SXSW: Scaling volunteer operations with Rosterfy

Introduction

South by Southwest (SXSW) is a major annual festival in Austin, Texas spanning film, music, and innovation, requiring thousands of volunteers to support its complex event operations.

The SXSW Volunteer Program is a vibrant and growing community. In exchange for committing to a minimum number of volunteer hours, individuals receive a volunteer badge to the festival, which grants access to the film, music, and interactive events.

• Core goal: To mobilize thousands of dedicated individuals to fill a variety of logistical, technical, and operational roles required to manage one of the world’s largest and most complex media, technology, and arts events.
• The volunteers: Their community commits to a minimum number of hours (typically 24 to 36+ hours, depending on the desired badge) and, in return, receive a badge, meal credits, and a t-shirt.
• Event management: They have been able to scale the operation through automation and a better volunteer experience – offered by Rosterfy.

The program supports the entire logistical and hospitality framework of the SXSW Conference & Festivals, enabling a massive global event to run smoothly with a diverse and enthusiastic workforce.

The Challenge

SXSW needed to rebuild and scale its volunteer program post-pandemic while managing recruitment, scheduling, training, and compliance for a large, dispersed volunteer workforce, replacing previously manual and time-consuming processes.

With a variety of roles on offer, SXSW had a number of challenges they we’re looking to overcome with volunteer management software, including:

• Volunteer check in: Due to high volunteer volume, rapid and efficient shift check-in and out is critical, a process greatly simplified by mobile-friendly VMS check-in tools.
• Varying volunteer time commitments: Different roles demand unique minimum hour commitments; accurate reporting on completed time is essential, easily handled by VMS time-tracking features.
• Multiple event locations across many dates: Events span numerous days and various locations, requiring smart scheduling and coordination, efficiently managed by VMS mapping and planning tools.
• Bespoke training: Roles necessitate specific online or in-person training; VMS profiles record completion, ensuring every volunteer meets necessary skill requirements efficiently.

The Results

The implementation of Rosterfy has redefined the volunteer experience at SXSW, driving both operational leaness and unprecedented community loyalty. By centralizing engagement, marketing, and communication within the Rosterfy portal, SXSW has successfully scaled its workforce to 2,000 active volunteers while maintaining an industry-leading 90% retention rate.

This transition has fundamentally shifted the internal workload; what previously required the equivalent of a full-time staff member’s hours (distributed across four employees) has been condensed into just 10 hours of part-time oversight per week during the event season.

Hear from SXSW on how their volunteer program has transformed using Rosterfy

The Impact

How Rosterfy has helped SXSW improve volunteer recruitment

SXSW have been able to grow their volunteer base post-pandemic thanks to a more streamlined approach to recruitment – empower by purpose built volunteer software from Rosterfy.

• Streamlined agreements: Rosterfy’s integration with Adobe Sign automated the process for sending and signing mandatory agreements, replacing the previous manual system of emailing, signing, and returning documents, which was a “huge improvement”.

• Volunteer-led scheduling: The biggest benefit to the volunteers has been the ability to pick their own schedules. This replaced a laborious manual scheduling process performed by Volunteer Managers.

• Targeted recruitment: The staff can easily view the status of crews/shifts, allowing them to redirect volunteers and promote specific areas where more people are needed, which has “helped immensely”