Sector 5 is on the Job!

December 18, 2020/13 Comments/in Sector 5, Tracking News/by Elf Pinky

Rise and shine all ye great Santa trackers of Sector 5!

Elf Pinky here and from here on out, if you’re a tracker in Sector 5, all eyes and ears should be on me. Yes, Elf Max and Elf Roger will still be posting news. But it will only be general news. For stuff that’s specific to Sector 5, it’s me! I’m on the clock.

Do you realize that we only have a few days left to put this together for Santa? We’re going to be ready.

To begin, I’m going to put you to a little test.

I’d like your first official task as a tracker elf to be this: I want you to send me a photo report — that’s right, your first report to the North Pole will be a picture of your Christmas tree.

If you don’t have a Christmas tree, find one and take a photo of it and submit it.

Why?

I want to make sure we have the Christmas Spirit. I need to see trees in order to know that.
I want to see if you can do this.

Now, some of you might not have phones or cameras to take a picture. I realize that. So, if you don’t, I’d like you instead to send me a weather report.

Both of these are simple reports and it gives me an idea of how many of you are paying attention.

Ready? GO!!

Schedule for Tracker Elves

December 17, 2020/7 Comments/in Tracking News/by Elf Roger Star

Greetings, Trackers!

Christmas Eve is one week away. I am happy to report that all regional tracking centers in all sectors are now operational.

We are now ready to move into our next steps in tracking Santa for Santa. Here is the schedule you need to be aware of:

FRIDAY – 12/18/20 – Elf Supervisors begin instructing trackers in each sector. While we will still be publishing general news of Santa tracking you will want to look for posts coming from YOUR elf supervisor. The instructions for trackers will be different in each sector, due to a variety of factors. You will be given the means to contact your supervisor but for the most part you should count on making and reading comments below each of their posts. That way all trackers in that sector can share in the information.
FRIDAY THRU MONDAY – 12/18 TO 12/21 – Passive alert status for all trackers. You are free during this period to submit a report of any kind. Your elf supervisor MAY request certain reports during this period. Please get good rest during this time frame. We need you alert and able to perform your elf duties in the days following. Do NOT work beyond normal hours during this time frame.
TUESDAY – 12/22/20 – World Wide Tracker Elf Check-in Begins. Please keep an eye out for a post from your elf supervisor requesting execution of the check-in protocol. This is designed by each elf supervisor based on the reporting needs for the sector. Follow their instructions. The check in process tells the North Pole you are on the job and can be contacted for special missions, should Santa require them.
WEDNESDAY – 12/23/20 – TRACKING SANTA – Active alert status, to be announced by sector. Please be aware that this is an active tracking day — in fact it could be THE MOST ACTIVE reporting day of the season. While it may be December 23rd where you are it will be December 24th in other places. This is the day Santa launches. You will need to be on duty for as much of this day as you can be. You will be actively reporting on this day.
THURSDAY – 12/24/20 – TRACKING SANTA – Active alert status. Watch for report requests. This is another active tracking day. Check in frequently for updates from your elf supervisor.
FRIDAY – 12/25/20 – TRACKING SANTA – post flight reporting, if necessary. Merry Christmas.

Please ask any questions you might have in the comments below. Also, please watch the chat calendar at the North Pole Chat room, your elf supervisor might want to schedule a sector chat if there are too many questions.

Elf Training #23 – Local Ground Reports

December 17, 2020/7 Comments/in Elves Only, Tracking News/by Elf Max

The local ground report is one that you will be filling out pretty close to when Santa launches. It is very important that this report is accurate close to when Santa will be there.

In many neighborhoods is it not practical for Santa to land on the rooftop. Sometimes there are obstacles like phone lines or antennas that make landing on a roof impossible. Sometimes a roof is just too small.

In those cases Santa has to land on the ground.

He usually likes to land in a yard, preferably on a level grassy area if there is room. Santa’s sleigh is much larger than people realize. More often than not, Santa just has to park the sleigh on the street.

As you can see, Santa has to make a lot of decisions as a sleigh pilot when it comes to landing.

