Learning Series | Creating an Engaging Volunteer Event

Summary: Let's dive into the purpose of volunteering and how to leverage volunteering to drive systemic change at companies.

Transcript:

Andy - WeHero: Ben, thank you for joining us. We have you in a new location, a new home office, so excited and appreciate you taking the timer on the holidays,

Ben - WeHero: Stuck at the home office. So we are hanging in there, which is great. But the only thing that's, that's dangerous about the home office is just the fridge is really close and just two X, the snacking I usually do which is a bummer, but outside that's been great.

Andy - WeHero: Sounds, sounds like the holidays for everyone. Well today we wanna talk about, you know, our volunteer experiences and how we've created them to be really high impact, as well as engaging for teams. You know, we get so many questions from nonprofits, as well as, you know, corporations wondering like, what is the best way to structure a volunt your experience. And so I thought, you know, by no means is ours, you know, a hundred percent the right solution, but you know, we can talk through how we've construct them and why we've chosen to make those decisions. And so, you know, maybe I'll open it up with a question, maybe just giving the high level overview on our volunteer experiences, why we've construct 'em the way we have, and we can kinda evolve from there.

Ben - WeHero: Yeah, absolutely. And hopefully folks can like take away some notes and if they're working on their volunteer experiences, whether it's a nonprofit or a company, like hopefully can take some notes from this. We obviously do hundreds of these all the time. And so we've learned a lot and we've had to iterate like what really works and what really moves people and creates a, a huge amount of impact. I will say to, as a starting point, you know, we have different kinds of experiences. We have hands on volunteer experiences and, and fully digital virtual experiences. And regardless of what that experience is, there's a very similar format for when we come together for that, that live event experience. And I think there's a few things that we try to encapsulate with the time that we have with the group that's volunteering. One of those things is empathy.

Ben - WeHero: Like we want people to really understand the cause they want, and we want people to most importantly, understand the why, like why is my de donation of time going to make an impact? Why is that important? If people don't understand the why, and they don't have empathy towards the cause, then we're missing the mark. This was gonna be a one to time volunteer effort, and then they're not gonna be able to go and carry that forward to other volunteer opportunities and volunteer again for that same cause. And so empathy, storytelling, and just that why is really important for us. The other thing that kind of relates to that is just education is key. Like we want people to be able to walk away from that time that we had together and go, I learned something new. I have some new knowledge and I have of the ability to take action with that knowledge.

Ben - WeHero: I think that's really important. Then we have, you know, always the impact piece. Like we wanna make sure that every time that we have folks together, they can actually feel and see impact being made with the time that we have together. And so that's where the, you know, the kind of the core volunteering really comes in and takes place. And the last thing I'll say is we want people to have a lot of fun. Like, you know, we talk about some heavy stuff. So stuff that's very real. But at the same time, we're trying to make sure that people can bond over these experiences, that we can get to know each other a little better through these experiences. And come out of this feeling like a stronger team, because we went through a situation, we supported a cause together as a unit and we're gonna come out stronger as a result. And so we can dive into each piece of that and how we do that. Andy, am I missing anything though in just regards to what we try to pat back into that time that we have with the volunteer group?

Andy - WeHero: Yeah, I think the one other comment I would make is, you know, the time that we have and, and we've studied a lot of different time formats with our volunteer experiences and it's totally different depending on if it's an in person, you know, really customized experience, that's okay to be longer, but in this COVID world that we are still living in, we often feel it's best to keep timelines under 60 minutes. There is heavy zoom fatigue. People are very tempted to go, you know, check their emails after that. And we wanna be respectful of that and make sure we have a really engaged group. And so I think one of the things that we spend a lot of time on is we have this 60 minute experience. How do we extend the experience and how do we carry through the team building education, empathy before the experience, and then after the experience.

