Volunteer Coordinator

General Info

• Sits in the Exec cluster of Festcomm
• Core email: volunteer@fireflyartscollective.org
• Included in the planning@fireflyartscollective.org mailing list with all cluster and core leads
• Included in the festival@fireflyartscollective.org mailing list with all of Exec cluster and all cluster leads

Responsibilities

• Attend biweekly Festcomm meetings January-July (can be remote)
• Help fill core and cluster lead roles
• Help promote shift roles
• Give core leads access to update their shifts in the volunteer portal
• Assign leads to email lists (once they have a Firefly email)
• Field questions about volunteering

Who makes a good Volunteer Coordinator?

Location

Can be done from anywhere - all responsibilities are online.

Schedule

Biweekly meetings throughout Planning Season (January-July).

Other responsibilities are mostly asynchronous communication that can be done whenever you want, as long as you hit deadlines. Hitting deadlines requires lead time because the work is always about getting other people to do things, not just staying up late to do it yourself.

Filling lead roles is probably the most demanding part, meaning the peak time investment is January - March.

Experience

Burn and Firefly experience are not necessary but knowing people can be helpful.

Skills

• Ability to deal with email. The only contact info we're guaranteed to have for volunteers is their email address, and we communicate with them en masse via mailing lists. Figuring out which roles need to be filled and trying to fill them requires keeping track of a lot of emails. The Volunteer Coordinator needs to be the person who follows up with people who forget to respond, not the person who forgets to respond.
• Being on top of deadlines
• Asking people to do work
• Writing in a way that is concise, direct, and persuasive

Motto

Always Be Thanking. Everyone you work with is a volunteer and can walk away at any time.

Timeline

January: prepare to fill lead roles

• Email planning@fireflyartscollective.org. Ask:
  • Are you continuing as a lead this year, stepping down, or not sure yet?
  • Do you need a co-lead or a replacement, and if so, do you want our help finding one?
  • If you’re not sure yet, when should we check back?
• Put the answers in the Leads Spreadsheet.
• When our help is needed finding new leads, ask them to fill out/update role descriptions.
• Update the Volunteer Handbook.

February: fill lead roles

• Submit an announcement to Communications inviting people to fill out the lead volunteer interest form. Name some of the roles we know are needed.
• Start matching lead volunteers with lead roles.
  • Check with the people the new volunteer will be working with first, in case of any incompatibility.
  • Then ask the candidate if they’re interested in the position. Note that you can ask people to fill a position other than the one they were hoping for if it’s a good fit.
  • Then get the candidate to tell tech@fireflyartscollective.org what Firefly email name they would like.
  • Then give the new volunteer the Volunteer Handbook and ask them to do the onboarding steps at the top and look through the rest.
  • Their co-leads or cluster lead can give them their core or cluster-specific onboarding, and you may need to put them in touch with the lead they’re replacing for further info.

March to mid-April: prepare to fill shift roles

• Make the new Volunteer Role Finder and ask planning@fireflyartscollective.org to review and update it as needed.
• Ask planning@fireflyartscollective.org to review their On-Site Volunteering Instructions page and update it as needed.
• Ask planning@fireflyartscollective.org to update their core’s volunteer shifts on the website. If anyone doesn’t have permissions to do that, Presley can grant it.
• Write any calls for volunteers that we want to be able to send as soon as the lottery opens. See the past versions here.
• Coordinate with ticketing@fireflyartscollective.org as needed.
  • Ideally, the email that announces the lottery will direct people to the Volunteer Role Finder and explain that they can snag volunteer shifts now. This email is sent out automatically so they need to edit it in advance.
  • Will we allow people to sign up for volunteer shifts when the lottery opens or only when they buy a ticket?
  • When will we close online volunteer sign-ups?

Lottery Opening Day (as early as April 15th)

• Submit promotions emails/posts to Comms about signing up for volunteer shifts. Include the Volunteer Role Finder.

Ticket sales open

• Continue promoting volunteer shifts, especially for the cores that are lagging in volunteers.

Mid-May to Early June

• Core and cluster leads will receive DGS codes, which they can give to volunteers who haven’t gotten off of the ticket wait list yet.
• Make sure leads understand how to use these codes and use them before The Purge.

Mid June

• Ticketing team will purge unticketed volunteers from volunteer shifts.
• Announce that new volunteer shifts have opened up.

Late June

• Promote the last day of signups heavily to get a last wave of volunteers.
• Close online signups.
• Help Gnomes format and print volunteer instructions from the wiki.

Shortly before the event

• Remind people to write down their shift info and take it with them.
• Remind people that they can sign up for shifts and get instructions at Gnomes/Center Camp.