Event Management - Volunteers and their Impact in Community Events - Assessment Answer

Event Management Assignment

Assignment Task

Introduction

Most of the organizations and events in the community have failed always because of the event organizers failing to identify the role of volunteers in community research. A lot of research has been conducted about the success of event organization and factors that influences it. However, little research has been done concerning the impact of volunteers in community events. Volunteering is an act of service or work done at free will and the aim is to benefit the community. Most of the governments have always understood the role of volunteers and has always encouraged community development with the help of volunteers. Volunteering during event management and organization has been found to impact greatly on economic success of the event and social success. Previous researches conducted on role of volunteers on community events have found that volunteers have contributed widely to the economy of the community and society as whole (Moore, 2013). It has also been found that volunteering enhances social connections between individuals, government and hence helps in enterprises of the community. Volunteering has also been found to be helping in building a cohesive, strong and safe community while increasing social network between the neighboring communities (Pennsylvania State University, 2015). Moreover, volunteering has also impacted positively on the volunteers possibly opening up channels for employment and further studies.

Recent studies indicate that volunteers in community development have a huge impact in terms of the economy of the country. That is because the volunteers usually reduce the burden of government expenditure allowing governments to channel their resources elsewhere. In addition, through volunteering it has become easy for the volunteers to earn knowledge positive self-esteem while boosting skills and improving employability. For example, in 2011 John Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies had approximately 140 million volunteers across 37 countries on the world. Assuming that the 140 million volunteers were to be paid it will definitely have a huge impact on the organization in terms of resources. For that reason, volunteers in community events have a huge impact since they help in reducing the overall cost that is required in the event (Brown, 2014).

Volunteers are also important because most of the time they are locals who understand the culture and values of the community. In most cases the event organizers fail to understand the importance of observing cultural values within the community. Volunteers like clan elders and other support group bring in the advantage of ensuring that cultural values and norms are observed during the event. That makes it easy for the intended message and communication to reach the intended audience (Donoghue, 2013). In addition, it also creates a sense of belonging and satisfaction to the targeted audience. The influence that volunteers usually have within the community is also usually very important for event organizers. That is because the influence especially in the inner circle of the family members and the society in general makes it easy for the event organizers to reach out to the community and provide their services without cases of rejection and arbitration. Meanwhile the organization must ensure that the volunteers begin on a good start as that is likely to be the face of the organization during the event. Volunteers must feel welcomed and a briefing should be organized before the actual date of the event. Meanwhile it is also important to give clear instructions and descriptions to the volunteers most of which might not be having the knowledge of what the organization is willing to offer on the day of the event. Slight training and inductions are necessary to ensure that the volunteers offer quality services during the day of the event (Keely, 2015). That can be made successful by ensuring that volunteers match their skills and interests with the volunteered job.

Before the event volunteers have been found to have good credibility since they have very little or no vested interests. In addition, the volunteers will always deliver their services with a lot of objectivity. Moreover, the world has revolutionized and volunteers are coming from all walks of life. That ensures refreshed energy with specialized skills and knowledge. New ideas can always be brought about by volunteers since they enrich existing programs before the day of the event. Volunteers have also been having the advantage of bringing constructive criticism to the event organizers especially before the day of the event making it easy for the organizers to note their areas of weaknesses and work on them (Kawachi, 2015). In addition, with volunteers there is also the ability to expand the services of the organization.

Most of the sponsors have been forced to shut down their sponsorship programs for clashing with the community. It must be noted that community members must always be involved while important decisions are being made regarding their development. That is aimed at ensuring that the community does not clash with the event organizers. If an organization succeeds in conducting healthy and successful events it is expected that the volunteers will keep coming back again and again and that will make social responsibility of the organization to be easy. A successful event will also ensure that the organization retains a good brand name and that can go far away in advertising and marketing the organization (Matt Stringer, 2009).

Most of the organizations have also not been so keen when it comes to post event analysis. Most of the volunteers are always keen to see if organizations they volunteered appreciates them. It is therefore necessary to appreciate all the volunteers (Slaughter, 2012). That can be done through various forms like donations or posting their names on the organizations website. That will always boost the morale of the volunteer and they will always be encouraged to continue volunteering for sustainable development.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that the role of volunteers in staging and managing a community event cannot be neglected. That is because the volunteers bring in a lot of social and economic advantage to the event organizers. Volunteers will play a huge role in reducing the overall cost of labor and production of the event hence allowing the organization to channel its resources to other important issues. In addition, volunteerism has been found to have a strong correlation with social network within the institution. Most importantly volunteers ensures that the cultural norms and values are observed during the event hence creating a sense of satisfaction to the community members. In addition, participation of the volunteers also create a sense of satisfaction and belonging to the entire community. Meanwhile, the volunteers also gain much skills and knowledge while volunteering. The event organizers also benefit from positive criticism and feedback hence enabling them to understand their weaknesses hence strategic planning.

The social impact always observed with volunteers before and after a community event is that volunteers bring together people who have not been in contact with one another. That ensures that the social strength and connections in the society is maintained while building strong and cohesive community. Volunteers also help enhancing civic engagement and delivery of public goods and services. Any community with intention of engaging on staging an event must have volunteers in order to foster great trust with citizens while developing norms of solidarity that are very important for stability of the community.