Please join us Saturday,
February 16th from 10:30 am until 1:30 pm for a day of food, finds,
and fellowship. And information! We will be meeting at the
Southeast Regional Public Library, 10599 Deerwood Park Blvd.,
Jacksonville, zip 32256.
This meeting is free and
open to the public. No pre-registration is required. Although a
’will attend’ log is helpful to event organizers! Just bring your
questions, and your unit and laptop if you have them. There is free
wifi available at the library. What would be better than learning
what you need on your own computer??
The first hour will be a
meet, greet, and eat
**, followed by brief NEFGA announcements, introductions, and a
short
anonymous, and then general
question and answer session. There will also be a ‘get to know you’
game and door prizes. After that, we will break into smaller
interest groups for classroom-type demonstrations and question and
answer sessions with veteran cachers.
When you arrive at the
event, if you haven’t done so prior, please sign up for one (or
more, if you have multiple team members and want to split up) of
the interest groups if you want to attend so we can plan
accordingly. You will find we are a relaxed group, and if you
change your mind at the last minute that is OK too. Here is a
tentative list of interest groups:
1. Introduction
to Geocaching—this group will be
appropriate for people who are just dropping in because they are
interested in caching, or people who have zero or very few finds
and lots of questions about caching in general. Brief history of
geocaching; rules, regulations, and guidelines, and navigating
gc.com; how to register, finding and logging caches and travel
bugs, and other questions.
2.
Getting to Know Your Garmin—for new users of Garmin
GPSr’s. Geared more towards unit operation and functions rather
than caching use. Although caching use is sure to come up sooner or
later.
3. Getting
to Know Your Magellan—for new users of
Magellan GPSr’s (groups 2&3 may be combined for a ‘Getting to
Know Your New Unit’ group if there is not enough interest in one or
the other)
4. What the
Heck is GSAK?—for cachers with little
or no experience with GSAK. Basic functions, sorting, filters
(first tab only), and options; and uploading caches to your unit.
Will also include introduction to building
pocket queries at gc.com If you have
some caches under your belt but have never used GSAK this is the
group for you!
5. Advanced
GSAK—for people who have some
experience with pocket queries and basic understanding of GSAK;
will include advanced filtering options (beyond the first tab), arc
and route options, exporting files (other than to your unit) and
use with other software programs, and anything else that comes
up.
6. The Joy
of Waymarking—an offshoot of
Geocaching, rapidly gaining popularity. Navigating the
Waymarking.com site...visiting and listing waymarks...and why
waymarkers think they are better than geocachers (just kidding!).
We would prefer that complete newbies join the Introduction to
Geocaching group. But if you insist...we won’t stop you.
1:30 pm is the official
end of the event. There will be NEFGA representatives available in
the meeting room until then. Possibly a little later for questions
while we are cleaning up but activities will be finished by
then.
At any point you may want
to put some of your new-found knowledge to the test. There is no
obligation to stay until 1:30...there is not even any obligation to
join one of the groups….there will be plenty of milling about going
on, and we certainly encourage that. But you never know what kind
of surprises there will be at the end of the event! ***There might
also be some different interest groups available to sign up for the
day of.
Eat**
- NEFGA will
provide coffee, water, sodas, paper and plasticware, and some
brunch items. Veterans
are invited
to bring a brunch-type dish to share and welcome our newest
members! There is a “kitchen”, which consists of a freezer, a
refrigerator, and a microwave so a few items might be able to be
re-heated on-site. There is also a lot of counter space.
Remember, when you log your ‘will
attend’.…
Newbies—let us know which
group(s) you think you want to participate in and how many people
in each.
Veterans—let us know
which groups you might able to lead, or if you can bring a dish to
share and what it will be.
Watch
this page for updates!