Holmenkollen Skifestival is a well-known name to most people. Every year it invites everyone to a big public celebration in Kollen, with World Cup events in Nordic disciplines and biathlon, as well as RAW AIR. To handle thousands of spectators, athletes, support staff, press and a whole range of other tasks, it depends on many volunteers. And for that to work, it needs a system that takes all this into account.
Developed in collaboration
This spring, the management of Holmenkollen Skifestival began looking for an alternative to the volunteer portal they already had. World Cup Kvitfjell and World Cup Lillehammer have already been using Rubic's volunteer module for many years, and it was the latter organiser that told the festival about this system.
- There aren't many systems of this kind on the market, and World Cup Lillehammer spoke highly of it. The original volunteer portal is probably more than good enough for most, with many good features for managing volunteers. At the same time, we are a relatively complex event organiser with some special needs. That's why we entered into a partnership with Rubic to develop the existing solution so that it also takes these needs into account, explains Jonas Islann Fremstad, marketing coordinator and volunteer manager at Holmenkollen Skifestival.
- We have had a very good collaboration all along, working closely together to find the best solutions. I feel we understand each other well. We are also very proud to work with such a large and renowned customer as Holmenkollen Skifestival, and we depend entirely on this kind of collaboration to develop our solutions. The people who work with this every day see the needs that arise and see what works, says Lisa-Marie Hovland, adviser at Rubic.
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Photo: Jacques Holst
Playing as a team
The solution is all but finished, and the volunteer portal for both the Biathlon World Cup and Skifest & RAW Air in March 2023 is open for volunteer registration. The organiser already has a volunteer base of almost 2,000, but new people keep joining every year. And a week-long ski festival demands that many.
- Rubic's volunteer portal handles everything from registering personal details to food allergies, which days the volunteer wants to work and, not least, which venues they want to work at. Here Rubic has really been a team player and created a solution where it's possible to choose three different options, and the manager of each venue can approve or reject the request. If it's rejected, the volunteer is automatically moved on to their next preferred option. A good solution that saves us a lot of work, says Fremstad, before continuing:
- We have also collaborated on a new shift schedule feature. I know we're going to benefit a lot from it. Among other things, it makes it possible to assign shifts to a whole group or several people at once. That's very time-efficient. We're now taking a look at the accreditation system and what changes are needed there. For now we print physical accreditation cards, but in the longer term we'd probably like to use the solution that already exists in Rubic Connect, with accreditation in the app – it's more sustainable.
- Holmenkollen Skifestival has very independent group leaders, so we have built a completely new user interface that makes it much easier to allocate shifts and keep track at different levels and departments. We can see that we have a very strong volunteer tool that we're pretty much alone in offering, adds Hovland.
Peace of mind through good availability
More and more people in winter sports are choosing to use Rubic, not least because of the possibilities offered by its volunteer management.
- Over the last few months, Rubic has quite simply conquered winter Norway. We can see that many of those we work with and are in dialogue with now also use the same system as us. We see that as a big advantage, says Stefan Marx, general manager of Holmenkollen Skifestival, and continues: That way, volunteers only need to register their contact details once and can then choose which events they want to help out at. Our fantastic volunteers are often happy to help at several events a year.
- We're now looking forward to getting properly started with the system and using all its features. We expect it to considerably simplify the administration of our complex events and communication with our volunteers, he adds.
- We've found the collaboration to be very good, both with Lisa-Marie and Rune, who we've had the most contact with, and with the developers, who have taken part in meetings and are available for questions. I especially want to praise them for their availability – we can call at any time of day or night. That gives us real peace of mind, which we'll take with us into the events in March 2023, concludes Fremstad, and Hovland adds:
- World Cup Lillehammer and World Cup Kvitfjell have been with us since the start and helped build the original volunteer module. This year, in addition to Holmenkollen Skifestival, we have also brought on board Vikersund Hoppsenter, Skiforeningen and the Norwegian Ski Championships in Gjøvik in January 2023. The goal is to bring the ski sports organisations together after one year to share experiences, learn from each other and create a strong community where everyone can benefit from each other, as well as keep developing the module further.
Photo: Jacques Holst
Sign up as a volunteer for this year's events in Holmenkollen:
Click the link and sign up as a volunteer:
– Biathlon World Cup
– Nordic World Cup (Cross-country, Nordic combined and Raw Air)