Volunteers

Basic Department Description

What do you do for the convention/What is your purpose?

The Volunteer Coordinator is in charge of organizing prospective volunteers into departments that would suit their skillset. (All volunteer information is confidential! Their information is not to be given out outside of staff, used for personal means, etc. The only exception is hired staff information is made available on the staff sheet for Before-Con staff, for communication related to VancouFur. Operations will have access to the staff sheet for their At-Con department needs and for emergencies but unless someone gives out their information for At-Con staff use outside of that, it is still confidential. Any staff member found abusing access to this information needs to be reported to the Execs and Chair(s).)

Please also be aware that while you and your team may be the volunteer coordinators, other staff WILL talk to their friends or answer questions on behalf of the con if asked. All staff can help with the volunteer answering and hiring process, they just need to be encouraged and reminded to communicate these to you (for example, if someone comes to another lead, asking to be in their department, that lead is allowed to accept them! Just check in with leads every once in awhile to check in with their current staff lists and to make sure their teams are all volunteered on the application.)

What skills are handy for those in this position?

• Skills in emailing in a professional and upbeat manner will be very useful.
• Being active so you can communicate in a reasonable time frame to incoming volunteer forms and questions.

What is your staff email?

• [email protected] / [email protected] (These are the forward facing “job” emails that get posted to the public and forward emails to your personal VF email. Your personal VF email is what you log in to and use to read and respond to emails.)

Yearly Responsibilities

What do you need to do during the year for your department to function before con?

• Get in contact as soon as possible with any volunteers that complete the volunteer form
• Get anyone who asks about volunteering outside of the form, to fill out the form. This is a must! We need specific information from each volunteer.
• Make sure you have a team for pre-con (answering questions and checking in on volunteers and leads can be quite the job for one person to complete efficiently. IF you split up the work, it will be less stressful. Same goes for at-con!)

• During 2017, we had various people come and go in terms of volunteer coordinating BUT, it really helped to have a dedicated person before the con handling incoming questions and then have a different dedicated person AT-CON handling that part of the job. This allows people with more time pre-con to help and allow the At-con lead to focus on at con prep and needs without having to juggle all the questions in the meantime. Just communicate with one another!

Are there things you need to order during the year?

• You will want snacks for your volunteers. Get those close to the convention. (This may not be needed if we get a ‘Con Mom’ staff member so make sure you contact the chairs to check on this.)
• Make sure you have Volunteer Hour sheets printed and give out ~5 to each at-con department as soon as you know they are on site. Have extra’s in ops, reg and in volunteers.

Do you need a function space map created for your department?

• In order to guide your gophers, it is a good idea to have a map of the convention space. You can get this from the Publications team, Sign shop or ask your exec for assistance if you cannot find it. (You can also direct your volunteers to their conbook/pocket guide, which also has maps.)

What do you need to do during the year to function AT CON?

• Keep track of hours acquired during the convention of all of the volunteers. This is very important! We cannot track and compensate volunteers without their hours being properly logged into convention master! Take care of your team!

How many volunteers do you need to function well AT CON? (make sure everyone has proper breaks in their at con schedule!)

• 8-10 gophers would be a good number. There are times when many are needed, (for example Fursuit Parade) and times when only one or two are needed on standby. Some people will want to volunteer at specific times, some people will drop in whenever they can to help. You will need to adapt to this and make sure you have a good idea of how many people are needed where. (This is where talking to operations comes in handy as well as having a radio to communicate with at-con leads.)

What equipment do you need to function well AT CON?

• You will be given a computer to work from.
• You will need to sign out a radio from Ops, at-con, so you can stay in the loop about potential staffing needs and to be able to communicate with leads when need be.
• A small refrigerator would be nice, but not necessary.
• A phone and charger for something to do while waiting, as well as helps with communicating in certain circumstances.

What staff will you be working with AT CON?

• Registration, Operations and Security mostly, but all others to get them a small number of volunteers if needed.

• Make a note of which updates/prompts should be sent to Social Media. (Remember, they can send out notices for more volunteers, due date reminders, opening dates, etc!)

• More Volunteers! (specific department requests work well and so do general volunteer calls so make sure social media knows where we are hurting for help.)

Your Department on the Website/in the Conbook

• Do you need a website/conbook page/blurb for your department/event? What information do you need on this page/blurb? Do you need to provide a layout design?

• You need to make sure that the website has a volunteer page.

• Encourage the staff to start a “job listings” sort of thing for the volunteer page. This can be update whenever needed to show what we are looking for and to also give people a better understanding of what each job is, as many have -no clue-!
• Make sure the site has your contact email on the volunteer page AND contact page
• Make sure to have someone look over the information before sending it to the respective lead.
• Send it to the respective lead.
• Make sure to test the contact page (website) that the form sends an email to you.
• Make sure that your email is listed on the contact page (website) outside of the form.
• If you have any future updates, make sure to send them to the Web Lead!
• If you spot any mistakes in your blurb for the conbook, make sure to contact them ASAP about it!

Volunteer form example

• Real name
• Furry/prefered name
• Email contact
• Backup contact (phone, twitter, FA, alternative email, etc)
• What job they want to do primarily
• What secondary jobs they are interested in
• Weather they want to work before con or at con

6 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

• Add in items your department should have completed by this time and items to finish ASAP.
• You will want a rough estimate of what departments want in terms of volunteers. Hopefully you will have a small number to allocate.
• Keep an organized list of them on hand in case of mix-ups.
• Make sure you are responding to all incoming volunteer forms to tell them it was received at the very least and they will be assigned a department as soon as possible. Also remind them that not everyone will be placed immediately, or at all, before con. Popular jobs usually have less required volunteer numbers than other jobs and that we will always welcome people to volunteer at con. (Closer to the con, make sure you tell them where the volunteer room is, what the rooms hours are, etc.)

