(Link to podcast file)

0:00:16.5 Chris Ronan: Hey everybody. Welcome to Inside Geocaching HQ, the podcast about what is happening inside Geocaching HQ in Seattle. I am Chris Ronan. My Geocaching username is Rock Chalk, and I am one of the 90 or so lackeys privileged to work at HQ. And today I am joined by my colleague on the community volunteer support team at HQ Emily Woerly. Emily is the community special events manager here, and a big part of her job is supporting mega and giga event hosts, as well as those who want to host block parties in 2025. And since we are in the heart of mega season, I thought it would be fun to chat with Emily about her work with the hosts of those big events. Let’s do it. So let’s talk about events. Emily is here from the CVS team here at Geocaching HQ, and we’re here to talk about events, but we can start by talking about what your role is at HQ, kinda your day-to-day job and what you’ve done at HQ, because it’s always fun to see what kinds of jobs people have had here and just the path that they take once they’re at HQ. And I believe, if my memory serves that, you started off working in the visitor center here at HQ, is that right?

0:01:48.7 Emily Woerly: Yeah. So I started HQ in the fall of 2019, so it’s been almost five years. And I got hired.

0:02:00.3 CR: Wow. Five years.

0:02:00.4 EW: Yeah, I got hired to work in the visitor centers, as the guest experience coordinator. So welcoming all our visitors to HQ from all over the world, which was really exciting to have a face-to-face, conversations about geocaching with so many different people.

0:02:17.8 CR: Because you had geocached before you came here. You were pretty… As I recall, your family was pretty into it.

0:02:24.3 EW: Yeah, my brother started in like 2011, I wanna say, and then he got my dad into it, and then we started doing it on family vacations. But I never had an account because I thought, well, I’ll just, I’m always with them, like I’ll just… I’m just with them I’ll just be under their usernames or whatever. And then when I saw the job come up here and I decided to apply, I thought, oh, well I need a username [laughter] So then I created my username. But I think the first cache I found was 2014.

0:03:00.0 CR: And your username is?

0:03:02.9 EW: My username is Em Adventuring. So Em short for Emily. And then I like to adventure. So I think geocaching was a really natural fit for me.

0:03:10.5 CR: And so you came here, it was in the before times when people could come to HQ and then we had that period when it wasn’t like that, obviously with the pandemic. Were you the last person working in the visitor… Were you there when the pandemic occurred or had you already moved on to the CE team?

0:03:32.7 EW: I started working in the visitor center in November of 2019, and then we shut it down like mid-March, early March? Early March, 2020. So I was only out in the visitor’s center for a few months.

0:03:50.1 CR: Wow.

0:03:50.6 EW: But I was the last person to work in there. I remember that day very clearly when we shut it down and we didn’t know when we might open it back up again. So that was definitely a interesting end to my experience in the visitor center because two months later, one month later a new position opened up on the community engagement team for a community coordinator. So that worked out very well because I had already been helping out the rest of the community engagement team with certain projects. So it was a natural flow into that open position. So as a community coordinator, I curated things for our social media. And then we also on that team, we responded to player support questions that came in, like through our help center. So we were troubleshooting, answering questions all those things people write in about.

0:04:55.1 CR: And then you eventually made your way to the community volunteer support team.

0:05:00.9 EW: Yes.

0:05:01.5 CR: Where you are now.

0:05:01.6 EW: Yes. So for three years now I have been managing the special events program that is under community volunteer support. So that’s been the past three years. And then with that I also do some community volunteer reviewer support as well in addition to the special events.

0:05:22.2 CR: Yeah, we often say that we are the mystery cache type. Of the teams at HQ. There’s a lot of things that fall under community volunteer support with obviously supporting the volunteers being the primary thing, but then what you do with events and supporting mega event host and gig events. And we’ll talk about block parties and community celebration events as well. It’s quite a lot of stuff to do. So events, let’s talk about geocaching events. And as you and I talked before we started recording, maybe we’ll do this as starting at the bottom floor and then… Or maybe the foundation of the house and then working your way up. So there are event caches, and as I look in the geocaching help center to see what the official definition, because you and I were talking before, it’s like what’s an event cache?

