Volunteer Appreciation BBQ 2009

Date: Saturday, July 25th, 2009 Time: 4 to 8 PM Free Geek open 11 AM - 3 PM BBQ starts at 4 PM - 8 PM

Your Planning Team

Michael
Evan
MK
Liane

Roles

Event Leaders: MK, Liane, Michael, Evan
Liane & Michael - Grocery shopping
Laurel 1.0 - face painting
Blaine - Chess Challenge
Sean Morgan - stage crew electrical - NO LIFTING!
Luiz & Tony - Secret Service (building security)
MK & Luiz - MC's
Ali/Renee/Richard - Raffle & Brownie Contest
Michael - keg acquisition
Dirk - prepped A/V prizes
Liane & Michael - day of ice run
Sergio - tent set-up
Block parking lot - Liane
Liane & volunteer crew - sofas/tables/chairs set-up outside
MK - script, Schedule of Events
MK - logistics: bands/toilets/activities/staff sign-up sheet
MK - acquire raffle & brownie contest supplies & awards
Meera - make brownie crown & sashes
Kathie/Leslie/Wizzard/Leo - Food prep
Ezra - on call tour guide (not utilized)
Evan/Tim/Santiago/Steven/Michael/Luiz/others - bartenders
Darryl/Tim/Luiz/others - BBQers
Caitlin/Evan/Tim/others - Line servers
Laurel 2.0/George - Closers
MK - Thank you cards
Liane/MK - band rewards
Sophia/Ezra/Santiago/Leo & others - general helpfulness throughout event

Stage Schedule

2:30 PM - 3:00 PM Bad Apple sets up
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM Bad Apple plays
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM MC Announcements

Thank ALL Volunteers - MC 5 min.
Select Brownie Judges & lead tasting - Ali 5 min.
Announce T-shirt winner - Luiz 5 min.
Draw Raffle winners & Award Prizes - 15 min.
Announce Brownie Winners & Award Prizes - 5 min.
T-shirt toss (too many people for manageable Trivia contest)

5:30 PM - 6:00 PM Bad Apple Tears down, Pagan Jug Band Sets up
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Pagan Jug Band plays
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM Shut down & clean-up

Game Plan

post Schedule of Events day before so Volunteers know what to expect
begin cooking at 1:30 or 2 PM (ended up being late, 3:30 PM)
have snacks on all tables to appease the masses
food & BBQ run behind table
ready food put on table in stages for all to get a chance at some
staff/volunteers manning table & food prep area & bar (aka keg) at all times

Activities

Face painting: Laurel 1.0
Chess challenge: Blaine
Trivia T-shirt toss
Raffle with kick-ass A/V prizes from Dirk
Brownie contest & prizes
- select judges & bring them onstage with MC
Bands: Bad Apple & Pagan Jug Band
Video game with 2 controllers set up
Back-up plan: all ages movie projected onto wall if bands end early or other unforeseen issue!

Expenses for BBQ

Food & Beverage

food by LK: $330.08 (including some drinks)
more food and ice by LK: $38.16
utensils by LK: $45 (we now have enough to last us 4 BBQ like events, actually paid $180)
home brew & ginger ale by EP: $69.73
food & ice by MW: $68.18
food & ice by MW: $2.92
food by MK: $7.47
total food/beverage expenses: $561.54

Other

Amerisanican - 2 portable toilets = waiting for receipt

Non-Monetary Expenses

Gave away 7 freekboxes to band members (1 to Bad Apples, 5 or 6 to Pagan Jug Band)
Gave away four $50 gift certificates to rest of band members
Gave away 6 t-shirts
Lots of A/V items from F.G.
FG mondo system from Build
Staff time, effort & sanity ;)

Post BBQ Notes

General Statistics

approx. 200 attendees + 2 dogs
120 meat burgers
60+ dogs and veggie patties
From Evan: 57 bottles home brew - 12 oz./24 bottles ginger ale (1/5th)
From Morgan: 1 barrel Ninkasi (15.5 gallons) - approx. 1 gallon or less left
soda (6+ cases & 6+ six-packs) - went quickly, was out hours before beer
went through 4 full round coolers of ice water

Positives/Went Well

Owen Walz's amazing BBQ poster!
"Keep It Legal" Brownie Contest - confused about when okay to eat 'em
video game helped with wait in line
raffle was fun and successful
lots of people brought side dishes so there was plenty of food!
folks brought vegan/veggie and other types of sides, so all were fed!
serving meat/veggie burgers/dogs to people allowed everyone to get food!
speed of line was based on meat/dogs/patties ready - was a good speed
easy shut down - lots of staff stayed to help!
Blaine's chess challenge

- approx. 100 games played - most popular activity - no wins or draws!

T-shirt toss - got folks jumping/shouting/waving their arms - fun!

- too many folks to use trivia questions to disperse t-shirts

$20 gift certificates for t-shirt design winner & brownie winner were well received
raffle prizes were well received
Secret service worked well

For Next Year

purchase 10 big onions - ran out early
start grills in am and precook some food
make sure all tent sets are together week before the event
check/clean grills week before the event
condiments take to long for people to use, put them at the end of the tables
label dishes as: vegan/wheat free/veggie/gluten free, etc.
separate veggie food line and meat food line, 2 grills?
set up/start grills earlier
set up stage/tents for band 1st & early in day
have Serge teach others how to set up tents so he doesn't get stuck with this forever
starting late was what made the line long at the start of food serving,fine once moving
better/more obvious compost bins
better/more obvious labels on compost, garbage, recycling
music a little quieter
more helpers for food prep with food experienced supervisor
hard to get people to set up chairs/tables once outside
do NOT schedule BBQ staff at the last minute on floor shifts
not enough leader bodies to be everywhere needed
could use 2 more leaders to help direct bands/help/heavy lifters day of
do not spend more $$ on pop next year, instead, get lemonade or other beverage mixer into round coolers

History and other resources

Notes from our 2008 BBQ .