Member Spotlight: Designing an Extraordinary Guest Experience by Empowering Your Volunteers

What would it look like if volunteers had the power to design a magical guest experience at your organization? Ashley Rieser, Director of Volunteer Services & Front of House Guest Experience is helping volunteers create a lasting love of the arts at Pittsburgh Cultural Trust by giving volunteers some room to be creative. 

Chelsey: Hi Ashley! Tell me a little bit about Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. 

Ashley: My organization is the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and we are the third or fourth largest organization of performing arts in North America. We have the fourth-largest stage here at the Benedum Center. We have festivals throughout the year, as well as several art galleries that we oversee.

The mission of our volunteer program is to create a lifelong love of the arts for our patrons, engage them in a magical guest experience, and make the arts accessible for all.

I’m the Director of Volunteer Services and Front of House Guest Experience, so I oversee the department. I oversee both volunteers and our front-of-house part-time staff. The volunteers are engaged in all the activities that we do, and our staff is there to support and oversee them. That includes our house managers, our floor managers, and our ambassadors for live performances.  

Chelsey: It sounds great that your volunteers have that kind of support network, you know, more people than one to go to for questions. How would you say your volunteers impact your organization?  

Ashley: We couldn’t do what we do without our volunteers. They are the lifeblood of the organization. What really sets us apart is that magical guest experience that the volunteers provide to every patron that comes through our doors.

Whether that’s at one of the performances or at a festival, walking around providing direction and guidance to those individuals that are enjoying a festival. We basically couldn’t run a performance without the volunteers.

We need about 60 volunteers at our biggest venue per night for the performance. And without them, we would probably have to shutter our doors. 

Chelsey: You said something interesting there, the magical guest experience. I want to hear more about that and how you get your volunteers involved in that and what you are striving for your patrons to feel at your events and performances. 

Ashley: Creating a magical guest experience is really our theme. Although our patrons enjoy seeing what’s on the stage, what they’re going to remember is the interactions that they have with our volunteers and our front-of-house staff that create a lifelong memory. 

Recently, we had Frozen come to the Benedum Theater, and all the little girls and boys were dressed up as their favorite frozen character. And our team went out of their way to make sure that each one of them felt special, even though we had a full house, giving them direction on where they could get their picture taken so that it looked like a behind-the-scenes setting for them.  

And those are individuals who, it might be their very first experience as young children coming into the theater and that’s what they’re going to remember growing up. They’re going to remember that moment when a volunteer said, ‘Oh, don’t you look beautiful in that dress”, or, “We’re so glad that you came,” or “Come over this way, I want to show you something special that Elsa has.”

That’s what is going to stick with them and make them want to come back time and time again as they continue to grow and become patrons themselves. There used to be a commercial where they said the cost of this or the cost of that was X amount, but at the end of the day, it was priceless. Creating an experience is truly priceless. Our volunteers create something that, that we just couldn’t duplicate in any other way.  

Want to read more on creating a user experience that can keep volunteers engaged? Check out Volunteer UX: The #1 Key to Deeper Engagement HERE>>

Chelsey: I know that this probably goes beyond training and is built into the culture. How do you build that type of buy-in into that magical guest experience with your volunteers? 

Ashley: There are a couple of components that are very important to that. The sense of teamwork, knowing that everyone is there working together to create that experience. We try to move away from a particular volunteer position and just have a volunteer team that is assisting, really focusing on stepping in wherever they see the opportunity to create a magical experience.

The second part is communication. It is very important that we are in constant communication with our volunteers to know what’s working, and what’s not. They’re there at all our events and they really have an insight that’s very unique in terms of how we can best grow the program.

Their voice is so very important. We have a volunteer advisory council that we meet with every other month to get also additional insight and recommendations. We can’t grow the program without their support and insight.  

Chelsey: I love that, that kind of autonomy you give to your volunteers like, “Hey, if you see where you could do something to make this special, that’s great.” For a volunteer being able to think outside the box and reach out authentically in their own way is just awesome.  

