Volunteer Opportunities Overview
Morro Bay Bird Festival volunteers are vitally important to the overall success of this very popular 5 day event. Examples of duties may include; registration, attendee check-in, sales, hospitality, speaker introduction, trip-starters, set up/take down, signage placement and much more. There may be opportunities to volunteer before the festival as well. The choice(s) will be yours.
In exchange, we offer you a unique opportunity to be part of the bird festival. As an incentive, 6+ hour volunteers will be offered
- free registration* on November 3, 2024, 8am PT (one day following opening registration day)
- post-festival "volunteers only" birding adventures
*Discounts refer to registration only.
On behalf of the Morro Bay Bird Festival Planning Committee and Board of Directors - Thank you!!
How to sign up for a shift
- Select one of the many job categories listed below.
- Following the job description click on the "sign up here" hyperlink to view the available shifts for that category.
- Click on the "sign me up" link and fill out the form with your name and email.
- A confirmation email will be sent to the email you used in the sign up form.
CHECK-IN TABLE INFORMATION AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Upon initial arrival at the festival Check-In Desk at the Morro Bay Community Center, all attendees, leaders, and volunteers will be given a packet, lanyard, and any preordered T-shirts or books. All packets will be alphabetized by last name.
1. Attendee Packets
- Hand the packet to the registrant and encourage them to check that it includes the their current schedule, their badge, any pre-ordered event tickets, local maps, and a bird list.
- When you hand out a T-shirt, please check the recipient’s name off the list to ensure the right size goes to each individual. No T-Shirt size exchanges!
- Advise participants to wear their badge to ALL events.
- Please encourage participants to complete the surveys after each event. This can be done on Bobolink. By their last day of their festival, participants should return lanyards to the Morro Bay Community Center, or to the leader of their last trip.
2. Leader and Volunteer Packets
- Hand volunteers or leaders their packets, lanyards, and T-shirts and encourage them to check that their badge is correct. If they have registered for events, ask them to also check for any pre-ordered event tickets, local maps, and a bird list.
- When you hand out a T-shirt, please check the recipient’s name off the list to ensure the right size goes to each individual. No T-Shirt size exchanges!
- Give the Leaders their “Leader” hat.
- If any of the above ask for a map, directions, a list of participants, etc., send them to the Information/Trip Starter table, next to you.
3. Send registration problems to the Registrar’s table. Someone there will handle new registrations, schedule additions, cancellations, money owed, or changes.
4. Do not attempt to answer questions if you aren’t sure of the answer. Refer them to someone on duty who can find the answer. You will be provided with a list of FAQs.
5. Each day’s schedule is printed and posted on an easel in the Morro Bay Community Center lobby between Registration and Information/Trip Starter desks.
Registration Support
Volunteers will interface with attendees who wish to make changes to their registration status. You will assist registrants in filling out Event Change forms, directing them to the Available Trips Monitor and answering questions. We will have a FAQ sheet for you to use. No special computer skills necessary.
Sales Table
Volunteers will staff the MBBF sales table at the MBCC Bazaar, at which current and past years’ Festival merchandise will be sold. Volunteer staff will handle all sales, and keep inventory of items sold, using a Point of Sale technology called Zettle.
Important Note:
Volunteers in this position should be comfortable handling money and using technology, as sales will be entered and processed on Zettle and will involve cash and credit card sales. One short training session will be required for all Sales Table volunteers the week before the Festival is held.
Reception Kitchen Staff/Servers
Volunteers will assist at the Friday and Saturday Receptions at the MBCC (2:00-7:00 pm) by prepping food, setting up food stations, serving and replacing food and wine (must be 21 years of age), and helping with clean up after the reception.
Hospitality Room
Volunteers will staff the hospitality table at the MBCC, ensuring coffee and snacks are available for attendees, and making additional coffee as needed. The critical job here is to precisely organize and hand out pre-ordered lunches only to those attendees, trip leaders, and van drivers whose names are on the pre-ordered lunch list.
Presentations
Volunteers will check-in attendees as they arrive at the event and have the option to introduce the presenter, or ask the presenter to introduce themselves. You can access your list of participants either through Bobolink (preferred) or by picking up a printed list from the Trip Starter Desk at the MBCC Lobby at least 30 minutes before your arrival at the presentation. Plan to arrive at the presentation site 15 minutes before the presentation begins. You should plan to stay for thE first 10-15 minutes of the presentation in order to check-in late arrivals. You are welcome to stay for the entire presentation if there is space available at any of the free events.
Note: A smart phone is very helpful for this position as you will be able to pull up the list of participants on Bobolink, check in participants, and not need to return the list to the MBCC. However, if you use a paper list to check in participants, the check-in list must be returned to the Registrar Desk following the check-in. This is the only record of how many people actually attend each event.
Sub Sea Tours
You can access your list of participants either through Bobolink (preferred) or by picking up a printed list from the Trip Starter Desk at the MBCC lobby at least 30 minutes before your arrival at the dock . Plan to arrive at the dock 30 minutes before the trip begins. You should plan to stay for the first 10-15 minutes after the scheduled departure in order to assist late arrivals. If you used a paper list, please return it to the Registrar at the MBCC. Parking on weekends on the Embarcadero can be unpredictable. Please give yourself plenty of time to find parking. (30 minutes before the cruise begins is recommended).
Morro Bay Landing
You can access your list of participants either through Bobolink (preferred) or by picking up a printed list from the Trip Starter Desk at the MBCC lobby at least 30 minutes before your arrival at the dock . Plan to arrive at the dock 30 minutes before the trip begins. You should plan to stay for the first 10-15 minutes after the scheduled departure in order to help late arrivals. If you used a paper list, please return it to the Registrar at the MBCC. Parking on weekends on the Embarcadero can be unpredictable. Please give yourself plenty of time to find parking. (30 minutes before the cruise begins is recommended).