0:06:21.2 CR: Well, we could sort of riff on that on what an event cache is. But event caches are get togethers listed on geocaching.com. They are organized by local geo cachers and geocaching organizations ranging from meet and greets to education seminars, to environmental cleanups, which of course are CITO events. Anyone is welcome to attend, and they are a great way to meet your fellow geocachers. So that is the ground floor of the building. And then as we move on from there, the things that you work on in your role, mega events. So what is a mega event? How does one become a mega event?

0:07:01.1 EW: So a mega event is a very large geocaching event. So if you just expand that to a whole new level, so it is a geocaching event at its core that attracts 500 or more geocachers.

0:07:17.9 CR: And these happen all over the world. About how many are we talking about each year, roughly? I mean, I know it varies from year to year, but.

0:07:27.4 EW: We usually have about 55 to 60 mega events every single year.

0:07:33.0 CR: And would you guess that most of those are events that have been happening on an annual basis, or is that the majority of them? Or is it more split down the middle between annual and somebody who just decides, okay, we’re ready to try this?

0:07:52.3 EW: So for 2024, and previous years, it has been majority returning mega event hosts who have hosted a mega event in the past. Either one in the same series of events or just maybe they’ve hosted one in the past and now it’s five years later and they wanna host another one. So it’s typically… You see mostly the same organizing teams with some new ones sprinkled in every single year.

0:08:25.2 CR: Because it is a huge undertaking. I don’t know if attendees always realize that. I’ve certainly learned more about it since I’ve been at HQ and since I’ve had the opportunity to attend Megas as a lackey. Maybe you get to spend more time with the organizing team. It’s a huge undertaking.

0:08:42.1 EW: Yes, it really is. And especially because they can be very simple. You can have a great event that appeals to a lot of geocachers that is simple. Maybe it’s… There’s a big emphasis on just socializing and having food for people and trackables and maybe some seminars and it’s pretty low-key. And then you can have an event where you want to attract even more geocachers than just 500 you want even more and you want a bigger event with a lot of activities, a lot of side events, a lot of options for people. And that’s gonna appeal to another group of geocachers. And so they range from super simple things to a lot more complicated events. There’s something for everyone I think each event usually has something for new players, but also experienced players. And that’s I think one of the best parts is they’re a great way to introduce new people to the game and the vibrant community that we have. And they’re also a great thing for experienced cachers to come and maybe learn something new about the game, meet some new people, and just get to spend a day doing what you love to do.

0:10:03.5 CR: And then from Mega, the next step up is the Giga event, which is 5000 people.

0:10:10.1 EW: Yes. 5000, plus geocachers. So that’s an even bigger undertaking. So both these events require a lot of work, a lot of time, effort planning. A lot of events are planning one to two years out, sometimes even more because we do have some events that want to celebrate the milestone years in geocaching. So they may start planning five years in advance. And that’s just not something the community as a whole is necessarily gonna think about. But they were…

0:10:49.2 CR: Yeah, you’re just going out to find cachers today. You have no idea there’s somebody somewhere who’s thinking about 2025 next year, 25 years of geocaching coming up. So somebody’s been thinking about that for a while.

0:11:00.5 EW: Yes. And sometimes I get emails from people who are already looking at venues two years in advance or already thinking about it, which is great because in order to be a mega event, you have to fill out an application on geocaching.com. It’s in the help center. If you go to guidelines for mega events, and if you wanna host a mega you need to have your team together. You need to know at least have a general idea of what the theme is, what kinds of activities they’re gonna offer, what the structure might look like the schedule, pricing structure how is the budget and the funding going to look. You need to have a completed cache page. Of course planning an event is a fluid thing, so you’re going to be adding more things as you get closer to the event, but you need to at least have a cache page that’s ready to be published that tells people what your event is about, what sorts of things they can expect to experience, where it is the time. And that all needs to be done before you apply. Because when you apply these questions are going to be on the application. And we do wanna see that you have put a lot of time and effort and planning into it and that you’re really passionate about hosting this event.