Ashley: Our volunteers can’t create a magical guest experience unless they themselves feel like it’s a magical experience for them. We want to make sure that there are no barriers to their enjoyment of their experience.

We want them to want to come back by enjoying what they’re doing, how they’re interacting, and sharing their love of the arts with the patrons. If there is a barrier to that we want to fix it, improve it, and continue to grow.  

Chelsey: How did you get into the field of leading volunteers?  

Ashley: I started with an organization called Venture Outdoors around 12 years ago. My mission was to get people outside, and I think I signed up for every single outside activity that I could possibly do…kayaking, rock climbing, bicycling, because I just loved it and I wanted to stay in shape to a certain degree. And I think I was there so much that they had to hire me. 

I started there overseeing the volunteers and the programs. I was leading some of the programs, too. I was working with a volunteer advisory council there as well to determine which programs were the best and which ones we could put forward. 

I then moved from there to Animal Friends, which is a local rescue here. Again, it was another great experience. But what I’ve found between those three experiences in my current position and at Animal Friends and Venture Outdoors, is what really matters to me.

What’s truly important is being able to connect people with those things that they love, that they have a passion for, and seeing their enjoyment of that experience and realizing that they are giving back in such a profound way. I can’t think of any other career that emulates that experience connecting people with the things that they love and enjoy.  

 

Chelsey: What’s your biggest challenge right now in your program?  

Ashley: Our biggest challenge is that we have been taking a look at where we’re going from here. The covid pandemic created a little bit of a gap in the performing arts sector, and a time when we could really assess what we needed to do to go forward.

One of the things that we’ve identified is to create a more solid and compact emergency evacuation plan, which requires some differences in the volunteer program, some new expectations, new positions, and doesn’t necessarily go along with what volunteers have been used to all the way up to this time.

Trying to bridge that understanding of although we’ve had a program that has been running in a certain way for quite a period of time, we now have to move in this new direction so that we can move forward with the way of the world today.

It is important because we can continue to grow not only the volunteer program, but as an organization and we can ensure that our patrons, staff, and volunteers are all safe whenever they’re in our venues.  

Chelsey: Do you utilize your advisory committee to help make those plans or communicate those plans?  

Ashley: We rely on them very much to get their advice when we’re considering making a change. They’re a great listening board for our volunteers who may not feel comfortable coming forward with ideas, questions, and concerns, and the committee can share them.

And then again, they reinforce changes that we’re looking to make so that they can provide better explanations sometimes than an email or a text or however the communication has been shared with the volunteers. 

Chelsey:  How did you go about building that advisory team?  

Ashley: We have a list of requirements for our advisory council. We have 13 members on the council, so they apply to be part of the council. We interview each one of them and then we make a determination from there and it rotates every two years. We’re up for a new cycle of council members beginning in January so we will replace all 13 positions. 

What do YOU need to create a strong and effective volunteer team? Read 2 Things You Need to Build the Perfect Volunteer Team HERE>> 

Chelsey:  What do you love most about your job?  

Ashley: It’s that connection. It’s the people. It’s those magical moments and seeing the effect that that has on our volunteers, knowing that they’re giving back to something that they love, which is the love of the performing arts and having such a profound effect on those that they encounter.  

Chelsey: Outside of meeting your challenge of redefining policies, what project you’re working on now? 

Ashley: We are focusing a lot on the teamwork and the communication aspect between staff and volunteers. We’ve been working on establishing more of that sense of comradery with our team. We plan on doing some interactive training that involves both the volunteers and the floor managers to develop that sense of trust and openness. 

Chelsey: We have seen some places have turnover with staff and how that has affected the balance of volunteers being able to come in and have that sense of, “I know this person and I know how things are going.” Have you had that type of situation? 

Ashley: Yes. Well, actually it was a benefit for me. In my department, the role of Volunteer Manager was available and open throughout the pandemic. I was able to hire someone in the spring, and having that additional person has really freed up a lot of time for me to work on some higher-level projects that I’ve been anxious to get to and that I just haven’t had a chance to before this time. 

