Joelle Baugher, Account Manager TRS and former Volunteer Manager for the 500 Festival in Indianapolis, interviewed nine volunteer managers from a variety of festivals and running events, sports commissions and hospitals to gather tips, techniques and lessons learned related to common challenges. View the full article on our website:

TRS Resources (click on the Tips from the Trenches article)

Indianapolis, Ind. — TRS (The Registration System) LLC, headquartered in Indianapolis, has been selected by the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee and by the Indianapolis Super Bowl XLVI Host Committee for online volunteer management.

TRS is flexible online conference, corporate, volunteer and event management registration. It was developed by professional event managers and is used to register, manage and stay in contact with large numbers of participants at leading events across North America. TRS also offers payment modules, allowing the system to be used for a variety of online registration purposes beyond volunteer needs, including conferences, fundraisers, and online ticket sales for various events.

Company President Florence May says the software system and support team are easily capable of dealing with an event the magnitude of the Super Bowl.

“Our experience working on the 2009 Tampa Bay Super Bowl, nine NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Fours and the 2010 World Equestrian Games has been invaluable,” May said. “We know managers of major events need both a robust registration system and world-class tech support, which is why they turn to TRS,” she said.

TRS clients range from local youth sports leagues with a few hundred volunteers to major music festivals with many thousands of volunteers. In 2009, the software was translated into two other languages to accommodate the first European events to be managed with TRS.

“We work with the best event managers in North America, but the Super Bowl host committees are extraordinary clients,” May said. “These people are real professionals, they have very high standards and they demand excellence from their suppliers. That fits very well with our way of doing business,” she said.

The Registration System website has been called out as a great example of how websites should be done. A special congrats to our own Stan Olson for his development of this extraordinary site. Here is an excerpt from the article written by Michael Geisen.

If you want to see a great example of how a vendor is making good use of the Internet, you need go no further than the website of Florence May’s company, The Registration System. You’ll find a website that immediately gives you the feeling of a fun, competent provider of valuable services.

You can read the rest of Michael Geisen’s article by downloading the PDF file below.

Internet 101, Vendors and the Web, written by Michael Geisen (PDF)
Entire IFEA magazine article (Volume 21 – Issue 4)

Credit: As published by the International Festivals & Events Association in “ie” magazine – Volume 21, Issue 4.

In her most recent article published by IFEA magazine, Flory shares what can your event do to lessen the ecological impact and be a good community partner.

Event Volunteers Going Green (PDF)
Entire IFEA magazine article (Volume 21 – Issue 4)

Credit: As published by the International Festivals & Events Association in “ie” magazine – Volume 21, Issue 4.

I managed thousands of volunteers throughout my festival seasons. Along the way I learned a few things that I wish someone would have pointed out to me prior to my volunteer manager career. Take them, leave them or nod in agreement that you are experiencing (or have experienced) the same thing. No matter what, I hope you enjoy them as I have enjoyed my time as a volunteer manager.

1. No matter how BIG, bold or colorful you write something to catch attention, there will still be volunteers who do not read it. You will still receive calls with questions about everything you spent time on writing to eliminate these kinds of calls.

I spent so much time crafting emails, drafting messages for our online website, thinking cleverly on how to catch the attention of the volunteer who was reading it. I changed the font, used italics, underlined things, bolded important words and even used some color in words to grab attention. I was so proud of my work and occasionally thought to myself: “I got it! People cannot miss these important messages! I will finally stop repeating myself on phone calls.” But alas, it never fails. You can spell it out, write it in the sky, hand deliver it in singing telegrams to volunteers and you will still get calls asking questions about what you so cleverly laid out in the email or on the website. Settle in and enjoy repeating things!

2. It’s not personal.

This was a tough lesson to learn. If you are passionate like me, you take every comment received to heart. Then I had to realize that no matter how long it took me to pick the perfect color for the volunteer shirt, there would still be people who did not like it. I could change the time and location of the orientation and material distribution all I wanted, but there would still be people who want it the other way. You have to pick and choose the survey comments that you want to react to that make the most sense for your entire volunteer program. Realize that the other comments are mainly from people who want to be heard. So hear them, but don’t take it personal.

3. You cannot be afraid to enforce the rules.

Don’t let volunteers run you and your program. These rules are set up for a reason, most likely a reason that helps you manage the program, organize and/or keep everything equal. Believe in it and stick with it and the volunteers will come to respect you and will follow those important rules.

