Jackie Veal/Kirsty Simpson "Volunteering at Major Events in the North West"

Jackie Veal and Kirsty Simpson

Jackie has worked in the sports/events industry for over 15 years and has also worked as a Sports Development Manager within Greater Manchester which involves lots of event management. Having also worked on several major sporting events in the North West including the commonwealth games and the Salford Triathlon, all the events that Jackie works on involve working and managing event volunteers which is the area that she get most job satisfaction. This is primarily because you meet and work with a diverse range of people.

Jackie is also the Volunteer Manager for the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships due to be held in Manchester this year. The FINA WSC08 promises to be a fantastic international event, it is being staged at the Manchester Evening News Arena over the Easter weekend 2008. The arena setting lends it more of an air of stage spectacular than your regular sporting event.

Jackie has been tasked with managing the volunteering programme, from recruitment, to training to event time, to saying thanks and well done.

In a recent interview with Suzanne Glavin, Chief Executive Officer, Jackie had this to say about the championships;

�A greater skilled volunteer workforce will be an asset to future events. We have a great opportunity to give new and experienced volunteers another opportunity to work on a major event which support their professional development and keeps volunteers engaged. We are keen to place volunteers in their chosen area of interest.�

Jackie will be joined in the delivery of her session with Kirsty Simpson. Kirsty has also been heavily involved within Sport Development in the North West and well positioned to deliver a great session.

Session Outline: Volunteering at Major Events in the North West