Andy - WeHero: And I think that is that's one of the most important parts. And I think one of the things that drives success and, you know, really creates repeat volunteers. And so I think I would touch on that, but then I'd be curious, you mentioned a lot around education and empathy. And the, the question I often think about is, Hey, this is really sad topics we're often talking about. Let's say we're talking about you know, people in, in developing countries, not having access to clean water and how many of them die because of that. You, you know, how do you think, how do you think people should construct these experie when it is a really sad topic, but no one wants to sign up for 60 minutes of sadness. And so I'm curious on your perspective there.

Ben - WeHero: Yeah. I'll talk about that. And then let's double back after that to zoom fatigue. Let's talk about that and how we're trying to conquer that. Cause I think a lot of us are dealing with getting people to engage in an experience with zoom fatigue. But to your, your question around I'm, I'm losing, what was your question, Annie? It's

Andy - WeHero: The, the, the over the, the excessive sadness that comes with talking about these things and how it can be exhausting.

Ben - WeHero: So I think, you know, we are quite up front sometimes and we have a disclaimer actually at the beginning of event that some of the topics we talk about can be taken personal and can cause emotions, cuz they are, you know, sometimes sad, really heavy topics, but we want people to have an understanding of our starting point. And I think how we structure it is we want people to have the numbers. So we have, you know, by the numbers, which is our data outlook in regards to what's actually happening. What is put media and everything aside what's actually happening on the ground for these cause areas. So if it's deforestation, for example, let's give people real accurate numbers. If it's the water crisis, for example, let's give people real accurate numbers now to your point, a sometimes those numbers are really challenging to swallow.

Ben - WeHero: When you think about just the negative impact that's having on people and on our globe. And I think what we try to do is give people that data, give people that information. So they have a baseline of like, Hey, this is where we're starting from now. Now that you have that information, here's, what's working in regards to actually solving some of these challenges. And so we start with some of the heavy topics, but when we finish this experience, our hope is that people come out of it going there's solutions that are actually working. And I have a path forward to continue supporting these solutions that are actually working. One of the things that we try to do is identify the best nonprofit organizations in the world and bring awareness to them during these live event experiences, with the hope that people can walk away going like, wow, amazing is being done. And I have ways I can continue supporting through additional volunteerism, additional donations and giving so on and so forth. And so that's kind of how we structure it, but curious, are we missing anything there? Cause you know, this is a big, big thing we wanna talk about.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. I think like you said, the facts of the facts, right? And, and we feel it's very important. Here are the honest, true facts. Yes, that can be challenging to swallow, but you know, I think everyone aware is aware. There's really challenging issues in our world and, and we we're all adults and we really wanna treat these with the respect that they need to have. But I also think you know, the power of anecdotes on the human human mind is, is really strong. And so sharing individual stories of people dealing with these data points and then the individual stories of people helping. And I think that really creates a feeling that we can make change and we can make change. You know, the work that we're doing is always delivering a high level of impact and, you know, I think that's what we can always go back to.

Andy - WeHero: But that being said, you know, we try to really balance the, you know, the impact that we're having with the data and the facts. And I think that's something, you know, will continue to be a challenge because for everyone, these can be really sensitive topics, especially if you've faced it personally. And so I think, you know, having the I'd wanna call it a disclaimer, but having the, you know, just calling out the fact that these are challenging topics is really important. Because these things happen in our local community and, and you know, we need to be aware and, and educate it so we can make change.

Ben - WeHero: Yeah, absolutely. Do you wanna talk about how we tackle zoom fatigue? I'm specifically thinking about, go for it, our investments in technology and how we're engaging people right now, do you wanna touch on that?

Andy - WeHero: Yeah, I'll kind of give a preamble. You know, I think, Hey, I'm a permanent work from home worker. Ben is in the office, but also works from home and, and spends so much time on zoom. And I think we feel it just like everybody else. And the last thing we want is people, you know, being even more tired by joining these volunteer events, these should be engaging. They should really be the energy promoters for the, for the employees and the participants. And so the first thing that, that we realized is you need to meet people where they are. And if someone doesn't want to turn on their video, you should not be pressuring them to turn on their video and be respectful for the energy level that they have. You don't wanna drain them more than they already are being on 10 meetings.

