Greeters Training Guide 2009

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Greeting is fun, but it's still work. Super fun work! Being a greeter is a wonderful way to volunteer! It gives you the opportunity to give back to the community and to be the first costumed freaky faces people see when they get to Flipside. People will recognize you for the rest of Flipside!

The all-powerful, all-knowing Greeters Cheat Sheet outlines all the questions that you’ll need to ask the people you're greeting. These sheets will be plastered everywhere at the Greeters Station on clipboards. This is your bible! Read it, love it, quote it, quiz everyone on it!

New this year:

  • PODS!!!! Because of the markedly heavy flow of people coming in last year on Thursday and Friday, we’ve come up with a creative solution to the bottleneck that happened at Greeters. Yay! There will be tiny outposts, with an umbrella, podium, and Cheat Sheets. There will be one above the Station and two on the way down to the parking areas.
  • Pod activation. Pods will be in use Thursday & Friday only and only during times of heavy traffic. Heavy traffic is a line stretching past the Greeter’s station to the dip that lasts for more than 30 minutes. The person in the Genesis Role will need to help us determine when we should expect heavy traffic coming our way so we can get into positions.
  • Pod Roles

POD1 (Initial pod): responsible for letting the 1st car in line know to continue driving until they stop at the end pod. Greet when the line of cars has stopped. Give every car a tag to put in their dash that says they’ve been greeted. Greeter Station: Greet the line of cars in front of the station once they have come to a stop. Give them a tag to put in their dash that say’s they’ve been greeted. There should be Greeters & Parkers resting up to tag out those at the pods. There should also be a DJ or an ipod of some sort! The Shift Lead should live here too so they can coordinate those at the pods and Genesis via radio. POD2 (Mid pod): Greet the line of cars in front of you once they’ve come to a stop. Give every car a tag to put in their dash so they know they’ve been greeted. POD3 (End pod): Responsible for stopping the line of cars based on the tags in the dash, greeting, handing out tags, then letting the line of cars go.

  • Greeting at the pods

At each pod, there should be at least 1 greeter & 1 parker. POD1 (the initial pod) before the Greeters station will need to let people know to keep driving past the main Greeter Station until they are stopped before the parking areas. POD1 should also let people know that they need to stay to the RIGHT when pulling off to get greeted and then merge LEFT when leaving. Once the line of cars has stopped, this POD1 will need to greet. Each pod and the Greeter Station should handle around 5 cars each. Cars should continue driving until they can’t go further and must then pull as far off the main road as possible TO THE RIGHT. This will allow cars that have already dropped their camp to drive by the greeting line and park their cars. Everyone in your group of 5 or so cars needs to get out of their cars and walk to the pod closest to them so they can be quickly welcomed & given the quiz by the greeter and then given instructions on where to park by the parker. We are aiming for 15 minutes to get everyone through. POD3 (end pod) has the responsibility of releasing the line of cars and this will take coordination with each pod and the station so all the cars leave in a line at once. We want to avoid having two lanes of cars attempting to all drive forward at once.

  • Parking/placement locations. Parking will be located with Greeters at the Greeter Station. Theme Camp Placement will be located at the wooden outlook beyond the parking areas past the bend. Everyone that’s been greeted needs to stop at Placement and pull off to the RIGHT
  • Shift Lead. Shift lead has a big role this year. The shift lead will be coordinating with Genesis via LLC radios, with Parking lead at the station, getting greeters into position at the pods, communicating with the pods via short wave radio, and providing pod greeters with rested greeters at the station.
  • Car etiquette. Hopefully most participants understand the etiquette since we’ll have to share the tiny road with two lanes of cars: a fast lane and a slow lane. The fast lane is on the LEFT and is only for cars that have been greeted and are either going to park or heading to Theme Camp Placement to get their location. All cars coming in must pull off to the RIGHT and walk to the closest pod. Once greeted, citizens should merge into the LEFT land and head to Theme Camp Placement.
  • Things at the Pods. Carpet, umbrella, podium, cheat sheet, small maps of Pyropolis, water, short wave radio to contact other pods & shift lead at the greeter station.


Things to consider:

