An Event Partner's job on event day is to manage the event, not to run every part of it. If your event is the ship, the Event Partner is its captain — steering the ship to stay on course, but not the one personally pulling the ropes. This article offers guidance for working with your certified volunteers and Program Support Team, and an overview of your role in event happenings. This article is written for Event Partners.
Definitions of the terms used here are maintained in the central glossary.
For what each volunteer role does, see Volunteer Roles at a Local Event. For getting volunteers ready before the day, see Communicating with Volunteers for Your Event.
Your Point People
As the Event Partner, you are at the helm, but you are not alone in your efforts to make an event run smoothly. Delegation is a key component of running a successful event, and you are equipped with certified volunteers to delegate to and get help from:
- Head Referee: This is the point person for everything related to actual game play, from inspection to match rulings. Your Head Referee supports other volunteers like Scorekeeper Referees, field resetters, queuers, and inspectors to ensure that match play runs smoothly.
- Tournament Manager Operator: This is the point person for match scheduling and technology. Your Tournament Manager Operator supports the Head Referee and volunteers like queuers to ensure the match schedule aligns with what is happening on the fields.
- Judge Advisor: This is the point person for everything related to judging at the event. Your Judge Advisor supports judges to ensure that interviews, engineering notebook reviews, and award deliberations happen in a consistent, fair, and timely way.
- Program Support Team: This is the point person for YOUR questions or concerns during the event. Keep their contact information handy and reach out to them readily if there is a situation you need additional support with.
These certified volunteers help make sure that you shouldn't have to be in two places at once, so you are free to oversee the running of the event and handle the venue or event related items that only you can. Things like venue obligations, any payments due on the day, and your responsibilities to the venue at close remain yours.
Make sure the rest of your volunteers know who their point people are, so they have someone to go to with questions besides just you.
Your Role in Event Activities
As the event gets rolling, you will be checking in with your point people around the venue throughout the day to ensure they have what they need and to keep them updated on any necessary scheduling adjustments.
You are the point person for certain activities, like:
- Organizing Check-In: Make sure the materials needed for check-in are present, and that there is a volunteer working that station. This is a short-term activity, so once all teams have arrived, you can relocate the Check-In person to another area, like Inspection or Robot Skills.
- Awards Ceremony: The Judge Advisor brings you the list of Judged Awards, and the Head Referee and Tournament Manager Operator know the Performance Award winners. You are in charge of making sure the awards are presented correctly and may be leading the Awards Ceremony with the Emcee.
- Teardown: After the Awards Ceremony, you are responsible for organizing volunteers and teams to help with cleanup and returning the venue to its original state. Many hands make light work, so be sure to ask openly for help and accept it readily.
The overview below gives you an idea of how you can best support event activities that have their own point person:
| Event Activity | Point Person | Your Role |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | Head Referee | Make sure the Sizing Tools and Inspection Checklists are readily available and replace as needed. |
| Driver's Meeting | Head Referee | Handle event-specific announcements and introductions, then hand the meeting over to the Head Referee for rules and match play. |
Qualification Matches/Finals Matches |
Head Referee and Tournament Manager Operator | Check in periodically to see how things are going, stand in for breaks as needed, and be aware of any schedule adjustments. |
Robot Skills Matches |
Head Referee or a Certified Scorekeeper Referee | Check in when Skills Fields open and periodically to see how things are going, and stand in for breaks as needed. |
Practice Fields |
Head Referee | Check in to remind volunteers to keep teams moving. |
| Judging | Judge Advisor | Check in to confirm scheduling throughout the day, and to get award decisions after deliberations. |
Other Responsibilities
As the Event Partner, you are the person who makes sure all participants at your event, and the venue itself, are taken care of. While you can rely on your point people for many things, be prepared to "put out fires" and support volunteers in all areas during the day. This can include things like:
- Building Issues: Knowing who to contact for an emergency clean-up, a restroom out of order, or a Wi-Fi issue and being ready to do so will help you deal with these problems quickly and efficiently.
- Lunch and Breaks: Make sure that all of your volunteers (and yourself) get an opportunity to step away from their post to eat, and can take bathroom breaks as needed during the day. If you have a designated lunch break, everyone might be able to break at once, but if not, you may need to cycle people in and out for rolling lunch breaks.
- Emcee Updates: Communicate event-wide announcements to the Emcee so they can share them with the audience. Your point people will keep the Emcee up to date on match-related announcements, but you can ask them to make reminders about Skills Fields, Inspection, or concessions as needed.