Volunteering at the Professionals championship: the business programme and behind the scenes
From a rehearsal and seating by region to coordinating the parade and three days at Expoforum. My experience volunteering at the Professionals 2024 final and being named best volunteer of the business programme.
In November 2024 I volunteered at the final of the Professionals championship, Russia’s national vocational skills competition, in Saint Petersburg. I passed selection into the Business Programme group, helped with preparation and the opening, worked three days at Expoforum and helped at the closing ceremony.
Before that I had experience with small events, including helping the organiser of a board games event. This was my first time working in a team of this scale: different groups had their own tasks, a shared schedule and coordinators who collected questions from the venues.
The championship itself ran 26–30 November 2024. My preparation started earlier: the group met on 15 November and rehearsed on 25 November before the opening.
Preparation: first figure it out yourself
At the first meeting we were told about the tasks, the order of work and the business dress code. At the rehearsal it became clear how big the venue would be. SKA Arena has several rings of corridors and passages that look alike. To direct participants, you first need to know where the headquarters, the hall and the assembly points are.
Getting to know the team turned out to be an important part of preparation. People came from different fields, and some already had hundreds of volunteer hours. You could ask for advice, hear about someone else’s experience and work out in advance who to turn to in an unfamiliar situation.
The opening: seating and the parade
On 26 November we arrived early to prepare the hall for spectators. We put up region numbers and set out water: participants needed to sit with their delegation and not look for seats all over the hall.
Then I gathered parade participants, took them to the right point and helped coordinate the movement. The shift was a sequence of tasks: prepare the space, gather people, lead them along the route and answer questions.
In practice small mix-ups happened, for example someone taking a seat of another delegation. I had to calmly sort it out and help them move. If a question went beyond my area of responsibility, I sent the participant to the right coordinator.
Three days of the business programme
After the opening, the work continued at Expoforum. Alongside the competition, there were discussions on training staff, education and working with employers. In a note from 27 November I wrote that one venue gathers people from different regions and professional fields, and a discussion can turn into a joint brainstorm.
I liked that the tasks kept changing. The readiness of the venue, helping people on the spot and working within the team all mattered. Behind the overall schedule were many small actions, without which a participant would not reach the right hall on time or get an answer.
The closing and supporting participants
The championship closed on 30 November at SKA Arena.
Volunteer work did not stop at navigation. We met and saw off participants, applauded and cheered the winners. At one volunteer’s suggestion we made a support corridor: serious people started smiling, and the award winners ran over to give high fives. That moment stayed with me.
I had already felt this kind of support from the other side when I ran the Pushkin Run: volunteers’ words and applause helped me keep going. At the championship I got to pass that feeling on to others.
Feedback to the team
We were thanked for conscientious work and careful attention to the details of the job. It was an assessment of our volunteer team’s work as a whole.
What stayed after the shifts
I was named best volunteer of the Business Programme track. I received an award and a letter of thanks for my contribution to the championship.
The main thing I took away is working in a large event team: finding my way around a venue, switching between tasks, keeping to my area of responsibility and asking for help in time. In a personal note after the final I called this work friendly, interesting, hard and very heartfelt. That explains why I wanted to do all the shifts and not just one.