0:12:28.7 CR: Yeah. Do you see common issues that end up being problems for organizers that maybe… And results in not becoming a Mega or Giga event?

0:12:41.7 EW: Usually it’s not a barrier to becoming a Mega event, which could potentially then be a Giga event later on. It’s usually that organizing teams apply before they have a real plan together. So they might complete an application. And really all they have is a theme. They don’t really exactly know what the pricing structure might look like. They don’t have a lot of details planned yet. It’s just very much a the skeleton, just a very basic skeleton of what the event might be. And we just need to see more planning than that because these events are able to be published up to a year in advance so that they can spread the word about the event they can get community interest in the event. And then that is how they’re gonna get those will attends to show there’s a legitimate, you know support and interest for this event in the community and people are going to come. And then 300 will attends is usually what we say because a lot of geocaching events are more than one person represented there. So 300 will attends is about 500 cachers.

0:14:03.4 CR: Right. You’ve got family accounts who are couples or whatever. And so, yeah.

0:14:08.1 EW: And I think the other thing too is some people have a great application, but a blank cache page. And we do wanna see…

0:14:16.6 CR: Yeah, that’s a problem.

0:14:19.4 EW: We do wanna see a completed cache page. So that’s another thing that happens. But again, we’re always excited to receive applications that people are interested in hosting these events because they are such a big undertaking. So if you are passionate about hosting an event and maybe that’s your dream and that’s what you wanna see happen, and you have a group together, we want to see you succeed, we want to see that event happen. So I always try and be clear in the email when we’re asking for more detail that we’re not saying you can’t host a Mega, we just wanna see more of the planning, more of what people might expect. We just want to see it in more detail. But it’s not a no, it’s just come back when you have a little bit more planned and can tell us some more.

0:15:12.6 CR: Mm-Hmm, And what do you see as… Are there commonalities among the really successful Mega and Giga events? And do you see certain aspects of them that tend to be consistent among the ones that are successful on an annual basis, or even if it’s a one-off a thing?

0:15:34.8 EW: I think the teams that have spent time growing their local community ’cause it can be a process. Sometimes we get applications and the team has been wanting to host a Mega for five years, but the community support or the amount of players needed to make this happen just hasn’t been there. So they’ll spend five years growing the community hosting events, you know letting people know about geocaching in order to get that support and that base. And then they feel maybe five years, four years in, they can apply and actually have a mega event with support. So teams that have spent time cultivating their community and really being a part of it and showing that they really care about that social aspect of geocaching tend to be very successful in creating a mega event for the first time.

0:16:37.0 EW: Also, teams that just have people on the team who can provide different levels of experience, that’s always really great. I think there are also great opportunities, the Mega events, to have partnerships with the local community. So maybe the local town or the local tourism board they can bring a lot of people into an area to experience it for the first time and see what it has to offer. So teams that reach out and try and get that support from the local municipality or tourism board, that can be really successful because then the town can help promote it as well. So that’s always great to see. And then some of the new teams will reach out to other teams for assistance and help in wisdom, and I think that makes a big difference because hosting a Mega event for the first time or second time, it’s a learning opportunity. So probably things aren’t gonna go perfectly at every event. So as you get more experience, I think the events they become… Every event is great, but I think they become better. A better experience for everybody. So having input and support from another team that’s done it before. That’s great.