  • Make the Greeter Station a Theme Camp. Think of the Greeter Station as Theme Camp #1 on the map. But this Theme Camp changes themes with each Greeter Shift! If your TC is covering a shift together, make your shift a part of your TC planning for this year. Brainstorm ideas together on how to greet in the spirit of your TC.
  • DJs make the shift more fun! Music is a major part of Flipside. There will be a PA system at the Station! Please take care of it! If you have a DJ in your camp, encourage them to bring their music to the Greeter Station for your shift. If the next shift wants the DJ to stay, and your DJ wants to stay, then it's all good. There will also be a CD player and a plug for mp3 players. Bring your iPod! Transportation for DJ equipment can *possibly* be handled by Parking volunteers with their Gators or the Greeter Lead, if given notice.
  • Bring drinks and snacks! You want to make sure that you have enough water to drink. It's been known to happen that greeters receive a lot of cold beers, but no cold water. You should bring snacks and cold water to your shift. Watch out for dehydration. There will be a cooler at the GS for your beverages. PISS CLEAR!!
  • Show up 15 minutes before your shift! After three hours of greeting, quizzing, drinking, and high-energy mayhem, people need to relax. And they are expecting to relax when their shift ends. Be kind to your fellow volunteers and show up for your shift 15 minutes early to get a pass-off from the previous shift. Look after each other, make sure you clean up after yourselves.
  • ALL SHIFTS are responsible for their trash! YOU are responsible for mooping the station before you leave! The Greeters station should be an example of Leave No Trace, not a gigantic fucktastrophy. Put your trash in the bags provided and haul it back to your camp. The last shift of the day is responsible for cleaning up the station. The first shift of the following day is responsible for tidying and organizing. Although these particular shifts have an extra project, let me repeat that ALL SHIFTS are responsible for hauling their own trash out!!
  • Gifts for the Greeters. This is one of the things that people like about signing up for a greeter shift. Greeters generally get gifts. Most people know to give gifts to the greeters, and love to, because they are so happy to be at Flipside. Greeters do not, however, bully people or make people feel obligated to give gifts. No intimidation. Remember, not all of the people you will be greeting will be seasoned Burners. But chances are, you'll to leave with enough gifts. This has been my experience over the years.
  • EVERYONE GETS OUT OF THEIR CARS!!!! Everyone. No excuses!! Use the barricades in a friendly and funny way to get people to stop. Make sure everyone gets greeted and quizzed!
  • Group Greeting. You have a line of cars and everyone needs to get greeted but it’s not enough to activate the pods. What do you do? Here’s how to group greet: 
   1. Pick at least 2 greeters to walk the road and flag cars to park and go down to the Station. 
   2. Pick another 2 greeters to get two groups going, asking questions from the Cheat Sheet. 
   3. The rest of the greeters should help direct Flipizens to groups that are beginning and
   holding people back until a new group starts. If you are an extra, you should tag out the 
   walkers and talkers so everyone gets a chance to rest and play.

If you do group greet, make sure everyone is comfortable with and understands the information you’ve given them. Use the mic so you don’t lose your voice. After a big group greet, it’s amazing fun to spank everyone or do a big group Ass Wash.

  • In/Out Policy. Although it is discouraged, people will be allowed to go in and out of the event. A fee will be imposed for it which Gate will take care of. People who go in and out may have a card or a sticker or something in their windshield to denote that they have been greeted and are going out and back in. This may or may not happen. If someone is telling you that they’ve already been greeted, ask them a few questions from the Cheat Sheet you can remember while standing at their car. If they sufficiently answer the questions, then let them pass. If not, drag them outta that car!
  • Staff at the Gate. There are outside people paid to take care of letting people into the event. We as Greeters don’t need to worry about tickets. Occasionally, however, some very uncool or ignorant person will not stop at the gate to get checked in. At that moment, Gate will call Greeters with a description of the car so we can try and get them to turn around. If they are driving too fast, do not be a hero or vigilante. DO NOT put yourself in harm’s way! If you are able to flag them down, do so, and politely let them know to turn around and get properly checked in. But once again, DO NOT put yourself in harm’s way.


Things at the Greeter Station:

  • The LLC Radio. The LLC Radio will not be walking away from the station. It MUST stay at the station through the entire event. Your Shift Lead should be the one to hang on to it. If your shift leader doesn’t show, call the Greeter Lead on call on the LLC Radio and let him or her know what’s up and who’s got it. There will be a sign with the channels to call the Greeter Lead, the Rangers, and PETs.
  • The Log Book. The Log Book is for recording any incidents, things that the following shift may need to know, or any other pertinent info. There may also be a checklist to aid in passing off to the next shift.
  • The Binder. There will be a binder full of all the policies of infrastructure. For example: Sound, DaFT, Burnable Art, Towing, Parking, Media, Help Desk, etc. If people have questions you cannot answer, have them refer to the binder. This binder will also have a list of all the Leads for each department and how to contact them.
  • The Cooler. The cooler is there for your beverages and perishable foods. If you use it, take your food home with you! There will be trash bags available for your refuse but you must take this with you as well. Leave no trace!
  • The Generator. This is for the DJ's equipment, the lighting, and for other things. It will need to be filled up with gas and oil once a shift. There will be instructions on it for how to do this. Be careful with the genny - you break it, you buy it, and it’s $1500. If there is a serious problem, call the Greeter Lead on the LLC Radio.
  • Maps. Hanging up at the GS, there will be a large map of Pyropolis pointing out all the Theme Camps, Parking, ICE, PETs, and Rangers. There will be small maps to hand out to people at Theme Camp Placement.
  • Chairs. You are encouraged to bring your own chairs. Sometimes chairs are sometimes donated for the event. These chairs will likely be returned to the owners. Please don't destroy them; if you see someone destroying them, ask them to stop.

Think of the GS as your Theme Camp. Take care of it and the things in it like they are your own. The Greeter Lead, Heather the Great, will help in emergency situations. She will be available via Walkie Talkie anytime the station is open.


THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE AS A GREETER -

HAVE FUN AND MAKE IT FUN FOR THE PEOPLE YOU GREET!

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