DPF Meet & Greet 2014- Intro Thread

[alabaster]

Man.... It looks like I'll be moving this year. I'm not sure if I'll be able to head up a M&G or not.

I'm going to be in Florida by the end of the year and it's taking all of my time & resources to get things together to make the journey. I understand about the weather, but I'm concerned that parents won't be able to make the trip if it's during the school year(As JimLE mentioned).

I'm thinking of actually doing something IN Florida once I get back down there. If for nothing else to get myself reacclimated to the surrounds, resources, and pitfalls of being on a tropical zone again.

I'm going to post this link in the shoutbox for people to weigh in on and see how much interest there is. If it seems like enough folks, I'll start asking for volunteers to take on a Regional Leader position so we can really buckle down and organize things. If anyone is interested, please take a second and paste the link into the shoutbox when you log on so that we can keep the link in the forefront, and hopefully on other members' minds. Thanks for your interest and effort.

 

[Gazrok]

To be honest, I'm fine with summertime really.

 

[jimLE]

good luck with the move alabaster.hope it all goes well and right

 

[Brent S]

I'd make the effort to meet some of our group if it's within 7 or 8 hrs. !!!!

 

[Silent Bob]

Man.... It looks like I'll be moving this year. I'm not sure if I'll be able to head up a M&G or not.

I'm going to be in Florida by the end of the year and it's taking all of my time & resources to get things together to make the journey. I understand about the weather, but I'm concerned that parents won't be able to make the trip if it's during the school year(As JimLE mentioned).

I'm thinking of actually doing something IN Florida once I get back down there. If for nothing else to get myself reacclimated to the surrounds, resources, and pitfalls of being on a tropical zone again.

I'm going to post this link in the shoutbox for people to weigh in on and see how much interest there is. If it seems like enough folks, I'll start asking for volunteers to take on a Regional Leader position so we can really buckle down and organize things. If anyone is interested, please take a second and paste the link into the shoutbox when you log on so that we can keep the link in the forefront, and hopefully on other members' minds. Thanks for your interest and effort.

Are we thinking this to be a national one? Would we want to make this an annual meet up or just a one time deal? Since I've never done a meet and greet. Are you looking to make this one that is just simple or a bit more extravagant? Just want to get a feel for what you had in mind before I started projecting this on my board.

 

[alabaster]

SilentBob, we've had this discussion a lot over the last couple years... I feel like it would be best to hold regional ones and then a national one if demand is there. I would like to do it annually until they all get enough support, then the biggest one would default to the National M&G. That could give us the ability to hold another regional one, totaling 5 annually. That's my plan... We have to get something going though. I don't want to spend as much time as I did last year to end up out with one other fellow. If that's the case, I will just plan a camping trip and make it an open invite to all DPF members, which I'm not opposed to doing anyway.

Originally, I wanted to make it a trip where we could all help teach each other something. If each person was willing to do so, then we could all pitch in on supplies, etc. I am a little more into survivalist prepping, so primitive skills would be of interest to me, but that's not to say that "All things prepper" wouldn't be welcome. Fire starting, primitive shelters, foraging, etc... I think someone mentioned teaching people to can veggies. Who knows. After I brought that up, it seemed like more people wanted to just meet up and get to know each other, kind of like a big camping trip. Totally informal and unscheduled. I was thinking more along the lines of a convention, and I think most members were thinking more of a Meet & Greet, which is how that name came up. I'm willing to do what I can to help organize, but I don't want to plan something out that's so rigidly scheduled that no one's interested. Ultimately, this will have to be a command decision.

I asked last year for 3 other people to take the lead for their regions, and will likely do the same thing again this year. I think I need to put up a banner on the homepage to get interest going. That way every time someone pops in they'll see the M&G thread. Maybe we need a party planner to handle all that!