0:18:04.3 CR: Oh yeah, again, anytime I go to a Mega or a Giga I’m just simply amazed by the amount of work that’s gone into it. It’s oftentimes a very large group of volunteers that have been working together. I mean, you may have a core organizing team that can be smaller or bigger, but inevitably there’s… [laughter] They’ll bring up the volunteers on stage and you’re like oh my gosh, look at all these people that have been putting all this time into it. And whenever I talk to… If somebody comes up to me and says, Hey, we’re thinking about having a mega in our town next year or whatever, I’m like that’s amazing. That’s great. Just know it’s a lot. So start working on it now and you gave such great tips. And I think that talking to other ones who have done it is such a valuable tip be because they must know the various potential stumbling blocks that are out there because they’ve already been through it.

0:19:01.0 EW: And most teams are very supportive. They want to see more mega events. I think it’s great when I go to a mega event and they’re advertising for other Megas. You’ll see the people there with the banners displayed, talking about a different mega that’s happening. The people will be there maybe with T-shirts representing their mega, handing out a card that has the GC code. And I love seeing that support ’cause there truly is room for everyone. No two events are the same. They offer something for different people maybe. So that support between mega host, between mega events, that’s really great to see.

0:19:46.9 CR: Absolutely. And we briefly referenced 2025, a few minutes ago, the 25th anniversary of Geocaching next year. And one of the ways that the anniversary is being celebrated is with block parties. So let’s talk about block parties, ’cause I think for a lot of the community, especially if you weren’t around Geocaching around I guess 2015 was the last block party here in Seattle. It was right after I started at the company, so it was the only one I got to attend. But the statistics on it are pretty amazing. Only five, just over 5,000 Geocachers have ever received the block party icon. And so 2025 is gonna be a great opportunity for people to be able to do that. But let’s start with just talking about what are the block parties gonna be in 2025, what are the nuts and bolts about how that’s gonna work next year?

0:20:42.8 EW: So they work very similarly to mega events. So you can apply to, so when you… If you wanna host a block party, you wanna fill out the block party application, ’cause you don’t have to start as a mega event. I think there was some confusion, because we said that block parties have to qualify as a mega event, but what we meant is it’s the same idea of they are Geocaching events that attract 500 or more Geocachers.

0:21:20.1 CR: So at least you have to have at least 300 will attends as we were talking about before. Yeah.

0:21:24.0 EW: So that is the connection to mega events. But apart from that…

0:21:29.3 CR: But you don’t have to have been a mega event before, which as you said, we’ve seen a lot of of confusion about that.

0:21:36.6 EW: Right.

0:21:36.7 CR: You can be a brand new event.

0:21:38.0 EW: Brand new event for the first time and host a block party. Yes, it’s just meeting that 300 will attend, showing that there’s substantial interest in the community, ’cause they are mega events in a lot of ways. It’s really the similar thing of you’re gathering cachers together to have a day of fun. Participating in activities, meeting new people, finding some new cachers just getting to celebrate maybe the local culture of a place, the local history, a fun theme. It’s just about getting 500 or more cachers together to have a really great time. But the fun aspect of the block parties is celebrating the, specifically the 25 years of Geocaching. Block party, obviously the last one in 2015, it’s a very well loved part of Geocaching history, so it felt like a great thing to bring back while we’re celebrating the history of Geocaching in 25 years. And so many people don’t have this icon. And as we know, icons are very fun in Geocaching. We all love icons. So being able to spread that to other Geocachers around the world and give them the opportunity to have that icon for attending what is just essentially a great party of Geocachers, that’s really special.

0:23:12.8 CR: Yeah. I should have given a little history lesson as we got into block parties for people that don’t know. And I think if you’re listening to the podcast, you probably do, but if you don’t, the original block parties were here in Seattle from 2011 to 2015. They were hosted right here outside of HQ in the Fremont area. And so this will be the first time that they’ve been held in other places around the world. And they can, as you said, can be anywhere as long as they qualify as a mega or a giga. So, but it’s up to the event host to decide whether or not they want to apply for block party status. And I think there was a little bit of a joke earlier this year after we announced these that will there be any mega or Gigas in 2025? Is everybody gonna pick block Party? But from what I understand, it sounds like there’s a little bit of diversity in icons next year, but probably a lot of block parties compared to the other?

