Date: November 14th, 2009
Time: Noon
Place: Barney Allis Plaza in downtown Kansas City

It's that time of year again. Time for the 6th World Wide Flash Mob. After having planned WWFM IV in Loose Park, I thought it would be fun to change the scenery a bit. As I thought of a location, the first thing that popped into mind was Barney Allis Plaza. With all those potential muggles, it definitely is a change in scenery. After posting on the forums, and getting some responses, I decided to stick with my initial idea for a location.

So what is a flash mob? For those who haven't been to one before, it is a micro-event designed to last only 15 minutes. The idea is to have a set meeting location and time. Just before the event, the location will look normal. Then, right at the appointed time, a mob of geocachers descend on the area. For fifteen minutes, some chatting, log signing, photos, trackable exchanges and goodbyes occur. At the fifteen minute mark, everyone disperses, leaving anyone in the area who witnessed it confused as to what just happened.

Because of the location this will be at, some planning is in order to really make this interesting. If you have been to a flash mob before, you'll likely see stations. One for logging the visit. One for swag. One for trackables. Maybe one for getting your photo taken. What you see varies depending on the host. Not all of the details have been planned out yet, so make sure to check back in to the event page as we close in on the event to keep up with all the details as they are posted.

Timetable

• Pre-event - Park and be ready to go...preferably on a side street away from event
• 11:58 - If on a side street, begin walking towards event.
• 12:00 - Event starts...time to "descend" on the event
• 12:00 - 12:05 - Get log entry slip, sign, & turn in
• 12:05 - 12:10 - Mingle, trade swag/trackables
• 12:10 - 12:14 - Group photo next to fountain
• 12:15 - Event ends...quickly disperse and leave area

To really make this work, try to avoid standing around across the street from the plaza or at the plaza itself before the start of the event. The best thing to do is to park on a side street or in the underground parking beneath the event, and wait until the final minutes before the event before you start heading to the plaza. Based on how far away you are, try to time it so that you arrive at the listed coordinates as close to the appointed time as possible. This helps avoid the odd look of large groups of people standing around before the event and instead helps create the atmosphere of "What just happened?" for surrounding muggles when we show up out of nowhere. At the WWFM in Loose Park one year ago, only a few people were standing at the listed event coords (myself being one of them), but almost everyone who attended were standing roughly 100-150 feet away. To a muggle, it would have been pretty obvious that something was about to happen. Ideally, we want to avoid that.

After the event, try to disperse quickly. If you want to meet up with people after the event, plan on meeting at another location away from the plaza. There are a lot of geocaches in the area around the event. If you haven't done them yet, this is a good day for you to attempt some. There is one at the event location. Please refrain from going after it just before or just after the event. Either come early, do it during the event, or come back later.

Volunteers
I'm looking for volunteers. Everyone is welcome to take photos, but I'd like one person who can be a designated photographer to get a group photo. I'm also looking for people who can help with passing out log slips and collecting them, and people who can help run a swag bucket and trackables bucket (any trackables left behind will be taken care of). So if you would like to help out, just say so in your "Will attend" log.

So, are you ready to be "Muggled in KC"?