Thread: Volunteer Tips

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I wanted to work on a few tips for the volunteers at our base haunted house. Some of the things I thought of as common sense for scareactors seems to not be known by the other volunteers.

What I'm looking for are additional tips from all you "professionals".

I would start off with comfortable shoes and clothing (along with appropriate colors for costumes). Water bottle and snack bars. Mini flashlight and cell phone (though MAKE SURE it's off). Plus the necessary info of fire evacuation routes and roles to play.

What else is there to mention?

What do your volunteers do? Maybe depending on what they do at your haunt is what they might need. A big haunt (I'm guessing) would need some sort of communication method between volunteers, the scareactors and "management" (or whatever the appropriate word would be).

Ok, I know these aren't exactly "tips", but you may still find them useful.

Give each actor a pouch (belly bag) to wear under their costume for mini-Mag light and a whistle (for actors) or radio (for supervisors).

Develop code phrases that, when announced over the PA system, will let your staff know what's going on without alerting the guests. For example, "Four more victims!" might mean there's a fight in room #4. "We're eating well tonight!" means there's a celebrity or official coming through. You might also want to come up with code phrases for stuff like last group entering or all clear, lost child, we're speeding up or slowing down the pace, etc.

Invest in a small fridge ($100) for their break room for bottles of water instead of having them carry them around.

Arrange for CPR/First-Aid training for your supervisors (mandatory, but paid for by you) and actors (voluntary, you pay half, they pay half). Also, fire-extinguisher use training & practice.

Incorporate a referral program. Have your actors spread the word (home, school, day job, etc), inviting everyone he or she knows to come out and, when buying their tickets, tell the ticket booth staff who invited them. The ticket booth staff can keep track of the numbers on a worksheet. Have a bonus for the winner at the end of the season.

Offer a season-end bonus for those who show up every night and on time.

The communication tips are great, thanks all. The haunt is pretty big - about 80 volunteers, guides, scareactors and admissions/security. Very good idea about code phrases, we had some "roamers" in the halls to let the room haunters know when "victims" were coming - but the phrases would keep them guessing.

Also really like the idea for the CPR training and bringing guests - have quite a few firefighters/paramedics in the haunt, plus always have emergency response on site (on military base) so that's not too big a concern. Always good to have extra ability though.

Mini fridge would be great - we get about a 15 minute break between shifts and have a room to roam around in during the break where the customers can't see us. The groups came in guide-led groups about five minutes apart, so that was why we had drinks/snacks on individuals to grab a bite/drink between groups w/o waiting for the break.

Oh just thought of one myself - make sure to eat a meal before the five hour shift and go to the bathroom before the haunting starts! I remember one girl in our room who wasn't moaning just from acting - literally ran down the hall to the bathroom during the break!

It would be a good idea to let your guests know that no matter what happens, the actors will not touch you. It helps provide more safety for your volunteers. This is a tip I got from a professional haunt that my sisters and I went through. It was so scary that you would just huddle and screamed your head off in a corner when the actors popped out or ran toward you (we only squished one sister and our hearing recovered). The people who ran the haunt made a really big deal about the no touching thing because several of there actors got beat up by frightened patrons.

Be patient, pick your target, and maximize the scare.
I have only worked at one, but found those facts out fast.
Also girls react the best, so pick on them.

I couldn't agree with Noahbody more!
Watch the group and focus on the ones huddled together obviously scared! You will only disappoint yourself if you try for the guy out front of the group, shielding the scared girls. Wait until the weakest member(s) of the group get right were you want them!