Beijing Paralympic Opening Ceremony, city volunteers waved their arms to welcome the audience. Photo provided by the interviewee
On the opening day of the Beijing Paralympic Games, as the leader of the planning and dispatching team of the Beijing Urban Volunteer Command, Liu Nian and his colleagues arrived at the command dispatching center located at the south gate of Olympic Forest Park at 11:30 to conduct the final preparations before the opening ceremony.
On this day, around the Bird's Nest of the National Stadium, more than 1,200 urban volunteers from 9 universities including Tsinghua University , Central University for Nationalities , Beijing University of Chemical Technology and other voluntary services. On the large screen of the command and dispatch center, Liu Nian can clearly see the departure and arrival of the volunteer vehicles. "Students will take a break after arriving. We will explain the precautions and mobilize everyone's emotions." During the
Beijing Winter Olympics and the Paralympics, there were more than 750 stations around Olympic venues , important transportation hubs, and key streets and communities, and a total of 200,000 urban volunteers were on duty to serve. A reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network interviewed the efficient command and dispatch team behind this enthusiastic and thoughtful "volunteer blue" in the warm live broadcast room - the command and dispatch center.
All working groups cooperated with each other to build a skeleton for command and dispatch
In order to do a good job in urban volunteer service, at the beginning of preparation, the urban volunteer command center established a strict command and dispatch system. The nine working groups including planning and dispatch, recruitment and training, publicity and incentives, epidemic prevention and control, and material support cover all aspects of volunteer services, supporting the large framework of volunteer command and dispatch.
In this team of more than 80 people, Liu Nian’s planning and dispatching team undertakes more tasks of internal communication and external coordination. From the selection of early urban volunteer service sites, the preparation and planning of urban volunteer classification, service content, etc., to the grasp of the focus and work rhythm during the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, to the transformation of Olympic heritage after the game... they all need to participate in consideration and communication.
For example, the setting of more than 700 urban volunteer service sites is inseparable from the close cooperation of the planning and coordination group and 43 external member units. This not only includes 16 administrative regions and economic and technological development zones under Beijing, but also includes more than 20 units including the Women's Federation, Trade Unions, Parks, Railways, Disabled Persons' Federation , Sports Bureau, etc. "The setting of our urban volunteer service site is combined with the operation of the entire city, so communication with member units is very important," Liu Nian explained.
Among the 200,000 urban volunteer service team, the 1,200 volunteers participating in the opening and closing ceremony seemed particularly special. Although they are responsible for the services of the bird's nest and non-closed loop areas outside the public areas, they have potential epidemic risk points because they have guided many audiences entering the bird's nest's closed loop area to watch the performance, so the command center is particularly cautious about their scheduling and management.
On the one hand, the planning and coordination group should communicate and cooperate with the epidemic prevention and control group in a timely manner to ensure that all volunteers completed the three-dose vaccination before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, and were able to undergo nucleic acid tests on a regular basis, and ensure that they had relatively centralized management in the school; on the other hand, on the day of the event, they should work with the staff of the opening and closing ceremony service and guarantee command center to do a good job in the departure, post allocation, emotional mobilization, etc. on the opening and closing ceremony.
Timely handles the "small episodes" in volunteer service
In fact, some "small episodes" are inevitable in the process of volunteer dispatch, and the planning and dispatching team can be regarded as the veritable "fire-fighting team" of the urban volunteer command.
It is understood that in the full-process and full-element drill before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, such a "small episode" appeared - because most of the 1,200 urban volunteers responsible for the distribution participated in such a grand volunteer service for the first time, some people were a little nervous and unable to let go when facing the audience.
After understanding the situation, the staff of the city volunteer command immediately contacted the teachers who were responsible for creating the audience atmosphere in the large-scale events of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party and the 70th anniversary of the National Day, as well as the team responsible for creating the atmosphere of the opening ceremony in the Bird's Nest to "learn from them".