0:24:09.2 EW: Yeah, so, so far we have 34 confirmed events as of today in 2025 and 31 are block parties.

0:24:20.9 CR: Wow.

0:24:22.4 EW: They’re not all published yet, ’cause you can apply 15 months in advance, but only be published a year in advance. So some of these are not published yet, but 31 block parties so far. Yeah, three mega events, so there is some variety, but clearly, you can see that the community is excited about block party. And the event doesn’t have to be purely about celebrating 25 years of Geocaching. Some events, how they’re gonna celebrate, they’re gonna have their event that’s celebrating their local culture, local region, having a really fun theme, but they’re gonna have a birthday cake to celebrate the 25 years. And that’s great.

0:25:09.5 CR: Oh cake is always great.

0:25:11.9 EW: Yeah.

0:25:13.1 CR: Come on.

0:25:14.1 EW: I’ve seen it a few times on applications and I think that’s a great way to celebrate. I support that.

0:25:20.3 CR: I’m fully on board with cake. Absolutely. So what are some of the… I guess we talked a little bit about misconceptions or confusion that there’s been out there. What, what comes to mind? Anything you wanna make sure people know, whether it’s about block parties or mega or giga, whatever, it can be anything, but I think maybe block parties, especially there had been a little bit of confusion. Is there anything you wanna make people aware of or make sure they’re thinking about is as we keep rolling towards 2025?

0:25:53.1 EW: I think that one of the big ones is that you have to be a mega event first, which we’ve covered. You don’t have to be a mega event first. You can apply just to be a block party from the beginning. You don’t have to have hosted a mega before you can host your very first event and have it be a block party. And that’s something we’re seeing is a lot of these applications are for first time mega event hosts that want to do the block party, but it’s their first time hosting a big event, which we think is really exciting, ’cause maybe you’ve always wanted to host a mega and now you see this as your chance to host something really special for the community. So we are really loving the fact that we’re seeing so many first time hosts.

0:26:46.9 EW: So if you want to host a block party and maybe you’re holding back because you’ve never done one before, just go ahead and go for it. Put your plan together, put in an application. You can get your event published up to a year early, so you have time to get the will attends and spread the word. And yeah, it doesn’t have to be anything on a massive scale. At the heart, it’s just about getting people together for a very fun day of socializing, and having some things for people to do. But it’s something that you shouldn’t be scared of. So if you’re a first time host, please do apply if you really wanna host something. The other thing is some people, I think, they think a mega event or a block party has to look a certain way, or be structured a certain way, but there’s room for creativity, no two events are the same. People have different things that they want to get out of an event. People like different types of events, so it doesn’t have to look a certain way. That’s another one that I think sometimes when people talk to me, that’s a barrier for them for hosting something.

0:28:06.3 EW: I think another misconception is that, some people think that there are such a thing as automatic Megas. So if you’ve hosted a mega in the past, you’re just, your event is always going to be a mega event, and doesn’t really have to go through the application process, but that’s not true either. Everyone has to submit an application every single year and be considered for mega event status, or in this case you could also submit for block party. We evaluate each application sincerely. We read through everything, and if you’ve hosted a mega event in the recent past and it’s been very successful, you’ve had a lot of people attend, it’s very likely that you will get to be a mega or block party on publication, but it’s not a guarantee. It always has to go through that application process. And then you can also apply, as we said early, so you can apply more than a year in advance if you have your plan together. We’ll look at the application. If it all looks good as far as providing that detail, having the filled out cache page, then we will put a note on there for your community volunteer reviewer that it’s eligible to be published a year early, so that’s another thing. If you have your plan together, you can have a full year to really spread the word about the event.

0:29:38.9 CR: Yeah. And this is an exciting time of year around HQ, ’cause we’re getting to hear stories from our fellow lackeys who have been out to mega events and giga events, and there’s a lot of coming and going going on this time of year. How does that work? How does HQ decide how many events will be able to have lackeys at, and deciding where people get to go and all that sort of stuff.

