Saturday, August 15, 2009

Event Volunteer Tips

At the Community Events Web site (www.commevents.com) I just posted an awesome checklist for working with volunteers. Are you detail oriented? Then this list was made especially for you.

Here are a few things I've learned about working with volunteers (in no particular order):

1. Always recruit at least 1/3 more volunteers than you need because there is always a good chance that some of your volunteers will not show up when they said they would. (This is probably the single most important thing I know about working with volunteers.)

2. Provide written instructions -- as short as possible, but explaining exactly what is needed.

3. Recruit them -- immediately send each a thank you/reminder e-mail -- send each a second reminder e-mail a day or two before the event

4. If someone else is doing the recruiting, don't settle for anything less than a list of specific volunteers with names and contact information (people have a tendency to be "optimistic" about the number of volunteers they have recruited).

5. Feed them if you can.

6. Have them sign in with addresses, phone numbers, and e-mails. You want to make sure you have this list for thank-you notes and future volunteering.

7. Send hand-written thank you notes, not e-mail (no one does this anymore and it makes a lasting impression).

1 comment:

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