"The opening ceremony is coming soon, and the adjustment time left for us is very limited." By asking professionals, Liu Nian and his colleagues found that on the basis of the volunteers' basic etiquette knowledge, how to mobilize the volunteers' emotions is the crux of the problem.
In response to this, Liu Nian, his colleagues and staff from the service and guarantee command center of the opening and closing ceremony, drafted a response plan and atmosphere creation guide overnight. "The purpose is to let volunteers know what kind of hard work and progress our country has gone through to bid for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Beijing, as the only "Double Olympic City" in the world, what kind of spiritual outlook should urban volunteers show." In addition to boosting morale,
also arranged gestures, language and other ways to increase interaction with the audience. For example, raise your right arm and wave to express your welcome, and extend your left and right hands to indicate guidance of the route; volunteers can take the initiative to say hello to the audience, saying, "Happy New Year, welcome to the opening ceremony to watch the performance", "Good luck in the Year of the Tiger, let's look forward to the future together", "Thank you for your hard work, please be careful and wish you good night"...
Facts have proved that this method works. On the night of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, many volunteers waved their arms to welcome the audience. Some of the audience who came to the scene waved their hands to respond, while some couldn't help but pick up their phones to record this unforgettable moment.
On the Olympic Landscape Avenue, a volunteer who waved his arms and enthusiastically said to the audience leaving the audience, "It's hard to watch the show, please pay attention to your feet, I wish you good night" left a deep impression on Liu Nian. "I stood silently behind her. I counted on the watch and said it more than 20 times in one minute."
Undergraduate zodiac, Xiao Shuchen, from the 2020 Academy of Social Sciences at Tsinghua University, was also providing road guidance services to the audience at the scene. He said: "When we stood outside the bird's nest and saw the gorgeous fireworks blooming in the air, the national pride in my heart arises naturally, and all the fatigue and cold are left behind. I am very glad that I can witness this historical moment. This is the most meaningful thing I did at the age of 20."
The two Olympics are equally wonderful
From the Winter Olympics to the Paralympics, the event conversion also means the adjustment of urban volunteer service.
For example, with the closure of the news center site on February 20, 300 news center volunteers were removed; similarly, with the successful completion of the event, the four volunteer service sites around the two competition venues of Capital Stadium and Wukesong Sports Center in Haidian District, Beijing have also been cancelled, but through planning and coordination, relevant volunteers will continue to participate in volunteer services at other sites.
The four "accessibility" of concepts, information, hardware facilities, and services are the guidelines followed by urban volunteer services in the Paralympic Winter Olympics, and also puts higher requirements on their professional skills. After
entered the Winter Paralympic cycle, the command center recruitment training team began to start more stringent job training for volunteers, and also specially set up service knowledge and skills training courses for the disabled. Before the opening ceremony, through linking with the Disabled Persons' Federation, the audience and the ticketing command, the city command learned that in the opening and closing ceremony and in each event, they invited some disabled people to come and watch.
"Some of them have a need for accessibility, some have a need for wheelchairs, some have a need for sign language, and some have a need for accompanying, which is more complicated. For example, everyone may think they can push wheelchairs, but they still don't know some details if they don't get started." Liu Nian communicated with the recruitment training team again.
During the Winter Paralympic Games, in order to allow disabled people not only to feel the warm hearts of volunteers, but also to experience their cautious, meticulous and thoughtful service, the recruitment training team invited teachers from universities such as Communication University of China to carry out practical training for volunteers in sign language and disability service etiquette.
In addition to helping disabled volunteers, the Disabled Persons' Federation has also organized a team of co-managers of nearly a thousand disabled people to participate in volunteer services. From "being helped" to "self-help" and "helping others", they are also showing the humanistic care of "Two Olympic City" with practical actions.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Network Intern Reporter Wang Zhe Source: China Youth Daily
Source: China Youth Daily
