Best Ways to get Employees to Volunteer to Work an Event

Imagine this: you have a big event coming up. The last piece of the puzzle is to hire a knowledgeable, customer service oriented event staff.

You have two options:

• Ask current employees if they are interested in volunteering
• Hire temporary workers

There may be benefits of both, but the first choice is almost always better. Not only are these people volunteering their time (meaning you don’t have to pay them), but they are more familiar with what you are trying to accomplish.

This brings us to one very important question: what can you do to get employees to volunteer to work an event? Here are three ideas to consider:

1. Let them know they can take time away from their regular work schedule. This alone is often times enough to convince a large number of people to volunteer. After all, everybody likes some time out of the office every now and again.
2. Show them the perks. The first perk was discussed above: time outside the office. However, there are others to make known:

• Opportunity to mingle with others in the industry
• Chance to show the company that you are willing to “go the extra mile”
• Access to top notch industry information
• Free food (most of the time, at least)

3. Tell them about past events. Don’t be shy about sharing past experiences with potential volunteers. Talk about how much fun everybody had. Talk about the people who attended. Discuss the after-event get-togethers. In other words, build some excitement around the event.

Once you know how many volunteers you need, it is time to get started. The sooner you begin your search the better off you will be. The last thing you want is to find yourself up against the wall, with an event scheduled but not enough people to provide service.

Are you now more confident in your ability to convince employees to volunteer for an upcoming event?