Volunteer handbook for Karmakiller Yoga Festival 2017
Ahonen, Marianna (2017)
Ahonen, Marianna
Haaga-Helia ammattikorkeakoulu
2017
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017102516299
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017102516299
Tiivistelmä
Volunteer workers play a significant role in the festival industry. Involving volunteers in human resources is a cost-effective way to establish an event and to expand workforce. Also, it represents an opportunity for the volunteers to gain experience, broaden their social network and be part of the event execution. However, there are several features that can differentiate event volunteers from more traditional forms of human resources such as the motivational factors, and this should be recognised by the event management team in order to carry out the human resource management of the festival successfully.
This paper is a product based bachelor’s thesis in which the author introduces some of the main components of the volunteer management process in the dynamic event industry. The end product of the thesis is a volunteer handbook for a yoga festival. The thesis was commissioned by a company called Villa Mandala regarding a two-day Karmakiller Yoga Festival that was produced by the company and organised for the first time in September 2017 in Helsinki, Finland. The author of the thesis was employed by the company as an event coordinator during the festival and was in charge of the volunteer recruitment and management in the event. The volunteer handbook can be used subsequently as a template for other festivals and events as well, and therefore benefit more event managers in the future in spite of the event type. Also volunteer job descriptions, shift lists and supervision were the author’s responsibilities during the project.
The objective of the thesis was to develop a practical volunteer handbook in order to support volunteers’ job performance during the festival and to provide structure for the volunteer management process. The theoretical part of the thesis consists of elements that the author has chosen to form the framework for volunteer management process. These elements are human resource and volunteer management in the event industry in general, volunteer motivation, role design, volunteer orientation and the components of a well-structured handbook. The handbook itself consists of organizational and operational information and volunteer specific issues.
The methodology used consists of background research, event planning with the commissioning party and individually and observation during the actual event. The volunteer handbook was evaluated by interviewing the commissioning party and collecting written feedback. The project was executed between May 2017 and October 2017, with the main focus on September 2017 when the volunteer orientation and Karmakiller Yoga Festival were carried out.
This paper is a product based bachelor’s thesis in which the author introduces some of the main components of the volunteer management process in the dynamic event industry. The end product of the thesis is a volunteer handbook for a yoga festival. The thesis was commissioned by a company called Villa Mandala regarding a two-day Karmakiller Yoga Festival that was produced by the company and organised for the first time in September 2017 in Helsinki, Finland. The author of the thesis was employed by the company as an event coordinator during the festival and was in charge of the volunteer recruitment and management in the event. The volunteer handbook can be used subsequently as a template for other festivals and events as well, and therefore benefit more event managers in the future in spite of the event type. Also volunteer job descriptions, shift lists and supervision were the author’s responsibilities during the project.
The objective of the thesis was to develop a practical volunteer handbook in order to support volunteers’ job performance during the festival and to provide structure for the volunteer management process. The theoretical part of the thesis consists of elements that the author has chosen to form the framework for volunteer management process. These elements are human resource and volunteer management in the event industry in general, volunteer motivation, role design, volunteer orientation and the components of a well-structured handbook. The handbook itself consists of organizational and operational information and volunteer specific issues.
The methodology used consists of background research, event planning with the commissioning party and individually and observation during the actual event. The volunteer handbook was evaluated by interviewing the commissioning party and collecting written feedback. The project was executed between May 2017 and October 2017, with the main focus on September 2017 when the volunteer orientation and Karmakiller Yoga Festival were carried out.