Orientation IS the most important step

You have spent time and effort to get the volunteer in the door, now keep them there! This blog post at VolunteerHub does a nice job singing the praises of the orientation, not just putting the volunteer to work.  While they seem to be aiming at the non-disaster volunteer, it rings true for disaster-volunteers too; we need to do a solid orientation.  

The orientation for my MRC takes about 1.5 hours, done monthly.  I cover many things; paperwork, history of the MRC, what our unit does (we do several Public Health related missions per month) the laws and how they apply to them in a disaster.  But one of the things I do that I think sticks is put up a slide that says:

In 5 minutes or less, tell us-

• Your name
• Whether you are a medical or support volunteer
•  Why you are here
• Where you live (my county covers 2,000 square miles and has 37 cities, in 3 zones)

This short talk by the volunteer in front of the other newbie’s (usually 10-12) takes care of introductions, lets them connect with others in their zone, as well as seeing they are like other people (why you are here question).

So don't take a short cut and skip the orientation, make it worth their time to show up at 530 on a work night or a Saturday morning, and give them the opportunity to feel like part of something bigger.

disaster_dave

PS: If you are going to be in the Seattle area, I invite you to attend one of my orientations (you will be a guest- no paperwork :))