It is finally NOVEMBER!!! Time for the Canucks to go on a winning streak and its also time for the volunteers in Vancouver to gear up for the GREY CUP!!! The orientation was held in a building on the corner of W.Georgia and Thurlow. It was a two day event with different departments holding their sessions on different days. My invite was for Sunday morning, the day after the BC Lions big win over the Montreal Allouettes! Got up early and headed downtown and grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds a block away from the venue. Met up with other volunteers and headed in to check in with my team Manager of Hospitality, Stephanie. I am a Team Leader for Hospitality. The first thing we did was get the Team Leads into uniforms. There were 6 of us, so we all went up a few floors on the elevator, showed our ID's, recieved our uniforms, had a picture taken with the Grey Cup and then got changed into our uniforms to help out the Managers with the rest of the crowd waiting downstairs to get accredited. My good friend and fellow Team Lead, Rob and I were manning the elevators. We were letting groups of 10 go up the elevator when they were ready upstairs for them and talking with the crowds to find out more about them.
The Grey Cup was only scheduled to be in the building til 11:15am and people were told to come by 10am. So we had to get all the people through so they didn't miss out on that opportunity for a picture with the cup! We encouraged people to go out for something to eat and a coffee if they finished up early picking up their uniforms as they would have had to wait some time before the orientation started. Once all that was settled, we all gathered in a meeting room sitting in our departments as indicated on the tables set up. Christine Nicholls, the Volunteer Manager, got up and welcomed everyone to orientation. She introduced some speakers including Maureen McKinnon, the Volunteer Training Committee Manager, who went over our handbook of all the information we needed to make this a great experience for everyone. Then Christine introduced Scott Ackles, General Manager of the 2011 Grey Cup Festival. He went over a few things and let us know that the Olympic Cauldron will also be lit up on the Friday of the Festival. This information hasn't been released yet...so stayed tuned for more details on that soon.
Once our orientation was over, we gave out door prizes and those included anything from Gift Cards for local businesses and restaurants to a collectible hat signed by all five winning BC Lions quarterbacks in our history. I didn't win anything. After the fun and games were over, we all got together in our groups in different areas of the building. The Hospitality group met outside in the hallway and the Managers introduced us Team Leaders to everyone and briefed everyone on what to expect and what our roles will be. Once everyone left, the Team Leads had our meeting with the Managers. From what I understand, its gonna be fun. I'll be at the Galas/dinners/awards on Thursday night at the Vancouver and Convention Centre, Molson Canadian House, hosting the VIP's at the parade on Saturday near the Cactus Club and working the Grey Cup game at BC Place with the CAT team but in a slightly different role.
Our uniform colors are Orange, White and Black. We received one fleece pullover in orange and black, one white nylon jacket with orange fleece lining and an orange toque to keep us warm. Reebok supplied the outfits and made them a little bit bigger than the sizes we ordered so we could layer underneath and stay warm. So a size small for me fits like a large. I need to get my uniform exchanged soon so it fits me a bit better. I'm thinking extra-small. We also received two tickets to the Vanier Cup on Friday night. So its a nice package and souvenir from Grey Cup! Thanks!
Vancouver is expecting up to 400,000 people for Grey Cup Festival. I don't know about you but I'm getting excited....
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