GameCity 6 – Volunteer Head Steward

After working at the GameCity5 festival in 2010, developing the GameCitizens.org website and being involved with various GameCity Nights events, I was invited back to GameCity6 with a promoted role – Head Steward. The responsibilities of head steward included organizing stewards, critical problem solving, delegation, time management, hospitality and a strong engagement with both customers and event participants.

Organisation & Logistics

Perhaps the main duty of the head steward was to organize other stewards into groups to ensure each location was adequately manned. Liaising with SHowSec security team, stewards had to be informed of fire drills, maximum capacities and locations of first aid staff. As the steward shifts were in three phases (morning, afternoon and evening) steward switch-overs provided a challenging logistical situation, in which stewards required replacing before they could leave. This was successfully accomplished without issue each day for the duration of the event.

As there were several locations across Nottingham, head stewards had to be aware of where each set of stewards were, and keep constant communication to ensure everything was on target. Identifying equipment locations and motivating groups of stewards to split up and maximize effectiveness were also key aspects of the role.

Time Keeping & Stage Management

With the morning shift starting at 8.00am and the evening shift ending at 11.00pm, time management on both a personal and strategic level was critical. Times were quickly and effectively designated for lunches and end of shifts, as well as allocated slots to assemble and dissemble areas of the venue with minimum disruption.

Setting up events required basic health and safety training which was communicated via myself to the team of stewards on duty at the time. Contingency planning and scheduling team meetings ensured the event did not fall behind and open late at any point during the week.

Problem Solving & Hospitality

Similar to last year, problems arose which had to be proactively approached and resolved. However, the responsibilities of head steward meant that a much vaster quantity of problems were brought to attention, with many stewards approaching looking for help. Effectively managing these problems and re-allocating stewards to solve such issues was important and efficiently overseen.

Hospitality comprised of one-to-one (for example looking after international guests) and one-to-many (looking after groups of attendees). Head steward priorities meant, at times, that this was effectively delegated to other members of the steward team.

Event Engagement

One of the most enjoyable parts of the week long event was engaging with customers and team members. Managing queues of up to 2,000 at some points in the week, there was plenty of opportunity to interact with customers and gain valuable feedback on the event.

Over the five days 40,000+ attendees entered the event, managed predominantly by a 5 strong satellite team, a couple of head stewards (including myself) and a handful of stewards (30+). The event ran well, like a small business, with only minor issues which were quickly and efficiently dealt with.

GameCity 5 – Volunteer Steward

The GameCity experience began in October 2010, when I took part in the annual festival (GameCity5) in the center of Nottingham. Working as an official steward for the event included tasks such as attracting and interacting with audiences, potentially communicating to large groups at times, as well as providing consumers with specific, concise and appropriate information.

Punctuality was essential in order to attend the daily morning meetings where the daily events would be explained and teams would be established. Quick thinking was also vital in order to promptly solve a variety of both technical and practical problems as they arose.

Following from the GameCity5 festival, I took part in several monthly GameCity events (called GameCity Night’s) including the Season 2 Launch Party. Many of the same attributes were expected during the smaller scale Night’s events, and general ‘helpful tasks’ were executed throughout the night to help the event run smoothly.

Volunteering at the GameCity events enabled me to interact with consumers which helped with the research phase of my Final Year Dissertation. However, it also gave me a unique opportunity to see the inner-workings of events, which I had only done previously at Science World 2010. The work also gave me the oppertunity to work on the GameCitizens website, as well as make lots of new friends during my time as a steward.