Volunteering 2021

[gooner1990]

11 minutes ago, stuie said:

I know this doesn’t tie up with your experience but I think most of the organisations expect some ‘runners’ so build this into their models to a certain extent! 

Yeh that's true, Shelter had to pull people over from the Park bar to help us as our 'shift' was so low down on people.

Did sour the experience somewhat as its a busy bar as it is let along with 1/3 of the servers not there.

Ho hum.

[Sku]

Had a great time with Festaff in 2019. There were not really many runners, did hear that one pair got caught trying to run and were ejected though. But there is not really any need to run because the shifts are so cushy. Wristbanding people is a great job, as you get to have a meaningful interaction with so many people. It's great fun if you are a "people person".

And I loved getting to turn up on Monday, as I still got my two "arrival" nights wandering around the site and getting on it with the rest of the crew before the first shift had even begun.

Everyone does a shift on Wednesday, and everyone does a shift on Thursday. Come the main weekend, everyone's only got one left to go. And the thing is, barely anyone actually still needs a wristband by Friday/Saturday/Sunday so there is not really any work left to do.

Someone mentioned Festaff were only doing 3 shifts to "align with the rest of volunteer groups and keep it fair", but there is not a lot of need to do 3 shifts. Actually they just need maximum availability on Wednesday/Thursday, all hands on deck getting wristbands on arms. Then the work is pretty much done, you could just in theory have one person manning each gate with a bag of leftover wristbands for the stragglers the rest of the weekend.

My 3rd shift was Saturday 8am-4pm on Ped Gate A. There were 12 of us on shift, but by 10am only 3 punters had actually turned up needing a wristband. We fought over it, who would get to band them. Otherwise we sat around on the grass behind the counter chatting and playing cards. 10am we were asked if anyone wanted to volunteer for a "special job" instead. Most wanted to stay where they were and continue sitting around doing nothing. But I was pretty bored so put my hand up. I handed over my float of wristbands to be checked/counted, and was then led off into the festival. Glad I did because the "special job" was accompanying a supervisor in going to see Vampire Weekend on the Park, followed by Carrie Underwood on the Pyramid. It was pretty hot, so we were all bought an ice cream too. Then I was dismissed from the shift early for a job well done.

This year I have a ticket, or I certainly would have gone with them again. Not being able to arrive on the Monday is a bummer though, those first two days were great. I do wonder if it's worth volunteering just for those magic pre-festival days alone.

I can only think people talk down Festaff volunteering because they don't want the secret getting out 😉

[Watergirl]

On 3/24/2022 at 11:15 AM, Chazeboy said:

we did ours last night (the ELIT) and our online is in May, but yeah excitement levels couldn't be higher

Is the ELIT training part of Oxfam?  Like @Tr234, I am a first time Oxfam volunteer and keen not to miss out on anything that is required.  Thanks for clarifying!

[Leyrulion]

22 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

I did Shelter bar work in 2019....was fine, but I struggled to make friends and lots of people ran off from our shift so had to work doubly has hard.

Would do it again if I had to.

Does shelter have some sort of performance monitoring whilst you're on shift where you don't get your money back if you're truly terrible at the job? Or was it personal pride that made you want to work harder?

[stuie]

19 hours ago, Sku said:

I can only think people talk down Festaff volunteering because they don't want the secret getting out 😉

I don't like the business model and I'm still suprised GFL use them.  

Volunteering for Oxfam or Shelter means the charities benefit from me and my time.   

Volunteering for Festaff means you make one bloke richer. 

[Leyrulion]

9 minutes ago, Watergirl said:

Is the ELIT training part of Oxfam?  Like @Tr234, I am a first time Oxfam volunteer and keen not to miss out on anything that is required.  Thanks for clarifying!

I don't think so, Oxfam is just an online training seminar. I don't remember it being called ELIT. 

 

[Sku]

3 minutes ago, stuie said:

I don't like the business model and I'm still suprised GFL use them.  

Volunteering for Oxfam or Shelter means the charities benefit from me and my time.   

Volunteering for Festaff means you make one bloke richer. 

I do understand and appreciate that distinction. But at the end of the day, I was ticketless and wanting to go to Glastonbury. I'd already failed to get into Oxfam, but made it into Festaff instead.

It's not really my choice who Glastonbury contracts to do various jobs. But the volunteer positions are going, and people are going to fill them.

In the run up to 2019 I heard similar comments about the business model, which made me feel a bit bad for doing it. It actually prompted me to broach the question of why Festaff keep being given this wristbanding role over the charity organisations.

It was explained... While their is a large army of Festaff volunteers, there is also a smaller subset of paid staff, who have a very important responsibility that none of the charity organisations have. And that is being given custody of millions of pounds worth of wristbands, and being responsible for securing and accounting for all of them. Festaff do this same job for many dozens of festivals, and are trusted and respected for the way they carry out the actual security and accounting of the wristband inventory. While the wristbanders themselves are volunteers, there is actually a "security" aspect to it too, which is not trusted to volunteers.

