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There will be a reference sheet for each job/role and copies of all job reference sheets will be retained in the event manager’s manual.
181 two or three volunteers (working for a couple of hours each) to cover a single shift and it is possible that volunteer staff may not always turn up on time every time.
Managing, motivating, recruiting and controlling volunteers has its own problems, some of which are discussed below. Splitting shifts among volunteers reduces your demand on their time and makes it easier to get volunteers, but it also signifi cantly increases the number of staff required and exponentially increases the management problems.
Recruitment
Where do you get the volunteers? In some instances your club, school, or league could supply the staff (see ‘Members of your organisation’ section below). However, it is likely that for anything other than the smallest event, additional staff will have to be found. Some possible sources of volunteer staff are:
•
your school, club, staff,•
other schools/clubs (the idea being ‘you help us and we’ll help you’),•
cadet forces, scouts, etc. (especially if you give a modest donation to their funds) – but bear in mind legal restrictions as to the ‘work’ that can be carried out by minors,•
local and associated charity volunteers,•
territorial army (especially if there is a charitable aspect or some training value, such as orienteering they can get out of the event, or if you allow them to set up a recruiting stand),•
appeals in local press or radio,•
last of all, family and friends.Reliability
You cannot and should not wholly rely on volunteer staff unless you have close links with them and previous experience of their reliability and committment. With all due respect and apologies to volunteers, I realise that a lot of voluntary organisations are managed very effi ciently and the volunteers themselves are trustworthy and commit- ted. Unfortunately, I have experienced the disasters that occur when voluntary staff are not as reliable as promised.
The main problem is that as the event manager you have no leverage to control volunteers. Though this should not strictly be necessary, if the success of the event relies on ten people at the gates collecting money, the whole event is a costly disaster if the event was superb, but there was no one at the gates and the public walked in for free.
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Paid staff know that if they fail to turn up they will not be paid and may well lose their job. I was called in to arrange emergency cover at an event when a group of volunteers had accidentally double booked themselves and simply decided not to turn up to one of the events. They didn’t even bother to tell the event manager that they weren’t coming. He found out early on during the day of the event when he called their leader to ask when he and his team were going to arrive for the fi nal briefi ng!
At another event, the weather on the day was very cold and wet and 11 out of 16 volunteers simply decided that they had better things to do than to stand around in a cold wet fi eld that day. The event had to be cancelled.
On another occasion a club member generously promised eight people. During briefi ngs he assured everybody that ‘his team’ would be there on the day. Unfortunately,
‘on the day’ he arrived – with just his rather disgruntled wife. It transpired that he simply could not deliver what he had promised and dragging his wife along had been a last-ditch effort to bring some staff and save face.
The moral of these stories is that generally you cannot rely 100% on volunteer staff, unless you have considerable previous experience of them, or close links with them.
Numbers
It is acceptable to expect paid staff to work their full eight-hour shift with a pre-sched- uled break for lunch. Unfortunately, volunteers are not often suffi ciently committed to invest that much effort. One of the attractions I have used is that in some areas I double up on volunteers, they share one job and while one works the other can enjoy the event – for free. (They may have got in free but they are spending money at the event so I have an added audience member.) I also use these extra ‘resting’ staff as a pool of reserves in case somebody else doesn’t show up. A suitably desperate plea,
Tip
I always insist on having the names of the volunteer staff in advance and, if at all possible, hold a briefi ng meeting a few weeks before the event to make sure that they exist, that they know they have been volunteered and that they will actually come. This also gives me the opportunity to check on the quality of staff I am getting and I can select team leaders etc.
183 with a suitably grateful acknowledgement that they have ‘saved the event’, usually persuades them to make the extra effort.
Whatever you do, make sure that you have enough staff to fi ll all the critical posts that you need to effectively and safely run the event. If at all possible, always have a few spare staff in reserve as well.
Selecting a team leader
If you get any number of people working together, one of them has to have some degree of authority, to control, supervise and co-ordinate the work of the rest. Some organisations have built in rank structures (cadets for example); other groups natu- rally select their own leaders. On some occasions, however, you (or the deputy event manager responsible for that element of the event) will have to select and appoint team leaders yourself.
Ask them if they have a leader. If not, ask if any of them should be the leader, this usually results in the group pointing out somebody they look up to, so you can consider making them the leader. If there is no leader or their nominated leader is for some reason unacceptable to you, you will have to appoint one. Your selection can be based on previous experience, but with staff of equal ability, depending on age and maturity of staff, it may be sensible to appoint a more mature person as team leader for each group.
Using simple questions such as ‘Anyone handled gate money before?’, and with common sense and observations, you should be able to nominate a leader. If the team members know each other and you are in doubt about who to pick, it is useful to watch their reaction when you ‘think aloud’ about somebody. If you mumble ‘Maybe Bert would make a good leader’ and they all groan or laugh and three of them say they are going home – Bert may not be the best person for the job. Watch them during the briefi ng; if they all turn to Maria for an opinion, Maria is probably their natural leader. Remember though you are ultimately responsible. Good leadership is based on
Tip
If you nominate ‘reserves’, always use them. They will not be best pleased if they attend and sit in a tent all day waiting to be needed. At least every couple of hours, get some of the reserves out to do a security or safety review tour of the site and make them feel wanted and valued as well.
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organisational and motivational skill, not popularity, so remember the most popular team member will not necessarily make a good leader.