4. Moving to online volunteer registration was a lifesaver (and a career saver!).

While I miss signing my name a million times on letters that we were sending out to volunteers to remind them of their shift information…okay not really, I do not miss it at all! Online registration allows you to finally be a volunteer manager and manage instead of being stuck behind the desk doing administrative work. It is a beautiful thing!

5. The constant phone calls, answering of messages, and forever ringing of the phone will get frustrating. However, when the event/festival/season is over and the phone calls, messages, and ringing ends, you will actually miss talking with your volunteers!

It’s all these things combined that made my experience so memorable and enjoyable! Yes, there was frustration (where isn’t there?) and yes there were days where I wondered if I could come back and do it all over again (at least I’m admitting it!) and yes, I was exhausted at times (so is the life in events), but this was all a part of the experience and I would not trade it for anything. In hindsight, I would probably not spend as much time on creating emails and messages! In the end, as stated in Lesson Learned #5, I truly miss talking with everyone.

TRS is excited to announce the recent addition to our Account Management team. Joelle Baugher will be serving as an Account Manager and Customer Service Representative. She will also be doing many speaking engagements for TRS, as she is an experienced speaker. A few of her speaking engagements including the IFEA and TFEA annual conferences. Before coming to TRS, Joelle was responsible for the 500 Festival’s entire volunteer effort as the Volunteer Manager managing over 7,000 volunteers across nearly 50 events and programs. Baugher then moved to Program Manager where she continued to be in charge of the award winning Volunteer Program; in addition to the 500 Festival and Indianapolis 500® Education Program.

International Festival & Event Association (IFEA) magazine has published the third of four TRS articles on the best practices for volunteer management. Download the PDF version below or visit the IFEA website for the entire issue.

Communications Chaos (PDF)
Entire IFEA magazine article (Volume 21 – Issue 3)

Credit: As published by the International Festivals & Events Association in “ie” magazine – Volume 21, Issue 3.

Volunteers can make an environmental impact during an event. Here are a few ideas generated by event volunteer managers at two recent TRS workshops:

1. Ask volunteers to bring their own water bottle. Event must supply readily available water refill stations for this to be effective. (Saves $$)

2. Talk to your volunteer t-shirt vendors. Shirts made of recycled and bio-degradable materials are now readily available.

3. Go paperless. Volunteers can register online. (Saves $$ and time.)

4. Eliminate snail mail. Confirm volunteer schedules automatically online. Send waivers, maps and updates by e-mail. Most online registration systems have these features. (Saves $$ and time.)

5. Recycle volunteer credentials.

6. Create volunteer t-shirts that will be re-worn because they are clever and fit right! (Great event promo!)

• The Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati has volunteer t-shirts are coveted. The printing is basic. They simply say “the Grunt Squad”.
• No too tight or baby tees. Not a good look on the majority of the population.
• Tight supply? Have a t-shirt trading table. If shirts don’t fit request a trade by size.

7. Set up volunteer car or shuttle pools online.

8. Establish a beautification program with the neighborhood surrounding the event facility. In the weeks prior to your event have volunteers plant trees, bushes or flowers. Ask the neighbors to join in and help with picking up trash. (Community spirit!)

9. Bring in fresh food for the volunteers. Ask vendors to eliminate wrappings and packaging as much as possible. (Healthy!)

10. Ask volunteers to help keep electricity use to what is required. Turn off lights when not needed.

Get your staff, sponsors and volunteers involved.
Ask for ideas on how to make your site/event more green!

The above recommendations are part of an article for an International Festival & Event Association magazine article, Volunteer Management Best Practices: Going Green (Part 4). The article was authored and owned by Florence May, President of TRS.

International Festival & Event Association (IFEA) magazine has published the second of four TRS articles on the best practices for volunteer management. Download the PDF version below or visit the IFEA website for the entire issue.

Managing Volunteers (PDF)
Entire IFEA magazine article (Volume 21 – Issue 2)

Credit: As published by the International Festivals & Events Association in “ie” magazine – Volume 21, Issue 2.

International Festival & Event Association (IFEA) magazine has published the first of four TRS articles on the best practices for volunteer management. Download the PDF version below or visit the IFEA website for the entire issue.

Volunteer Management Best Practices (PDF)
Entire IFEA magazine article (Volume 21 – Issue 1)

Credit: As published by the International Festivals & Events Association in “ie” magazine – Volume 21, Issue 1.