Vancouver 2010 Olympics & Paralympic Games
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02/04/2013
Vancouver 2010 Olympics &
Paralympic Games
And How it changed the way I practise
Volunteer Management
I was able to be very involved in the
Vancouver 2010 Olympic games as a
volunteer interviewer/selection group
and as a volunteer.
My husband was involved as well and
would tell you it was his very best
experience – ever.
102/04/2013
President, John Furlong
Leadership from the top down
Immigrant from Ireland as a young adult
“Welcome to Canada, make it better”
Volunteers just as important as staff,
same uniform, same training
After the Olympics
John Furlong received 10,000 letters
from volunteers thanking him for the
opportunity
202/04/2013
British Columbia, Canada
Certainly had people that did not want
the Olympics
Locals
L l were the
th last
l t to
t gett excited
it d –
and it was hard to get excited when
there was construction everywhere
But once we got excited…
Hospital statistics
Previous Olympic statistics said that
hospital visits were actually down
during the games
302/04/2013
Our emergency department in our large
downtown teaching hospital
experienced an 81% increase in visits.
visits
Mostly young men suffering from over
celebrating.
402/04/2013
It all started with the torch relay
Started in Greece, then over 106 days
travelled across the country a distance
of 45,000
45 000 kilometers (2796 miles)
Passed within 1 hours drive of 90% of
the Canadian population
Was wildly popular
502/04/2013
Olympic sized numbers
Needed an estimated 25,000 volunteers
across 2 locations, 72 miles apart
19,100 in Vancouver, the rest in
Whistler, up the mountain
Received 70,000 applications
602/04/2013
Does NOT include
The sports that come with their own
specialists, many of these are
volunteers.
volunteers For example: Skate
Canada the figure skating body has
hundreds of people very knowledgeable
about that process.
Some political/international relationship
requirements
Application Process
On line only
Indicate areas of interest, sport of
interest and availability
Had to have your own accomodation
Over 75% of applications indicated an
interest in hockey and/or figure skating
Minimum Criteria
Needed to be fluent in written and
spoken English, additional languages a
bo us
bonus
French language skills necessary for
many positions
18 years of age
Use public transportation to get to
venues
702/04/2013
Looking for previous volunteer
experience
Positive
P iti attitude
ttit d & plenty
l t off enthusiasm
th i
Alignment with VANOC values
Team Trust
Excellent Sustainability
Creativity
VolWeb.ca
Website designed 4 years ahead of
game time for listing of volunteer roles
in special events
• City festivals
• Runs and fund raisers
• Environmental clean ups
This website tracked your hours for referencing
by Olympic volunteer program
Police Checks & Interviewing
Done by police/RCMP officers
Specific positions done by week – for
example l medical
di l office
ffi volunteers
l t done
d
on week 4.
39 weeks of interviewing.
Everyone told to watch for an email
invitation to training
802/04/2013
As a Volunteer Interviewer
I had a script to work from and was
expected to interview 6 people in a 3
hour shift.
Looking for customer service, friendly,
non judgemental people
Had a question designed to match each
of the Vanoc values
Looking for people who would be
comfortable in leadership roles
Met lots of great people
And then never saw them again
Even with positive interviewer remarks
there were just so many people…
Some excellent folks were excluded for
limited availability
902/04/2013
Sheer numbers…
70,000 applications from around the world,
83% from B.C.
60% of the volunteers were women
aged 45 – 64 years
47,000 in person interviews
34,000 invited to training
26,000 invited to uniform fitting &
position specific training
25,900 came
Estimated that if volunteers were paid
minimum wage it would have cost $50
o dollars.
million do a s
Spent $800,000 on uniforms alone
1002/04/2013
Volunteers got free meals and free
public transportation with ID badge
Volunteers at Whistler got
accomodation
Benefits to volunteers
Great uniform, same as staff. There
was a working inside and a working
outside version.
version Patch added for those
staying on for the Paralympics.
