Geek Philosophy

(This post is a part of my series on volunteering at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. If you’re new here, feel free to start at the beginning)

Sorry it’s been a bit quiet around here – 5 days of volunteering in a row makes it difficult to find time to post, but I’m done until February 24th so I’ll attempt to fill you in.

Shift 3! My third shift (on February 10th) was on the morning of the dress rehearsal for the opening ceremonies, so I spent much of the day preparing things for the big event. Even though there wasn’t going to be full media present, we wanted to make sure everything was functional.

Olympic rings, seen a few hours before the dress rehearsal

The morning was spent trying to get a printer working in the East workforce check-in tent – there’s always something that just doesn’t seem to want to work, and this printer is definitely in that category. Helpdesk talked to Acer, who ruled out computer problems, so we talked to Ricoh, who ruled out hardware problems, then Bell, who ruled out network problems. After a few hours of running back and forth, we gave up and asked the central technology office to double check the firewall. One week later, and I still have no idea if this printer works.

Next up was going to BC Place and ensuring that the Commentator Information Systems (CIS) had the most recent updates deployed. As with most of my volunteer tasks, this was much more manual labour than it was technological. It involved walking all through the press area and looking for a highlighted icon on the screen. After 20 minutes of searching and zero systems displaying the highlighted icon, we were finally told that the patches had been remotely deployed and verified, and that we had just wasted our time. Oh well -  I got to snap a picture of a CIS machine. These are the machines located at every venue that commentators will used to pull up stats, bios, and other information about athletes.

The Commentator Information System (CIS)

After finding lunch (easier said than done – the lower level, where I’d eaten before, was closed off due to the ceremony preparation), I spent the afternoon doing odds and ends. While I was setting up a computer for the Information Booth, spectators started streaming in – 50,000 of them. I finished up my shift,  met up with my wife and some friends, and settled in to watch the opening ceremonies dress rehearsal. For those who have seen the real opening ceremonies (that’s everyone by now, right?), the dress rehearsal was almost identical, with a few exceptions. Ben Mulroney and Tamara Taggart warmed up the crowd, albeit without the spectator participation packs. All of the performers were present, but Jacques Rogges, John Furlong, and Michaelle Jean were played by stand-in volunteers. The final Olympic flag bearers were also replaced, so I didn’t get to see Bobby Orr, Donald Sutherland, or Ann Murray. Also, the entire section involving the torch was kept a secret – the ceremony just ended before any torch people came in. Still, it was pretty fun, and k.d. lang rocked.

Stay tuned for more updates

(Click here to read the next entry in the series.)

(This post is a part of my series on volunteering at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. If you’re new here, feel free to start at the beginning)

I’m far too tired from working a shift yesterday, attending the dress rehearsal last night, and doing another shift today, so no post from me today. Luckily, my wonderful wife has prepared a guest post that outlines the role that she’ll be playing during the games. Enjoy!

Another volunteer!

My Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics volunteer position is in Event Services (…or EVS, if you’re a fan of TLAs like the IOC). They call our team the face of the games because we interact directly with everyone and are usually the first & last people anyone sees throughout their Olympic experience. We are ambassadors and informants, helpers, and hosts.

As a Team Leader for Event Services, I will supervise 6-12 Hosts at a venue, mainly when things are in full swing for competition but also during athlete practice times and during other operations. Hosts are the dedicated volunteers who perform any or all roles like Spectator Marshal, Ticket Taker, Pacer, Usher, Access Monitor (and 4 more!) and work in all the public & common operational areas of the venue, interacting with all groups: Ticketholders, Security, Athletes, Officials, Media, Olympic Family, and pretty much all of the operational Functional Areas.

These are tough, tiring, and sometimes tedious jobs, but there are lots of great rewards and many memorable moments to be had. That said, for events of this scale & scope, the challenges are almost limitless – but from what I know of the Hosts I’ve met throughout my training so far, I will have a great team with many talents to work with. Like me, many of them will be working long hours for many days on end during the Games, and it is my task to make sure they get breaks, help them stay motivated, and serve as their escalation point for pretty much anything that happens on shift.

