Building stronger events in the City of Salisbury through volunteer training

Events are more central than ever to human culture as it is through culture that individuals, communities and nations define themselves. It wasn’t just C-EDGE’s Associate Professor Craig Lee who understood this, Sarah Bevan from the City of Salisbury’s Twelve25 also got it.

So, what do a university researcher and a local council have to work on related to events and tourism? Plenty!

On one hand, with many local volunteers participating in its Community Market Program, the City of Salisbury was keen to give volunteers a chance to learn more about event management, particularly through its youth engagement program. On the other hand, UniSA is always eager to engage in community outreach with program ‘tasters’, specifically the event program in this instance.

The City of Salisbury and UniSA developed a bespoke one-day workshop on 29 February 2024 on the fundamentals of event management skills for volunteers of the City of Salisbury Community Market Program. This program targeted young people aged 16 to 30, and participants had the chance to put theory into action by volunteering at the Salisbury Youth Market, Burton Market, Para Hills Market, and Mawson Market.

The hands-on workshop gave volunteers practical insights on managing events such as designing event experiences, planning and developing events, conducting a risk assessment, occupational health and safety, and the importance of community events and recruiting and motivating volunteers.

The collaboration between the City of Salisbury and UniSA to develop and deliver the workshop was a compelling showcase of fruitful cooperation between universities and local government to achieve mutually beneficial aims.

So, what did the City of Salisbury youth volunteers think of this university training opportunity? The youth volunteers judged the workshop as ‘interesting’ and ‘beneficial’, highlighting the demand for such programs within the City of Salisbury community. They also liked being able to work on group activities, with content that was easy to understand, and the facilitators were interesting and engaging, and overall,100% 5-star reviews for satisfaction!