Investing in your Volunteers

Now when I use the word investing I am not solely thinking of money, as volunteers are often utilized to help cut costs.  However, taking some time to create a network of strong volunteers really can have a long term benefit to your events.

For example:

• they come to really understand your messaging and representing your company exactly how you would expect an employee to 
• with annual events they are familiar with the flow and set up, easily jumping in to complete tasks with limited instruction/supervision needed 
• they build confidence in their interactions with your guests, resulting in a greater experience for them 
• with each event you can spend less time providing them background information/general instruction 
• they can become Volunteer Leads and take over some of the instruction duties 
• they will start to refer other good volunteers to you 
• you can be confident that they will remain professional and conduct themselves appropriately 
• in knowing their strengths you can assign them tasks with added responsibility (freeing you up take on other matters) 

Have you experienced any other ways in which investing in your volunteers has paid off?