For the last three years, I’ve dealt with the same issue during this time of year… the 4sqDay 5. Maybe you’ve experienced it, too. The hustle and bustle of getting things ready for 4sqDay, the stress of everyday life, the fact that I don’t work out like I used to… followed by all the eating and drinking and being merry on 4/16 all combine to result in tighter fitting pants, an unnatural fear of getting on the bathroom scale, and the gradual suspicion that I am, in fact, becoming a huge blob.
But this year, there was no disputing it. The evidence of my poor health choices was obvious to everyone… especially in this picture:
Tampa’s real Mayor, Bob Buckhorn is the dapper-looking man on the left, who has shown leadership in using foursquare as Mayor. I am the wide-looking guy in the 4sqDay shirt on the right. There is no denying it. I’m the largest I have even been. The heaviest I have ever been. And I need to change my ways.
Think about it. Do you see a little bit of yourself in my chubby profile? Did you have one too many cupcakes this year? Did that awesome bulking up routine fall victim to a series of awesome check in drink specials?
Well, this year is DIFFERENT. This year, instead of gaining 5 pounds by next 4sqDay, we all are going to get in the best shape of our lives. Ladies and Gentleman, with the help of foursquare, each other, and all manner of new apps and gadgetry, we are going to get you Fit By 4sqDay.
This is the plan:
- Think of a challenging but reasonable health goal that you’d like to a achieve in 1 year. It could be anything. Loose Weight. Complete a half marathon. This is not a crash-diet or three day fast. This is changing you habits and lifestyle to meet your goals in one year that can set you up for future years of success.
- Go to Fitocracy and sign up for the Fit By 4sqDay Group. Here you will find tons of foursquare fanatics of all different fitness levels ready to join you, support you when you are weak, and give you mad props when you succeed.
- Think about what you can do to help the group succeed. Have a favorite health app like RunKeeper, Nike+, or fitsquare? Write up a guest blog post and we’ll publish it. Are you hugely successful with Weight Watchers, going Vegan, or Paleo? Tell us why it is working. When chatting health and fitness, use the #FitBy4sqDay hashtag, so we can follow and share.
And to show you that we are serious, we have some professionals on board to keep us all motivated. I’m happy to introduce Kristin and Kevin Votta fromFitness-Tek. You can see them on the right. They will be posting useful information and be active in the Fitocracy group. We are excited to have them on board.
All of this is free. The only thing you have to lose is a few pounds. So who is with me? Who wants to be a monster on the foursquare court next year?
Let’s Get Fit By 4sqDay!
-Nate
To everyone who has participated in 4sqDay, I have one thing to say: Cupcakes.
More #4sqday treats from @aLAnessa!
In going through the awesome posts, pictures, and parties from around the world it is obvious to me: Foursquare users really like cupcakes. Cupcakes with badges, flags, candy, in all manner of colors and regional styles.
But if I had to use a second and third word, they would be THANK YOU! It has been SOOO amazing to see the tweets, check ins, badges, posters, cupcakes, and everything else that people have created. Whether you checked-in at new business, partied at foursquare meetup, organized a community event, or helped spread the word in all your crazy ways, thank you. Thank you squared.
A special thank you goes out to Justin Henderson, who really stepped it up this year and ran things, especially the day-to-day operation of the blog content. Likewise to all the 4sqday bloggers (in no particular order) Nicole, Dwayne, Mareks, Michael, Fernanda, and anyone else I am forgetting! And Vanessa does more than bake famous cupcakes! She has been rocking the graphics scene and Instagram. Without you all, 4sqDay 2012 would not have been the success that it was!
Thanks to all the political leaders from mayors to presidents who made proclamations and gave shout outs for 4sqDay. It is fantastic to see that these people get that foursquare and 4sqDay is not frivolous, but is a meaningful supporter of local communities and economic development.
Thanks to Untappd. They rock for creating their second 4sqDay badge and heatmap! Also Screenscape and ButtonUp get shoutouts for reaching out!
And, of course, thank you to the fine folks at foursquare because without them, this whole thing would be rather silly.
So what now?
Well, first, you may be wondering what is going on with this temp site. We have to deal with the rotten hack that was affecting portions of the site. We had thought that we had resolved the issue before, but clearly we haven’t. Sit tight while we get this taken care of.
We do have some ideas that we are very excited to announce, but first… let’s finish up this 4sqDay.
- We are looking for people to share stories about their local events. It can be what happened, what worked, what DIDN’T work, what you’d like to do differently next year.
- We have been sharing event pictures from all over the world on our facebook page. If yours isn’t up there, let us know. We want to include everyone!
- If you want a Pinterest board, to post pictures in your cities, let us know.
- We’ve mentioned this before, but if you see any local press or blogs or other media coverage in your community, use this link to submit them. We’ve had over 60 submissions in the last few days from all over the world! Soon wed we will share them!
And here are a few other things other things you can do:
- Keep growing your foursquare community!
- Connect with people who attended 4sqday meetups in your community.
- If you have ideas or ways that you’d like to be involved in 4sqDay organizing, let us know.
- Help us update the Wikipedia page. It is very stale.
- And of course, keep checking in!
Cheers to all!! Thank you! Cupcakes!
As Foursquare Day rapidly approaches, the city spotlight focuses on the town of Kennesaw, Georgia. This will be Kennesaw’s first full event but second year having Mayor Mark Mathews proclaim April 16th as Foursquare Day throughout the city! Last year, the mayor made the proclamation during the Big Shanty Festival; this year, the proclamation expands into an event.
