Volunteers show up ready to help, but without a clear system, even the best crew can feel scattered. Roles can overlap, shifts get confusing, and some people are not sure where they are needed.
Volunteers are eager, but they need direction. Organizing your crew using your event management platform through athleteReg keeps everything in one place, from sign-ups to shift preferences, making it easier for you to lead and for them to shine.
Build Volunteer Categories
The best way to manage volunteers is to create a dedicated category in your registration setup. You can keep it simple with one “Volunteer” category or break it out by role or shift.
Here’s how:
On your category setup page, select Add Group, then Add Category
Name the category “Volunteers” and set the entry fee to $0
This places volunteer sign-ups right alongside participant registrations so you can manage your entire event in one spot.
Ask the Right Questions
Custom questions help you collect the details you need. Ask about t-shirt size, shift preferences, or which area they would like to help in. If you have roles with limited spots, you can even cap responses. For example, if you only need three people at the registration desk, set that as a limit.
Communicate With Your Crew
Once volunteers are signed up, keeping them informed is just as important as getting them registered. With all volunteers stored in athleteReg, email communication is simple.
Under Marketing Tools, choose Email All Participants, then select your volunteer category and uncheck the others. If you created separate categories for different roles, you can easily send targeted updates to each group. You can also use custom question responses in your email to share role-specific details or confirm preferences.
If there is one golden rule, it is this: communication is the key to successful volunteer management. Share details early and often, and build an email strategy that keeps your volunteers confident and prepared for race day.
Track Your Numbers
When volunteers are added as a registration category, their sign-ups will appear in your overall registration totals. Your dashboard and data downloads will still break out categories, so you can see how many participants versus volunteers you have. Keep this in mind when you review year-over-year comparisons.
Rally Your Crew
Volunteers are the backbone of every event, and athleteReg makes it simple to bring them on board. Ready to set up your next event?
Log into your event director dashboard to add volunteer categories today.
New to athleteReg? Start your free account and simplify your event setup.
