Last week's Guest Speaker: Mat Rogers - Volunteering at the Games
Posted by Franz Huber on Aug 13, 2016
Some guest speakers are definitely worth having double the members attending. So we did double our numbers... Hope Island Rotary Club joined us, introducing their youngest Rotary Disciple Riley (Clinton & Amy Ford 's 6 months old daughter). And if ever somebody tells me that Rugby players have trouble stringing a sensible sentence together, I'll send them Mat Roger's way! What a refreshingly smooth, eloquent and humorous presentation!Mat, a former star Wallaby and Gold Coast Titans player, is manager of Volunteer Engagement for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. "Rio has 65,000 volunteers", Mat exclaimed, "but Rio has a population of 6.3 Million. The Gold Coast, with a population of just 600,000, needs 15,000 volunteers". This is the first time that such a major event has been held at a regional town. And whilst they will receive applications literally from all over the world, preference will be given to locals, for a number of reasons, not least being that it is expected that availability of accommodation will be scarce.
But why would you want to volunteer? "There is no doubt that the volunteers are a crucial part of such an event", Mat said. "They made a lasting impact on the Sydney Olympic Games, as has been attested time and again. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You are the "face of the games", you will meet lots of interesting people, you'll be part of the biggest event in Australia in 10 years, you'll become an Ambassador for the Games."
So what are the pre-conditions? Not much other than what makes perfect sense: Be available from 4 - 15th April 2018 for a minimum of 10 days, 8 hours per day, as well as for 3 - 4 days of training. You'll need to pass a background and Police Check, be friendly and cheerful, flexible, have a 'can do' attitude, dedicated, resilient, motivated (anyone got a thesaurus? ☺) There is a well laid-out website specifically dealing with the volunteering of the games, where you can register your interest as well as research an exhaustive list of Frequently Asked Questions: https://gc2018.com/take-part/volunteering
What is the timeline? Applications open in February 2017 - they expect about 40,000. Interviews will be conducted in the Q2 of 2017 with about 25,000 expected, in Q3 the offers will go out, in Q4 there will be 'role specific' training and in Q1 of 2018 will be 'venue specific' training. You can email Mat, either at mat.rogers@goldoc.com or volunteer@goldoc.com.