With the City Council meeting on the same night, the mayor has invited foursquare fans and users to take part in the proclamation at the beginning of the council meeting! He also plans to repeat the proclamation at the outdoor event itself (weather permitting). As for the celebration, foursquare users will celebrate along with the Dinner at the Depot event that takes place each and every Monday evening. The celebration will include food trucks vendors Champion Cheesesteaks, Happy Belly, Cajun John’s, and King of Pops from 5pm until 8pm. We will be passing out some foursquare swag and displaying the Worldwide Virtual 4sqDay coverage thanks to ScreenScape!
Last but certainly not least, the 4sqKennesaw group has taken a note from Atlanta’s successful 2011 celebration by teaming up with MUST Ministries, a great local non-profit organization, for a Check-in for Charity pledge drive!
On behalf of the Kennesaw (and surrounding) foursquare community, have a very Happy Foursquare Day!
Portland loves Foursquare! So much in fact that Mayor Sam Adams has announced that he will declare 4/16 “Foursquare Day” in the City of Portland.
Local businesses are coming on board to offer specials, discounts and giveaways to celebrate all over the city. Most notably, Portland’s fun and quirky local pizza chain, Pizza Schmizza, will be offering a FREE giant slice on Foursquare Day to anyone who checks in at their 20 participating locations from 2p-6p!
Portland State University, home of Oregon’s largest student body (take that U of O Ducks), is throwing a unique all-day celebration called “The Foursquare Day Trail!” The trail will have students checking in at various points around the campus to unlock deals and get free PSU swag! Participating in the trail are businesses like Ben & Jerry’s, 7-11, Seattle’s Best Coffee, the PSU Bookstore and more!
Portland is home to Whiffies Fried Pies – a food cart visited by Dennis Crowley in the early days of Foursquare. After @Dens left a tip on the cart, it was decided that every #4sqday meetup should be there. After nearly 200 gathered in 2011, we’re hosting our third Foursquare Day at 6pm with the goal to unlock a Super Swarm badge with 250+ in the flash-mob-type meetup!
This next City Spotlight will be for Seattle. This is Seattle’s second year hosting a 4sqDay event. With 5 city leaders last year, the team dropped a few people and then grew to 7. These individuals are hard working and will do anything make this Monday, a great event.
Robert Wong, one of the leaders for the event says:
We set the bar pretty high last year in Seattle, we got a lot of positive feedback and complements on the job we did. We are hoping to do the same this year.
Last year, Seattle had around 100 attendees, but this year, having the party on a Monday isn’t stopping them. They feel that they could get that number and even more with all the buzz going around. Wong mentions that the sponsors are quickly jumping at the chance to be apart of the big deal. However, one issue Seattle is having, is the t-shirts. Finding a sponsor for those proved tough, but WAPPOW Inc is stepping up and donating the shirts!
One of the highlights last year was our raffle. We had awesome prizes from local businesses along with the Seattle Sounders. We are happy to say that the Sounders are again providing tickets to one of their games, we’ve also got Uber Seattle helping out with discounted rides to and from our event and many other local businesses contributing gift certificates and other prizes.
- Seattle Sounders
- Uber Seattle
- Bill the Butcher
- Wappow
- Belltown Pub
- Habitude
- other local business
Istanbul, Turkey is the next city to steal the City Spotlight. This year’s 4sqDay even will be at Istiklal Avenue, in the district of Asmalımescit. The street is small and narrow, forcing people to interact with each other. It’s a very informal place!
The city leaders have acquired two different specials from the venue:
- The first 50 people that check in after 7pm get free vodka shots.
- All people that check in after 7pm get 30% off their all drinks.
They are using a large projector and ScreenScape to project live check ins during the event. When someone checks in, it will be displayed for everyone to see who is at the venue. Maybe they’ll have everyone shout when someone new checks in. In terms of promotion for the event, the team has made posters, banner and pins. The pins will have the city logo on it. The posters and banner will be foursquare bees, crown, logo etc. The teams art director will design these things, just like as our new logo. They have also been working with YES! People to help promote the event.
The City Spotlight now shines on Philadelphia, for 4sqDay. But this isn’t your normal 4sqDay booze and prizes event. Philly has announced the 2012 4sqDay Games. This is Annie’s first year hosting the event, but not without some help from the Social Media Club of Philadelphia. Annie is obsessed with the Hunger Games and thought it would be hilarious to do a foursquare version.
Click the image!
This event will be an actual foursquare tournament, but played Hunger Games style. Annie is the Game Maker, creating a court with tape at the Marion Anderson Rec Center. Players will be Tributes from several “districts” (aka community organizations): SMC Philly, Indy Hall, Inliquid, PANMA, P’unk Ave, William Way Center, Geekadelphia and Technically Philly.
On April 16th at 7:30pm, the Tributes will come and compete at the game of foursquare.
A victor will crowned. Losers may cry. All of it will be livestreamed.
Annie and the crew will be asking for donations for the Rec Center. Local beverage Liquid Lightning is providing everyone with their energy drinks and frankly, these people are going to need it. This is going to be a grueling showdown. They’ll also have 2 medals, engraved for the event, for two winners. Come on. These ARE GAMES OF THE AGES.
Annie laughs “We’ll have some food on-site. Which is pretty funny, since we’re modeling this whole shin-dig after the HUNGER games. Foursquare and checking in works up an appetite.”
I just want to give a shout out to the other community orgs that are joining us in this event and competing for the 2012 Philly Foursquare Games title: Drink Philly, Geekadelphia, Indy Hall, Inliquid, Independence Visitor Center with PCVB, Technically Philly, PANMA, P’unk Ave, William Way Center and of course SMC Philly. It’s super cool that so many organizations are down to do something like this. Just more proof that Philly is the epicenter of awesome.
They also plan on livestreaming the event so that people can watch this ridiculousity from around the world.
Be sure to grab your ticket, and some popcorn for these games!