So in the same way you don't see "security" roles being doled out to volunteer organisations, is the same reason that wristbanding isn't either.

Sure you could therefore argue Festaff are exploiting me by not paying me. But I was just happy for the ticket and the great time. Someone is going to fill the roles, and I felt paid enough by being gifted a ticket.

[stuie]

15 minutes ago, Sku said:

I do understand and appreciate that distinction. But at the end of the day, I was ticketless and wanting to go to Glastonbury. I'd already failed to get into Oxfam, but made it into Festaff instead.

It's not really my choice who Glastonbury contracts to do various jobs. But the volunteer positions are going, and people are going to fill them.

In the run up to 2019 I heard similar comments about the business model, which made me feel a bit bad for doing it. It actually prompted me to broach the question of why Festaff keep being given this wristbanding role over the charity organisations.

It was explained... While their is a large army of Festaff volunteers, there is also a smaller subset of paid staff, who have a very important responsibility that none of the charity organisations have. And that is being given custody of millions of pounds worth of wristbands, and being responsible for securing and accounting for all of them. Festaff do this same job for many dozens of festivals, and are trusted and respected for the way they carry out the actual security and accounting of the wristband inventory. While the wristbanders themselves are volunteers, there is actually a "security" aspect to it too, which is not trusted to volunteers.

So in the same way you don't see "security" roles being doled out to volunteer organisations, is the same reason that wristbanding isn't either.

Sure you could therefore argue Festaff are exploiting me by not paying me. But I was just happy for the ticket and the great time. Someone is going to fill the roles, and I felt paid enough by being gifted a ticket.

Sorry @SkuI didn't mean anything negative towards you or people who volunteer with Festaff - you gotta do what you gotta do!  It's just a peculiar arrangement in my opinion.  Sure, you are paid with your ticket and that's probably about as much as most people care but I just don't like the idea that a company owned by one geezer is benefitting from volunteers. 

[Chazeboy]

54 minutes ago, Watergirl said:

Is the ELIT training part of Oxfam?  Like @Tr234, I am a first time Oxfam volunteer and keen not to miss out on anything that is required.  Thanks for clarifying!

honestly not sure, when we got our email confirming we go onto the volunteer Glasto website, and it has on our personal page training to do, we arent with oxfam though, The ELIT is an overview of the festival and all types of stewarding though so maybe

Edited March 25, 2022 by Chazeboy

[March Hare]

Next week will be a good time to check the Oxfam site if you missed out previously or were unsuccessful in the resale

[Crazyfool01]

5 minutes ago, March Hare said:

Next week will be a good time to check the Oxfam site if you missed out previously or were unsuccessful in the resale

Yep some cropped up today very briefly 

[March Hare]

1 minute ago, crazyfool1 said:

Yep some cropped up today very briefly 

After the resale is always your best chance. All the way through to June too. There is always a chance. You have to believe, just like you did

[March Hare]

It’s probably time for the distill chrome extension to keep checking for places 

[Flysheet]

On 3/25/2022 at 12:07 PM, Sku said:

I do understand and appreciate that distinction. But at the end of the day, I was ticketless and wanting to go to Glastonbury. I'd already failed to get into Oxfam, but made it into Festaff instead.

It's not really my choice who Glastonbury contracts to do various jobs. But the volunteer positions are going, and people are going to fill them.

In the run up to 2019 I heard similar comments about the business model, which made me feel a bit bad for doing it. It actually prompted me to broach the question of why Festaff keep being given this wristbanding role over the charity organisations.

It was explained... While their is a large army of Festaff volunteers, there is also a smaller subset of paid staff, who have a very important responsibility that none of the charity organisations have. And that is being given custody of millions of pounds worth of wristbands, and being responsible for securing and accounting for all of them. Festaff do this same job for many dozens of festivals, and are trusted and respected for the way they carry out the actual security and accounting of the wristband inventory. While the wristbanders themselves are volunteers, there is actually a "security" aspect to it too, which is not trusted to volunteers.

So in the same way you don't see "security" roles being doled out to volunteer organisations, is the same reason that wristbanding isn't either.

Sure you could therefore argue Festaff are exploiting me by not paying me. But I was just happy for the ticket and the great time. Someone is going to fill the roles, and I felt paid enough by being gifted a ticket.

I did some work with Festaff last year and actually had a choice for this year’s Glasto of Oxfam or staying with the Festaff crew.

The festivals we worked last summer were in that wristbanding role, you’ve possibly got 10 grands worth of cloth on you to look after if you’re on the gate. It’s a bloody key role at any festival and I felt privileged to be doing that tbh. We also did a paid role for the BBC at the Festival of Remembrance at the RAH in November, again, a huge privilege.
 