0:30:06.0 EW: So for how many lackeys travel, it’s not a question of quality, it’s always a question of logistics. So that is always a decision basically made with the finance department. So it has nothing to do with how many “good” events there might be.

0:30:26.2 CR: And you did air quotes, we’re on audio, so I wanna make sure people know you did air quotes. Air quotes around good.

0:30:34.2 EW: Yes. Nothing to do with that. It’s all just it’s with the finance department and it’s a question of balancing certain wants and needs. And we always try and maximize how many lackeys we can send to events, ’cause it’s rewarding for the community to meet a lackey in person and hear about what they do and get to chat. It’s rewarding for the mega or block party host, ’cause the lackey gets to come and see all this work that goes into it. They get to meet the organizing team. I think it gives them a new perspective on the Geocaching game. So it’s rewarding for everyone. It’s rewarding for the lackey to have that experience, the host to have HQ come to their event, and then for the community who get to actually speak to a lackey.

0:31:23.4 CR: Yeah. And I don’t recall if you’ve been somewhere this year or if you’re going somewhere this year.

[laughter]

0:31:31.6 EW: Yes, I have the opportunity in August to attend GeoSlovácko in Czechia.

0:31:40.0 CR: Awesome.

0:31:40.4 EW: So I am very excited about that one. I got to meet the host at the 20th anniversary, which turned into the 22nd anniversary in August of 2022 here in Seattle, and they’re wonderful. I know how much work they’ve put into that event and how they’ve really grown such a great community in their area. So I’m really excited to go see it and support them, talk to the community. I’ve never been to Czechia before, and I think that’s great too, ’cause when we send lackeys, a lot of times, they’ve never been to these countries before. So it’s a great way to experience a country to get to geocache, meet locals. Yeah, it’s so rewarding and it’s really great that we can try and send as many as possible.

0:32:29.5 CR: Yeah. And I’m one of those to get to go to Poland for the first time in July for a Geocaching party, 2024 in Kraków. So I’m just over the moon about that and looking forward to it. So we’ve talked about the biggies and I also wanna mention before we have to stop talking about community celebration events, which I know you don’t… That’s not your day to day, but it is a thing that’s happening as part of the celebration next year in 2025. And so we wanted to touch on it while we were here talking about events in general. And so one thing, and you can go to our blog and you go to the help center, I think and read more about how to be able to qualify for one of those. But I think the big thing that I’m trying to remember for myself is you need to have hosted an event and place a physical cache in the… Oh, I guess not. I guess a virtual cache would count too if you happen to have a virtual reward?

0:33:32.2 EW: They do. The only ones that don’t count are event for that guideline specifically is events and adventures, ’cause there’s a separate guideline about.

0:33:44.0 CR: Right. You must have at least one cache published between January 1st, 2024 and December 31st, 2024. And you must host at least one event, including CDOs between January 1st, 2024 and December 31st, 2024 in order to qualify to host a community celebration event in the year 2025. You also must have completed or created your Geocaching account before the date that we announced that this would be happening, which was on February 20th, of 2024. So if you wanna host a community celebration event next year in 2025 as part of our 25th anniversary celebration, get on it. You need to have a cache published this year and you need to host an event this year. So I personally, I placed a couple of caches in December of last year. I don’t know what I was thinking. I didn’t know and so of course, I don’t wanna just publish a cache ’cause I wanna host a CCE, but it’s a nice little bit of motivation. So yeah, what else about CCEs comes to mind for you that people ought to know for next year?