 

[Silent Bob]

SilentBob, we've had this discussion a lot over the last couple years... I feel like it would be best to hold regional ones and then a national one if demand is there. I would like to do it annually until they all get enough support, then the biggest one would default to the National M&G. That could give us the ability to hold another regional one, totaling 5 annually. That's my plan... We have to get something going though. I don't want to spend as much time as I did last year to end up out with one other fellow. If that's the case, I will just plan a camping trip and make it an open invite to all DPF members, which I'm not opposed to doing anyway.

Originally, I wanted to make it a trip where we could all help teach each other something. If each person was willing to do so, then we could all pitch in on supplies, etc. I am a little more into survivalist prepping, so primitive skills would be of interest to me, but that's not to say that "All things prepper" wouldn't be welcome. Fire starting, primitive shelters, foraging, etc... I think someone mentioned teaching people to can veggies. Who knows. After I brought that up, it seemed like more people wanted to just meet up and get to know each other, kind of like a big camping trip. Totally informal and unscheduled. I was thinking more along the lines of a convention, and I think most members were thinking more of a Meet & Greet, which is how that name came up. I'm willing to do what I can to help organize, but I don't want to plan something out that's so rigidly scheduled that no one's interested. Ultimately, this will have to be a command decision.

I asked last year for 3 other people to take the lead for their regions, and will likely do the same thing again this year. I think I need to put up a banner on the homepage to get interest going. That way every time someone pops in they'll see the M&G thread. Maybe we need a party planner to handle all that!

Perfectly makes sense to have a regional one, where everyone can get to it within a few hours. I know that the former group that I had once belonged too, has a state meet-up each year and state sponsored regionals depending on the organizers. The last one they had was around the Caprock area near Amarillo. I didn't attend, but they had a little of everything there, a firing range, demonstrations, the meet/greet, etc, all held over a 2 day period. From the threads that I read, the turn out was pretty good, and when I say turn-out, you had people driving almost 11 hours to get to it. I know that JimLE, DBarry1973, and I discussed the idea of having a regional one. DBarry1973 had a placed down by Houston that he was willing to offer up as a meeting place, but for me, considering time/etc...just was a bit out of my way for this summer.

I'd be very open to working on a national one and to line up vendors...etc, if we were thinking of having it at a hotel meeting/conference site during the summer months. Knowing that might be a way off, but when your talking vendors, its going to take time. I know the one that they had at McKinney had a great vendor turn out and I plan to attend next year.

The banner is a great idea Alabaster.

 

[QuietH3art]

You guys do realize that it's already Summer 2014 and no meets are scheduled? I would like to suggest something to get a ball rolling on regular meetings amongst DPF members. Start small and work your way up. To me, a meet and greet is a one-day, several hour meeting to start getting to know one another face to face. No, no one is going to drive 12 hours for dinner with strangers. Okay, I would do it, but I love to travel and I met my best friend by doing that. But we can go smaller than that. I know there are several of us here in North Carolina. For most of us, the center of the state is a 2-3 hour drive. I would be more than happy to arrange a dinner meeting for anyone willing to drive 2 to 3 hours. And the planning needs to include time and space to sit around talking for a couple of hours. And maybe that's where you start to plan the bigger event. Alabaster, I know you're most likely about 4-5 hours from me. I go to visit a friend in Maryland at least twice a year and probably go right by you, at least until you move to Florida. Brent, you're probably 7-8 hours from me. I went to Alabama in March and will probably head down there again in the next couple of months. I think we need to take advantage of opportunities to get to know each other face to face.
We all have profiles here and most of us have included our general location in our profile. Is it possible for anyone to actually access the membership list for location information? The idea being to start a Conversation with those that we believe would be within a reasonable distance of us for a meet There's also the threads for the different locations but if people aren't regularly checking for it, they won't see it.
I think it's really important that we consider these meets to be part of our prepping. Just meeting each other, any scheduled training at future events is icing. Imagine if the grid goes down. No internet, no phone. But for whatever reason we have to get out. It's important to know like-minded people and to know how to get to them or for them to get to us without any means of communication. Do we all want to become isolationists at that point or do we want to work together with people we know to form new communities. Numbers usually means the difference in many survival situations.