Andy - WeHero: But as I think about the investments we've made, you know, how can you make the 60 minutes as engaging as possible? So it's not like you're necessarily looking at a zoom, watching a movie, nodding your head. It's more, how can we create what almost feels like we're in person while using the computer. And there's a number of creative technologies that we use to really make it an interactive experience as much as possible. And, and you know, the other thing I like to think about, and I think about zoom fatigue is there's so many great aspects of the zoom culture that we have, and we should try to do everything we can to highlight that. And we work hard, you know, for big companies to have people connect with teams on different continents. You know, you, would've never known your teammate in let's say you're in the us teammate in India, but if you do one of these things together who cares about zoom, you're getting the chance to get to know someone new and totally different situation. And that's really interesting. And, and I think the more that we can do to, to use team building as a way to get over the zoom fatigue and take it from a meeting webinar style to an interactive interactive experience for every single participant at scale is where we're spending so much of our time and, and effort.

Ben - WeHero: Yeah. We're giving people these abilities to engage and, and I think people register for these events, cuz they're interested in the cost and when they're interested in the cost, they oftentimes have thoughts around the cause as well. I get folks an example. We just did an event today and we highlighted a metric, which was, we have 1.6 billion people in the globe right now that are considered unsheltered or don't have inadequate. They have inadequate shelter. And what was crazy is we asked a question to the group that was, what do you think could be done about this? And all of a sudden we have people from Indonesia the Philippines, India, and the us all responding, like submitting their answers. And they're all showing up real time on screen live because it's, they're engaging with their phone and writing what they think of good response and what an amazing tool to be able to go like, wow, people have really good ideas about what can be done.

Ben - WeHero: Like let's talk about that for a moment. And when people are actively participating in the volunteer experience, not just being talked to about what's happening, but getting to actually engage, it creates such a powerful dynamic where we're all learning together. We're sharing ideas about how we can make this, this situation better. And I think that that's the views that people come out of that with a lot of energy, to your point, Andy, they come out that like, I, my ideas felt heard. I got to engage throughout this presentation and share my thoughts or like figure and give my sense and estimates around numbers and figures. And I got to participate and make an impact and come out that with waste of sport and like that kind of energy you get coming out of that I think is really important to have.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Yeah. I agree. And I think I always go back to an experience I had growing up doing habitat for humanity and the, the, you know, my memory of that experience was coming together with 15, 20 people in my local community where we would come together, we would get to know each other by working together. And we would also learn new school, learn new skills while using our hands interacting. And so it was highly engaging and we were delivering real impact to people that needed it. So we're trying to do thing that, that, you know, really unique experience was in person totally virtually, you know, giving you the opportunity to connect with people you don't know who have shared experiences, shared interests, learning something new by trying things out. And, and I think the more you can do that, the more you're gonna have an engaged audience,

Ben - WeHero: A hundred percent, a hundred percent. So I think the, the key take ways to keep it short folks is the empathy impact fun. Like those are the three magic ones.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah, exactly. And rotating throughout them for the entire event. That's really, you know, keeping people moving forward into what they need to, to understand.

Ben - WeHero: Yeah. A hundred percent.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Well, Ben, I appreciate the time. I think this is a, a quick one. We covered our event experience. The last thing I would say is, you know, everyone feel free to reach out to us. If you're a nonprofit, if you want help building a, you know, a nonprofit experience that is engaging if you're a company we're here to help, you know, this is, you know, we do hundreds and thousands of these every month. And so we are more than happy to be sharing. What we've learned to help engage employees

Ben - WeHero: Absolutely reach out to us. We're here to support.

Andy - WeHero: Thanks, Ben.