Below you’ll find a list of volunteer job descriptions you’ll want to consider having in place for your event. In addition to knowing the roles you need volunteers to fill, you may be wondering how to find volunteers to fill them. So, here are some helpful tips for recruiting volunteers.
Welcome Crew
This is a great job for extra volunteers. Giving participants a warm welcome as they arrive by car helps ease any apprehension and uncertainty felt by the participant and their family. It also serves to signify they have arrived at the right place and receive instant directions as to where to go next. A cheerful, enthusiastic welcome crew is a great first impression to your event. This is a fantastic role for a youth group, sport team or youth volunteer club to play.
Equipment Set-Up and Hand-Out
Shore volunteers and boat captains can perform the early morning set up of…
- tackle boxes (possibly the addition of extra tackle)
- rod and reel assembly
- organizing t-shirts for volunteers and participants by size
- setting out of hats
- arranging of life jacket station
A few volunteers near the registration table hand each participant a t-shirt, hat, tackle box and rod & reel with a smile!
Registration Table
A few volunteers can set up signs and tables to serve as registration check-in for participants, boat captains and shore volunteers. Clipboards with sign-in sheets and walk up registration forms should be provided to track attendees. A smile and warm welcome from the registration table volunteers help set a fun and joyous tone for the event.
Life Jacket Station
Have one or two volunteers stationed at the life jacket station to assist participants and their parent/guardian. They can help them find and fit a life jacket in their size.
Pairing Captain
The Pairing Captain is in charge of pairing the participant and their family with a boat captain and boat with the corresponding capacity. This job is probably the most difficult of the entire event and having the person or persons in charge of this task within sight of or very near all children, boaters and the loading area helps tremendously. This is also typically the best area to place life jackets and do the event photographs for the awards plaques.
If you are loading children on the boats in the parking lot before the boats are launched, find an area for pairings near or in the parking lot.
If you are loading children on boats that have been launched and are dockside, an area near the dock entrance would be good for pairings. Some events have more room and volunteers than others, and some have more distance between these different access points but as a general rule of thumb, the closer that you have the registration tables to the loading area, the easier it is to find boaters and children and get them paired and loaded into their boats.
As participants check-in (or once registration is complete), call a boater and a participant partner for the day and instruct them to go to the designated picture site prior to leaving. Following these examples will help make the pairing process run a lot more smoothly, gets the kids out fishing sooner and make room for others as they arrive.
DOWNLOAD: Pairing/Photographer Sheet
Photographer
A volunteer photographer plays two important roles on the day of the event. First, they document the event by photographing a variety of candid photos of participants, volunteers and activities. The pictures can be sent to the Regional Director who will share them on our social media platforms. Second, if it’s a boating event, they take individual pictures of the participant and their boat captain to be put in the plaques at the awards ceremony. If it’s a shore event, photos are taken of the participant and their fishing buddy. The photographer can work with the Pairing Captain for best photograph location. One thing to keep in mind is to try to take photos horizontally! This is the best format for the plaque photo for the participant and for us to use as a foundation. A newer model cell phone is all the volunteer photographer needs for this role!
The photographer takes two photos. For the first, the boat captain or family member holds a number written on a piece of paper. This number is transferred to the Pairing/Photograph Sheet to keep track of the photos to be matched with participant names for the award ceremony. For the second, the number is removed, and this photo is the final photo placed in the plaque. Mobile/cell phone images taken horizontally are acceptable for plaque photos.
Photo Printer
The photos for plaques can be either printed onsite or at a one-hour photo shop. If printing on site, be sure to leave after the last photo to ensure you can return in time for the assembly of the plaques.
Be sure to print three 4 x 6 photos (two for each participant & one for the boat captain)- one with their matching number and one without for the plaque.
Plaque Assembly
Once the photos return, one or two volunteers can begin assembling the plaques. Using the Pairing/Photograph Sheet as their guide, they match up photos with participant names.
To assist the MC during the awards ceremony, write the participant’s name, photo number, and boat captain name on the foam cover with a Sharpie.
Lunch Crew
Have a crew of volunteers set up tables for serving lunch and eating. The volunteers can also serve the lunch and assist with garbage clean-up.