0:34:57.9 EW: Well, I think hosting one is such a great way to do something special for the community just on a smaller scale than a mega or a block party or a giga. Not everyone wants to host one of these huge events, ’cause of what an undertaking it is. So I think it’s a nice way to bring something special ’cause it is a special icon. It’s something we only really are planning to do during milestone years in Geocaching. So what I like about it is we do understand that not every community or place that geocaches can host a mega or a block party. Sometimes there’s just not enough people in the area. The community just hasn’t grown to the point that you’re going to have 300 will attends at an event. So I think this is a fun way to bring the excitement of 25 years of Geocaching to just a bigger scale of people, a bigger variety of people, so that this way, it’s really attainable for everybody to be able to host something in their community. And I know the last time we did these, I went to a couple of really special community celebration events. So I think it’s a great way to just bring the excitement to more and more people, even beyond Megas and block parties.

0:36:28.5 CR: Oh yeah, there’s so much cool stuff in the works for next year to celebrate this 25th anniversary. Of course, we’re all hoping that 2025 is just so much more awesome than 2020. And it’s just when you think back on all the plans we had for 2020 and then they just kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed, and so we’re all hoping that 2025 goes off without a hitch. And it includes block parties and community celebration events as part of the celebration, and of course then we’ll have Megas and gigs as well. So keeping our fingers crossed.

0:37:05.9 EW: There will be something for everyone in 2025.

0:37:09.3 CR: Yeah. And so before we go, obviously people can see you at that big event in Czechia, but just Geocaching in general for what are you into with Geocaching, which I always like to ask when I have… When I’m talking to lackeys here. What do you enjoy most about going out in Geocaching, ’cause you’ve been doing it a long time.

0:37:26.8 EW: I think for me I started doing it with my family. So it’s something I still like to do. If we take a family vacation, I just got back from a family vacation to Nevada and California and Oregon. So I got to pick up three new states for me. I’ve.

0:37:47.7 CR: You even have Oregon?

0:37:50.1 EW: Or I guess I did have Oregon.

0:37:51.5 CR: Okay. I was gonna say that. That would’ve surprised me.

0:37:52.6 EW: I did have Oregon actually, but I did pick up Hawaii earlier this year.

0:37:57.5 CR: Oh, that’s nice.

0:38:00.0 EW: So yeah, so I think I’ve had… So I guess that would be my third state. So I like to pick up the new countries, the new states, ’cause I like that when I travel to a new place that Geocaching takes me to places that are not in the guidebook, or were not in the standard research that I did. And I always like when people talk on the cache page about the history of a place or why it’s special to them, ’cause then I learned something that maybe I wouldn’t find in a guidebook or I wouldn’t know if I weren’t a local. So I’ve been having fun with that, just being able to pick up new areas and explore new places with Geocaching, ’cause I like to go out in an adventure. So it definitely adds, it always adds to the fun and…

0:38:49.2 CR: Well, yeah, it’s right there in your username. Adventure. Adventure name.

0:38:51.9 EW: Exactly.

0:38:52.7 CR: That’s great.

0:38:53.0 EW: And yeah, it’s great to do with family too, which I like. You can do it as a solo activity or a group activity.

0:39:01.9 CR: Yeah. Well this was great. Hopefully people learned more about some of these interesting things that are coming up next year. And if you want more information, where would you tell people to go?

0:39:13.4 EW: First, to go to the help center, to the guidelines for mega events and the guidelines for block parties. And then if you have questions beyond that, you can email mega events at geocaching.com.

0:39:28.3 CR: And there’s also a couple of blog posts out there as well that I’ve been looking at during our conversation to refresh my memory. One of them about block parties, and then the other one about community celebration events that also list some of that information. So plenty of opportunities out there to learn more, and we’ll look forward to a big year coming up. Yeah.

0:39:49.5 EW: Yeah. I can’t wait. It’s gonna be great.

0:39:51.0 CR: That was Emily Woerly, Community special Events Manager at Geocaching HQ. And as she said, there is lots of great information about Megas and Gigas and block parties and community celebration events in our help center, and in the Geocaching blog. If there’s a topic you would like for us to cover on the podcast, you can send us an email podcast@geocaching.com is the address. That is podcast@Geocaching.com. We really love to hear from you. From Emily and me and all the lackeys here at Geocaching HQ, happy caching.