This is why the local ground report is so very important. You can help Santa to know exactly what to look out for or you can even tell him where you think the best place for him will be to park the sleigh.

When Santa lands in a neighborhood here is what is going through his mind (I talked with him about this a lot):

Where is it safe?
Where is it level?
Where can I put the sleigh that will make the steps to a house as few as possible?
Where can I put the sleigh to keep it close to a water source (so he can give the reindeer water)?
Where can I put the sleigh to make for a fast take off?

Don’t be shy in telling Santa exactly what you think with this report. Pretend you are landing the sleigh and tell Santa what you would do if you were the sleigh pilot.

Your supervisor will be sending you word when it will be the best time to send in this report. Your elf supervisor may ask for this report more than one time from you. If conditions change — say, the weather — they may feel an updated local ground report will be necessary.

Click here to access this report.

Questions? Please put them in the comments below.

Sector 5 Celebrates New Regional Tracking Center

December 16, 2020/20 Comments/in Sector 5, Tracking News/by Elf Pinky

Greetings all ye Trackers of Sector 5! Elf Pinky here.

I’m your boss.

Haha. Actually, I’m just an elf just like you. But did you know that we – the ELVES OF SECTOR FIVE — are the greatest in the world!??

Today we have something to celebrate. Elf Max wanted to announce this a week or more ago but I wouldn’t let him. I wanted to tell you myself. TODAY — RIGHT NOW HOMIES — WE ARE IN BUSINESS IN OUR NEW REGIONAL TRACKING CENTER FOR CENTRAL AND NORTH AMERICA.

We’re located in beautiful downtown Antler, North Dakota.

Yes, the lights are on. The Christmas tree is up. The computers are computing. The Internet is all wired. We are in business. If Santa wanted to launch tonight we’d be ready to roll.

And rolling is what we’ll be doing soon. The news is going to come at you pretty fast, probably starting the first of next week.

I will be your news person. I will be giving you updates.

But here’s the thing to remember: we’re last. Santa has to go to every other sector before he gets to us. So you’re going to see stuff come out from other elf supervisors and you’re going to say, “Where is Elf Pinky? Why does my Elf Supervisor suck?”

I don’t suck. I give you the news you need when you need it. Santa saves the best for last. That’s me. That’s Sector 5. That’s YOU!

So that’s my first assignment for you, kids. Figure out why Sector 5 is last. These lessons in time and how that all works is something you need, as an elf to understand. And you REALLY need to understand it in Sector 5.

Now, I’ve gotten some messages. A few of you are asking to do a chat just for Sector 5. Um…I don’t know about that yet. If you think that’s a good idea. Please comment below. When would we do it. It HAS to happen before December 23rd. Just sayin’.

Let me know.

I’m SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!!!

Sector 4 Sets Up Shop in Bolivia

December 14, 2020/7 Comments/in Sector 4, Tracking News/by Elf Max

We are a little late with this announcement. Sorry about that.

Tracker Elves in Sector 4 will be happy to learn that the regional tracking center for Sector 4 will be located this year in La Paz, Boliva.

This was a surprise choice. Unlike other regional tracking centers, this one located in a big city. La Paz, which means Peace, is the capital city of Boliva. It is a rare thing for a regional tracking center to actually be located in a large city.

Why?

Because these regional tracking centers are serious workplaces. The work of tracking Santa around the clock goes on in these centers. If people knew where they were located the tracking center would have to deal with visitors all the time. That’s why the tracking centers do not go to large cities usually. Fewer people mean fewer visitors.

As it is, the La Paz center will be located in an undisclosed part of the city in a building with no signs. Elves who work there will actually have apartments for them to live in, so once they are there they will not need to go in or go out.

Engineers will have the facility ready to occupy by Friday of this week and they should be operation by Saturday night.

Tracker Elves in Sector 4 should be ready to receive instruction from Elf Tubby at any time — he will post it right here.

Tracker Elf Recruiting Goal Met Early

December 12, 2020/4 Comments/in Tracking News/by Elf Roger Star

Congratulations, elves! We surpassed the goal Santa set for us last summer to have 40 million new tracker elves this Christmas.

