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I had a great time at the rally again this year. I did notice the many comments from various committee chairs and staff about a real shortage of volunteers. This puzzles me. We are a club that has to be self supporting to survive and flourish. If ALL attendees planned to volunteer for just one shift of duty, we would have to turn people away. Come on, help out.
I volunteered. I am wearing the 'gate' shirt and the orange hat around my house at the moment. You should have mentioned you get a free hat and t-shirt. That would have encouraged more people to volunteer.
If I'd had more time, I'd have gladly volunteered. Feel guilty that I didn't. Unfortunately, with a young kiddo to factor in, and work commitments, it was a miracle I attended at all. I drove down to Sedalia and back to Kansas City both Thursday and Friday. I was able to arrange for a baby sitter both days, but had to be home in the early evening to pick up my daughter. Also, I had to not only drive to Sedalia and back on Friday, but work a 12 hour overnight shift that night until 7a Saturday morning. Friday was pretty rough! I slept well on Saturday, let me tell you.
100% totally worth it. But sadly, no time to volunteer down there. Someday, I'll be able to attend for longer at a time and will happily pay my dues. :>)
[B]Thank you[/B] to all the people who did volunteer, which allowed someone like myself to attend and have such a great time despite my limited available time.
[QUOTE=LuckyGrownup;801907]I volunteered. I am wearing the 'gate' shirt and the orange hat around my house at the moment. You should have mentioned you get a free hat and t-shirt. That would have encouraged more people to volunteer.[/QUOTE]
I didn't get a hat or shirt. I did security for a short time and didn't expect anything for it. had a great time. Will volunteer again. I did leave word to call me if I was needed again. Never got the call.
As a committee chair I can say that I had no shortage of volunteers. Perhaps it is the length of time in each shift.
Each chair can establish his or her own schedule. I set my shifts at two hours. In my mind that gave volunteers the time and flexibility to get to seminars, programs, and vendor shopping as they wished.
The comment was made "too many chiefs". Let me tell you that those chiefs are at work all year long and we are volunteers also. For an operation as large as an International Rally you want experienced people handling the many aspects so that the top Rally Chairs aren't faced with dealing with the nitty-gritty.
Back to my initial point and let me close with a question. What is the ideal length of time for a volunteer shift, and would we get more volunteers if the shifts were shorter?
Bill
My wife and I arrived on Tuesday morning, a day earlier than planned. We volunteered in the MOA building at the Volunteers table for sveral hours. We also volunteered for Wednesday, my wife at the Pin & Patch table and I did a shift on Security in the Vendor buildings. We had pre-registered for two other volunteer shifts. Together we did a morning shift with the Oasis crew and Friday we did a shift in the middle of the day on the Gates crew.
Do you want more volunteers! So many that you have to turn some down? Someone mentioned hiring outside help? Why pay others? Reward our own by free access. Small price to pay, during these hard times and rough economy.
Why not offer free registration for a designated amount of volunteered time? Perhaps for a set amount of hours or the task at hand?
Concert security get free access to the concert they work, the organizers would never ask them to pay to enter and then ask to volunteer. They hire the clean up crew!
I volunteered at the rallies I went to. An essential part of the experience in my opinion.
[QUOTE=BeemoKat;801951]I volunteered at the rallies I went to. An essential part of the experience in my opinion.[/QUOTE]
You are so right, volunteering at the rally makes the whole experience so much better. You get to meet a lot of people and help out anyone who is in need. I have volunteered at three national rallies and my wife has volunteered at the only two that she has been able to attend. We really enjoyed the experience.
I volunteered and was proud to do so. Not only did I really enjoy helping people out at the charging station, I got to meet a bunch of people and spread around some laughs as well.
"That's right, if you don't pick up your phone by 6pm we will trade it in for a beer!"
The only comment I would say was that the booth many times became an information booth as it was the second table after dropping off tickets, so people then came to us with a lot of questions about what next. For whom ever is listening, I own a marketing company and would be happy to [B]donate[/B] graphic design time to design signage/ posters that would provide more of a graphical road map of what to do. Be it registration, events, whatever... I'd be happy to help. Never too soon to start thinking about next year.
[QUOTE=brewmeister;801870]If you'd simplify things up a bit you would'nt need as many volunteers.These rallys are becoming to complicated .To many chiefs not enough indians.hire help! (more sarcasm):violin[/QUOTE]
This from someone who did not attend last year or this year. Which rally were you in charge of? A major volunteer at? Attend?
I did a couple of shifts as a Security volunteer. It was one of the highlights of this year's rally for me. I enjoyed riding in the golf cart with Dave and Damon. It is a great way to get a behind the scenes view of the rally. Plus you get to meet a lot of folks from all over the place. The free hat and shirt is just icing on the cake.
Tom and Jim made it easy to volunteer by asking for folks to step up via this Forum. I sent an email and got a prompt response. We even set up my shifts via email so that I could put them on my calendar. All I had to do was show up and take it from there.
This was the first year I volunteered. I will do so again. I did 2 nights on gate 12. Saw most of the bikes as they came in and saw a couple of guys bump fairings.Mostly I saw happy people!And I got a hat and a couple of Tee shirts!
Scottie has been to a few. I posted my experiences volunteering already, some great, one very bad one in Oshkosh. The very bad one soured me on volunteering again, yet I have done so. Just not as much as before.
Brewmeister, I will say attendance has also grown a lot since the early ones we went to, and that does complicate things, just on it's own.
I volunteered for the Oaisis. When I checked the list at the volunteer desk my name was not on a list and there were several places that had "full". The tram needed drivers so Thats where I ended up. It would be easier if each "duty list" had the names of volunteers that you could initial and leave your cell phone # so you could be reached. The Wagon Master for the trams worked 18 hours one day and probably close to that each day the trams were in service. I enjoyed my 3 stints driving and had only one minor complaint, many riders simply do not understand how traffic moves into and around a roundabout. Many THANKS to those who gave time and effort to making this Rally a very enjoyable one for me.
Ride Safe