What do volunteers add to an event?
Volunteers successfully and at a high standard carry out tasks that do not require any specific qualifications, whether it’s in roles like hostess or event assistant, or perhaps light physical work. Volunteers are enthusiastic, dedicated, and work with joy to ensure the success of the event: their presence alone provides an extra touch that contributes to the unforgettable event experience for both visitors and staff.
What does the Festival Volunteer Centre offer?
Customized solutions that (partially) relieve festival organizers of the burden of workforce organization. We provide valuable personnel while offering opportunities for enthusiastic young individuals interested in event planning to gain experience and become involved in the world of festivals. This year marks the 12th year of our involvement in volunteer programs. During this time, we have developed a flexible and efficient system that quickly and easily responds to the constantly changing needs of events and event organizers.
We support the system with our own developed online platform that serves the participants, where administrative tasks related to volunteers, scheduling, communication, and managing attendance sheets are done paperlessly and online. Over the years, we established an external platform which allows us to communicate through it or receive immediate feedback from our volunteers in real time.
What does the Festival Volunteer Centre ask for?
Volunteering is not the same as unpaid work – this should be clear to all parties involved in any event. It is our duty to ensure that the volunteers who apply to us feel how important their work is, and that the event and its organizers appreciate it, as this is how we can maintain enthusiasm throughout. If the event has no experience with volunteering yet, we are happy to help: if needed, we prepare the event organizers for receiving volunteers and working with them. Our “How to work with volunteers?” program provides guidance on what to expect when employing volunteers. What are the strengths of a volunteer? What is expected, and what is not? Through a more comprehensive mentoring framework, the effectiveness of working with volunteers can be increased. We help integrate volunteering into existing structures, review task groups, and find ways to release the capacity of paid labor and make processes more economical and manageable with the involvement of volunteers.
What does the volunteer ask for
The benefits provided to volunteers are always tailored to the opportunities and profile of the events. Here are some motivating benefits among many that we typically suggest:
- festival pass
- meals
- work attire
- camping spot
- real work experience and career counseling,
- and of course, the multitude of experiences! 🙂