Flash mob!

I’m in Riga, Latvia (and strangely, have free net access, wire­less, in a spiffy modern caf when Bar­celona could­n’t provide this… what’s going on???). Will post more about the city and the other stuff later… BUT!

i have received my first flash mob invite and can’t be there. But you guys can, if you’re in Mel­bourne this Thursday.

Hey mobbers

Okay, it’s hap­pen­ing this THURSDAY… after 5pm some­where in cent­ral Mel­bourne, Aus­tralia. (would it have been any­where else!)

If you can make it, please read on care­fully. If you can’t – well, I’m sure you’ll read on anyway with a sense of loss.  Unlucky! – Chin up.

Now, for the flash­mob guidelines (lifted from the sydmobbers–thanks). From the accounts of anyone that has par­ti­cip­ated in a Flash­Mob, it’s the actual end of the whole planned act that really leaves the impact on both those involved and those watch­ing. Wit­ness­ing 100+ com­plete strangers sud­denly come together and per­form some­thing in itself is impress­ive enough, but seeing those same people sud­denly leave the area in totally random dir­ec­tions acting like noth­ing actu­ally took place is where the real fun begins.

 Here’s some basic guidelines for the final act of a planned Flashmob:

•  If you are attend­ing a mob with either a part­ner or a large group of friends, organ­ise to meet at a des­ig­nated spot after the act has taken place. Prefer­ably this spot should be far enough away so that people who have just wit­nessed the event don’t put 2 and 2 together.
• When the act is over, dis­perse from the area at the time men­tioned in the SMS. Choose a dir­ec­tion and leave alone. This cannot be stressed enough. Leave no trace. The dis­per­sion is just as import­ant as the mob itself.
• Try and not con­verse with anyone when you are assem­bling at or leav­ing the area. If someone really wants to ask what hap­pen­ing, shrug and deny any know­ledge – espe­cially if they look like they’re media related. Don’t talk to them! What just took place didn’t actu­ally take place at all.
• If you’re attend­ing the mob with digital equip­ment and wish to take a photo at some stage, try and alloc­ate your­self away a bit from the area. Or have a friend organ­ized to take the wanted shots for you so you don’t miss out on the fun.
• There has been reports at some mobs that par­ti­cipants have sud­denly gone into a round of applause at the end of the act just before the dis­perse hap­pens. Even if the SMS instruc­tions don’t out­line this action during the act, thereís noth­ing actu­ally wrong with doing it. Feel free to share your appre­ci­ation with fellow mob­bers. But ensure you still dis­perse as planned.
• When the dis­perse hap­pens, leave the area in a calm and sens­ible manner. When you have a group of people which could reach well over 100 it’s never a good idea to ini­ti­ate a mass stam­pede, the threat of a real injury hap­pen­ing is quite real. Don’t spill onto the streets, we’re NOT want­ing to stop or hinder normal life, just make it more inter­est­ing for a few minutes!
• If there is a pres­ence of author­ity (police, secur­ity etc) and they give out expli­cit instruc­tions to leave the area, do so. Even if its before the des­ig­nated dis­perse time. Having people arres­ted for taking place in a flash­mob is not the kind of atten­tion we are seek­ing – and won’t happen unless you do some­thing stupid. If police are around, they are there to ensure public safety – and our flash­mob will not be harm­ing any­thing or anyone. So don’t get stressed at their pres­ence either.
• Leave noth­ing behind but the last­ing effect on the minds of your fellow mob­bers and the wit­ness­ing gen­eral public.

 By abid­ing by these guidelines your mob exper­i­ence should be a total suc­cess. These are simply guidelines which have worked well with other organ­ised mobs glob­ally, and in prac­tice you will under­stand how and why they work so well.

Now, for the details…

Below is a URL used to submit your email address and mobile number. This inform­a­tion will only be used for the organ­isa­tion of this FIRST flash­mob – not future ones. If you ‘hid’ your email address in the Yahoo Group, you now need to provide it – don’t worry, it won’t be released to anyone. 

If you’re read­ing this email after 5pm on Wed­nes­day 20th, you’re too late. The regis­tra­tion list is closed! Sorry – you’ll have to wait for the 2nd mob. No exceptions.

Now, at some stage shortly after 5pm on Wed­nes­day, you’ll receive another email – with fur­ther details with times/locations for when/where to ini­tially be, and when you’ll receive the first/final SMS.

So – please ensure you check your email again to receive this, at some stage on Wed­nes­day even­ing OR Thurss­day well before 3pm.  Again, mob­bers will need to be assem­bling from about 5pm Thursday onwards. 

Register NOW at: http://​mem​bers​.lycos​.co​.uk/​m​e​l​b​o​u​r​n​e​f​l​a​shmob/

Regis­tra­tion will only be accep­ted up until 5pm on Wed­nes­day 20th

DON’T REGISTER IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT !!!!

This email may be all a blur of excite­ment! Fair enough – we’re excited too. But it’s import­ant you under­stand the guidelines above, and the regis­tra­tion pro­cess – so read through this email again if it didn’t make com­plete sense.