2013 Smith Mountain Lake Charity Home Tour Key Volunteer Job Descriptions
Each participating charity must agree to provide the following 12 key volunteers.
It is essential for each volunteer to have an email address that is used on a regular basis.
1. Charity Host Team consists of 4 volunteers: 1 Team Leader, 2 Team Assistants, and 1 Expeditor. This team is the primary link with the homeowners and is in charge of the assigned home.
- Charity Host Team Leader (1): This position is the single point of contact for the assigned home. In addition to attending the home visit and being available Tour week-end, the Team leader must attend 2 mandatory training sessions which will be in March/April and late August and will address:
- Understanding the Tour purpose, organizational structure and requirements
- Providing information to Home Tour committees adhering to specified time frames
- Determining the number of Room Hostesses/Hosts needed for Tour days
- Establishing traffic patterns within the assigned home as determined during a visit home
- Preparing Tour scripts for the Room Hostesses/Hosts
- Working along with Web Callers to ensure volunteers for all shifts
- Managing the Tour shift schedules
- Obtaining and maintaining Hostess/Host supplies
- Organizing beverages and snacks for volunteers during the days of the Tour
- Completing daily reports
- Charity Host Team Assistants (2): The two assistants share the responsibilities of the Charity Host Team Leader in all categories shown above.
- Expeditor: The Expeditor oversees all aspects of ticket sales at the home during the Tour and is also responsible for pickup of Home Tour supplies from the storage unit and return of supplies after the Tour.
- The Charity Host Team members must attend the mandatory training sessions and home visit as well as be available the week-end of the Home Tour. Three of the four Charity Host Team members must be present during all Home Tour shifts.
2. Traffic Captain (1) and Traffic Co-Captains (2)
- Traffic Captain: During the Tour this person is responsible for all aspects of land and marine traffic at the charity's assigned home. This includes parking of vehicles, docking of boats, managing volunteers, coordination with the Charity Host Team Leader and safety. There will be one visit to the assigned home and two mandatory training sessions. The training sessions will be in March/April and late August and will address:
- Understanding the Tour purpose, organizational structure and requirements
- Determining the number of parkers and dockers needed
- Establishing traffic patterns to the assigned home during the home visit
- Managing shift schedules
- Learning to use the radios to control traffic
- Obtaining and maintaining traffic supplies
- Training traffic volunteers before the start of each shift
- Completing daily reports
- The Traffic Captain must be available the weekend of the Home Tour but is not required to be on-site if coverage is provided by one or more of the Traffic Co-Captains.
- Traffic Co-Captains (2): These people share the responsibilities of the Traffic Captain in all categories shown above and are required to attend all training as indicated above. Co-Captains act in full capacity of the Traffic Captain as required during the Tour shifts and must be available during the Tour dates.
3. Sponsorship Representatives (2): These people are responsible for marketing sponsorships to businesses in support of the Home Tour. Sponsorship Representatives make personal calls on assigned business prospects to explain the benefits of sponsorship, e.g., the benefit to the prospect of promoting his/her business through the Tour's advertising vehicles, the benefits to the selected charities and their "customers" and the benefits to the SML regional community. The SML data base contains a base level of approximately 350 prospects and this is supplemented each year with additional prospects proposed by the homeowners of the featured homes. Representatives are assigned specific prospect accounts to call on and are given several months to complete this task. Representatives complete Sponsorship Commitment Forms following sales calls. One mandatory training session in February/March will address:
- The levels of sponsorship sought and the associated benefits
- Making the call
- Completing the documentation to assure correct billing
4. Web Callers (2): It is important that each charity select the Web Callers carefully. Each Web Caller will have to have the time, confidence and skills to perform this job from May until the night before the October date of the tour. A good telephone manner and good computer skills are important. Other personnel cannot substitute for a Web Caller once they are trained. Web Callers will solicit volunteers by phone and then schedule them as hosts/hostesses, parking or dock volunteers for specific shifts at their assigned home during the days of the Tour. The Web Callers will enter all the volunteer data directly into the Charity Home Tour volunteer database. Important: Web Callers must have a computer available for their use, use email and the internet and download and print attachments. The Caller Chair/Database Liaison will provide individual training in March or April. The Web Callers will be asked to attend only one meeting, which is at the end of April. This is a mandatory group training on a Saturday morning, date to be announced. The Caller Chair will oversee that the Web Caller is:
- Learning how to process the data onto the Charity Home Tour website
- Calling until the assigned home is fully staffed
- Using personal contacts and signing up all volunteers from their charity
- Using the contact lists provided by the Tour
- Sending confirmation cards or electronic confirmation to volunteers
- Adhering to the published calendar dates
- Bringing to the attention of the Caller Chair any problems or difficult situations
5. Poster Distribution (1) Volunteer will work on a committee to distribute posters and brochures the first week of August. This person will be assigned to a specific area, usually close to where he/she lives or frequents. A mandatory training session in late July/August will address:
- Placing posters in every possible location within a specific area
- Placing brochures and brochure containers in as many locations as possible within the assigned area
- Keeping a running list of all locations where posters and/or brochures were placed.