So, armed with a radio and a clipboard containing a a military-like schedule and lots of other fun paperwork, I will encourage & support my team toward meeting three main goals for each shift:

• Think, Say, Do: Customer Service Excellence for all groups

• Have Fun: Motivation & Rewards

• Be Safe: Worksafe, Incident Reports

If you’re attending the Olympics, please remember to smile and thank the volunteers in the bright blue uniforms – lots of locals from the Lower Mainland, but also fellow British Columbians, Canadians and International folks too – who gave up many hours of their free time for training and weeks of their vacation to work overtime for nothing (and in some cases, even spent hundreds or thousands of dollars on travel & hotel costs) to be involved in these Olympics and work so that you and everyone else watching around the world will enjoy it. It will definitely make my job a bit easier if you do, anyway

Let the Games begin!

(Click here to read the next entry in the series.)

(This post is a part of my series on volunteering at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. If you’re new here, feel free to start at the beginning)

Yesterday I had my second shift, although it was supposed to be my fourth. Weighing on my mind for most of the day was the thought of attending the Venue Specific Training (VST) for Canada Hockey Place (CHP) that I had scheduled later that evening (making for a 14.5 hour volunteer day). This shift was somewhat similar to my first shift, in that I was moving around printers and TVs and doing other initial setup that won’t be needed come games time, but there were a few differences as well.

First of all, security is now in effect. On my last shift, I just walked into the compound, although I had to show accreditation before entering any buildings. Yesterday, I had to go through the full security procedure – walking through the magnetometer, having all metal possessions go through X-ray scanning, and gawk at the huge number of police everywhere.  I don’t think I saw a single officer on my last shift, but on this shift I don’t think there was a single time when there wasn’t a cop in sight. It was quite interesting – they’ve flown in police from all over. I didn’t get any pictures of the myriad uniforms (O.P.P., RCMP, York, Montreal, and many more) – something about taking covert photos of uniformed officers inside a security zone made me queasy.

Coke had a greatly increased presence as well – they’re in the process of stocking the dozens (hundreds?) of Coke vending machines strewn around the compound. This is definitely not a comfortable place for a Pepsi-lover, but I was able to rustle up something besides Dasani.

Costco would be proud (those are pallets of Coke in the background)

As mentioned, I spent yet more time moving giant printers and large TVs around. No 58″ monsters this time, although I did help mount 5 42″ plasmas and drag another 3 into storage (along with several 26″ screens). I hope by the time my next shift comes around that all TVs are set up, although I guess I should be thankful that they aren’t CRTs. I also got to walk into Canada Hockey Place for the first time in order to deliver some toner – exciting, I know.

All plasmas, no LCDs - greenest Olympics ever?

Lunch was soup and a sandwich – not near as tasty as last week’s vegetarian pizza, although we did get fresh buns and a drink was included. Afterward, while waiting for another task to do, I was quite happy when my supervisor suggest that I attend an earlier session of VST – effectively cutting 6 hours off of my volunteer day. I arrived in the parkade of CHP (miraculously transformed into a suite of offices over the past few weeks) just in time for training.

CHP is quite an impressive venue – much newer than BC Place, although smaller. There will be over 3000 people working there over the Olympics, about 1300 of them volunteers. Apparently this is the first Winter Olympics where figure skating isn’t located in the premiere venue, and I feel quite lucky to be able to be in and around the building during some awesome events (including the Men’s Hockey gold medal match!). I can’t say too much about what I saw inside, but I will say that it’s very strange to see the interior of this venue with no advertising (an IOC rule). I’m sure I’ll be able to share more as I learn a bit more.

Next up is a shift this coming Wednesday, when I start a gauntlet of 5 shifts in a row (contributing to 12 straight days of either work or volunteering). Until then, I’m taking it easy.

(Click here to read the next entry in the series.)

(This post is a part of my series on volunteering at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. If you’re new here, feel free to start at the beginning)

I got a call tonight informing me that two of my shifts this week (February 4th & 5th) have been canceled. I knew this was a possibility – apparently the police are doing a massive security sweep of the compound (Stadium, Canada Hockey Place, and the surrounding areas), after which everyone going in or out has to go through the mag & bag process (think airport security, sans shoe removal).

So, unless I think of something particularly inspiring, you won’t hear any Olympic-related things out of me until my next shift on Saturday. I’m still taking questions though

(Click here to read the next entry in the series.)