3 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

• Add in items your department should have completed by this time and items to finish ASAP.

• You will want to have all of your volunteers contacted as soon as you can. Try to respond within 24 hours.
• Around this time, you will probably feel like you don’t have enough volunteers. They will come.

• You should start building a schedule for your team. (Use the Master Schedule for the year! Programming lead sets this up every year and it houses our event schedule as well as the work/team schedules for at con departments. This makes it easy for you and for ops to know who may need more people, when.)

1 Month before con, what do you need to have done?

• Make sure to contact Logistics to get any equipment from the VF storage locker to the hotel for your use. (If you are unsure if you need specific equipment orders, talk to your exec/chairs.)
• Make sure to contact IT to organize when your equipment and Tech needs can be setup in your department area.
• Send in any needed information to the Conbook for print.
• Add in anything else your department needs!

• Organize with your gophers what times they will be available. The event schedule will be posted up around this time, so they can decide which times work best for them.

After the Convention/Before the Firing Party

• Make sure all your volunteers (and yourself) got inputted into the system for their hours.
• Update your guide with any new/relevant information/changes.
• A staff feedback survey will be emailed out and sent into the staff chats. Please fill this out ASAP!
• Make any staffing suggestions to the next year's’ chair. (If you want to work again, staff who excelled and where, etc.)
• If VancouFur owes you money for department spending, PLEASE PLEASE send your receipts to [email protected] & [email protected] and then fill out [[1]] ^{[[[a]]][[[b]]]}

Break down of contacts

• Who on staff do you need to be in contact with regularly for your department to function?

• Get into contact with Operations Lead so that they may train you and your 2nd in using Convention Master if need be. (Your executives may also be able to handle this, if the ops lead is new as well.)

• Who is your executive contact?

• Operations Executive

Department Inventory and Ordering Resources

• list who you have ordered products from (if any) and be sure to list price/currency/quantity and if there was a representative you were in contact with, please list their name.

• Bought bulk pop cans, snack bars, and crackers from Costco. Total cost was about $50. Snack bars are very expensive, and not very popular.

List possible ordering alternatives for future years if any.

• Any grocery Store

• General feedback/tips for future staff when ordering products (sizing, how much the order vs how many expected attendees, etc)

• Lots of Coca Cola. Otherwise, it is up to the discretion of the buyer. (maybe try for something healthier?)

Do's and Don'ts of the Department

What worked well/Would suggest doing again?

• Try to always have a gopher on standby. Have something to do during the lulls in activity.

What didn't work/would suggest to avoid?

• Get a Second. Someone is needed in the volunteer’s room bright and early until late at night. Don’t do it all yourself. Contact the volunteers right away. They start contacting social media if they don’t receive any confirmation.
• The pop can go really quickly if you don’t watch out for it. I had some staff members (staff shouldn’t really be taking the volunteer’s food) taking 4 pop cans per day, and had to get more pop 3 times at the con. The snacks are not a substitute for meals. Make sure people know this.

What would you suggest to be done for the future years of your department that aren't already in motion?

• This department pretty much runs itself. Not much is needed. The Helpful Bucks could be pushed a little harder, as it is a good idea, but noone really knew what to do with them.
• Make a Telegram group for volunteers at con. Essentially, volunteers would be able to be available simply by checking in on telegram. If the Volunteers lead needs something done, they can just send a callout to everyone, and anyone available can say if they will handle it. Makes standby turn more into wandering, which in this maze of a hotel, is really useful for some attendees.

PLEASE REMEMBER

• Always respond to emails/contacts, even if it is just to say “I recieved your email and will get back to you soon!” / “I don't know the answer but I am looking into it for you!”
• Be sure to contact the Chairs or Admin to make sure you have access to the materials you will need for the year like your Staff Email, Access to any folders/sites with materials, etc. (Be on the lookout for invites or emails to these things and check your junk mail too!)
• Make sure you TEST your new staff email (if any) and report problems immediately to the Chairs! (if you haven't gotten any emails in a while, do another test!)
• Make sure you keep all of your information up to date with the convention staff! Contact the volunteers lead to update your information if the volunteers spreadsheet is not available for direct editing!
• Do not WAIT for someone to contact you. If you have a moment to reach out, do so! Depending on who you are working with, the communication road may not be a 2 way street and you will have to do a lot of poking. Please be proactive!
• Do not edit any staff members’ documentation without permission!
• Keep all VancouFur related documents INSIDE the VancouFur Materials folders. Keeping things on your own gdocs and not inside the VancouFur specific folders makes it incredibly difficult to find needed information for all parties without hassling a lot of staff.
• If you need to make something private in the materials folder (Googledocs or wherever it moves to in the future) Make sure that the Chairs, Admin and Executives CAN STILL SEE IT. We need to know where you are and if your files are all hidden we cannot proactively offer help, guidance, or corrections. Otherwise, just keep things public/view only to prevent people from messing with your info.
• Make sure you know who your Executive is! They are there to help you and oversee the branch of departments you are in. Contact [email protected] / [email protected] to check or check the contact page on the website! You can also use the contact sheet for the year