5 Ways to Prepare for CrowdSolve
What you can do right now to kick off your CrowdSolve experience
As our inaugural CrowdSolve event draws near, we want to help CrowdSolve Investigators (that’s you!) prepare so they can arrive in Seattle ready to hit the ground running. Since CrowdSolve is a brand-new event that has never been done before, it’s helpful for us to think through it, too.
Each Friday between now and October 17 we’ll publish a list of five tips, concepts, or resources that will help CrowdSolve Investigators know what to expect in Seattle and how to get the most of the CrowdSolve experience. First up: some time-saving housekeeping tasks and recommendations.
Book your hotel room . If you haven’t yet, reserve your room before they’re gone! The last day to reserve your room at the Westin Seattle at our discounted group rate is this coming Thursday, September 26 . Staying at the host hotel will elevate your CrowdSolve experience in surprising ways: you’ll run into your fellow Investigators and law enforcement experts in the hallways and restaurants and chat about theories; Save the energy you would’ve spent commuting to the hotel for a long day of investigating; and save money on Uber, taxis, or parking. (Plus, have you seen the place?! It’s beautiful!)
Sign the non-disclosure agreement ahead of time. Because CrowdSolve Investigators will review two active cases - the disappearance of Nancy Moyer and the murder of Karen Bodine - confidentiality is our number one priority. All CrowdSolve Investigators must sign an NDA before receiving their badge at registration. We encourage you to complete the NDA ahead of time and save yourself some time at the registration table on-site in Seattle. We’ll send instructions about how to do that in the next couple of weeks.
Join the official CrowdSolve Investigators Forum.
You should have received an email at your registered email address inviting you to join the discussion group on Facebook. This is a closed group only for Seattle CrowdSolve Investigators. The Investigators Forum
will be a goldmine of information before and during CrowdSolve. You’ll be able to ask questions about the cases, chat with the experts, and meet your fellow Investigators. After the event, we will post updates as Thurston County Sheriff’s Office pursues the ideas and leads you provide.
Get to know the victims. We think TCSO Detective Mickey Hamilton said it best : “Get to know Karen Bodine and Nancy Moyer. Absorb everything you can. Read all the publicly available information and everything you can in the case files.” There is very little coverage of Karen’s case in the media but we will parse out non-confidential parts of the case file over the next few weeks (with the approval of TCSO). In the meantime, catch up on the binge-able Hide & Seek podcast with James Baysinger to learn more about Nancy’s case.
Get in the mindset of an Investigator. Let us warn you: there are images and descriptions in the case files that are not easy to see. We’ve said from the early planning stages that CrowdSolve is not a “murder mystery game” but the full weight of that statement hit home as Karen’s and Nancy’s terribly sad narratives took shape in the case files. The good news: there is a lot of material in both cases and we’re almost positive our keen-eyed CrowdSolvers will spot even a tiny lead that may crack either case.
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