MACNA volunteer question

[SandJ]

The thread about the MACNA raffles has me thinking....

Would you work at MACNA if there were no perks involved?

What are fair perks (if the current ones are not)?

Would you personally give up seeing MACNA and volunteer the entire event?

How many volunteer hours do you think it takes to put on a MACNA?

This was the volunteer info for Las Vegas MACNA...

 

[siggy]

Not all day, If I was to receive reef goodies and raffle tickets I would inquire

 

[davejep]

I started the other thread because I felt cheated.
Feel like the kid at the carnival that dishes out his hard earned cash for that almost unobtainable “prize”.
Here kid give me your money and this can be yours.... or maybe not.

With the huge amount of money brought in for Macna.
Why not purchase an apex and a few other goodies that are to be drawn for volunteers. More time you put in better your chances, but key thing is keep it seperate from people that had to buy tickets.
Sure it’s on the website somewhere.... , but who would even think to go digging for that info?

 

[Opus]

Was the giving of raffle tickets new this year since it wasn't put on by the local club? I had never heard of that. I know when MACNA was here the volunteers made it sound like they didn't get anything extra other than free admission and a special t-shirt.

 

[trio91]

I've worked similar events in the past and its pretty exhausting being there all day, multiple days, running around assisting and what not. You dont even want to see fish n corals and after the 1st day....let alone see that as a perk for the duration of the event

If there weren't some type of compensation ($$$), we as a local club wouldn't do it. It would just be a really hard sell to some of our members.

 

[SandJ]

I started the other thread because I felt cheated.
Feel like the kid at the carnival that dishes out his hard earned cash for that almost unobtainable “prize”.
Here kid give me your money and this can be yours.... or maybe not.

With the huge amount of money brought in for Macna.
Why not purchase an apex and a few other goodies that are to be drawn for volunteers. More time you put in better your chances, but key thing is keep it seperate from people that had to buy tickets.
Sure it’s on the website somewhere.... , but who would even think to go digging for that info?

@davejep , I hear your frustration and understand why you feel the way you do.

I am just curious as to what people feel is fair for the volunteers, if tickets are not.

M y local club (that I was new to at the time) hosted a MACNA. I know there were MANY hours of work that went into it. And a lot of time there are a small number of people pulling a lot of that weight. These volunteers miss out on the show, reception and banquet. They do not get to talk to vendors or see the awesome speakers.

And as others have said, it is difficult to get raffle prizes. A volunteer only raffle would probably take away from the MACNA raffle.

 

[trio91]

Use a local club if possible and maybe offer them a booth in exchange. Nothing premium, but something to show your appreciation. This can allow them to market their local club and maybe recruit new members. Also a financial compensation (you decide that amount) would be well received as most clubs could use it for their ongoing operational expenses.

I wouldn't give out raffle tickets but I would allow them to purchase tickets at full price....this way the playing field is equal. If they win, they win, if they don't either way you make out with the extra $$$ in the raffles.

 

[davejep]

Let me tell you my $20 - 20 tickets against someone’s 1000 plus “free” tickets really took away from my experience.
I’m not against something for their hard time but what happened in the background for most of us attendees makes a lot of us feel cheated.
Again, if I knew my few tickets were going against their thousands and yes literally thousands of their tickets, I would have just taken my chances at the tables in Vegas as the odds would have been better.

 

[davejep]

Let me post the pic again of just one persons free tickets.

I can count 80 tickets there for 1600 raffle tickets for a single person.
How many stacks like this were there?
I saw another guy with at least 5 stacks on the chair beside him, so 50 numbers for another 1000 tickets.
Would Macna organizers be willing to disclose how many free raffle tickets were give out?
I doubt it.

 

[trio91]

I wouldn't worry about the volunteers missing out on the show @SandJ , I would let the local club deal with that, not Macna as they would be hired to work.

You have the show as whole to worry about.

 

[MTBake]

If a club, organization, federation of the republic, or whatever you want to call yourselves feels like they need to give out free raffle tickets to get volunteers in is pretty pathetic, IMO.

Volunteers are just that. They volunteer their time with no expectation of compensation.

I would expect absolutely nothing in return for time. Would I give my time is a whole nother can of worms

Here's a screen shot for everyone's enjoyment

 

[MTBake]

If MACNA feels like going this route, they should change the wording in their application. If these people are receiving any type of compensation, they are absolutely not 'volunteers'. It defies every definition of the word.

 

[Larry L]

I was on the MACNA 2018 staff and am not an official spokesperson (just a hobbyist in Denver who has worked the past 5 shows in a row so far).

Would you volunteer at MACNA without receiving any compensation (and miss seeing most of the show)?

The wording of that poll question is kinda misleading. We had dozens of volunteers from the LVMAS club, and they were awesome. A lot of them put in a lot of time, but I think you would be hard pressed to find any that would say they "missed most of the show". Everybody had scheduled shifts that worked with their personal schedules, and (as far as everything I saw) plenty of time to walk the show floor, attend talks, etc.


Larry