Viva La Gong - Workplace Evaluation

While initially, through the induction process and the lack of communication between us and the cultural staff, I was worried about participating as a volunteer for the Viva La Gong festival. Though having completed the three days of work leading up to and during the festival, I feel as though it has been a mostly positive and greatly beneficial experience for me.

Everything I did over that time period was either something new or something that complemented my skillset.

I met some really amazing people who helped volunteer for the festival. Working with them fortified my team based working and managerial skills, understanding their strengths and weaknesses was vital – I had to make sure some of the smaller framed people weren’t trying to lift heavy things and that the all people could follow and understand precise instructions.

Having to work simultaneously under differing managers with differing objectives taught me the value of prioritising on the fly.

Being able to have extensive use of the radio transmitter was a great learning experience for me, having never used one in a formal context before. Learning the channels and protocols made me feel important and part of the crew. Issuing top-down orders to all the other volunteers was fun too.

Dealing with all the angry stall owners during the beginning of the festival was unpleasant, but it allowed me to see what sort of my conflict resolution strategies actually work – even if some of them were just making up fake answers or trying to calm them down as we waited for a response from the relevant people. Reaffirming my breaking point due to stress was also a handy thing to be reminded of.

Working in the greenroom with the artists was probably the most beneficial experience out of the whole festival for me. Meeting and interacting with everyone on a professional front and informally really did wonders for my confidence and interpersonal skills. Just listening and learning about what they all did was really interesting as well.

Everyone who volunteered, not just me, did an amazing job. It is no exaggeration to say that the festival wouldn’t have been possible without us there to volunteer, in fact the staff felt the need to remind us of that constantly. I’ve gained some contacts on the Wollongong council that could used to network if needed, and I’m sure this sort of involvement would look good on the resume.

I feel as though I made the best use of my time at the festival, being immersed in a variety of roles. I had the chance to learn so many new things. It was a long and hard day, but something I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of.