Lots of volunteers
Official decision made to overstaff
(overvolunteer?) by 30% to allow for:
no shows
h
flu season
Very, very few did not report for shift
1102/04/2013
None of the training was on-line
The decision was made that all the
volunteers needed to come in and
attend training – on the theory that we
could get to know them a little better.
To my surprise, some people behaved
badly at training and we were happy to
exclude them
Training was goal orientated
Not “you are here to direct the public
and
d traffic”
t ffi ”
Instead “you are here to help with the
Olympic games”
My volunteer assignment
Credentialing for athletes village
Not really working within my skill set
Awesome job!
Welcomed Japanese figure skaters,
Italian snow boarders, American curling
team.
1202/04/2013
Came in waves
There was official bus transport from
the airport
T
Teams ttravell together,
t th with
ith matching
t hi
luggage
Very busy all at once, then nothing for
long stretches of time
Our Co-ordinator
Had no background in Volunteer
Management
• Was reluctant to allow people to leave
• Was detail orientated
1302/04/2013
But
Made it a ton of fun
She arranged for “insider” tours
some really cool ones
some that didn’t sound like they
would be fun but were
pot lucks by colour
walk around village investigating
1402/04/2013
1502/04/2013
Then we all went back to work
And I was reflecting on my volunteer
experience and how much I enjoyed it
How could I use this experience to do a
better job …
It was fun & interesting
So, I acknowledged I was unable to
provide the same kind of experience but
there must be parts of it I could do…
do
1602/04/2013
Did more things
Rather than every other month biggish
events we started doing education
events every other week
week.
Used our own volunteers as speakers
gave them a certificate
Volunteers who
Went to the south pole on vacation
Working on the PhD in neuropsychology
Working with a research team at
university
Talking about their role in Palliative
Was from Siberia
Doc Talk
Volunteers who were accepted into
medical school came back and spoke to
the group
On intake we tell volunteers coming
into the program that this is our
expectation (like John Furlong) and it
works
1702/04/2013
Benny
Who was our first volunteer scholarship
winner - got into Duke University
medicine came to us & said I have to
do my presentation before I go…
200 students came to hear about the
application process, the interview, the
costs…
Added Tours
Maintenance/biomedical engineering
including the boiler room were way
more interesting than you would think
The facility were the hospital meals
were made
The giant laundry facility
A local funeral home
Fireside chats
Lots more doctors and departments
were comfortable with small groups
L tt
Lottery tto gett a spott d
draw 6 ffor 5 spots
t
Starts in our conference room with
tea/coffee scones and a chat
Then a tour if possible
1802/04/2013
Special Ops Teams
Newer and better title for short term
roles
Special
S i l Ops
O Teams
T are our regular
l
volunteers we drop in to do a job and
then they are done
They are self directed with just the
leader having met with us about the
role
Skunkwork Teams
Similar to Special Ops but for the “dirty”
jobs
Closing of the thrift shop
Gift shop inventory
Redoing all the pamphlets on the short
stay unit
1902/04/2013
Artisan teams
Using their special skills they redid all of
our volunteer thank you banners – that
we had costed out at almost $900.00
$900 00
they did for $40.
2002/04/2013
Next our Legacy volunteers
Who are going to interview our inner
city patients about their lives
Maybe if we know more about their lives
we can do a little prevention
Maybe it will help them feel better
Maybe it will help all of understand
What can you do?
Vancouver Olympic Legacy
Research underway by Australian Dr.
Tracey Dickson on how much the
Olympic Legacy of volunteering actually
“sticks”
25% plan to volunteer more
4% plan to volunteer less
33% said they would volunteer at a
future games
2102/04/2013
I have two new volunteers
That I know of – two adult women that
moved downtown after the fun of the
Olympics from the suburbs and are
excellent volunteers for me
Certainly my family enjoyed the
experience
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