Manage your trade show volunteers
A show runs on shifts: two or three hours per person, morning to evening, three days running. The real work is filling the grid without leaving a hole at 4pm on Sunday.
Shifts, not days
Nobody staffs a show's welcome desk for eight hours straight. The unit of work is the two or three hour slot, repeated from Friday to Sunday across five or six points: entrance, ticketing, cloakroom, refreshments, information, exhibitor support.
Each point is a position, each slot a shift, and the requirement is declared per time band: more people at opening and over lunch, fewer mid-afternoon. The fill table shows the holes before they happen. See assigning volunteers.
The badge that opens doors
At a show, volunteers move through areas the public never reaches, and they have to be identifiable to the venue and to exhibitors alike. Badges print in batches from the volunteer list, with name, photo, team and role, on your own template. You print them the night before, not one by one with a marker pen on the morning.
The documents everyone is supposed to have read
Floor plan, safety instructions, till procedure, a form to sign: mail merge produces each volunteer's document from a Word template, with their details already filled in, and puts it on their personal page. They find it there themselves, and you do not chase signatures.
Every team has its own lead
The event is split into teams: bar, welcome desk, security, set-up, shuttles. Each one goes to one or more leads, who create their own positions and assign their own volunteers without access to the rest of the organisation.
This page gives the filling rate of every team, and one click takes you down into the one that is stuck. You have nobody to ask to know where the event stands.
A position is a dated assignment
Inside a team, a position says what has to be done and between which hours: the Saturday bar, from 8am to 2am. A team splits into sub-teams where it needs to, by site or by day, each with its own leads.
The next edition is created from this one, with its teams, its positions, their hours and their requirements. You adjust what changed, the rest is already there.
Requirements are declared hour by hour
A position does not need the same headcount all day: two people from 8am to noon, four from noon to 3pm. The filling rate is read on those bands, and that is where a gap shows up while there is still time to fill it.
Opposite, every volunteer shows the availability they declared and the positions they already hold. An assignment that contradicts them is refused, every time, without you having to think about it.
Features
Volunteer registration
One public link, a QR code and a form that asks your own questions: applications arrive already sorted by preferred team and by availability.
Volunteer import and export
Bring your list in from a spreadsheet, as CSV or Excel, and take your volunteers, schedules and their answers back out whenever you want.
Volunteer tracking
Filter by status, team, availability or assigned position, choose your columns, and find each volunteer's full history.
Teams and positions
Split the event into teams and positions, hand each team to its lead, and say how many volunteers you need, hour by hour.
Volunteer scheduling
Assign people without ever creating a clash, follow staffing position by position, and send everyone their own schedule.
Shift booking
Let volunteers pick their own shifts, with substitutes and a waiting list, while you keep control of confirmation.
The volunteer's account
Every volunteer has their own page: their next shift, their hours, their documents, their perks, and their calendar up to date on their phone.
Emails to volunteers
Write in two clicks to a team, a position, unassigned volunteers or everyone, from reusable templates.
Documents and mail merge
Call-up letters, certificates, running sheets: one Word template, and one document per volunteer filled in with their details and schedule.
Badges and perks
Print badges with a photo and a QR code, and track the meals, drinks and t-shirts handed to each volunteer.
Volunteer groups
A partner organisation brings its own volunteers? Give it its own sign-up link and its own leads, without opening up the whole event.
A new edition every year
The new edition carries over teams, positions and hours shifted to the right dates, and last year's volunteers are invited back.
Volunteer data and GDPR
Hosted in France, a published processing agreement, and retention periods applied by code rather than merely announced.
Accessibility for volunteers
Measured screen by screen and published: 100% of the applicable RGAA 4.1 criteria, self-assessed, and a statement that also says what that does not cover.
Events of all sizes simplify their organisation with Volunteo
75 volunteers
300 volunteers
1600 volunteers
3000 volunteers
Frequently asked questions
Can I let volunteers pick their own shifts?
Yes. With shift booking switched on, each volunteer sees the remaining slots and takes the ones that suit them: with confirmation by a manager if you would rather keep control.
How do I handle volunteers who only come for half a day?
That is the normal case: a volunteer declares their availability when signing up, and the tool refuses to assign them to a shift they did not declare themselves available for.
Can the list of volunteers be exported per day?
Yes, every screen exports to Excel or CSV, filtered exactly as you see it.