Sunday, August 18, 2013

France: 680 volunteers on the field of play this summer !

Alltechfeiweg2014-normandy.com

August 12 2013

680 volunteers will be put to task this summer as they help with the organisation of three preparatory events in August: Endurance on 16th August in Sartilly, Eventing from 16th to 18th August at Le Pin National Stud and Caen, and Driving from 22nd to 25th August in Caen. This is a great practice run for when the Games begin in August 2014.

Thousands of candidates expressed an interest in working at the preparatory events in August 2013 when they applied to become a volunteer, but the Organising Committee decided to invite only candidates from the local region or those with significant experience in one of the three disciplines concerned: driving, endurance and eventing.

These 680 candidates, who will help the Committee to lay the foundations this year, will make up the core of the volunteer programme for 2014. “The work that we are doing at the moment is similar to what we will be doing for the main event, but on a smaller scale since only 680 candidates will be in action this summer, compared with 3,000 during the Games in 2014,” points out Samuel Hallifax, the manager of the volunteer programme. “The aim is to test the facilities, to see whether the volunteers are happy with their jobs, and to draw as much as we can from these events so that we are ready on the day,” he added.

The volunteer programme will be tested during the preparatory events, though on a smaller scale than next year. The major differences will concern:

The number of volunteers: 3,000 volunteers in total in 2014 compared with just 680 in 2013: around 220 volunteers per site: Le Pin National Stud, Sartilly and Caen.
Interviews:1 week of interviews (May 2013) with around twenty recruiters for the preparatory event, compared with 6 weeks of interviews (October-December 2013) with around forty recruiters for the 2014 Games.
Volunteer missions: the number of missions is limited for the preparatory events: primarily sports-related (100 signallers on the course, managing the stables, assisting the national squads and the officials, etc.), but also transport, security, accreditations, humans resources, entertainment and accommodation. There will be no tasks related to commercial activities (sponsorship, ticketing, shop, exhibitors, etc.), communication (communication, marketing, media etc.), or spectator reception (ushers, etc.) this year, as our 3 preparatory events will not be open to spectators, unlike next year, when 500,000 spectators are expected in Lower Normandy from 23rd August to 7th September.
Training: a “lightweight” training programme will be in place for the test events, consisting of 2 training sessions per volunteer: 1 about the job itself and 1 on site (although we must remember that the test events also represent a large part of their training). In 2014, there will be 3 training sessions held between June and August 2014: 1 job-specific session, 1 general session and 1 on site. Leadership training will also be included.

The thousands of other candidates that have applied should not be concerned if they have not yet been contacted. Interview dates will be sent out by email sometime between September and November 2013, and the 5,000 candidates will be invited to an informal individual “interview” sometime between October and December 2013. The Organising Committee is very flexible and several interview dates will be proposed to candidates. Those living far away from Caen can even opt to have their interview by telephone instead.

The definitive appointment of the 3,000 chosen volunteers who will help with the organisation of the event will be made in March 2014 at the latest.

The 3 training sessions will take place between June and August 2014.

Important Dates:

- September – November 2013: Candidates are invited to an individual interview

- October – December 2013: Individual interviews are held in Caen or by telephone.

- February – March 2013: The 3,000 chosen volunteers are appointed.

- June – August 2013: 3 training sessions: 1 job-specific session, 1 general session, 1 on site.

All information is available on the volunteers’ page, which can be accessed via your account, so please remember to log in regularly. You will receive an email at every stage (volunteer open day, appointment, training, etc.) but this email may be treated as spam, so make sure you also check your junk mail inbox.

For any information about the volunteer programme, please visit our website at the following address: http://www.jemfeialltech2014-normandie.fr/benevoles. If you would like to apply to become one of the 3,000 volunteers who will take part in the Games from 23rd August to 7th September 2014, please click here.

- See more at: http://www.alltechfeiweg2014-normandy.com/en/news/les-b--n--voles-se-font-la-main-a203.html#sthash.3r1zWVpH.dpuf

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