Keeping the missions quiet?

[Meaghan]

Hey, I am new to this Improv Everywhere deal. I stumbled across the site a few days ago. But it seems to me that a big part of the success of the original IE is that there was a key group of agents that accepted ideas and organized the missions, and then kept them quiet from the rest of the agents. They would post the time and place and any props needed, but even then they tried to throw people off the track of what was really going down (the newspaper in the Best Buy mission).
So my question is, does the Portland group have a key group of agents working like the ones in NYC, or are we all just posting everything and knowing everything that goes down?

Thanks for your feedback.

[Dan]

The way I had envisioned coordination is people working independently in small groups or "cells", which generate ideas, recruit agents, and take care of of the basic logistics. That way, you avoid too much pre-mission publicity and the problems which come with trying to work with an unwieldly large group.

The larger missions require more people to plan, but first I'd like to build up my own personal experience before I try to organize something larger. I have a lot of ideas for large missions, but I want to try and organize smaller missions with 5-20 agents first.

That way, you build up experience and a reputation for being able to pull off missions, which makes people more apt to get in on a mission for which they don't have a lot of details.

I'm not trying to promote factionalizing, elitism or disunion, but I think inidividual creativity is the order of the day, and in the spirit of improv. For me, the smaller missions stay far more true to the spirit of improv, and look far less like flash mobs. Plus, I've had a lot of experince working with large groups and small groups, and I can tell you my preference is to work closely with a small group of like-minded people. That, and I live out in Battle Ground so it is difficult for me to make any meetings in Portland unless I am already there...

My two cents...

Dan (Agent Ironstag)

[jellybeanjumper]

It sounds like the 18th isn't good for many people. If you are interested in becoming part of the coordination group email me at [e-mail]. Tell me what days and times work best for you and I'll try to find sometime that works for everyone!

[Meaghan]

You might want to post this on the main page. I am not sure how many people actually come on here and read the comments.

[Sean Brown]

I would love to help cordanite this missions. I work in portland and do improv here in corvallis. Let me know whats what. Sean Brown
117productions
[e-mail]

[Kelli]

Hey,
I am new to this whole improve everywhere thing. But I am interested in their work. I would love to be part of something like this, but I can't make the meeting. I am in school. Once you guys figure something out, please let me know. I would love to be part of a mission. I hope you figure something fun and exciting out at the meeting.
Have fun!

[jellybeanjumper]

Meaghan,

This is a wonderful idea! I think that we should set a meeting place and anyone interested in being part of the planning group for PDX should show up.

Since no one has done this yet, I'll just make a plan and if you're interested, show up.

Where: Starbucks Pioneer Square
When: Sunday May 18th @ 12:30pm
Wear: A backwards baseball cap and carry a flower of some sort

[Sean Brown]

Are people going to this?
Let me know
[e-mail]

[Diana Baumer]

seems like a core-group w/ regular meetings would be good. of course, it should be open forum so anyone could come and add their own two-cents. Lets see how many others out there would be interested. We could meet at a centrally located coffe house or even Powell's downtown coffe room would work. Personally I like shari's but i dont know of any in a good spot, like on the max line. with gas prices so freekin' high I've been riding my bike mostly and tri-met if its enroute to where I'm headed, plus theres plenty of folks that dont drive/ have a car.

[Meaghan]

Yeah, the way I was thinking it would work is that one core group and then people would submit ideas to them. Then if they (the main group) decided to use a certain idea, the person who submitted it would be contacted and that person would help plan, if they could, or give more info on what they had in mind.

[Jon]

Well, so far from what I've seen it looks like the individual missions are being organized by different groups of people and pretty much all information is shared. I think it would be cool to have a small group of people who got together and organized missions for all the Portland members to participate in. I just joined the site recently and think that we could do a lot more missions if we had a small group of people who got together and brainstormed each week. I'd be interested to be part of that group. Right now I'm helping to organize the Synchronized Dance mission and so far that seems to be going all right, so I'm pretty confidant in my organization skills. Lets see if we can't get a little more interest in forming a core group then we can go from there. Sounds good, though.

Jon