 |
 |
|
2011 Food Factor Challenge:"Keeping Food Safe" |
||
Tools for Recruiting Volunteers
We need approximately 2 volunteers for each team attending each event. We need each team to identify by name and e-mail for your volunteers – other than the coach or mentor.
I know what it’s like to ask for volunteers. It’s a difficult proposition. Sometimes you wonder why YOU are putting in all the time and effort you do with your team, let alone how to ask someone else to help with the tournaments!
Ask EARLY – ask NOW!
Even if you’re attending the first tournament of the season, you need to get the tourney on your candidate’s calendar. It’s not too late, but it will be soon. You need to give your candidates every opportunity to say “yes”, and fore warning and advance planning is the best way to plan for success. Put another way, waiting till the last minute is a sure way to fail. It’s usually easier to ask for help before your request is urgent, so don't put it off any longer! The need will not go away without your help!
But…
If you feel like any of the following, click and read, and add to, my suggestions below:
- I don’t want to owe a favor
- I only work with Technical people
- It’s hard to describe
- People don’t really know what I am asking them to do
- It’s too much like selling
- It’s too personal – I don’t know who to ask
- When all else fails
Looking at my own attempts at requesting volunteers, I sometimes feel that, “If I ask Mr Smith and he actually accepts, then I’ll owe him a favor. I don’t want to owe anybody anything, even a favor!”
Look at your own experience in volunteering for this mission. Do you believe in what you’re doing? Do your kids and the team exhibit learning and experience that they would not gain otherwise? Is their learning and experience something you can brag about to your colleagues, something they would appreciate for their kids, nieces and nephews, or grand-kids?
The fact is that we all need help at one time or another. I’m sure you’ve volunteered for other causes, and you probably will again. Talk to the other people involved in one of those causes and call in a marker or two.
We have a very convenient list of positions (attached at the bottom of this page) that you can pull down to explain the variety of jobs a person could do the first time out to get their feet wet. We also have a very colorful flyer that you can give to someone you are talking to.
You folks involved in professional engineering have access to the brightest, most talented and most sympathetic group of people available to FLL. Your colleagues are the people we need most! People that can judge - evaluate the design and reliability of a robot or its programming, the insights of a research project or innovative solution, or the ability for a team to interact with its own members – these are skills we can’t get from just anybody. Please impress upon your colleagues how uniquely qualified they are to add to the valuable experience these children take away from your tournament.
It’s often much easier to describe with pictures than words only. See pictures of last years’ Colorado Championship event and other 2008 Colorado tournaments (linked).
If a person doesn’t understand the job, they are probably reluctant to commit to it. This is where the list of positions is very supportive. It briefly describes the job, and if you’ve been to a tournament you can help flesh out the description just from your own experience. Always accentuate the fun, and the food and the t-shirts our volunteers will receive.
Face it, it takes a special kind of person to enjoy selling. Most of us don’t like selling because we don’t like rejection. The risk of rejection is an inhibitor. But sharing a good experience is a good thing – you don’t want to hoard the good things in life, but to let your friends in on it.
Choose your best candidate, and visit with them a bit about your team and the experience you’ve had. Ask them their opinion of the education and values the kids are exhibiting these days, and if they’d like to have a positive impact on that situation.
Most schools, companies and churches have a way to reach several people that need or want to fulfill community service hours. Below is an email template I have used in the past to broadcast the need. Feel free to send this to your company and have them reach out to me. If they need your email on the notice, please provide it, and then forward any request to me (on the e-mail below).
Send this to your child’s principal at school, or the youth director at your church, or the community relations officer at your job. The more of these the community sees – and the more often – the better our chances of filling this need.
F*I*R*S*T Needs You! Volunteer Opportunity: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology organization is looking for Judges, Referees and several other positions for volunteers to support kids aged 9-14 in its mission to produce a highly energized robot Championship tournament to demonstrate their science, techonlogy, engineering and math skills, as well as self-confidence, leadership, and teamwork skills.
FIRST LEGO League is beginning our 2009 tournament season. We have nearly 240 teams in the league this year, and we are producing 6 qualifier tournaments in November along the front range (Ft Collins, Loveland, Louisville, Golden, Colorado Springs) and in Eagle county.
The season finale' Championship Tournament is usually held at the Auraria Event Center (Denver) on the second Saturday of the month. Check this Tournament Schedule link and look for "Championship".
See pictures of last years’ Colorado Championship event and other 2008 Colorado tournaments (linked).
if you just can't realize success at any of the above, you may volunteer yourself FOR A DIFFERENT TOURNAMENT than the one your team is attending. You MUST NOT volunteer for your own tournament, as your team needs you and they must come first. But come to a different tournament! If you are attending Poudre, volunteer for Thompson. If your team is attending UCCS, volunteer for CSM.
And remember, if your team attends Championship, we'll need your volunteer again!!
Thank you all for helping make this another terrific FLL season in Colorado!
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| VolunteerRoleDescription_Start-End.pdf | 186.13 KB |
