How do you get 200+ volunteers for Maker Faire? LOTS of recruiting!
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Returning Volunteers

Many volunteers will return if they have a great volunteer experience.

  • Ensure that your volunteers are subscribed to your newsletter. Automatically add them to the newsletter list when they sign up for a given year AND do a batch enrollment at the end of the year (or start of the following year).
  • Once volunteer sign-up is open, personally invite the best of the best immediately. Directly ASKING them to volunteer is a great tactic.
  • Email all prior volunteers (with the exception of any problematic volunteers) to invite them to participate. Using direct emails (versus MailChimp, etc.) is the best way to get this engagement. Follow up with them.

Finding New Volunteers

Finding new volunteers can be an art. We’ve tried many, many tactics, and below are some of the best.

  • Reach out to clubs and organizations. Examples include Scouting groups, makerspaces, ROTC groups, IEEE, ASTM, etc.
  • Consistenly promote volunteering as a way to get a free ticket / t-shirt in newsletters, social media, etc.
  • [Need to get more tips / ideas for this list]