Sometime over the past 12 hours that goal was met. How many more can we get?

Santa is hoping for a lot more — millions more, in fact.

Tracker elves, as you know, are a vital component to Santa’s safety and flight speed on Christmas Eve. He depend on Tracker Elves everywhere to keep him alerted to location conditions. The more “eyes” he has out there reporting things to the North Pole the fast Santa can go, and, of course, the safer he and the reindeer will be.

Recruiting for this year’s goal of 40 million tracker elves began during Christmas in July celebrations at the North Pole. At the time, it seemed to many at the North Pole to be an unreachable goal.

However, with 2020 being so strange with the pandemic and so many spending time at home online it was a much easier year to get the word out. People have been enthusiastically signing up to become elves in ever greater numbers. And they have been doing it earlier than ever.

We ask you to please keep up the efforts. Santa wants as many trackers as he can get this year!

More Info About the Tracker Elf Conference

December 9, 2020/14 Comments/in Elves Only, Tracking News/by Elf Max

Since posting about the Tracker Elf Conference for December 13th we have received many questions. I hope this post will answer them. Here are the basics:

Who: All Tracker Elves
What: Tracker Elf Conference (a virtual meeting of all trackers worldwide)
When: Sunday, December 13th, 2020 3pm-6pm EST
Where: The North Pole Chat Room at SantaUpdate.com
More Information: As posted at NorthPoleFlightCommand.com –

The decision was made to hold the conference based on many factors:

Questions Santa is receiving from concerned children all over the world.
Questions North Pole Flight Command is receiving from new tracker elves
Concerns about how Santa will deliver during the pandemic
Questions about how the North Pole works
Concerns about receiving news and direction from Santa

There is a lot of confusion out there about “who” exactly speaks for Santa when he flies around the world. The tracker elf conference will sort all this out and answer those questions.

This is the agenda:

3:00 pm EST – Elf Crash Murphy – The World’s Foremost Santa Tracker (and eye-in-the-sky reporter for North Pole Radio News) will discuss the very basics of tracking Santa for Santa.

3:30 pm EST – Elf Ed Zachary – Famed Santa Defender and Columnist for the North Pole Gazette will talk about Elf on the Shelf and who the really are

4:00 pm EST – Elf Max the Miracle Worker – Lead Tracker Elf Training at SantaTrackers.net will discuss the right Santa tracker to use and other tools for those who Track Santa 4 Santa

4:30 pm EST – Elf Frank Myrrh – News Anchor for North Pole Radio News discusses using radio in Santa tracking efforts

5:00 pm EST – Elf Roger Star – International Director of Santa Trackers will discuss Santa’s flight plan and how sectors work

5:30 pm EST – Our closing speaker is a surprise mystery guest.

Do I need to register for this Conference?

You don’t have to register but it would be most helpful if you could through this form below. We want to get an idea of how many to expect:

[caldera_form id=”CF5fd06e988d55a”]

Tracker Elf Ticket Support System to Be Suspended Soon

December 8, 2020/7 Comments/in Elves Only, Tracking News/by Elf Roger Star

On Friday, December 11th, the Tracker Elf Ticket Support system will be suspended for the season. This is a normal operation.

The ticket support system is implemented during the early pre-season months to facilitate communication on special needs of tracker elves. However, with about two weeks to go now to launch our tracker elf support needs to shift from individual to broad-based support.

Tracker elves will be asked to address questions and concerns via comments on posted news and instruction from this point forward.

As a reminder, the Tracker Elf Conference scheduled for this weekend will be an excellent forum to ask questions.

Thank you.

Tracker Elf Meetings Called This Week

December 8, 2020/18 Comments/in Tracking News/by Elf Max

Tracker elves worldwide are invited to a chat conference to be held this Sunday, December 13th at the North Pole Chat Room at SantaUpdate.com.

A series of presentations and chats will be held to instruct Santa tracker elves and to update on the latest news of Santa’s flight.

So far, Elf Roger Star is the only elf on the chat calendar page, however other elves (such as ME) are receiving assignments and their scheduled presentations will be posted later today or tomorrow. The chat conference is expected to be about 3 hours long.

