I arrived at the Center and upon entering went to sign in and encountered the first glitch in the system. I was on the roster to attend the training but there was not a name tag printed for me. I was given a blank one to write my name and job area (Information Services). I also received my training material and an insurance form to sign for working the event. The next stop was the refreshment area, lots of snacks and bottled water was available. I proceeded to the area in the Center where the training would be held and discovered about 200-300 other volunteers. I met a nice lady named Brenda who has volunteered at previous curling events. We talked about the Olympics, volunteering and curling before the training started. As we started to eat some of our snacks we noticed some of the packets were labeled Sydney 2000 and concluded nothing is wasted by the Olympic Committee, just reused/used where needed.
Training started and involved a few short videos, introduction of the Chairperson for this event and the event team leaders, a desscription of the various job areas, the code of conduct for volunteers, what to do in an emergency, how the radios that will be used for communication work, badging and what the colors/numbers on badges mean (access to different areas in the event venue building). At the event we will be provided drinks and a meal free of charge. We also saw our uniforms, which will be ready for pick up next week. The uniforms consists of a long sleeve white turtle neck blouse and a reversible vest, black on one side, blue on the other. Both items are embroidered with the Event logo. We get to keep these items and were asked to wear black, tan or khaki pants with it, along with comfortable shoes. We also received a mouse pad donated by AOL in the shape of a curling stone promoting this event and the Olympics.
In between each presentation there was a drawing for a door prize. Brenda won the first prize and then on the 3rd draw I WON!! Brenda and I received a 2002 Salt Lake Olympic pen, $5 worth of McDonald's coupons (left over fromthe Sydney Olympics), a 30 minute AT&T phone card, and a ticket to the Junior Curling Event Opening Cermonies ($5 value).
After a break we broke up into our respective job areas for job specific training. My job at this event is a Results Operator Statistician. And that's where I encountered glitch #2. I was not listed as a volunteer, no job, no time. But I was not alone, as 5 other people were not listed and we were all assigned the same job. So they concluded somehow we had slipped through the crack. And that is the reason for having us work events like this before the Olympics, to work out the bugs and see what they can do to make it better, along with our getting training and becoming comfortable in our roles as a volunteer.
