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Category: Leadership

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5 Tips to Boost your Event Volunteer Recruitment

Volunteer Recruitment

Volunteer recruitment is the most obvious part of the volunteer management process. That is likely the reason why it is often interchangeably referred to as volunteer management.

Volunteer management however is a lot more complex with planning, engagement, training, support and communication. Volunteer recruitment is a part of this system – a crucial part of course in ensuring we get people involved with our event. Understanding its interdependency with the other areas of volunteer management is the key to succeed with volunteer recruitment.

The recruitment process can be challenging and stressful as many events heavily rely on volunteers but struggle with attracting enough volunteers. I have put together a few tips to help boost volunteer recruitment for your next event.

1. Preparation

Planning your recruitment is essential. Otherwise the recruitment drive is random, likely resulting in a poor outcome. It is key to plan how people will reach you and sign up. You can have the best recruitment call in place but if you don’t have an effective registration process you will lose people along the way before they even register.

Make registering easy. If you put yourself in the shoes of the potential volunteer during the process, you will be able to identify any obstacles that may prevent people from signing up. You could also test your process with a few colleagues.

Beware that the devil is in the detail. Think of a clearly structured volunteer registration page, an easy-to-navigate form and a phone number available for people to call if they encounter difficulties as a great foundation for your volunteer recruitment.

2. Roles

It is very common in the event industry to manage volunteers on a task by task basis rather than creating roles. Unfortunately, the more basic the role the less meaningful it is to the volunteer. Consider that the more importance you put on a role, the more importance a volunteer will put on its execution.

People are looking to assist events and organisations in a meaningful way. In addition, often people who volunteer are highly skilled in their professions. Most of these skills are transferable, so why not tap into this resource of expertise if it satisfies the event’s and the volunteer’s needs at the same time?

Creating meaningful roles will make roles more attractive for recruitment but also create a higher volunteer engagement, which will impact the overall visitor experience.

3. Your Offer

Your offer determines whom you attract as a volunteer. Incentives can be part of your offer but the most important is the experience you offer to a volunteer. In other terms what the volunteer will get out of volunteering at your event. This can differ from person to person but generally this may include skill development, being involved with a cause they care about, pro bono skilled work, meeting people and numerous others.

Consider the volunteer roles you need to fill and who would be your ideal person to fill these. Your ideal person may be part of a specific interest group or a specific industry. And your ideal person may be looking for different experiences and incentives than what you are currently offering.

Considering your target volunteers and their needs will help you create an offer that if delivered will keep volunteers motivated and committed to your event.

4. Channels

With email being less and less effective for recruitment conversations, it seems obvious to turn to social media. Social media hugely assists volunteer recruitment as it opened up opportunities to target specific groups, interests and locations.

However, it is also important to review where you find your ideal target market. There may be easier ways to reach them more effectively at a local club or at an expo for example.

Choosing the relevant channels will save you time and allows you to craft a tailored message.

5. Communication

Communication is key, both to events and to working with people. The more you can communicate and keep people informed along the way, the better engagement you will achieve.

The message you are trying to get across needs to be very clear to be effective. In marketing, going out to everyone is the most expensive way of promoting an opportunity. The same is true for volunteer recruitment. Going out and asking everyone dilutes the message.

A clear, targeted message lays out the benefits and requirements relevant to the target market before people register to volunteer.

Communicating more clearly before people register will achieve two things. It will show the commitment required, which will attract people who are serious about helping out. It will also cut out the ones who were not serious in the first place but just sign up in case it could become interesting. A clear message will save you a lot of time in the recruitment process and beyond.

Want some help?

How effective your volunteer recruitment is largely depends on how well you prepare for it and the clarity of your message to your target market.

If you need help with your volunteer recruitment check out our 6-Step Checklist that will help you improve volunteer recruitment and create better events.  CLICK HERE for FREE download.

