Outdoor Events & Advance Ticket Sales

Have you ever struggled to get volunteer help at your event? Next time you have an event consider using your web site as a tool for finding the best volunteers.

A few years ago I was working on a project that involved finding hundreds of event volunteers. Over 90% of the volunteers who signed up did so through the event’s official web site.  The volunteers essentially told the event organizers “I want to help and here is where my skills are best utilized.” Countless hours were saved by virtue of potential volunteers selecting various capacities through an online form.  The most difficult part of the project was determining the variables for the online form. I encourage anyone who’s looking to sign up volunteers online to carefully consider all the variables. Up front it is a time consuming process, but delivers great return.

Prequalified Volunteers
Your web site automatically acts as a filter of interest. People who aren’t interested in your event aren’t going to spend time on your web site.  Those that do stay on your web site and return on a regular basis most likely have an affinity for your event. Those with an affinity for your event are far better volunteer candidates than the people who are coerced into volunteering or just not interested in supporting a cause.

Online Volunteer Signups
One of the first places to start is by creating a volunteer section or page on your event web site. Your method of capturing volunteer leads can be as simple as an email address or a little more involved such as utilizing an online form.  A simple form to collect volunteer information on your web site can be tremendously helpful. Try to keep the form as simple as possible. As stated above, if you’re going to use a form carefully think through all the options. It is very easy to give people too many options and confuse potential volunteers. Always consider the various consequences of the variables.

After They Sign Up
Make sure you keep volunteers informed with pertinent information.  This can be accomplished via email or a password protected section of your web site. One of the biggest frustrations for volunteers is not having timely and accurate information.

Better volunteers will most likely translate to a better event. Think of ways various ways that you can use your event web site to sign up passionate volunteers. It will save you time, money, and prevent needless frustration.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• How to Get Them To Your Event
  
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early
• Turn Your Event Into an Experience
• Leveraging Your Sponsor's Digital Resources

• The Event Promotion System - Get 'FREE' Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training