Laura Heien
GAP Director of Championship Administration
The future of sports event volunteer programs: How it can elevate the guest and athlete experience
How does your volunteer program shape the overall athlete and guest experience? Can you automate operations, scheduling, and communication without losing the authentic connection your community relies on?
Watch the recording of our live webinar, where we explored the real impact an engaged volunteer program has on the athlete and guest experience — from onboarding through event day.
You'll hear from Laura Heien of the Golf Association of Philadelphia on how a 125-year-old organization modernized its volunteer program to cut administrative time by 75%, and from marathon runner and volunteer Shannon Dority on what it actually feels like, as an athlete, when volunteer support gets it right.
Key topics covered:
Operational Efficiency
Streamline scheduling and multi-channel communication without sacrificing personal touch.
The AI Impact
Practical ways artificial intelligence is transforming volunteer management and event execution.
Burnout Prevention
Tactics to reduce administrative overhead and protect chapter staff.
In partnership with:
The real bottleneck isn't recruitment — It's friction
Gallup data shows 31% of Americans volunteered formally in the past year, while another 36% wanted to but didn’t. For sports organizations, that gap rarely comes down to lack of interest in the cause or the event. It comes down to how much friction stands between “I want to help” and actually being able to.
Key insight: The Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) addressed this by moving from a single seasonal sign-up window to year-round onboarding — capturing interest the moment someone finds them, while enthusiasm is still fresh, rather than making them wait for an annual open period.
Removing admin time doesn't reduce the human connection — It creates room for it
A 125-year-old organization running roughly 200 events a year with a full-time staff of 32 people can’t rely on manual processes to manage volunteers at scale. GAP standardized the basics volunteers expect by default — parking, check-in, role locations — and automated onboarding steps like background-check invites and training distribution.
Key insight: This shift produced a 75% reduction in administrative time for GAP — time that went directly back into community-building: adaptive golf programming, training, and face-to-face relationship building with returning volunteers.
Athletes only notice the volunteer experience when something goes wrong
Marathon runner and volunteer Shannon Dority offered the athlete’s-eye view: when volunteer coordination is done well, athletes barely register it — cheering sections, water stations, and directions blend into the atmosphere of the day. It’s usually only in hindsight that the scale of the effort becomes visible.
Key insight: The inverse is just as telling — when something goes wrong, athletes notice immediately, and it measurably raises their nerves on event day. Calm, visible confidence among staff and volunteers isn’t just a nice-to-have; it directly shapes how safe and supported athletes and guests feel.
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Martin O’Neill
Head of Marketing, United States of America, Rosterfy
Shannon Dority
Marketing Manager, (Marathon Runner and Volunteer!) Rosterfy
CONTINUE WATCHING
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REQUEST A DEMO
Ready to unlock the potential of your volunteer program?
Book a short discovery call with our team to learn how Rosterfy can help you better connect with, manage, and inspire your volunteers.
