High Level¶

• Boise: have definition for volunteer and communicate mission
  • Can make a distinction between volunteering and work-trade. Free Ride does not, but other shops do

Designing an orientation¶

• Highlight how every bit of work fits into helping out in the big picture
• What goals do we have for what volunteers can be?
• Build expectations and give them to members & volunteers
• What do volunteers get out of helping out? (Try to come up with at least 3 things)

Implementation Details¶

• Brake into small groups; explain the shop & emphasize the mission
• May want to vary the frequency and scheduling of the orientation (Other groups have 1/month with about 20 people at each orientation

Seperate into 2 sections¶

• Introduction
• First steps in being trained (scraping bikes or some other hands-on activity, like doing a safety check maybe)
  • The hands-on activity becomes like and initiation process, allowing people to become part of the group

Process for Orientation¶

• Talk to Sopo (Atlanta I think) & Boise projects to learn more about the details of their process

• Use a “workbook” with specific skills. Each skill can be signed-off and when completed a person has finished “training.”

Extra Discussion¶

• (Association of management of volunteers) Volunteer intake should be made long and ardous with several steps
  • People who are a good fit will make it through the steps and others will get self-eliminate
• Role playing is fun & brings active participation to orientation
• Follow-up: personalized thank-you.
  • Be sure to follow-up quickly to have a good impact
  • One group mails out hand-made cards to everybody
• Elevate the position of being Volunteer as something very important and something to have pride in