We had a thank you luncheon/orientation for our volunteers this past weekend. In the past we have had it in the Spring but the schedule last spring was replete with conflicts so we chose this Fall to hold the event. In some respects, it was a better choice. Because we held the thank you lunch on the same day as the orientation, new volunteers got to meet experienced people prior to an event giving them an introduction to a person who can provide guidance during performances. Also, it can’t hurt to feed your volunteers before they actually do something for you.
A rule we have set for ourselves with our volunteer luncheons is to make sure there is something going on in the building when we are having it. Even though the volunteers see the building in action all the time, we want to make sure there is a sense of vibrancy and purpose, albeit subdued, while they are around. What is tricky about scheduling things this way is that most of the time we have something going on, we need the volunteers there to work. In previous years we have held the luncheon before events that only required a few volunteers like the annual classical and folk guitar concert. Some of the volunteers would have to leave a half hour early to prepare for the event but most could continue to hang out or go see the concert for free.
This year we did things differently and held the event prior to auditions for the Fall drama. There is nothing like the nervous energy of auditioners to fill a building with a sense of excitement. We scheduled our event to end just as the staff was setting up the theatre for the second day of auditions. There wasn’t any overlap on space since the actors entered through the backstage door and we held our lunch in the front lobby. (Another little hook for the event. Since we don’t allow food or drink in the lobby and have the volunteers enforce that rule, we billed the lunch “as the only time you will ever be able to eat in the lobby.”)
An hour and a half before auditions began, there were already people pacing around doing vocal warm-ups, practicing dance and movement routines and acrobatics. For many of our volunteers walking among this activity on our building tour this was almost an entirely new experience for them. Not only had many of them not been backstage in a theatre, but they had little familiarity with the preparation involved to try out for a play. (I wasn’t even going to attempt to address the differences between a cold reading and prepared monologue audition.)
Overall, I was pretty pleased. Based on criteria from the quality of preparation to interactions and relationship building we see in our volunteers over the next year, we may consider a Fall event better suited for our volunteer recruitment, training and retention needs. Even if we decide to go back to the Spring, I am pretty sure choices we make will be heavily informed by our experiences last weekend.
