Re: RC: Managing Voluteers at a Ride

["Patricia E. Peters" <patpeters1@juno.com>]

Maureen;  Better late than never, eh?  I am the Trail Master for the
Norco Riverdance (high population area, high vandalism incidence), and
manage over 50 (mostly mounted) volunteers who are responsible for...

**Preriding the race route to clean, identify problem areas and know
their assigned section.
**Premarking their assigned section 3 or 4 days before the race.
**Marking the assigned section the night before the race.
**Patrolling their assigned section for the entire hour before the front
runners arrive (schedule is provided to each).
**Acting as live trail markers at critical intersections while the top 20
or 30 riders come through...some remain throughout the day and     some
move forward to another section to help out.
**Communicating by cell phone or radio as to the position of front
runners and as to the condition of the markings.
**Providing evacuation trailers at various sections, and each should know
where the nearest trailer is.
**Cleaning.

To recruit volunteers is a year long project.  You visit clubs, talk up
the ride and so on.  Get sign up lists with names, addresses and phones,
who can provide trailers, who wants be on horseback or just on foot, etc.
 Send a mailing at least 3 months before the race to rekindle the fire,
and to set meeting dates.  Following up with phone calls is a good idea
too. 

In order to effectively manage that many volunteers, I assign the job of
Crew Captain to four individuals (might go with five next year).  The
Captains are recruited by me on the basis of two things...  FIRST is
their ability to attract and keep a team of volunteers... call it
popularity if you want, but this is most important, because a poplular
Captain will attract people that will come through no matter what and
have fun doing it.  SECOND is their ability to rise to the occasion and
organize the effort.  If they fall short here, I try to catch it during
follow up, and get a little more involved with that section.

Each Captain is given a list of volunteers that have served previously or
have expressed an interest during the year.  Each Captain is responsible
for drawing from the list or from his own friends for his or her own
section, and is given marking supplies, a map, schedule, etc.  I monitor
the progress with each Captain, provide additional resources if needed
and go out with them as needed.  I delegate the responsiblity for RESULTS
to each Captain... Each Captain is responsible for keeping the
competitors safely on course, no matter how blind they may be or how fast
they may be going.  You need to follow up, but dont micro manage them. 
They should be treated as responsible managers...  important people.

In order to ensure that everyone knows the master plan and is on the same
page so to speak, I have two pre race meetings for everyone, starting 2
months before the race.  I go over the race day routine in detail,
discuss the schedule, develop and distribute a cell phone list, etc.  One
big benefit of these meetings is that you can create a little excitement
and enthusiasm, and you can tell who is committed to their job and who
may need a little help.  It might help to ask a couple of experienced
competitors to come to the meeting and say a couple of words of advice
just to make it a little more exciting.  

The actual work is taxing and volunteers can easily reach burnout.  You
will have some repeating and some not.  For 2001, I will likely offer
each Captain a detailed written schedule of mini tasks to assign to
individual volunteers, so that they can have the option of recruiting
help for specific small jobs, and not tax their main people so much.  

REWARD?  People volunteer because they want to feel good about
themselves, be part of something big, good and exciting, and be proud of
an accomplishment.  Anything you do to contribute to that will help... be
sincere, generous and very public with praise, and do NOT let anyone give
any of your volunteers a hard time, no matter what.  The best reward my
volunteers have gotten so far is the praise and thanks of the
competitors... no kidding... its what they talk about the most.  Other
than that, I like the idea of giving TShirts, because they wear them like
trophies... very proud of them.  It identifies them as one of the special
mounted unit that works that big time race every year.  It also
advertises the race to potential competitors and volunteers.

Hope this is helpful to you...  in summary, my best advice is to get some
capable middle management set up, assign specific goals by specific
times, and be sure to follow up... and praise, congratulate, brag about
your people in public to their friends, etc.  Your most important
resource is PEOPLE.  Take care of that first.   

Regards, Pat

On Thu, 12 Oct 2000 07:27<guest@endurance.net> writes:
 Maureen A. Fager trottin27@hotmail.com
 Hello All, I am interested in finding out  how different ride managers,
clubs and other groups handle their voluteers at rides. I would like
suggestions on how you recuit, assign jobs, know who is there and reward
your vounteers All suggestions welcome! Thanks for your time and ideas,
 Maureen A. Fager