 

[jimLE]

good points there LW..like you pointed out.there's diff regions for each of us.one thing each of us can do there..make a post in said region(s) and make sure that your following that topic.this way you'll know when someone else makes a post there..this way you and everyone else can keep up with what region everyone lives in.and maybe learn their distance from you as well.and if you feel comfortable enough about it..set up a meet with them in a public place of some kind..and make sure there's plenty of other folks there as well..like other customers and employees and all...

 

[Brent S]

I like the idea of small groups a lot, but am still interested in regional camp outs as well. I'm in the top right corner of Georgia, and would love to meet a small group for a weekend camp out. Traveling is tough for me now with my wife so I'll, but I've learned in life that if you want something you can figure out a way to make it happen.

 

[alabaster]

LW, last year we set them up in summer and didn't have a turnout. I'm not sure if that was due to weather or not, but it is a matter of fact. I honestly think that there are more people watching us and waiting to see how turn out is for the first few before they make a long journey to end up camping alone. I understand it's late in the year to start settling details, but I have a lot up in the air, and as it seems now, we have about 5 or 6 people actively involved in this thread. That's not enough for one event, IMHO. I think that double that many for each region would be more(I think there are 11 or 12 that have posted here at all) reasonable.

SilentBob, I'm not sure if going to vendors is a good idea or not. It could be a git or a curse. If they are able to help gain exposure, then that would be great. If they are counting on us to get tons of people there to purchase their wares, we may end up burning bridges for future events. I can't help but think that we should get attendance up before we ask vendors to come out. If we have a good amount of people, they will be more attracted to the idea.

I'm also in the middle of setting up a relocation for my family. Perhaps this is the year to set up for 2015....

What do you all think about starting planning on 2015 events?

LW has a good point about how late it is to start planning for this year. I'm not likely to even attend this year due to the move and prior commitments. People need to be able to get time off and to prepare for the trip. In the meantime, people can do smaller events that will give insight and experience for future events. I for one am in for 2015. The more I think about it, this year just won't work for me.

 

[QuietH3art]

Here's what I see as some possible issues: Summertime is growing/harvesting and so many of us do that ourselves so a weekend away could mean the loss of essentials to survival. My new goat has to be milked twice daily. I have plenty of people who will feed my animals while I'm gone but can't think of a single person who would milk her for me. And 2 or 3 days without milking could be enough to cause her to dry up.
In fall, winter and spring, there's school and while there are holidays, yeah, it is tough for everyone to organize together at the same time.
Which is why I suggested that those close enough to each other do an initial meeting for dinner and conversation for just a couple of hours. Once we meet a couple of others and can get comfortable with each other, I think we're more likely to plan for the further out weekends away.
I went through many of the posts for my region last night and saw several members that are 2 hours away from me or less but no way of knowing if they are still active here. Of course, I could "follow" them all and start a "conversation" with all of them to try to organize a local get-together.

Once I get myself unpacked here which should be finished today or tomorrow, I am going to have a lot of time on my hands. It only takes me about an hour twice a day to take care of my animals and water my garden. I'm not going to tell anyone how many hours I could sit at my sewing machine working on quilts because that's an OCD behavior that I have not indulged myself in for over 3 weeks now. When I get my machine set up, there's no telling when I'll walk away from it again. However, my computer sits right beside it.

My point being, give me another 2 or 3 days and I will have plenty of time to start working on organization of events. I am offering myself as a sacrifice here (lol) to carry some of the weight of this. I am very good at researching places/locations on the internet and have no qualms about contacting strangers to set things up. Even outside of my region, I could offer suggestions for locations and keep records of who is interested and when they'd be available.

At one time, I was the CEO of a non-profit that operated all over the east coast as well as a few states in the Midwest and Western states. I have been through the struggle to organize people I've never met to do things that were in their best interests. Having this site and the way it's set up could present opportunities for polling to see who would attend what type of events, when and where. Just say the word and I'll get to work.

