Andy Fryar, Founder and Director of OzVPM, a resource, consultancy and training company specialising in volunteerism was the guest speaker at this month's ComVoices Parliamentary Breakfast.

Andy said that the Rugby World Cup, to be staged in New Zealand in 2011, is an opportunity to create a long-lasting legacy. The question is whether that legacy be a nicely run event that gets New Zealand some good publicity and boost tourism, or do we want to seize the opportunity to have something more?

The volunteer programme for the Sydney Olympics was settled four years before the event. There were different levels of volunteers, depending on commitment and ability, and an enormous amount of planning was invested into the programme.

When the planning is well done, the outcomes are outstanding. All the volunteer goodwill in the world means nothing without harnessing it. Contrast the Sydney Olympics, where there was universal praise for the volunteers, to the Athens Olympics, where volunteers were quitting in the middle of activities, often stranding athletes as they did so.

The Rugby World Cup may need up to 5,000 volunteers. Andy believes that these volunteers need to be given back to the sector in as good, or better condition as the Rugby World Cup found them.

People make key assumptions about volunteers that are erroneous. That:

• volunteers will always be there
• you can have a shoe string budget for volunteers
• free work = free labour, and volunteers will do what ever you want, as much as you want them to
• volunteers will happily work with sub-standard tools, or in sub-standard conditions
• volunteers are a homogeneous group, and
• volunteers are a means to an end.

Key positive legacies from the RWC 2011 could be:

• more willing volunteers in the community if they have a positive experience
• the opportunity to capture people into volunteering after the event BUT you have to actively encourage and recruit them, and
• a lasting, strengthened, volunteering infrastructure

Who, or what, is responsible for making this happen?

The main outcome should not be more people volunteering; they have got to be harnessed, willing to give their time, the work must be rewarding or meaningful to the volunteers, and they must be managed well. Good volunteer management is often where things fall over, and Andy posits that a great legacy from RWC 2011 would be strengthened volunteer management.

We should be using our existing volunteering networks for RWC 2011, as it will create ongoing linkages.

Andy has had a surface look at RWC 2011 via the internet from his base in Australia. He noted that:

• He's concerned that there's no obvious online presence; this is a concern because volunteers usually plan their volunteering 1-2 years in advance.
• There is no Director of Volunteering able to be found in an online search.
• The information available online suggests that volunteering is a great way to queue jump for tickets; the reality is most volunteers will be working before, during and after games rather that watching - so we should promise less and deliver more, rather than the other way round.
• Things need to move quickly - RWC is less than two years away now.
• Preparation for the London Olympics is already well underway, by comparison, and
• The most effective way to recruit volunteers is to leverage national pride; it was the primary driver for most of the volunteers at the Sydney Olympics, and there were so proud to be helping to make the event a success.

In summary, Andy believes that volunteering is in good heart in New Zealand, but there is no second chance to get things right the first time for the RWC.

During questions, Andy was asked "So how do we do keep the volunteers from the RWC engaged in volunteering?"

Andy's response was that we need to ensure that the people who volunteer for RWC 2011 return encouraged and better equipped to their own communities. We need to ensure that small organisations in the regions are supported and resourced. Volunteers will have a different experience at RWC 2011 than they will volunteering in their communities; we must tap into is their passions, and ensure they can serve that same passion in the community - because all the skills they will have learned will be transferable.