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7 mistakes to avoid when managing events with volunteers

Many events cannot run without volunteers. However, often managers don’t realise the full value the volunteer program can bring to their event and organisation. Think about volunteers not showing up or volunteers not knowing what to do. In those instances the time and money spent can even have a negative impact on the event. As a result many event organisers become frustrated about working with volunteers.

It doesn’t have to be that way. On the contrary, if you are implementing a volunteer program already, why not find a way to make it more enjoyable for everyone AND run more successful events?

To achieve better event outcomes, here are the 7 things to avoid when managing volunteers for your event.

1. Hiring the wrong coordinator

Volunteer Management is often considered an entry-level role in the industry. However it’s a complex role and requires project coordination skills as well as people skills. The wrong hire will leave the volunteer coordinator overwhelmed, finding it hard to deliver all aspects of the program. This will impact the volunteers, as they may not get the attention they need.

Ultimately this affects the organisation as it leads to volunteers leaving or being disengaged and unsatisfied staff. This leads to a high turnover of volunteer coordinators.

Remember you are just as good as your team and having the right skills on your team will create better outcomes.

2. Not training enough

Volunteers completing only short shifts at an event can create the illusion that you don’t need to train them as much or that you don’t want to take more of their time.

Unfortunately, if you don’t train volunteers on their tasks as well as the bigger picture of the event, they cannot support you. This impacts your event but it also impacts your volunteers, as they feel inadequate and undervalued.

Adequate training and sharing information and your vision will empower your volunteers and integrate them into your organisational goals. This will make your work easier on site and have a positive affect not only on the volunteers but also on your event.

3. Seeing volunteers as free or saving costs

Uniforms and food for volunteers are standard budget items. However budgets often don’t allow for systems and dedicated management to run the volunteer program effectively. As a result volunteer coordinators spend a lot of time on manual tasks and are reactive rather than proactively planning and improving processes.

Make the spending on your volunteer program worthwhile by investing in planning and structuring in order to meet your organisational objectives. Without that, your budgets are used inefficiently and your volunteer program becomes a cost. The return on investment you’d want to achieve is similar to that of marketing expenses. It will show a positive image, brand awareness, and engagement of people with your event.

4. Improvising

When coordinators are engaged on temporary short contracts they often do not have enough time for planning. As a result they are just reacting to email, phone calls or the issue at hand and improvise. The volunteer program always gets implemented but with no structure or plan, the results are vague. Due to the lack of other factors to measure, the success of the volunteer program is often measured by volunteer hours spent. However, this doesn’t provide a qualitative result of how those hours were spent.

A well-planned volunteer program will start with looking for ways to improve on the previous year to achieve a different outcome. However you need to allow sufficient time for planning and structuring your next volunteer program. Once you have clear objectives you can build in indicators to measure success. You will then be able to receive a different and qualitative result in addition to the number of hours spent.

5. Focusing on recruitment only

Based on show up rates being about 50-60% in the event industry, the decision is often made to do more recruitment to allow for those large numbers not showing up.

Rather than spending the time to recruit double the amount of people, spend the time to analyse the show up rate and focus on strategies to increase this rate. As with employee engagement, volunteer engagement is very important to increase output and retention, which will show in the volunteer show up rate.

The difference to employee engagement is that volunteers have a much quicker exit from the organisation if they don’t feel valued. But volunteers are part of your team same as your staff, so engagement strategies you use for your employees mostly also work for your volunteers.

6. Thinking short-term

Annual events often work on shorter-term cycles and most of the event team is engaged on a less than 12-month contract. Staff is then only focused on the upcoming event.

Volunteer programs generally support the organisational plan and community engagement. As volunteers are a big part of the events the focus is often only on the event operations rather than the bigger picture.

Over time it can create the impression that the volunteer program only exists for the event rather than the organisation. This generates not only more work but also a lack of focus on the volunteers as they tend to be seen as temporary rather than integral to the organisation.

