New Volunteer Orientation HOWTO

New Volunteer Application

We need to collect some information about each new person: Name, address, other contact data, etc. Mothership has a form for this, a link should go here.

Mothership resources

http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/New_volunteer_paperwork

http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Dead_trees#Volunteer_Desk

Mothership's Volunteer Application form is available here as an .odg file (LibreOffice). We will probably need to make some changes to this form before using it, like using our logo instead of theirs and changing some other information. For example, we are not currently able to provide court-mandated community-service hours as far as I know.

Free_Geek_Seattle:About

The facilitator gives a brief introduction to Free Geek Seattle and the new volunteers' potential place within it. Explain the Build and Adoption programs at minimum.

Questions from the audience

If you've done the presentation reasonably well, there will be few or no questions. If you've done it really well then there will be several, but probably not more than five minutes' worth.

FAQ

As these meetings continue we'll likely see some questions more than once. This is a place to put those questions and their answers for facilitators' reference.

Other Activities

Classes

It might be good to schedule some classes during this time. Some ideas for classes:

• Introduction to computer hardware, how to disassemble a PC (prerequisite for recycling volunteers)
• Beginning Linux command line (bash)
• Beginning Web development with HTML / CSS / etc.

Hardware recycling and refurb

Make sure that safety equipment is available (gloves, safety glasses... what else?) before letting volunteers tear into any hardware. As a facilitator you are potentially responsible for any injuries!

Make sure that teardown areas are kept neat. Fasteners should be sorted and kept in bins for reuse, parts sorted and catalogued if reusable or sent to recycle otherwise.

Things to remember

We don't own the TMC space, and we share it with several other groups and projects. Always make sure the space is left in the same condition / configuration in which you found it.

Always sign in at the FCS front desk when you arrive. They need to know we are there and are not burglars. As far as I know we are on 'the book' to be there every week, but they have a lot of scheduled events, so make sure they know we are there.