Creating bespoke volunteer customer service programmes for iconic international events
Summary
A great welcome is essential to ensure that customers remember these iconic events as both professionally organised and friendly, this will provide a lasting legacy for venues and host nations.
The Eurovision Song Contest, hosted by Kyiv in Ukraine in 2017, attracts over 60,000 visitors and millions tuning in worldwide. The event is an amazing opportunity for a country to demonstrate its welcome. It must deliver excellent customer service to meet the expectations of a world stage.
Large scale events can only be delivered with large numbers of well trained and managed volunteers. Embedding a high level of cultural and customer awareness and giving our volunteers the skills to create a great welcome to all that attend and participate is at the core of our Ambassador programme.
Our role was as part of the collaborative partnership between the National Television Company Ukraine, Kyiv City and the British Council to prepare the volunteers and the police to deliver fantastic customer service for the huge influx of visitors and participants from all over the world.
Cross cultural understanding is critical for the success of the Eurovision Song Contest and our Ambassador Programme was customised to deliver this. It is also designed to be a sustainable programme that will be delivered across Ukraine in the coming years.
We trained the trainers to deliver the Ambassador Programme to over 700 volunteers in Kyiv. To demonstrate the impact of the programme we implemented an evaluation process that ensured quality assurance of the trainers and also measured the quality of the volunteers’ welcome.
Eurovision represents a major opportunity for Ukraine to present itself to the world as an outward looking, diverse country. Our work with the British Council will help support Ukraine’s effective cooperation with the wider world and its ambitions for greater European integration.
Over 1000 volunteers were trained through our customised Volunteer Ambassador Programme, creating a great experience and lasting memory for visitors and participants. The programme gives staff and volunteers the skills to deliver a warm and friendly welcome to customers and visitors, and is particularly focused on their role as an ambassador for Ukraine.
The Ambassador Programme can be tailored to create customer service and cross cultural tools for application in a range of business activities where there is a need to recognise customer experiences and manage expectations.
“The British Council chose People 1st as a partner because we wanted to demonstrate excellence in volunteering throughout Eurovision 2017 and beyond in Kyiv and Ukraine. The volunteers work with artists, media, foreign delegations and guests of Eurovision 2017, as well as the production of television shows, Backstage and in the fan zones. They learnt skills to improve both communication and confidence in dealing with diverse guests and visitors to events and attractions in Ukraine and to become knowledgeable, articulate, security-conscious Ambassadors for their country”
Simon Williams, Director
British Council, Ukraine
