2017 Placement Newsletter #1

Placement Newsletter #1

In this issue:

1 Access to the Directed Group Sale (DGS) for Theme Camps and Villages
2 MOOP and Leave No Trace

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Dearest Citizens of Black Rock City!

Happy New Year from the Placement Team!

We wish you all the best for a splendid start to 2017 and hope you all enjoyed some time surrounded by loved ones and good cheer.

Last year, you may have read the ticketing information update here: http://tickets.burningman.org.

In this news letter I'll explain what is happening with the Directed Group Sale and what that means for Theme Camps and Villages and Camps in Villages.

Others who receive this Newsletter, you are the members of - Art Support Camps, Work Support Camps, DMV Camps and Container camps - you should receive some information from the folks who provide your Early Arrival Passes.  Placement only offers access to the Directed Group sale to Theme Camps and Villages.

Let's make a collective New Years Resolution to up our LNT and MOOP strategies and stop this increasing MOOP trend in its tracks.

Let's also resolve to spend another year together building the best place in the world.

Peace to all,

 - Answergirl and the Placement Team

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1. The Directed Group Sale (DGS)

If you are a Theme Camp in good standing, you are eligible to purchase tickets through the Directed Group Sale (DGS).
The opportunity to purchase these tickets is our way of saying thank you for a great last year, we hope you will returned do it again.
The number of Directed Group Sale tickets you'll have access to reflects our approximation of the size of your core or build crew.

FAQ

1. When do you need to know about changes to my camp for 2017?
The deadline to let Placement know of any changes is Friday January 27, 2017.


2. What if I want to take a year off, can my tickets be held?
Yes, if you let Placement know well before the DGS sale that you are taking a year away from BRC, we will keep track of your information.

3. What if I am returning after a year off?
If you are returning from some time away, but you were a Theme Camp or Village in good standing, please let us know well before the DGS sale and we will make a note, it's your responsibility to let us know when you are planning to return.

4. What if I am separating from my Village or Theme Camp, going out on my own?
Please let Placement know well before the DGS sale that your CiV is separating from the larger Village or your Theme Camp is dividing and we'll make note.

5. What if our camp leadership is changing and the previous lead is no longer the right person to be distributing the DGS ticket information to our campers?
The previous lead and the new lead must email us together and let Placement know of the change.  We will make a note of the difference.

6. What if our camp lead is away during the Directed Group Sale and is not able to distribute the tickets.
Please have your camp lead let us know that they want someone else to be in charge of the distribution

Other questions not answered here?

Email placement@ keeping in mind the team is quite small this time of year, so response time may vary.

How to I inform the Placement Team about any changes to my DGS ticket status?

With an email!  placement@burningman.org

1.     Subject: [sector] Name of Camp - DGS information  update
2.     Body of message (copy and paste, and personalize)

Dearest Amazing Placement Team,

Choose one of the scenarios or write your own

A: I am taking a year off from Burning Man, and would like my tickets held for this year

B: Our camp leadership is changing, this is the new person to be contacted for all information regarding DGS

C: I have something else to tell you about my camp situation, here are the bullet points.

[Be sure to tell us your camp name, include your camp lead as it was shared in your Placed Camp Questionnaire.]

I look forward to hearing from you in the New Year and will be patient for my reply.

Sincerely,
Incredible Theme Camp Lead
xox

TLDR? Changes to your camp that relates to DGS? email placement by 01/27/17.
Things staying the same? Sit tight, more info is coming...

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2. MOOP and Leave No Trace efforts

Have you seen the MOOP map? Did you email Placement wondering why you got Yellow or Red?
Here is some information to tide you over until we get the MOOP report in the next few months.

The Playa Restoration Team are the wonderful volunteers that pick up everything all of us left behind.

They start their work once everyone has left the playa and after all of the big items have been removed (like containers, generators, anything else) and they literally walk around the entire city looking for the little things we missed picking up and taking with us.
If they can keep walking at their regular pace and pick things up as they go, your camp space is coloured Green on the MOOP map.
If they have to slow down to pick up stuff, you get a Yellow rating.
If they have to stop and get on their hands and knees to pick up what is on the ground, you get Red.
The colour of the rating has to do with the speed of the team. Red means the team had to stop. Yellow and Red means you missed something, and it was probably a whole lot of small stuff.

The MOOP they find and pick up is most likely very small. It is firewood, wood chips, little pieces of plastic, glitter, the tips of cut zipties, the plastic from a new lip balm, a bit of cardboard, broken glass, cigarette butts, balls of string or hair.

MOOP is everyone's responsibility and it is up to all of us to make sure we get every last bit of fallen debris off of the playa.

Leaving No Trace (LNT) means no trace, not one bit. We run the risk of failing our Bureau of Land Management inspection if we leave more than one handful of little bits per 50' x 50' square of playa.

I am not able to give you more details about what was found in your space at this time - the MOOP report is generally available in February.

But I am able to offer these tips:

Remember that MOOP hides under layers of playa dust, so bring rakes and maybe a leaf blower to remove the dust and get down to the firm playa to look for little bits.
MOOP doesn't really blow around, just the big stuff (pieces of paper, tents, tarps, bins), but that pile of cereal you dropped on day one is going to stay there until you pick it up.
The ash from your burn barrel isn't going anywhere until you move it.
If you get other than green in your camp plot, then it is time to put MOOP and LNT at the top of your planning list - be sure you have a dedicated LNT team and that you have people on hands and knees looking for the little stuff.
We know that almost everyone does a fantastic job with MOOP, and we are all very thankful for our friends in playa restoration for picking up what we missed.

Thank your friends and plan to do better - that the best solution.

TLDR? MOOP is small, get down on hands and knees and pick it up. Don't email placement about MOOP until at least February - and expect we'll tell you Playa Resto found wood chips and little bits of plastic in your camp.

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Thanks for reading and stay tuned!!

The 2016 Placement Team

Abdullah, Answergirl, Baulknaub, Bravo, the Flaggers, GetRich, Happy, HepKitten, Hot Water, KGB, Level, Machine, Muppet, Papa Bear, Pono, Retro, Shadow, SparkleBalls, SwAmPy, Sweetthang, The Governess and WhatsIt.