Minnesota Orienteering Club: Volunteering

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Volunteering

Meet Director | Registration | Start/Finish | Results | Control Retrieval

Meet Director

Prior to the meet:

Call/connect with the setter or vetter in the week before your meet and confirm where the start is going to be located at the park. (Also to be sure you know how to get to the meet location!). Also discuss who is bringing the maps.
Pick up the "O-meet direction" signs and the meet supplies/boxes before the day of the meet. Most convenient way is to put them in your trunk at the prior meet if you attend it. If not, call the prior meet's director to see who has them.
Contact the previous meet director and obtain results to post at your meet.
Check with Julia Bohnen (Parks Liaison) at (763)-537-4397 to be sure that you will have the use permit issued by the park authority. While usually not needed, we have been asked by park rangers to produce the use permit to establish we are using the correct shelter or for other reasons.
Make a plan for control retrieval - do it yourself? Ask people at the meet? Call ahead and ask people - especially the next setter, who will need the controls. Note that retrieval can and is done by "area", not necessarily by course. So even if you are exhausted by your course, you can still help by retrieving a couple of controls. The key is to not end up with only one or two people doing retrieval.
Contact the next meet director to determine if he/she will pick up the meet equipment.
In the spring (April 1 - May 30th ) there will be a large JROTC High School Conference attendance at the MNOC meets. Therefore a complete set of master maps (2 of each) is required for them, in addition to the master maps normally used at a meet. Contact Frank Hanson (JROTC Coordinator) at (651)-683-1548 and determine how many additional master maps will be needed. Advise setter of the number needed for each course.

Note: The club has support equipment such as a stakes and rope (for start line and finish chute), a tent, a 3' x 3' folding table, coffee flasks, extra signage, etc . This equipment can easily be obtained for the meet from the equipment manager.

Day of the meet:

While the meet's first start time is noon, you're expected to be the early bird" (not counting the setter/vetter). Be there at least by 11:30. Depending on what you decided with the setter prior to the meet, transfer or have the maps and clue cards to/in your car.
Next, at the actual start location in the park, (by 11:30), get the registration materials carried to the table (registration volunteers should be there by now to help).
Find the registration and start volunteers and in general help/oversee as appropriate.
Set up start/finish banners.
Arrange to have directional signs put up near the park.
Post results of last meet and list of upcoming A-meets on bulletin board.
BE AGGRESSIVE ABOUT ASKING FOR HELP ON CONTROL PICKUP DURING THE START TIMES...OTHERWISE YOU END UP DOING!
Lastly, it's your role to be sure the other volunteers are relieved in time to compete.
After registration closes, be sure to pick up the waiver sheets and money from the conference.
Confirm signs are taken down (usually by next meet's director).

After the meet:

Check the punch cards, collect the results and write a short blurb about the meet. E-mail it to the newsletter editors (Keith & Carol Ottoson, (612)-447-1977, ottoem50@aol.com) and the webmaster (Pete Curtis, (651)-602-0713, compass@mnoc.org). Also forward a hard copy to the next meet director before the next meet.
Balance the cash box and registration worksheet. Deliver with waiver sheets to the treasurer (Sam Meddaugh, (651)-454-8256, smedaugh@usfamily.net .)
Get all meet supplies to the next director and controls to the next setter, if you haven't already.

Registration

Be at the meet location by 11:30 am.
Unpack the registration boxes, brought by the meet director.
Check that you have all of the following: waiver sheets, cash box, maps, colored cards, clue sheets, and box of whistles and compasses.
While setting up, meet with someone from the high school conference and make sure that they have the materials for their separate registration.
Expect that there are always those hoping to complete their registration before noon to get out first at noon. Try and be ready by 11:45 am to accommodate them!
If a new(er) orienteer is unsure about course selection, or needs help or instruction, call over the meet director or an experienced club member to assist them. First of all we want them to enjoy the experience and get patient attention, and secondly we don't want to end up with a line for the others. (i.e. You don't have time to do this if there are other people waiting to register.) Note: Do not allow first time orienteers to go out on green or red. Orange is also to be discouraged. We want the first experience to be successful and fun, not overwhelming or discouraging. Tell people that if they complete the white or yellow course easily, they can still go out on the next level, provided they return from the first course before 2:00.
If someone pays to join or renew their membership be sure that they fill out a membership form so we know who they are.
You should be able to be relieved by 1:00 or 1:30 so you can go out and compete unless the meet attendance is heavy. Don't hesitate to discuss this with the meet director.
The last start times should be given at 2:00 so stop registering people by then or a little before. This is important so that all the runners get back by a reasonable time.
If you are not in a hurry to leave consider staying around to help collect controls after all the runners are back.

Start/Finish

Be at the meet location by 11:45 am.
Set out the master maps if not already out.
Give JROTC their set of master maps and let them set them out.
Be sure to get car/license plate number on the back of the card stubs you keep!
Try and space the runners by three minutes on specific courses. Be alert for backups/lines on one course when there are others in line for different course(s)...keep all courses moving. Don't hesitate to pull people forward out of line.
If you plan to go out on a course you can solicit early runners to help relieve you at start/finish when they get back in or talk to the meet director. Don't be a martyr... you should get out easily by 1:30.
The last start times should be given at 2:00. This is important so that all the runners get back by a reasonable time.
If you are not in a hurry to leave consider staying around to help collect controls after all the runners are back.

Results

Try and be out by noon so that you can return and start the results "clothes-line" without too much of a backlog.
Be very careful to match up the card stubs with the returned cards. This is our primary method to ensure we don't leave someone out in the forest, or needlessly mount a search for an orienteer already driving home.
Your job is basically to check the cards as they come in, tabulate the time, and hang the card on the line by course in time order. The checking of the control card is done against a set of master punch cards supplied by the setter, one for each course. All the correct punches must be there. The following rules for marking cards apply:
- If one or more of the punches are missing, the result is DNF (Did Not Finish) and time is recorded.
- If one or more of the punches is present, but does not match the punch on the master card, then the result is MSP (Mispunched) and time is recorded. The exception to this is if a participant has punched the correct control in the repunch area, and all other punches are correct.
- If the participant took longer than the maximum time allowed on the course (almost always 3 hours), then the result is OVT (Overtime) and an exact time is not recorded.
- If the participant is not eligible for competition, then the result is NR (Not Ranked), and time is recorded. For example, if the setter or vetter runs a course they obviously have an advantage over other competitors, and are not ranked.
- Participants will not normally be disqualified (DSQ) directly at the finish unless it is apparent that they visited the controls out of order. Other criteria for disqualifications exist, but the competitive aspect doesn't need to be overstressed at an informal meet.
If you are not in a hurry to leave consider staying around to help collect controls after all the runners are back.

Control Retrieval

After all the courses close, check with the meet director, or another designated person who is coordinating control retrieval. They will divide up the retrieval areas so that everything is out of the woods at the end of the day. You'll usually have to wait until most or all of the participants are finished with a course before going out.
Controls are generally picked up by area rather than course. Even picking up two or three controls close to the start area can be a help to the meet organizers. For distant controls, it's often possible to drive to a nearer spot and pick up a few near where you parked.
You should receive a master map with some or all of the controls marked on it. Make sure you know exactly which controls you're going to pick up, and be sure no one else thinks they're doing it! You don't want someone else to report a control as missing if you just picked it up a few minutes before.
If you can't find a control in the correct place, take your time to look around and be sure you've read the map correctly. Controls are rarely lost, stolen, or damaged, but it does happen. Report any problems to the meet director when you get back.