Volunteers and the festival day
One row per volunteer, staffing counted only from real assignments, paper sheets at the gate and an entrance count that survives a dead phone signal.
- Outcome
- A printed roster, signed shift sheets and an attendance figure with its method written down.
- Source
- Adapted from the UAFest Lanark County volunteer roster notes and the 2026 festival-day print pack.
Opens Festival OS, where the playbook becomes tasks for your edition.
Ask a mentor about this playbookBefore6
- T-60
Ask for availability by day: setup, festival day, teardown
Three explicit options on the form. A profile the volunteer saves later takes precedence over the original answer.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · What the roster shows · Data precedence
- T-30
Keep one row per person, matched by email
When someone applied twice, the newest application is the main record and assignments from all of them are collected together.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · What the roster shows
- T-21
Count coverage only from assignments
A zone a volunteer picked is interest. It becomes staffing when the assignment exists.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · Data precedence
- T-14
Collect an age band and leave blanks blank
A missing age stays missing. Never read 18+ into an empty field.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · Data precedence
- T-2
Print the filtered roster in landscape
First name, last name, availability, zone, age, phone and email. Internal CRM columns stay off the paper.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · Filtering, sorting and printing
- T-1
Print the volunteer sign-in / sign-out sheet and a walk-in form
Paper at the volunteer desk records who actually worked and for how long, including people who arrive on the day.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · sign-in + walk-in
Festival day4
- DAY
Counters ready 15 minutes before opening: one person, one entrance, one phone
Count everyone who enters, children too. Phone charged, power bank in the pocket, paper sheet and pen beside it.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · §1
- DAY
Every hour: sync, write the running total on paper
Paper is the mandatory backup. Ask every tenth guest whether they came from town, the nearest city or further away. Hand over a shift only after pending taps reach zero.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · §4
- DAY
Mid-afternoon: estimate how many people are on the field at once
Split the field into similar areas, count one typical area of about 10 × 10 steps, multiply, count dense and empty areas separately, take 2–3 photos from a high point. Keep this figure apart from the entrance count.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · §5
- DAY
At closing: final sync, two screenshots, a photo of the paper sheet
Send all three to the coordinator and keep the phone data until the next working day.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · §7
After1
- T+1
Record entrance count and field estimate as separate observations
Each observation keeps its method. Publish only the counted number.
Source: uafest.ca/volunteerLanark working notes · coordinator note