If you have a large event with different needs than your typical worship service, such as a fall festival, Easter egg hunt, or team night, you still may need to schedule volunteers for the event. You can do that!
Expand the sections below to create a plan for your event with teams, times, and an order that fits your event.
In general, the best way to keep track of events that happen sporadically is to create a service type just for these special events.
Tip
If you have multiple service types already, create a folder for special events as well.
From the Service Type Settings, set the frequency to None. When the frequency is None, each plan chooses its own times instead of being weekly or daily.
Often events like this pull groups of people together who aren't in traditional teams. Tags can be really useful for this.
For example, if you have a yearly event that invites all of your active volunteers such as a Volunteer Night, use Service's bulk editing tool to add a yearly tag to everyone. This can also be quite useful when creating an "all hands on deck" team where any volunteer can sign up for any position.
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Create a tag group called Volunteers with yearly tags.
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Apply the tag to everyone who was scheduled to a plan in the timeframe you decide.
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Sort people by Last Scheduled Plan.
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Select all, and then deselect any who haven't been scheduled in the timeframe.
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Select the pencil to bulk edit everyone selected.
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Type or choose the yearly tag, and then click Update.
Tip
Create a list and automation in People that adds this tag to anyone who serves.
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Once your tags are set up, you can use tag teams to add that group of people to positions automatically.
Most plans are used for worship services, but if you are scheduling for an event that runs on shift scheduling, you can set up those shifts as service times!
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Set your teams as split teams, which allows team members to be assigned to a specific time slot, and then add people to the positions.
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Enable signup sheets, so your volunteers can sign up.
If you don't enable signup sheets, you'll need to schedule people to the plan. For large events, use auto-scheduling.
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Add a service time for each of the shifts of the event.
Tip
If you want to name your times, first create them as a rehearsal time, enter the name, and then change the time to a service time.
For plans that aren't a worship service, the order will look a little different. Consider any special instructions for each job or station, if any, and use headers to help your volunteers find what they need.
You could also add information for things like curriculum, release forms, or publicity flyers. Add any information your volunteers need, so they can easily access it all from Services.