Olympic Volunteers – Strength in Numbers
Imagine placing a job ad and having 1.2 million people reply. That’s the number of volunteer applicants that organisers in Beijing have been grappling with in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics. From first aid to translation, driving to stewarding, costume-making to computing; volunteers are “the lifeblood of the Olympic Games,” as the London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe has put it.
Already 100,000 people have signed up to volunteer for the London 2012 Olympics. But not everyone who volunteers will get a role. London organisers expect that overall 70,000 will be needed to help run the Games. Recruitment for the different roles will begin in 2010, on the basis of whose skills match the roles.
One of the biggest attractions for volunteers – particularly school-children – are the opening and closing ceremonies. Some 10,000 are expected to take part in the three-hour Beijing ceremony. The Athens 2004 Opening Ceremony used a similar number from 31 different countries, with ages stretching from just seven to 75.
Corralling such numbers of people requires professional help. For complex events such as the ceremonies, Olympic organising committees call in production companies, such as Jack Morton (Athens 2004 Olympics, Manchester Commonwealth Games) or David Atkins Enterprises (Sydney 2000 Olympics, Doha 2006 Asian Games), among others. These companies are charged with ‘producing’ the event: making sure all aspects of it run to plan on the night. Key to this is organising the volunteer workforce.
Tags: Ceremonies, volunteers