What Does A Volunteer Actually Do?

That's what I thought to myself when I received an email from Charlene The Comedy Trust's Admin Assistant last August about being a volunteer for the upcoming Liverpool Comedy Festival. I'd originally seen shows at the previous festivals in 2015 and 2014 and thought that it would be a great opportunity to be a part of, and sent in an application. In the email I received was a list of the different types of roles that were on offer on for the Festival which were: Front of House – Tickets, queries, customer interaction and assisting in venue management all fall under our Front of House Role, be the fabulous face everyone meets before they take their seats for the show! Marketing – Fancy putting your London fruit market selling voice to the test?! Our marketing role is just that, spreading the word about our shows at 81 Renshaw, this would involve flyering before shows outside of the venue with access to every gig you flyer! Live Sound Technician – Fan of all things technical, a maestro with a sound desk, want to expand your skill-set in the comedy world, our live sound role may be just the thing for you…..And don’t worry, we’re not looking for the next Steve Levine. In House - In House – Want to go behind the scenes of the Liverpool Comedy Festival, are a fan of social media (who isn’t these days?) or want some experience in an office / charity environment? Come and work alongside the festival team in our office at the Royal Court Theatre. During the Festival itself I was a Front of House, Marketing Volunteer and currently volunteering in house here at the fine Comedy Trust Office. So I'm just going to go through my experiences during the Liverpool Comedy Festival in these different roles. Front of House I think I volunteered at around 20 shows as a Front of House Member at 81 Renshaw. With this I worked with Gav Cross who was in charge of the Funny Looking Fringe, he gave me a very detailed summary of my roles whilst I was there which was to be the first point of call for any and all audience members. I would be the first face they see when they walked in, I would be the person that they paid and would sell badges and mugs to (The badge holders would receive £1 off any and all Funny Looking Shows that they attended in the future, and the mugs were just mugs, who doesn't like a mug haha) I would also sign up the audience members for mailing lists for future shows during the Festival. Being a Front of House Volunteer was a important part of the show as it would give the acts more preparation time for their shows instead of audience members just walking in and spoiling some of the show. Just making sure the audience pay for their seats, have a good time and everything runs smoothly is the main aim for this role. Marketing

Marketing was a little bit different to Front of House as this was mainly promoting the shows for the Festival, so that could entail sharing Comedians events on Facebook and Twitter, sharing any information that The Comedy Trust or Liverpool Comedy Festival share on their social media on my personal Facebook account. I also did some Marketing at the shows outside 81 Renshaw by handing out brochures to passersby or audience members leaving the venue at the end of the night. In House And now what I currently do, I'm currently an intern at The Comedy Trust as I have been for the past 2 months. In this role I have contacted different businesses about signing up for our Funny Business Training Courses and creating the timeline for the Liverpool Comedy Festival website. I also take a look at the social media pages and schedule posts and pictures for you guys. I am currently also working with Charlene and Sam on top secret Comedy Festival 2017 events ;) Unfortunately I'm a bit too clumsy to have volunteered as a Live Sound Technician so I don't really have any experience in that part of the Festival but besides that, I think I've covered everything that I did during the festival and hopefully answered any questions that you may have about the Festival :)