Each chat will be recorded and those presentations will be filed here at SantaTrackers.net for those elves who cannot be in attendance at the scheduled times.

Please stand by for more news.

Sector 2 Receives a New Tracking Center

November 28, 2020/10 Comments/in Sector 2, Tracking News/by Elf Roger Star

We are pleased to announce that the new Regional Tracking Center for Sector 2 will be located on Rudolph Island Russia.

Sector 2 covers a diverse area of the world in Asia and the Middle East. It spans several time zones and areas from Siberia and the Orient in the East to Israel and Jordan in the Middle East. There are both millions of believers and Santa trackers who live in this expansive area.

Rudolph Island is a remote, northern location up near the Arctic Circle. It is an excellent location from which to receive reports from trackers in Sector 2 and it also has the advantage of being the closest regional tracking center actually to the North Pole.

Our Elf Supervisor for this sector continues to be Elf Clifford Moyer, an elf with many years now of service in this part of the world. Clif speaks 14 languages and is an expert on all the varied cultures within Sector 2.

Voicing the news for North Pole Radio News and stationed as well at Rudolph Island is veteran journalist, Elf Roz, who has reported on Christmas Eve many times over the years. New studios for her reporting will also be constructed as part of the new Tracking Center.

This location will have built a special temporary unit. It will be removed after Christmas, and no one will know that the facility was ever there. Due to its remote nature, everything needed for work and life on Rudolph Island will need to shipped in by sleigh.

This is one of the larger and more ambitious new Tracking Center projects the North Pole is working on. It should be complete and operational around December 16th.

Thanksgiving is Recruiting Season

November 25, 2020/9 Comments/in Elves Only, Tracking News/by Elf Max

Greetings, friends! Thanksgiving is upon us and that’s an important time for Santa trackers. It is a time to recruit.

As you meet with family and friends over the coming couple of days we remind you that we still need more elves. It’s going well, we now have more than 36 million elves tracking Santa for Santa this year. That’s better than last year but still short of our goal of 40 million.

Thanksgiving is naturally a good time to talk to people, young and old, about becoming elves.

This Thanksgiving is a little unusual because many are meeting “virtually” instead of in person. That’s actually a better opportunity for recruiting elves. Because there are not as many people getting together than means more people will be spending time online and if they’re online they might as well come here and sign-up, right?

Don’t be afraid to talk. Santa needs help in EVERY neighborhood.

I’m pretty sure we are on track to reach our goal before Christmas. There is always a surge of elves who sign on at the last minute. But if we can recruit a bunch this weekend we have time to get them trained before Christmas.

So do what you can!

PS – you might want to check in now and then this weekend. I heard a rumor they will be making some big announcements.

Tracker Elf Recruiting On Track

November 18, 2020/11 Comments/in Tracking News/by Elf Max

As the tally of tracker elves on record approaches 35 million the team at North Pole Flight Command and SantaTrackers.net remain focused on keeping up.

“We’re just starting to see the numbers really increase,” said Elf Roger Star, International Director of Santa Trackers at Flight Command. “We expected to do well in October but we didn’t think we would hit 35 million before Thanksgiving. That’s going to happen, leaving us just 5 million short of the goal with more than a month to go.”

Last year, more than 3 million trackers joined the cause in the last 2 days before Christmas. This came after weeks of intense recruiting in December.

While it is always nice to see a big burst in the numbers at the end the crew at SantaTrackers.net would rather see elves sign up now. This gives them time to get trained and organized before Santa takes flight.

Training has been ongoing in the form of posts at SantaTrackers.net. Elves on staff report that more of those training posts are on the way and will eventually be organized in an easy-to-search archive.

Many are looking forward to the new Tracking Santa app that will be out soon. But officials at Flight Command warn that the app, while useful for anyone in tracking Santa, will not be a training tool for new elves.

“An app for elves and elves alone is being developed,” said Elf Winslow, the special projects manager at the North Pole heading up the apps projects. “But it will have to be much more than the Tracking Santa app that will be released soon.”

The North Pole hopes to see another million elves join the tracker ranks between now and the 1st of December.