 

[alabaster]

LW, you are a good man. I appreciate the insight and the offer of your time and effort. I agree that more localized and regular meetings will be paramount to the success of the larger regional & national meets. I also appreciate your situation, and understand summer isn't a good time for you. I wonder if perhaps a couple polls on "When" & "Where" would help.

 

[QuietH3art]

LW, you are a good man. I appreciate the insight and the offer of your time and effort. I agree that more localized and regular meetings will be paramount to the success of the larger regional & national meets. I also appreciate your situation, and understand summer isn't a good time for you. I wonder if perhaps a couple polls on "When" & "Where" would help.

I really better change my avatar. I'm not a man by any stretch of the imagination... lol

 

[QuietH3art]

You know what? I could bring my milking goat with me so everyone could meet her, show everyone how to milk her and let everyone taste the milk. And milking is a year-round thing depending on which goat(s) is/are in milk. So sometimes it just takes some creative thinking.
And wouldn't it be something to see how much fun it is to travel with a goat in a SHTF type situation.

 

[jimLE]

so LW when did ya become a man? LOL and that looks like a woman aviator to me..lol

 

[QuietH3art]

so LW when did ya become a man? LOL and that looks like a woman aviator to me..lol

I just changed it, Jim. It's temporary, though. I'll come up with something I really like one of these days. Just not at the top of my priority list right now.

 

[jimLE]

oh i aint worried about it..but i did have to joke about it thoe

 

[Silent Bob]

You guys do realize that it's already Summer 2014 and no meets are scheduled? I would like to suggest something to get a ball rolling on regular meetings amongst DPF members. Start small and work your way up. To me, a meet and greet is a one-day, several hour meeting to start getting to know one another face to face. No, no one is going to drive 12 hours for dinner with strangers. Okay, I would do it, but I love to travel and I met my best friend by doing that. But we can go smaller than that. I know there are several of us here in North Carolina. For most of us, the center of the state is a 2-3 hour drive. I would be more than happy to arrange a dinner meeting for anyone willing to drive 2 to 3 hours. And the planning needs to include time and space to sit around talking for a couple of hours. And maybe that's where you start to plan the bigger event. Alabaster, I know you're most likely about 4-5 hours from me. I go to visit a friend in Maryland at least twice a year and probably go right by you, at least until you move to Florida. Brent, you're probably 7-8 hours from me. I went to Alabama in March and will probably head down there again in the next couple of months. I think we need to take advantage of opportunities to get to know each other face to face.
We all have profiles here and most of us have included our general location in our profile. Is it possible for anyone to actually access the membership list for location information? The idea being to start a Conversation with those that we believe would be within a reasonable distance of us for a meet There's also the threads for the different locations but if people aren't regularly checking for it, they won't see it.
I think it's really important that we consider these meets to be part of our prepping. Just meeting each other, any scheduled training at future events is icing. Imagine if the grid goes down. No internet, no phone. But for whatever reason we have to get out. It's important to know like-minded people and to know how to get to them or for them to get to us without any means of communication. Do we all want to become isolationists at that point or do we want to work together with people we know to form new communities. Numbers usually means the difference in many survival situations.

so LW when did ya become a man? LOL and that looks like a woman aviator to me..lol

Jim, that not Amelia Earhart! lol

 

[alabaster]

Wow. Don't I feel like a biscuit with no butter.... Please accept my deepest apologies.. Forgive me, LWesterfield. I meant no malice, honest. I'm not always the most observant person(Though that's obvious now, isn't it?). It looks like your avatar is giving me a dirty look for referring to you as a man. I really don't like having my foot in my mouth this early in the morning..

I can't say I've seen an animal milked since I was a boy. I'm adventurous with foods, so I'm definitely in on a taste test! I like goat cheese, but I really couldn't even guess what goat's milk tastes like. I would imagine traveling with the goat would be an epic road trip. I have these wild visions of travelling with a goat in the cab of a truck, riding shotgun. What a show that would be!