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Written by Bret Hammond
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 Here's a great way to get people interacting at an event. Hand out copies of this Geo-Bingo sheet and get them busy mingling and meeting each other.
It's half-sheet size and prints out two to a page. They're both slightly different (same questions just mixed up differently). |
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Written by Bret Hammond
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| Writing Great Online Logs | | "A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter.... A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down." E.B. White | | MY day job requires that I do quite a bit of writing, most of it creative. Thankfully it's something I love to do and for which I have developed a certain amount of skill. Geocaching has allowed me to carry my love of writing into new areas. From designing this website to serving as a moderator in the Groundspeak forums, and ultimately to my online logs, I've discovered new avenues for expressing myself, and whole new reasons to worry about typos and grammar mistakes! It occurred to me recently that for many people posting their geocaching finds online constitutes their first endeavor in creative writing and online publishing. Depending on the individual, that reality can either present a great amount of freedom or fear—freedom of expression or fear of saying the wrong thing or making the wrong impression. Perhaps this is why many people whittle their logs down to such basic sentences that you can hardly tell whether or not they enjoyed the experience of finding the cache. | |
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Written by Bret Hammond
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I love “Caches Along a Route.” It’s one of the coolest tools Groundspeak has offered in the last few years. Before that, planning a long caching trip was a painstaking process or clicking on maps and searching for caches that you might be able to find. Now it’s as simple as plotting a course on Google Earth, saving it as a .kml file and uploading it to Geocaching.com. But then again it can still be a hassle. |
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Written by Bret Hammond
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 Ten pages coloring and activity fun! Bring along some crayons and pencils and pass out the pages to the kids (and maybe an adult or two). In addition to the coloring pages there's a word search, jumble and crossword puzzle.
The pages can be printed out individually or as a book. This is a great way to give kids something to do at the event that's just for them. I've had emails from some event hosts that have used the coloring pages as a contest for kids at their events. Be sure to bring a few extra prizes to give out! Download the Coloring Book |
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Written by Bret Hammond
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Vehicle PlacardPart of camouflage is making yourself look like you're supposed to be there. Some geocachers carry clipboards with them, others wear hardhats. I'm always amazed at how few people question me when I'm wearing an olive green hat. Somehow I look like a park employee. One man even thanked me for my surveying work while I was geocaching once! This printable not only provides a bit of camouflage but also identifies who you are and what you're doing. When people see a strange vehicle parked alongside the road, having a placard explaining what you're doing will go a long way to relieve them of their suspicions.  The design has two text areas (the large white rectangles. One side is for "Vehicle/Owner Contact Information." You can use this area to enter your name, address, even cellphone number if you're comfortable with that. The other side simply says, "Geocache Identification." Text can also be entered on this side, but the real purpose is for you to enter either the GC# for the cache or the coordinates themselves in this space.
To do that, lamination is essential. Once it's laminated you can write on the placard with a dry erase marker and wipe it off when you return to the vehicle. We don't always think about what could go wrong when we're geocaching, but even a quarter mile walk into the woods can turn into an emergency situation. All it takes is stumbling over one rock and breaking a leg and suddenly that simple hike becomes dangerous. Letting people know where you are is just plain smart. This design goes a long way towards both identifying what you're doing and keeping you safe. Click Here to Download Other Versions AvailableFrench (Translated by icrle ) |
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