It’s time for regional events to rethink human and financial resource models!
Prior to COVID, many regional event committees struggled with insufficient (skilled) committee members and volunteers to plan and deliver their events, and with generating and securing enough money to support their events.
It seems as though this has not changed, and could be worse.
Almost 10% fewer Australians are volunteering today compared to pre-COVID and they way people volunteer has changed significantly, and recently, event costs have climbed significantly, while the availability of grants and cash sponsorship have reduced significantly.
We presented a webinar to Council event staff from across regional Australia where participants could share the current challenges they are seeing within their local area, and surprise surprise…
Together, these challenges pose a serious threat to the future of many events in regional Australia and it appears as though they are not going away.
So, what are the solutions to overcoming these serious challenges that so many events share?
We believe that it is time for events to rethink their financial and human resourcing models. We have entered an era of ‘casual volunteering’ where people are much more interested in short term task based volunteering rather than committing to a permanent role on a committee, and third party funding from government and corporates is harder than ever to secure. It’s time to stop doing what has always been done and complaining that ‘young ones don’t volunteer these days’ and take the time to think about how to set up your event for future success, where it is less dependent on third party funds and moves towards a position where paid staff are engaged and supported by a team of casual volunteers.
We share some further ideas below, but we’d love to hear from you in the comments – What has worked for you? What are you going to try?
Human resourcing
A key challenge of regional events is volunteer attraction and retention. Common concerns are burnout, inability to attract younger volunteers and a growing workload.
Consider casual volunteering
Volunteering has changed! Based on a national research project undertaken by Volunteering Australia more people are interested in ‘casual’ volunteering where there is a defined timeframe and clear understanding of commitment. People do want to volunteer but they do not want to sign up for life. How can your model embrace more casual volunteers?
Improve efficiencies
Rather than trying to attract more volunteers, consider how you are managing your team and workload to make everyone’s life easier and how you ensure the event is attractive to new volunteers.
Set up systems and processes to make running your event more efficient.
Establish an effective team structure with clearly defined roles and task checklists so everyone is clear on their role.
Use software to reduce the manual workload. Examples include Stallmanager to make managing stallholders much less work, and using project-based Slack messaging to reduce the need for time consuming face to face meetings. Keep learning and building your skills! https://stallmanager.com.au
Make the value proposition clear, and rather than put out a generic plea for help, concise job descriptions can help volunteers see the connection with their own skillset, and make the decision to get in contact with you to say, ‘I can do that!’.
Meet the motivations for volunteering
Create a team environment that is welcoming and makes people want to join by making jobs as easy as possible with good communication and clear direction. Do not overwhelm them with unnecessary meetings and time pressures.
Can you help volunteers fulfill their motivations for wanting to volunteer? These may be to
• have fun
• be with like-minded people
• improve skills
• gain experience (and confidence)
• receive free tickets
For example, can you partner a more experienced volunteer with one that’s less experienced (perhaps a TAFE student studying event management) for mentoring and friendship-building? Or offer flexible scheduling and varied roles to accommodate volunteers with different time commitments or skill sets.
Provide opportunities for fun and for relationships to be built – when people build relationships in a team, and where they feel their contribution is valued, they are more committed and productivity increases dramatically. Can you offer unique opportunities like meeting the headline act, or a behind the scenes experience, or have a volunteer chill out zone to relax and socialise between shifts?
Know what you’re working towards – what does success mean to your volunteers? Are you fundraising for a community project? Supporting local businesses by attracting visitors at a quiet time of year?
Tap into new sources of volunteers
Seek in-kind sponsorship in the form of services, such as bookkeeping or marketing, or offering a team-building experience for staff at a business working together to help deliver the event on the day. There are businesses interested in providing services as part of their corporate citizenship.
Can you tap into others to deliver events as part of your event, similar to these events?
Financial resourcing
New sources of income
Can you add new sources of income? Common ones for events include:
Ticket sales (e.g. entry fee)
Fees for additional activities (e.g. children’s activities, long lunch)
Parking and camping fees
Stallholder fees
Merchandise sales
Food and beverage sales
VIP experiences (e.g. behind the scenes tours, best seats in the house, meet the performers)
Hiring out owned equipment (e.g. hiring out a marquee you own throughout the year to other event organisers)
Create NSW has a toolkit full of ideas on how to create new revenue streams.
Cost savings
Can you collaborate with other events to negotiate a better deal with suppliers, or with a sponsor, to share volunteers, or cross promote each other to each one’s networks (if each event’s target markets are similar)?