Volunteer Event Guidelines for Volunteers

SCOPE OF PROGRAMMING

As you begin your planning, please be sure to check the College virtual programs calendar for alumni and families to see upcoming events hosted by the College. You will also need to speak with your regional or class liaison in the Advancement office to learn more about programs in development with your class officers or regional volunteers to be sure you're not duplicating other volunteer or staff efforts, or tapping a speaker who has already committed to another College or class program.

Similar to the panels and presentations planned by classes for Reunion, volunteer-led programs provide opportunities for intellectual engagement, community and connection. Our alumni and friends represent a wide variety of professional and personal experiences, and you’re encouraged to draw on this breadth of expertise to create engaging programming. As you develop program topics, consider what will be most meaningful to your audience and what skills and knowledge your suggested guests can bring to the discussion.

Volunteers should work directly with staff to determine an appropriate number of events based on College and volunteer resources.

Please note that only programs that follow these guidelines and the Amherst College Terms and Conditions of Use will be supported by College staff and resources.

SUPPORT FROM ADVANCEMENT STAFF

 Advancement staff, in concert with volunteers, will manage the following tasks only for events that have been approved by the Advancement office: 

• Coordinating Zoom planning meetings for program planners, as needed, to manage final program details prior to the event. This may also include practice meetings for presenters.
• Sending out email communications announcing programs, managing registration and providing Zoom links. Volunteers may assist with drafting these communications, including program descriptions; final decisions on wording and timing of emails rest with the office of Advancement Communications, to ensure consistency in messaging and manage email frequency. We need at least a week's notice before sending any emails through the College's email system, and if there are other communications already on the calendar, we may not be able to accommodate your first choice of email dates.
• Hosting the event and assisting volunteers with technical issues behind the scenes. 
• Events cannot be recorded without written permission from speakers and all visible participants (Zoom Webinar is an option that will ensure only speakers are visible, not participants). The College may occasionally share recordings on its website or via social media or email, depending on the content, the intended audience and what other virtual events are happening, but we can’t guarantee that ahead of time. 

REQUIREMENTS FOR REQUESTING FACULTY, STAFF OR STUDENT PARTICIPATION

If you would like to invite students, faculty or staff members (e.g. a coach, a librarian, museum staff, etc.) to be part of your program, you must work through a member of the Advancement office, so that we can first consult the Office of Student Affairs, the Office of the Provost and Dean of Faculty, the director of athletics or the relevant department head. In this increasingly busy digital world, those department heads need to ensure that no one faculty or staff member is overburdened with event requests, and that we’re being mindful of student schedules. We greatly appreciate your cooperation with this requirement—we’re not the only office that sponsors events, and working with your Advancement liaison helps make sure we don’t have competing or repetitious events.