, by not just event caching for 15 minutes, but also doing something even less expected like (say) having a big pillow fight.)

It's obviously not a hard requirement to meet in a crowded area, and like buttaskotch says if people want to simply get together and chat for a few minutes that's perfectly fine. But to the extent people want a FM experience, leaning towards areas that are reasonably populated makes sense. One advantage of the time difference (the event would be at about 1pm EST if I recall) is that it shouldn't be too hard to find a place with muggles at the lunch hour.

[gerkmax]

In my opinion, two great FM spots would be Union Square and Bryant Park, maybe even Rockerfeller Center.

They would be filled with people (locals and tourists), and as we gather, they'd be looking on to see what we're doing. After a few minutes, we'd disperse the area, leaving onlookers confused and wondering "what just happened?".

[halijusapa]

[lekogm]

I'd be down with the Union Square. It's a good location with plenty of non-crowded places to go around the area before and after the cache.

[lekogm]

[halijusapa]