Dansk Atletik Forbund (DAF) is the Danish Athletics Association. They are co-organizers of several of the largest sporting events in Denmark, including the annual Royal Run with Crown Prince Frederik as its high patron. The Crown Prince and Crown Princess and their children participate every year, and around 80,000 runners participate in total. In 2019, DAF hosted the World Championships in cross-country running and the race was completely unique. One day, exercisers participated in the World Cup course, while the World Cup itself was held the day after.
Thomas Nolan Hansen is event manager for Aalborg Atletik & Motion and has been involved in arranging the Royal Run, but also got the job as volunteer coordinator for the international WC in Cross (cross country) in Aarhus.
- When you have almost 500 volunteers on the largest cross-country race in the world, it's good to have some control. The event was also televised all over the world, so it was definitely the head of the block for us, says Thomas smiling.
Experienced organizer: Thomas Nolan Hansen has arranged different types of races, and knows that good control provides better events for both volunteers and participants.
The game of chance
No doubt things have to be taken care of when so many people are involved. Good systems for handling and communication are absolutely crucial
- I had some experience from arranging the Royal Run, but we did not have a good volunteer system in place when we were awarded the World Cup. Therefore, I started searching for information online, and stumbled upon Mobilise. I'm very happy about that. It was all a bit random, but after researching the solution more closely, I had no doubt that this was exactly what we needed.
The joys of systematization
You can use Mobilise to recruit from existing volunteer database, or combine with existing and new ones. It must be solved in the way that suits you best.
- We had a core of volunteers before, but we also added many new ones to the Mobilise solution. Several campaigns were run to get people, and many volunteers also came from abroad. Mobilise was used for everything from rosters, and we often had three shifts.
We had 15-20 "rooms" / groups, and probably used most of the functions that are in the system, such as check-in, news, communication, shift planning, etc.
Small effort gives big gain
The introduction of new systems always needs a little push, but when it does, it does. It gives results when needed.
- It naturally requires a little effort to get acquainted with the system, especially for older people, and it also requires a little to get people to use the system. We had a Mobilise super user employed who spent several hours assisting the insecure users, and it was a good investment since the solution was not so well known in Denmark at the time. Good effort in the beginning meant that the communication flowed incredibly well before and during the event, says Thomas.
- A big advantage is that Mobilise is web-based, which means that you do not need to download an app. Especially from the older officials, we have heard that they are happy about it. They are often not so technical, but they can easily find a website. And we have experienced the stability as 100%, which is also a great advantage.
Long live good systems
- We have probably all previously tried to carry out events based on overviews in spreadsheets, but it does not work. You are completely dependent on a good system, otherwise you quickly forget groups, tasks, shifts, etc. Volunteers arrive at different times, some many months before, others a few hours before the first shift, and so on. Therefore, it is extremely important that all info is available, and that everyone gets the same information. When online documents are always up to date, everyone gets full control and an overview, Thomas believes.
- And when people sign up for and by themselves, you always have a full overview of who is on or will be on duty, or not, he adds.
The wheat from the chaff
There are similar systems on the market, but few or none offer as many options as Mobilise.
- The other systems we have looked at are too simple and offer fewer options than Mobilise. In my eyes, Mobilise is totally complete. The advantage of that is that I can rather opt out of something, than have to miss something, says Thomas.
- For us, it is about getting a complete overview of all volunteers and tasks, who solves what, how many hours they have worked, etc. When we have a full overview, it is also easy to transfer things to next year or the next event. In Mobilise, you build the database over time, and retrieve this gain when you need it.
"For those of us who have the responsibility, it is absolutely necessary to have the control that Mobilise provides."
Thomas Nolan Hansen
The greatest value
It may not be so easy to extract exactly what makes Mobilise so important, as it is the whole that is obviously the most important.
- I still think the biggest value of Mobilise is the mentioned overview and control. You avoid spreadsheets, storage of documents in a cloud, emails, fragmented communication through various groups in apps and loose SMSs, and you ensure communicationflow. For those of us who are responsible, it is absolutely necessary to have the control Mobilise provides. It's as simple as that, says Thomas firmly.
