Friday Nite Tours

Starting January 8, 2015 we are starting a new feature. In the past we have had an informal "Open Shop Friday" where potential members are vectored for first contact. Recently we wanted to increase the usefulness by scheduling a dedicated Host, a different person scheduled each night. We will try this for a quarter or two to see if we can sustain coverage and if the service is useful.

To volunteer, contact the VP of Onboarding: Matt Carpenter

Friday Nite Tours, Every Friday, 6-9PM

Setting up

Make sure there's a good-sized stack of back-up blank paper waivers in the tray. If not, print more!

At the door

Make sure everyone signs a waiver on the digital waiver station! We don't shut down the tools during tours, so they can't be here without accepting the risks. No lifeguard on duty, swim at your own risk!

If there are too many people to fit in the entryway, the classroom is the best place to "stage" them while they fill it out.

Sign 'em in on the clipboard. This establishes the guest-host relationship. Introduce yourself, and go over the blurb at the top of the sign-in sheet. It's also a valuable time to find out how they heard about us. If they say "google", find out what they searched for, please!

During the tour

Keep in mind that most visitors are using the tour to determine whether they want to become a member, so explaining things from a member perspective is most helpful.

It's easy to talk about the physical space and the tools, but use each zone as a jumping-off point to explain about zone coordinators, shared responsibility, cleaning up after yourself, helping each other learn, collaborative projects, etc.

Point out the Zone Coordinator sign in each zone that has one. (And for zones that don't, consider printing the first page of their wiki page and posting it.) If guests have smartphones, encourage them to open up i3detroit.org and click "wiki" and follow along in the various zone pages.

If anyone has questions you can't answer off the top of your head, guide them to searching the wiki for it. If you're really stuck, jump on Slack and ask.

The New Member Orientation also starts on the wiki, so point 'em there if they're eager to get going on it! But please emphasize that it can't be completed all at once, that they should visit the space lots of times (there are tons of events on the calendar!), and that meeting people is a crucially important part of membership.

Make sure you hit the phrase "This is an all-volunteer organization. All the work that needs to be done is done by members. So if you join we want more than your $49, we want your help."

That sometimes raises various questions which I am sure you can handle.

If you want to take the time and if there seems to be interest, consider offering visitors a chance to take part of i3 home with them: Point out the availability of T-shirts by the door (cash on the honor system, like everything else), or let 'em sit down at the vinyl cutter and make a "DIY" oval sticker for their car. That design is in the "Nate B" folder, and a dollar will cover materials.

After the tour

It's up to you as the host, to determine if you want to shoo your guests out at the conclusion of the tour, or encourage 'em to stick around for more of the evening. Sometimes it can be fun to take folks who just completed the tour and ask 'em to help give the next one for the next batch who just walked in -- this VERY quickly demonstrates how much trust we place in each other!

The tour period technically ends at 9pm, so this is a good time to clear the space of anyone who was lingering, unless you personally want to invite them to hang out later.