Shiftpicker: A huge time saver for your volunteer coordinator

A big support and important part of your festival: volunteers. No film festival can do without, right? Fiona helps your volunteer coordinator to easily manage your team of volunteers. By default, you can keep track of your volunteers’ personal data, preferences in volunteering, their history within your festival, and your internal remarks on their work. With the Shiftpicker module, you can extend this functionality. The module helps you ease up the planning of the volunteer shifts – for yourself as well as for your helpers – without losing control.

The struggles of a volunteer coordinator

Supposing you are a volunteer manager – you will probably recognize this scenario:

For the upcoming festival edition, you have gathered your volunteer team with the enthusiasts of last year, plus some new helping hands. You are spending hours planning all shifts, keeping everybody’s preferences in mind. Once your schedule is done, you send out a mailing to every volunteer with their shifts and tasks. But then the job actually begins: you receive endless change requests from your volunteers. By the end of the week, you have been re-planning for days. 

That should be done easier, right? Right. That is exactly where the Shiftpicker helps you out. 

Let your volunteer pick their own shifts

As the name of the module implies, the Shiftpicker allows volunteers to schedule themselves. Shifts are time slots in which you need volunteers. We define a shift by the type of volunteer you need (position), the type of shift, location, date and time, and the number of volunteers needed.

In Fiona, you set up a shift planner, and based on their assigned position, volunteers can (online) choose from the available shifts. So it is their own responsibility to pick the shifts that are most convenient for them. To ensure everybody works a minimum amount of shifts or works a specific type of shift such as a training session, you can set up rules for each position. Do you want your screening attendants to be able to choose their shifts only for one venue? Do box office volunteers need to attend one training and choose six other shifts? No problem! Set any rule you like, and the Shiftpicker will automatically schedule everyone.

How festivals are using the Shiftpicker

Slowly, more and more festivals can move from fully online to hybrid again (hopefully by 2022, we can go all the way back to on-site film festivals). Although, as an online festival, you rely less on your volunteers, you will still need them – for both your communication and PR and (online) support. 

For example, at this very moment, the Danish documentary film festival, CPH:DOX, takes place as a hybrid festival. The total 2021 edition lasts from April 21st to May 12th. Next to their online program, they will provide on-site screenings throughout Copenhagen from May 6th on.

All registered volunteers filled out their Shiftpicker just one month before the festival’s kick-off. From the start of the festival, the planned volunteers were available at their online info desk to answer all questions from professionals and regular visitors. From May 6th on, volunteers will be ready to welcome you and give you the ultimate CPH:DOX festival feeling in all available venues.

Shiftpicker: that's why

In short, why extend your Fiona with the Shiftpicker? Well, this is why:

  • Selected volunteers can pick their own shifts, online
  • You can set up rules per position, such as a minimum number of shifts, mandatory shift(s), and preferred location(s)
  • Shiftpicker automatically schedules everyone
  • Your volunteer coordinator is no longer chased by endless change requests

Do you want to know more about our Shiftpicker? Get in touch with us!

About The Author

Peter Goldman
Fiona Talks on the Berlinale Industry DaysJune Highlights: our top 5 film festivals

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