Coordinating A Community Event: Incident Command Vest Colors, Name Badges, & More
One of the biggest component of organizing a community event or fundraiser, such as a festival, picnic, or athletic event, is the identification and classification of volunteers. One thing that can certainly help is the incident command vest, as well as other tools, such as walkie talkies and crowd control ropes.
Color-Coded Vests
The incident command vest is available in a number of colors. Depending on the size of your event, you may opt for one color for all workers or choose to distinguish personnel with a variety of colors. Not only can each incident command vest be customized with a name badge and title, these vests also have pockets that can hold pens, paper, or money, as well as other features that make them highly functional for event workers.
Additionally, having uniform and highly visible vests will help both patrons and other volunteers easily find and identify other workers for convenience, safety, and assistance. For instance, if someone is injured during a fair, a volunteer can be easily seen to solicit help. If a booth worker runs out of prizes or change money, they can spot another worker to help get whatever items are needed.
Walkie Talkies
Until you’ve tried to organize an event, you can’t truly appreciate the value of the walkie talkie. You may think that cell phone or even just visuals are enough, particularly if the event is relatively small, but you would be surprised at how loud even just a few people can get. Being able to get instant communication with other team members to get their location or indicate where assistance is needed is priceless.
Crowd Control
Even the best of crowds can get confusing and downright messy. Help the patrons and yourself by following two basic rules. One, make signage large and clear; two, get ropes to cordon off lines to certain attractions. It may be that you have a very amicable crowd, but it is still best form to just help everyone know where they can and cannot go and help make line formations clear.
After your event is over, be sure to talk about the success of the event as it pertains to safety and coordination to make things run even more seamlessly next time.