As a meet director, you will be responsible for planning and carrying out a meet. Successful meets are the key to the club’s success. But you need not shoulder the entire load, please consider asking one or more volunteers to help with designing and running your meet.
- Start location
- Score-O format: Mass start, time length, penalty for being late
- Relay: number of teammates, format
- If your meet is in a Municipal park, the VP of Events should have sent a Municipal permit to you.
- If your meet is on military land (Fossil Creek, Elmendorf, and Pia’s maps), check with the VP of Events for the current participant registration process (it changes from year to year).
We recommend that you do it yourself with Purple Pen. If you need help, contact the VP of Mapping to find out who is available to help with your maps. Please have your information ready at least several days ahead of the meet!
Double-check the course maps to make sure they are accurate and readable:
- Control locations and codes are correct
- Scale is appropriate
- Circles, lines, and text do not hide features
Vetting typically consists of two tasks performed by someone other than yourself:
- Review of course layouts to ensure that the courses follow the course design guidelines.
- Field checking to ensure that controls are not hung in a confusing place or an incorrect place.
Ideally, both tasks will be done for every meet by an experienced orienteer other than the course setter. Please contact an experienced orienteer using the volunteers mailing list or one of the club’s board members for assistance with vetting.
It is sometimes harder to find volunteers for field-checking your courses, mainly because the potential field-checkers will likely want to participate in your meet. If possible, find an experienced orienteer who will not be participating in your meet and request his/her help. Or arrange to have helpers check courses other than the one they hope to run.
Electronic Punch Equipment
We use electronic punch for almost all meets, although some meet directors still use manual punch for mass start events like score-Os.
- ePunch tub containing the electronic controls and the start/finish kit (gray suitcase) including the tablet.
- Large duffle of control stakes/stands.
- EPunch tub containing the orange/white flags for the control stakes/stands.
- Large backpack you can use to carry controls into the field.
More details on the equipment is available in the step-by-step instructions for using the epunch system.
Meet Box Contents
The VP of Equipment should have stocked the meet boxes, but double check to make sure you have everything:
- Season waiver forms on clipboard
- Sign-up sheets for courses on clipboards
- Punch cards
- Safety pins
- Ziploc bags for maps
- Money jar
- Key jar
- Loaner compasses
- Whistles for sale
- Bug dope
- Meet fee sheet
- Symbol reference sheet
- Map legends
- Napkins
- Garbage bags
- Promo materials (schedule cards, magnets, free passes, etc)
- Pens, pencils, and markers
- Stapler and staples
- Paper clips, scotch tape, duct tape, scissors, flagging
- First aid kit
- Airhorns & bearspray
- Safety notebook (dangerous wildlife incidents, medical emergencies and search & rescue proceedures)
If something is running low, either buy more and give the receipts to the Treasurer, or tell the VP of Equipment – who keeps extras of many consumables. Check to make sure there are lot of participation forms in the box, especially for the first few meets of the season.
Other Stuff You Can Borrow
- Manual controls (if needed)
- Clock with stand, instructions, wall and car chargers
- Information and safety sign (with dry erase marker)
- Table(s)
- Tent/Canopy(s)
- Water jug and cups
- Garbage bucket
- Orienteering club banner
- Directional signs to starting location
- Sign board to post additional notices
Other Stuff You Will Need to Bring
- Permit & Proof of Insurance (see VP of Events)
- Course maps
- Clue sheets
- Score cards (for Score-Os)
- Cell phone for emergencies
- Snacks – optional, but expected.
In addition to the topo and course, each map should have:
- Meet name, date, and location
- Descriptions (i.e. cluesheet)
- Map scale written in text (e.g., 1:10,000) and a graphic scale bar
- North arrow
- Club logo
- Meet director’s cell phone (optional)
- Legend (for White and Yellow only)
The map scale, north arrow, club logo and legend are available for download as images from the base maps page. Downloaded images can then be added to the map in Purple Pen just be sure to resize the scale bar so it matches the blue lines on the map (usually at 500 meter intervals).
We have a printing account with Great Originals. You need to send them a PDF. Note that ~1/8 inch will be cropped from outside edge of PDF. If you use Great Originals, get a receipt and give it to the Treasurer. Use attendance from last year’s meet at your venue, and recent club meets<, and the predicted weather to estimate the number of maps to print.
Don’t forget to print the cluesheets if they are not on the map and any other materials (like customized score card for Score-Os)!
- Any changes to the published schedule or format.
- Enticing descriptions of the venue, terrain, and courses.
