Wrapping Up, Final Tasks, and Beer and Bowling

Well, Visions has certainly been the pinnacle of my undergraduate study. I have gained more experience by being a part of Visions than I have in pretty much any other class. Valuable, life-changing experience. The past couple of weeks have consisted of manual updates - or for me writing a manual for my job, presentations and DVD edits. Busy, but not anywhere near the level of earlier in the semester. It's hard to believe that it's over now. It really does go by very fast.

The manual for my position is in outline form, and basically covers from the very beginning of the semester, all the way until manual updates and thank you notes. I think it will be thoroughly helpful to the next person to take on the job, and it felt good to know I was doing something that could help the next person to come along and coordinate volunteers.

The DVD edit had glitches, but was not too daunting of a task. I really can't wait to see the finished product and own a copy of it.

Last week I gave my final presentation. I felt really good about it, and I think that as the first person to take on this job, that I did a pretty good job.

Beer and bowling. Man, that was an awesome way to spend the last day with my classmates. It seemed really cool to just hang out and talk and have a jolly-good time. I think we all earned it, and once again Visions has left me with another memory that I'll keep for the rest of my life. What an amazing end to the journey I've had as a undergraduate.  

Reflection: Volunteer Coordinator

Going into Visions, well, I guess going into the Thursday dinner, I did not know what to expect. I wanted to think that with all the work and effort we put into this event, that it would be spectacular, but then I realized that all we could do was make sure it was technically sound, be on time, etc. But when I got in my car and headed to Blue Surf, I remembered...there are about 40 more people that this depends on...who we don't know. (Or at least, I didn't know) And I thought, what if they don't see all the work we put into it, what if they have expectations that won't be fulfilled. But then I met them all, and they were amazing people. They were so humble and kind, and grateful. After dinner we ended up at Might As Well for a couple drinks, and I didn't realize I was sitting at a table with most of the award winners. And they were so incredibly cool and laid back. And Friday, when I found out who I had been talking to, it clicked, and it was so worth it. Every second of work, every long night of programming was worth it. Our guests MADE this experience for me, and I realized they were all young filmmakers and scholars, just like us.

Going into the day on Friday, I was sure of myself in regard to how I could handle the volunteers and make sure they did what they needed to do. However, what I was unsure of was the volunteers themselves. That was the most stressful part of the day, was not knowing them well enough to know I could depend on them. But they came through, which made my job easier. Well, easy. I was finally able to sit back and watch all the effort we put into it come to fruition with an incredible rewarding sensation. I was blown away. I felt more accomplished than I ever have as an undergraduate, because I was a part of something soooo much bigger than myself.

If I could do anything different, it wouldn't have been the day of the event. I would have made sure the call for volunteers was on the website from the very beginning of the semester. It would have made the rest of the semester easier for me leading up to the day of the event. But the event went by so well, I can't think of anything really significant that could have been better. The only thing that would have helped would have been for our volunteers at the door to know what to do if the event started running a little late, which it did during the keynote. That's it. Everything else was so smooth and professional.

I would say this has been the best thing I've done since being in college, and that's out of 5 years. I'm glad that I made the choices I did to lead me into this experience, because it has been nothing less than inspirational. I truly think the networking opportunities have helped me make new, potentially life-long friends in this field, and that is invaluable. This was amazing, and I'd tell anyone who comes after us to take this class and put the effort into it that we did.

Visions Eve...

So tomorrow is Visions, and I still have a few vacant volunteer positions. I can't look at this as a failure, because I am still making a push for commitments. I honestly think that given my inexperience in this type of job, that I have done everything I knew to do to fill all of the needed volunteer positions. I have found out that this type of job always comes down to how reliable people are. In retrospect, I think it would be a good idea to start thinking of volunteers during the first semester and plan out a way for volunteers to sign up through the website. That probably could have been done this semester, but I think having a call for volunteers on the website all year long would be a great way to ensure that all the position will be filled far in advance. Despite my presence at all of our outreach events this semester, and despite having 16 people sign up to be volunteers, I still don't have all of the positions filled. I went out of my way to talk to people one on one at our events to make sure they knew how great this opportunity is. I have done all I can, and will continue all day to contact people to make sure all the jobs are filled. Tomorrow is the big day. I'm looking forward to it, I'm really, really looking forward to it. :)

Volunteer Update 3/24

Last week was very important. I was able to basically finalize the volunteer schedule after I attended the directors' meeting to take notes for Chris. We decided on how we were going to have the breakfast and the desert receptions set up, which allowed me to finalize the shifts and how many volunteers we would need outside of the class and ACE. This past weekend I made a google form for the volunteers to fill out. It was meant to allow the class members to sign up for a shift that met their preference. However, as of now, less than half of the class filled it out, so I will be assigning people to a role. Tonight I am sending out the volunteer shifts/job descriptions to the non-class, non-ACE volunteers and asking them for their top three shift choices and telling them the shifts are on a first-come first-serve basis. This will let me eliminate the shifts as I go and prevent people from arguing over when position they wind up with. I will give people their preferred choice based on how soon they get back to me. I will be presenting the final volunteer shifts for class members on Wednesday, and I will also email Danielle DeVeaux with the jobs we need filled by ACE volunteers.

Volunteer Update as of the Week of 3/19

The week of the 19th I met with the rest of operations and programming at Lumina to discuss everything with Sandra. I made notes during our talk about how I am going to utilize ACE volunteers. Specifically, I will use ACE staff to monitor lines, keep track of cell phone use during the blocks and run mics. I will also make sure an ACE staff member works with Ben to keep count at the door and prevent the door from slamming as people enter and exit during the blocks. I also completed to the best of my ability a volunteer schedule with the job description, time, number of shifts, department, and volunteer type (i.e. ACE, class or regular). This will be given to Chris so he will know exactly where everyone is supposed to be the day of the event, even when not performing their departmental duties.

Volunteer Update

This past week I was finally able to give my presentation to the class. It seems as though we are now at a consensus that I can determine shift lengths based on staff availability and the amount of required volunteers, so I will try to make sure the volunteer schedule is not too demanding of them, and allow them to utilize their time, while also giving everyone the chance to attend their desired film or conference block. Also, I had prepared a form letter to send out to potential volunteers. However, there were concerns in class that it was too long and could be more brief. After Jake looked it over and made it more concise, there were still comments about it being too long, so I will look it over again and try to actually put bullet points in the letter so that the paragraphs are broken up. I will send out the initial letter before we go home for break so that people will get an introduction to what volunteering means and how they can benefit. Once I get in touch with ace, I will then go about getting specific volunteers assigned to certain jobs. I am working on a group project with Danielle DeVeaux and so I have been in direct contact with her about the impending necessity for volunteers. If anyone would like to get started on drawing up specifics of what they will need their volunteers to do, that would be great. We still have time, but it'd be nice to get a little ahead. Thanks!

Volunteer Stuff

Well, it is just about time to launch our volunteer campaign. This week I'm presenting to the class. We will go over and discuss Shannon's concern's about shift times, also, by tomorrow I'll have my list of volunteers so far for Anna. This way she'll be able to go ahead and keep track of badges for volunteers. We are having our bake sale this week, so I'll be sure to have the sign-up sheet at that first thing in the morning. I think I'm going to wait until class Wednesday before contacting ACE. We still need to hash-out the amount of volunteers a little more before I begin asking them for their people. We had a few more names add to the list at the BYOFF.

The operations team has been doing a great job. I just wanted to say good job everyone. Despite the snow day, we are still getting it done.