If you apply a strategic approach, it will ensure the program is aligned with the organisation. It creates a higher purpose for the volunteers and higher engagement and retention rates. A strategic approach saves time and money in the long run.

7. Dismissing the volunteer experience

Your volunteers’ experience is just as important as your customers’ experience. Often volunteers are taken for granted or treated differently to other people who engage with your event.

People who volunteer are part of your audience. They are connected to your vision and share your passion. Passion goes a long way, but after a bad experience or two they will spend their valuable time elsewhere and you may lose them as a volunteer and a customer.

Provide your volunteers with a great experience and focus on their benefits and their passion will enhance your event and organisation in a huge way. What better PR is there than having hundreds of brand ambassadors?

Don’t let this happen to you

As you can see an effective volunteer program takes a lot of effort. But if you are already running a volunteer program, can you afford not to put in the effort?

We hope you find these tips useful to critically analyse your volunteer program and make adjustments so it can stand out and exceed your event and organisational objectives.

We have put together a 6-Step Checklist that will help you create a more effective volunteer program step by step. You will avoid all the above mistakes and save time and money while achieving better results. CLICK HERE for FREE download.

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New Year’s Challenge

New Year Challenge

New Year ChallengeSo it’s six weeks into 2015 and we have already finished three amazing events. February, with the major summer events behind us, is usually the time we celebrate our New Year and start planning for the next one. Accordingly, we wish all of you a very Happy New Year!

New Year is also traditionally a time for resolutions, and I’d like to invite you to join us in ours. This year, my resolution for Eventeamwork is to create stronger links between you and your volunteer community. We find that organisations that take time to think about their volunteers before, during and after events get better results, so we have a challenge for you.

Volunteering is a very special experience, and it’s an experience you deserve to have – so here’s your challenge: volunteer for something this year, for someone else’s event or festival or fundraiser. It’s a chance for you to see what volunteer management looks like from the other side of the fence but more than that, it’s a way for you to more deeply understand what volunteers do, how crucial they are to the events and organisations they serve, and exactly what you and us can do to give your volunteers the kind of experience that will make them sign up again and again.

Between all of your great events we have a great variety of choices. We are constantly updating our homepage with new opportunities so check it out and let us know where you want to get involved. We look forward to seeing you all very soon!

Here is to a great year of volunteering in 2015!

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Small gestures make for big returns

Small Gestures

Christmas is such a two-headed beast for most of us – equal parts stress and joy, a frenetic loop of decorating, shopping, wrapping, and cooking to prep for the big day where hopefully it all comes together and we can finally enjoy each others’ company. There’s so much to do, and it’s madness to try to do it all on your own.

In my experience you can’t make a good Christmas without a good team, which is why it seems to me that Christmas is a lot like volunteer management. The way Christmas works is the way all events work. You plan the day > you recruit your team > you lead and direct them, engage and inspire > you teach them what they need to know so they can do a great job > and finally you thank them.

This last stage – so often forgotten – feeds straight back into the recruitment stage for next time. Thanking volunteers, expressing gratitude and making them feel appreciated is what ensures they will volunteer again. Who wants to volunteer for something that makes them feel invisible?

Simple moments of recognition are crucial to the success of the relationship between the organiser and the team. That’s what Christmas is about – the relationships between friends and family, taking the time to notice each other and be grateful for having those people in our lives. And that’s what the volunteer movement is about too. The research is clear that an overwhelming number of  people who volunteer do so to experience community and connection. This Christmas I’m hoping we will all honour that motivation by expressing our thanks to everyone on our teams. Because ‘thank you’ always feels good, whether you are receiving or giving.

So before you tidy your desk and head off to your family celebrations, how about sending an email to thank the volunteers who helped you in 2014? It’s a small gesture but it goes a long way towards keeping your volunteers happy, so they’ll step up for you again next year. Letting people know you saw their work and that you really valued it – that’s the greatest gift you can give.

We are wishing a smooth and merry Christmas to you and yours.

