Page 6 - Volume 40-Number 03 05-25-17

Recently on the LHAT Chat, Numa Saisselin from the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville asked for
suggestions on ways to organize and reward volunteer ushers. Numa was kind enough to compile
the following summary of responses:

IN GENERAL

• Any volunteer reward system should be specified in writing in the volunteer handbook, so
expectations are established up front.
• Your volunteer group should have a name. For example, the Ambassadors. It is important that the
volunteers themselves choose their own group name.
• Volunteers should have a uniform, or standard attire. Again, they should choose it.
• The venue provides their name badge. If a branded scarf, tie, jacket or vest is used in the uniform,
some organizations pay for that, and some organizations ask the volunteer to pay for it.
• Some organizations also make use of student volunteers, because most students need volunteer
hours in order to graduate. Organizations report having the best success with students by using
them for a festival, or over a specified “student weekend,” which concentrates their hours (and
focuses their teenage attention span) on a specific time frame.
• All volunteer ushers usually receive complimentary snacks, popcorn, coffee, tea, soda and water.
Some organizations provide this through their concession stand (which requires tracking separate
from sales) and some provide it through a separate usher room or area.
• Someone (a staff member or an usher committee member) should send birthday and get well
cards. If someone ushers on their birthday, the usher meeting should include cake and “Happy
Birthday.”
• All volunteer names should be published in a magazine, the annual report, or the playbill.
• The volunteers at some organizations have their own newsletters, and/or their own social media
sites.
• Some organizations recognize “Super Ushers,” who are the ushers who attain a superior level of
training and experience.
• Some organizations have a formal governing board or council for their volunteer ushers, with
annual elections.

TICKETS AND MEMBERSHIPS

• Ushers should not be able to just request comp tickets. Comp tickets should be earned.
• If tickets are offered as a reward, a point system should be defined. Some organizations have a
“one show equals one point” system, and some organizations have a “one hour equals one point”
system. Having points tied to hours means that those ushers working all the way to the end of a
show are rewarded for staying.
• Ushers who are “no shows” or who are late should lose points.
• Once a week or once a month, the point totals are added up. Anyone who has reached the
requisite number of points receives a certificate that can be redeemed at the box office for two
tickets. Once a certificate is issued, that usher’s points reset to zero. Once the certificate is issued,
it is the usher’s responsibility to redeem it. Certificates are transferable to someone else, but tickets
cannot be resold.
• If you are starting a point system, look back 12 months and give the ushers the points they would
have earned over the previous 12 months.
• 10-12 shows a year seems to be some sort of standard. Using the “one hour equals one point”
method, if the average show shift is about 4 hours, then 12 shows a year (one a month) would

PAGE 4 | Spring 2017 InLeague