Volunteers are a necessary component of most events. They are the public face of the event and they have to feel comfortable and welcome in order to do a good job and be more committed and passionate about the cause they’re volunteering for. A satisfied volunteer will give your organization a good reputation, will always come back and bring friends and family along.
With a crazy schedule like mine, I always try to spare few hours to volunteer for the causes I believe in. After all it’s a duty and a joy to help others. But my last volunteering experience made me wonder if we have recently started taking volunteers and their safety for granted. My disappointment started from the first minute I attended the parking lot and was asked to park somewhere else as the venue parking was full. The next parking option was fairly far from the venue, no shuttle buses were available and the walk from that parking to the venue was not easy.
The lady in charge of volunteers was at the check in table, she didn’t even greet me with a smile. I immediately felt unwelcome! The captain of my team (another volunteer) was unfriendly, so were the 2 other staff I was working with. I had to jump over the tables to reach my volunteering area.
We were swamped few minutes later with all the guests’ requests and it became messy since no clear instructions were given to volunteers. A pole on which a couple of promotional items were displayed was attached to the table with scotch tape. It kept falling every time we were nearby.
I was too tired to jump over the tables after my shift so I crawled underneath.
I left the place with a bad taste in my mouth. I am volunteering again soon with the same organization and I am already worried about it. Will they be more welcoming and organized? Will they give volunteers better instructions? will I enjoy the experience or crawl my way out to the nearest exit?
My experience taught me a priceless lesson about dealing with volunteers as an event planner and make sure they enjoy their time, feel needed and appreciated and above all welcome by me and every person working with them.
Three different events in 3 different cities but they all had in common a poor event risk management plan. Unfortunately the 2 deaths at the Bonnaroo Festival this year were not the first as a total of 10 people died at this event since 2002because of heat-related issues. Vancouver riots were not the first either as the city witnessed same riots in 1994 at the same Stanley Cup event. It makes us all wonder why the organizers of these 2 events didn’t take into consideration what happened previously in their events and took proper measures to prevent it from happening again this year.
Bob Whitelaw, the investigator who helped draft 100 recommendations after Vancouver riots in 1994, said that the police, the event organizers and the city’s public transit system ignored some of the recommendations regarding safety and crowd management.
During the 10th year celebration of Bonnaroo Festival, one of the biggest music festivals in the US, 2 people were reported dead byhyperthermia after similar incidents occurring in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2010.
If there’s one lesson to learn from these 2 tragedies is that events are full of uncertainties and risks. That’s why crowd and risk management should be a primary concern of any event planner and should never be underestimated or miscalculated.
