Volunteer Fast Pass

[fatjoe3833]

I logged into VIMS today and noticed a link to print a volunteer fast pass for the SBPLI Long Island regional. It is a PDF file with my name, volunteer number, a barcode, and a message stating that it will be used to expedite volunteer registration. It also requests that I bring the form with me to the competition.

This seems to be a new procedure and it made me curious. Is the fast pass being used at other regionals? How does it expedite volunteer registration? I have found registration at the event to be simple and fast as it is.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by fatjoe3833

I logged into VIMS today and noticed a link to print a volunteer fast pass for the SBPLI Long Island regional. It is a PDF file with my name, volunteer number, a barcode, and a message stating that it will be used to expedite volunteer registration. It also requests that I bring the form with me to the competition.
This seems to be a new procedure and it made me curious. Is the fast pass being used at other regionals? How does it expedite volunteer registration? I have found registration at the event to be simple and fast as it is.

It was used last year in Atlanta, but I'm not familiar with it being used in Regionals last year (I volunteered at 2 - then again, one was last minute, & one was just on a Wednesday to set-up, so it may have been used last year that I wasn't aware of).

It's just an easy check-in system to keep track of volunteers which is a nice idea.

On the other hand, (allow me to rant about VIMS a bit here) the lack of record keeping of VIMS & the being called on the phone every year for every event you volunteer at to be interviewed is a tad annoying though & I hope tracking volunteers who volunteer year to year is improved in the future.

[Nate Smith]

As the trainer for the Registration System Supervisor volunteer position(the job that oversees the system used at the events this year), I can shed a little more light on this subject.

As has been mentioned, last year in Atlanta, there was a test done of a computerized volunteer registration/checkin system. This has been expanded this year to the regional events. What happens at the regional(usually starting with the volunteer dinner/meeting on Wednesday evening) is that each volunteer is initially checked into the system, and marks are made to ensure that the consent forms are handed in, t-shirts are given out, etc. This allows for more accurate reporting back to FIRST. After this initial checkin, volunteers are given a name tag with a barcode on it, which allows them to scan in each day. What the Fast Pass does is provide the barcode as a quick way to find each volunteer during this checkin process. While it is not required, without it, the person operating the checkin system has to manually search for each volunteer, substantially slowing down the process.