- Consider taking a picture or two while you are scouting your courses that can be included in the announcment post to website, mailing list, and facebook.
- Any other pertinent information.
You can also generate files from PurplePen for the web team to upload into LiveLox. In PurplePen:
- In the top menu, go to File…Create Route Review Files…Create RouteGadget Files
- In the dialog box, select IOF XML Version 2.0.3 and click Create
- This will generate three new files with the follow extensions *.gif, *.gfw, and *.xml.
Send these three files as email attachments to webteam at alaska.org so we can add them to LiveLox.
- Controls for advanced courses can be placed several days before the event.
- Controls visible from trails should be placed just prior to the meet to reduce the risk of having them stolen.
- If controls are placed early, you may need to check them before the meet to make sure they are still there.
- Ideally the feature should be noticed before the control.
- Controls should not be hidden (e.g. in a pit).
- Normally the flag hangs on the stand but if needed you can hang the flag on a nearby tree, fence, etc, for increased visibility.
- If a stand cannot be placed (e.g. ground too rocky), you can use cord to hang the control and flag on a nearby tree, fence, etc.
- Be sure that the control code matches the code on the description/cluesheet.
At a typical meet, there are oranges (cut in eighths), bananas, pretzels, and/or muffins (quartered). There should be trash bags and napkins in the meet box. Be sure to clean up after your meet, so that the land owners will welcome us back the next time.
Before the Meet
- Please limit your meet expenses to about $50. This amount should cover refreshments and any other small supplies you might need.
- Bring all receipts to the meet to give to the Treasurer for reimbursement. Write your name, date of meet, and description on each receipt.
- Maps may be printed at Great Originals and charged to the club account. Bring a copy of invoice to the meet to give to the Treasurer.
During the Meet
- Online payment is available on the website for meets, season passes, and donations but people can still pay in person by cash or check.
- Please do your best to check completed waiver forms to see that the membership/fee/donation spaces are appropriately filled out. This allows the club to track income categories and tax deductible donations.
- Please keep an eye on money during the hubbub of sign ups.
After the Meet
Please place any money and paperwork (waivers, signup sheets etc.) collected in a plastic bag or envelope and leave it in the gear shed when you return equipment after your meet. Then contact the Treasurer, letting them know the money is there and they’ll pick it up from the shed.
- Two to four people at the start/finish is best. There should always be at least two people for the entire duration of the meet just in case there is an incident (someone lost or an injury).
- One table for season waivers, course sign-in sheets, money jar, keys jar, etc; the other table for maps and epunch tablet for registering sticks for starters and downloading results for finishers.
- Whistles – everyone needs one. Meet box has them – we sell them for $1 each.
- Be sure the Safety sign is up and that it indicates the safety bearing and when people are to return, regardless whether they have finished. Generally we want everyone DONE by 9 pm.
- Be sure to tell people to check-in upon return.
- Loaner compasses – If someone wants a loaner compass for a meet, please have them leave a driver’s license or car keys in the money box as collateral; we otherwise lose compasses steadily.
- To help prevent dog bites and fights, please ask people with dogs to keep them on leash and away from the tables in the start/finish area.
- Hang punch cards at the finish
Please write up a description of the meet to publish on the website and send it to the web team
For example:
Ellyn's Wacky Orienteering Meet Tuesday, December 21, 2005, at Hillside Trails Suggest adding some comments about the winners, unusual/funny occurrences, weather, mosquitoes, etc. such as ... Bill Spencer, competing in the 90 minute division, raced to the only perfect score in the Wacky-O event at Ellyn's Orienteering Wednesday evening. Spencer found all 27 controls in an amazing 71 minutes and 18 seconds. Ian Moore topped the 60 minute division with 770 points and Jen Jolliff led all women with 490 points. Thanks to volunteers x, y, and z for their assistance in putting on the meet.
If you used electronic punch, the results from the tablet are uploaded to SportIdent when connected to the internet. If you did not have internet access at the venue, you can connect the tablet to the internet when you get home.
The web team will download results from SportIDent and post them to the club website. If you have any manual corrections to SportIDent results, please let the web team know so they can adjust the results on the website.
If you did not use electronic punch, please compile the results in an csv or xls spreadsheet and email the file to webteam at oalaska.org.
Please place any money and paperwork (waivers, signup sheets, etc.) collected in a plastic bag or envelope and leave it in the gear shed when you return equipment after your meet. Then contact the Treasurer, letting them know the money is there and they’ll pick it up from the shed.
We use the signup sheets to help calculate participation numbers and archive the waivers for insurance purposes.