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Do young people want to volunteer?

One of the many myths about volunteering is that most volunteers are older people—generally people think of retirees volunteering at the local op-shop!

Of course that isn’t the whole picture. The highest rates of volunteering are to be found in the 45-54 age bracket, but that doesn’t mean that younger people don’t, or don’t want to, volunteer.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that of all the people who volunteered in 2010, 9.4% were between 18 and 24. As almost 6.1 million people volunteered in that year, that means well over half a million young people volunteered. Overall, more than 27% of young people volunteered in 2010.

Young people do indeed want to volunteer, and are an important cohort. As might be expected, volunteering for groups related to sport and recreation was the most popular choice, with over 183,000 volunteering. But they aren’t the only group to prefer those kinds of events—all volunteers up to the age of 65 show a preference for sport and recreation.

Young people also volunteered strongly for religious groups, and almost half volunteered at least once a week. Most also stuck to one organisation. This points to an important point about youth volunteers—one of the reasons they volunteer is to be with friends, which means they are often influenced to volunteer by their peer groups.

So how do groups encourage young people to volunteer? Recent research by Volunteering Tasmaniafound that young people value skill development and like to feel they are genuinely making a contribution, but that there were some important practical factors that helped them engage.

Young people needed roles that reflected their lifestyles, which generally could not accommodate regular commitments, and they often found transport a problem. The research also found that most groups didn’t use social media platforms like Facebook enough—the younger generation looks first and foremost at the web to gain information and communicate, and any organisation serious about attracting young volunteers needs to connect with them there.

Offline, young people are very engaged with their peers, so having young volunteer ambassadors and making personal approaches through peer networks, schools and families was also essential—backed by a strong web presence, a short and easy application process and a personal point of contact within the organisation.

Once engaged in volunteering, the research also found that young people overwhelmingly felt that they would continue to volunteer in later years, so engaging volunteers positively while they are young paves the way for an ongoing ‘volunteering habit’.

Perhaps the question is not whether young people want to volunteer, but whether organisations are doing the right things to facilitate young people’s volunteering.

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Unpaid does not mean unprofessional

It’s all too easy to judge a person’s ‘worth’ by the fee or the salary they command, and to make assumptions about what their pay says about their professional skills or talents.

Unfortunately this means that volunteers can often be perceived as lacking in all sorts of areas – lacking in skills, in experience, professionalism and even basic value beyond being a ‘pair of hands’.

But consider this: statistics show that people in full or part time work are more likely to volunteer than those who are not. People in middle age have higher rates of volunteering than other age groups.

Translated, this means that volunteers are often mature, employed people – people with plenty of professional skills and experiences to offer. The reasons most people give for volunteering—to make a difference to their community and feel a sense of purpose—also suggest a strong motivation to share those skills.

Added to that, many people volunteer in order to gain new skills and experiences. A volunteer program that trains its participants well (with or without a formal qualification) is more successful not simply because the volunteers ‘do what they’re supposed to do’, but because the volunteers can deliver a highly professional service.

A professional, well-organised and well-trained volunteer force is not just essential to the success of the event, it is also deeply satisfying for the volunteers themselves and of enormous value to the organisers, who can look forward to continued high engagement from skilled and enthusiastic volunteers.

Volunteers genuinely want to share their knowledge and skills, and also want to help organisers to make their events successful. So it’s also very important to communicate with volunteers, recognise their efforts and provide ways that they can feed back their experiences. Being heard is also a win-win for the volunteer and the organiser, because the volunteer feels that their experience and insights are valued, and the organiser of course can get the benefits of those insights by using them to improve future events.

Great volunteer programs don’t just deliver great events, they also develop, employ and reward the professionalism of the volunteers.

Volunteering may not be a traditional economic exchange of money for labour, but it is nonetheless a value exchange—volunteers give their valuable skills and time, and in exchange they deserve positive experiences, recognition and personal reward.