We did have staff turnover in the organization, in our volunteers, and our front-of-house staff, but not as much as actually what we expected to see.  

Chelsey: That’s good that you were able to hire and can turn your focus. How did your volunteers stay connected during shutdowns and moving virtual? 

Ashley: It was important for us to stay in contact with the volunteers. We had updates from time to time. We hosted a virtual sort of Christmas party where we had some members of the staff who are quite talented singers perform for them in that virtual setting. We also had a magician come on for them, too.

We reached out to them during Volunteer Appreciation Week. We had a staff dress up as a pizza delivery person and did some deliveries on their porches, with social distancing, of a pizza and a drink and maybe some popcorn to watch a movie so that they felt still connected to what we were doing.

I also developed a program called “Love Letters to Our Volunteers,” that are short videos from different staff and various departments talking about what volunteers mean to them and how much they appreciate the work that they did. We shared those during the Volunteer Appreciation Week.  

We also had some volunteers talk about their experience and what they’ve enjoyed about being a volunteer. They got to see a mix of different short video clips.  

Chelsey: I always enjoyed it whenever my colleagues and leadership got involved and were able to share how much volunteers mean, because hearing it from you or hearing it from other volunteer department staff is wonderful but it hits a little differently. 

Ashley: I think it’s very important that our entire organization shows their support for our volunteers and how much they do to keep our organization running.  

Chelsey: Did you see any changes in how many volunteers came back to serve when your organization opened back up? 

Ashley: I really thought that we would lose quite a large component of our volunteers. We have a bit of an older demographic, but we didn’t see that so much.

There were some volunteers that stayed away for a period of time, like six months or so, and now they’re starting to come back. They’re starting to get involved again. I think they’re starting to feel a little bit more comfortable being out and among others.

We do encourage and support anyone who wants to continue to wear a mask if they feel more comfortable doing so. But I didn’t see the attrition problem that I expected to. 

Chelsey: That’s good news. I think a lot of people are wanting to do stuff and get involved again, so that’s good. What would you say to someone that was thinking about joining VolunteerPro?  

Ashley: VolunteerPro is a phenomenal resource. There are templates to utilize. There are forms, there are webinars that you can watch. It’s a wealth of information right at your hands that you can tap into at any time that you’re looking to develop a piece of your program.

I also find that the webinars are really state-of-the-art and provide information that’s on the cutting edge of what volunteerism is doing at the moment. I utilize it almost every day.  

Interested in VolPro membership? Learn more about the The VolunteerPro Membership Experience HERE>> 

Chelsey: If you had one piece of advice for a new leader of volunteers, what would you say to them?  

Ashley: Work-life balance and to keep that in mind. Volunteer Administrators tend to wear so many hats, and sometimes they have other titles because they’ve got other positions that they’re handling as well as overseeing the volunteers of an organization.

That’s a lot to juggle by yourself. Again, that’s why an organization like VolunteerPro is so important because you’re not alone in that. You have that support and you have those tools in terms of trying to manage everything.

Just remember that you have to take care of you in order to do all of those other things.  

Chelsey: Now it’s time for some fun questions! What has been your favorite travel destination? 

Ashley: It would be to Japan. My brother got married over there, so I went over for a wedding in Kyoto and that was quite an experience that I don’t think even most tourists get to experience, which was really neat. So that was probably my favorite place, although I’m headed to Italy soon, so stay tuned.  

Chelsey: Sounds fun. With work-life balance in mind, what are your hobbies? 

Ashley: I have a few hobbies but I collect antiques. I like to go antique shopping and collecting. That’s probably what I enjoy the most. I also do yoga. I was training to be a yoga instructor. I do all sorts of things like martial arts, tai chi, kung fu, and yoga.  

Chelsey: Thank you so much for agreeing to be the VolunteerPro Member Spotlight this month! 

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