What I Learned

- Having responsibility is good, but make sure you have all the facts first.

- Things may be a little confusing at first, but stick it out, get all the information you need, if you are extremely confused don’t be afraid to ask someone, everything works out in the end.

- There may be people who you don’t like but you need to be civil because you are working with them. (Not that I had this issue, everyone there was so lovely)

- You may be tired and exhausted, but you still need to go to work, once you are there and working and having a good time you will be fine and enjoy yourself.

- Things can/will not always go to plan.

- The weather may not always be your friend. But there is always a solution, it may be a little more work/difficult, but it will work out.

- There also may not be enough customers and things will need to be cancelled at the last moment.

- Customers may not always be happy with what is going on, if this happens, let them fill out a feedback form and/or send them to someone higher up (i.e. manager/boss).

- Don’t stress, if you stress your job will feel just like that, work. If you enjoy your job you will have fun and not be anxious all of the time.

- There are always solutions to any problems, you just have to take the time to think it through clearly and find one.
- Always get the children to spell their name's for you, they speak softly and you do not always know how to spell a name like "Marika", "Xena" or "Viktoria".

- I would definitely do it again.

Day 3 – Ghost Ship Workshop

I had an hour and a half break that I spent with Beth from Magic Makeover and Talina who was also volunteering that day.

After my break I went to the info booth to get new sheets for the clipboard and information on the Ghost Ship Workshop.

At the Ghost Ship Workshop I was again doing clipboard work in which I would take the tickets, give the children name tags, get parents to sign a form if they were leaving them and usher the kids inside to see the interactive show.

Once inside I would tally the children participating and adults observing, and at the end help take the ship ‘onto the seas’.

Due to the weather there were not many children, the show could take up to 25 but there were only 8. After that show there were no kids left for the rest of the afternoon’s shows. I had to find Anne-Louise and she came over to the tent and had a mini meeting with the two ladies doing the show and myself. She made an executive decision to cancel the rest of the afternoon’s shows and gave the one family who had bought a ticket, free entry into one of the afternoons shows in the theatre.

At the end of the day, I took the clipboard back to the info booth and thanked them for letting me volunteer.

I got to keep the ‘Season 2011’ Merrigong shirt and lanyard.

Day 3 – Circus Monoxide Trapeze Workshop

Starting at 8.30am 2/10/11 doing clipboard at the Circus Monoxide Trapeze Workshop.

This day the weather wasn’t that great, it was overcast and rainy.

When I went to the info booth to get my lanyard and clipboard Anne-Louise, the girl teaching the workshop and I had a mini meeting to decide how to go about doing the workshop as the weather wouldn’t permit it to be outside.

We finally decided that it would be best that the workshop be in the docks. The children doing the workshop would be sent to the info booth, where I would meet them and take them through to the docks using a swipe card to get through the door to the back. Once in there I would again help the teacher set up, take the kids’ tickets, give them name tags and tally up the children participating/adults and children observing.

If the parents wanted to leave their children they had to sign a form and also sign it when they got back.

During my shift there was about 3 or 4 workshops in which I repeated the sessions again.(A) 

Day 1 – Circus Monoxide Trapeze Workshop

I had a half an hour break in which there was a free lunch in the greenroom for all staff and volunteers.

I then went back to the info booth where they gave me new sheets and information on the next workshop I was doing, which was the clipboard for the Circus Monoxide Trapeze Workshop.

This workshop was just in front of the Magic Makeover tent I was working at in the morning.

I went over to the trapeze and met with Wazza who was the ‘teacher’ for the workshop that afternoon.

In this workshop I was doing the same thing. This one was only a ticketed event though, and we had sold out for the day. This time there was no line though, I had to walk around and find the kids that were doing the workshop. I would find them, make sure they had the right time on their ticket, give them a name tag (if they didn’t already have one), make sure it was ok if their photo was used and ushered them to sit and wait for Wazza.

As the trapeze was in an open area, as well as also keeping a tally on the children participating and children/adults observing I had to make sure that other children did not climb on the mat, as they might get hurt. I also had to make sure that Wazza was teaching the kids whom had a ticket as other children tried to sneak into the workshop.

This workshop and my day finished at 4:30pm. At this time I signed off the clip board and took it back to the info booth where I handed back my lanyard and signed out for the day.

Day1 – Magic Makeover

My first day. Starting at 8.30am 2/10/11 doing clip board at the Magic Makeover tent.

When I got dropped off I went to the info booth where I had to fill out a form to say I could work around children, got a ‘season 2011’ Merrigong T-shirt, a lanyard with my name on it and volunteer, a clipboard and was briefly informed on what I would be doing.

I then went over to the tent where Beth and Ryan (the ‘face painting experts’) were setting up and I gave them a hand and introduced myself to the other volunteer from ICS and other Merrigong staff members.

The morning got off to a rocky start as not everyone had a full idea of what was going on, there was a little bit of miscommunication and no communication.

The idea of the Magic Makeover was that children who had payed for tickets would get a lesson on face painting, then paint each others faces, then they could do other children faces (ones who wanted the ‘freebies’).

 My job was to keep the children in an orderly line until Ryan and Beth were ready for them, then I would take the tickets, give the children name tags and ask the parents if they were okay with photos being taken of their children, if not they would get a sticker on their name tag which would show the photographer what photos not to use. When the children were in the workshop I would then tally how many children were participating and how many children/adults were observing.

This was not going to plan though as there were not enough children and the parents were getting confused as to what was going on and why is was not free. So a few times I had to contact Ann-Louise (a merrigong staff member) to clear up some stuff and they had to rethink the way it was going to work.

I finished this workshop at 12.30pm just when things were starting to get moving, and Beth did not want me to leave, saying I was doing such a good job and helping so much, I was sad to leave them, but I was off to my next work shop!