I’ve got to know the owner pretty well, and a lot of the supervisors over the last year. The whole team is a tight knit bunch, supportive of each other, and help ensure that the paying punters have a good time, whilst being safe (we also do campsite patrols at some). 

As a footnote, the owner is far from rich. He sends a lump of cash to charity every year as well and is effectively a one man band, taking a salary. He’s suffered massively for the last two years as his income, like many in the sector, dried up. He actually worked for the NHS last year to pay the bills! Don’t fool yourselves if you think the big charities are altruists btw, they’re huge global corporations these days, with high salaries, execs, property and other assets.

Festaff wouldn’t supply volunteers for all the gigs it does if it’s work wasn’t valued, simple as. 

 

 

[gooner1990]

On 3/25/2022 at 11:51 AM, Leyrulion said:

Does shelter have some sort of performance monitoring whilst you're on shift where you don't get your money back if you're truly terrible at the job? Or was it personal pride that made you want to work harder?

No I meant, we were short staffed as loads of people didn’t turn up.

As long as you completed all three shifts you got your £300 back. 😊

[Leyrulion]

1 hour ago, gooner1990 said:

No I meant, we were short staffed as loads of people didn’t turn up.

As long as you completed all three shifts you got your £300 back. 😊

So you could have just worked the same pace as if the bar was fully staffed and just accepted it'd be a long wait for punters to get served, without getting told off or removed etc. 

Obviously that would have been a bit of a dick move so fair play to you for still trying to get everyone served as fast as possible!

[gooner1990]

12 hours ago, Leyrulion said:

So you could have just worked the same pace as if the bar was fully staffed and just accepted it'd be a long wait for punters to get served, without getting told off or removed etc. 

Obviously that would have been a bit of a dick move so fair play to you for still trying to get everyone served as fast as possible!

Correct, but I didn't want that as I like to serve people quickly. 

Everyone else did the same as me, and we eventually got some help from some people who were working on the Park bar.

[fred quimby]

Just had a Call to say we are working again this year. 😁

[abiwish]

anyone have any tips on how to catch an Oxfam place at this point? had no luck on resales or initial Oxfam sign up so now hoping to catch an Oxfam place that reappears. Have set up the Chrome distill web page monitor but unsure if it would be able to alert me to that. Is it just a case of checking regularly and getting lucky?

[incident]

2 minutes ago, abiwish said:

anyone have any tips on how to catch an Oxfam place at this point? had no luck on resales or initial Oxfam sign up so now hoping to catch an Oxfam place that reappears. Have set up the Chrome distill web page monitor but unsure if it would be able to alert me to that. Is it just a case of checking regularly and getting lucky?

It very much is a case of being on the site at the right moment, yes.

I know people used the page monitor with success last time out, I remember it needed setting in a specific way - there'll be instructions in one of the old threads.

Oxfam basically release places immediately as cancellations are processed - so depending on when they do their admin, it seems likely that at least a few dozen places become available this week so definitely worth being on alert and if possible monitoring the page.

Edited March 28, 2022 by incident

[rockandnoll]

2 minutes ago, abiwish said:

anyone have any tips on how to catch an Oxfam place at this point? had no luck on resales or initial Oxfam sign up so now hoping to catch an Oxfam place that reappears. Have set up the Chrome distill web page monitor but unsure if it would be able to alert me to that. Is it just a case of checking regularly and getting lucky?

I have the same checker going on for a friend of mine, but not sure it will work at the moment due to the fact the other Glasto openings are there (campaign and shop).

[abiwish]

2 minutes ago, incident said:

It very much is a case of being on the site at the right moment, yes.

I know people used the page monitor with success last time out, I remember it needed setting in a specific way - there'll be instructions in one of the old threads.

Oxfam basically release places immediately as cancellations are processed - so depending on when they do their admin, it seems likely that at least a few dozen places become available this week so definitely worth being on alert and if possible monitoring the page.

Ahh thanks so much - I'll have a dig around and see if I can find how people did it.

[abiwish]

2 minutes ago, rockandnoll said:

I have the same checker going on for a friend of mine, but not sure it will work at the moment due to the fact the other Glasto openings are there (campaign and shop).

Yep I had the same thought... will let you know if I find how others have done it in the past.

[abiwish]

7 minutes ago, rockandnoll said:

I have the same checker going on for a friend of mine, but not sure it will work at the moment due to the fact the other Glasto openings are there (campaign and shop).

Dug around and found some talking a couple years ago about using distill and it seeming to work well. Apparently worth relogging in a few times a day to make sure it bypasses the captcha/login

[March Hare]

The distill extension on chrome.

make sure you are logged in and it refreshes every 30 seconds.

It will ping if the site changes.

You’ll get pings if other festival places come up too but it’s a good way to do it imo 

3 minutes ago, abiwish said:

Ahh thanks so much - I'll have a dig around and see if I can find how people did it.