Comparing the expectations, experiences and legacies of volunteers at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo 2011 and Val di Fiemme 2013

Abstract

Volunteers play an important role in delivering events, especially events over a longer period of time. For example, the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships (Nordic WSC) take place every two years in a member country of the International Ski Federation (FIS). These events usually last 12 days and combine competitions in cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined. Furthermore, volunteers also represent one of the biggest groups of stakeholders taking part in the event. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the expectations, experiences and legacies as perceived by volunteers at two events of the same type (Nordic WSC), but staged in two different places and two different cultural settings. Therefore, 29 volunteers were interviewed; some of them at the FIS Nordic WSC in Oslo and the other half at the FIS Nordic WSC in Val di Fiemme. The interviews underline that people volunteer for many different reasons, whereat Norwegian volunteers displayed a more individualistic orientation, Italian volunteers showed a greater commitment to their local community. In addition, Italian volunteers felt appreciated by the FIS for the good organization of the events. Other differences were found in the field of community acknowledgement. Norwegian volunteers added that the Norwegian economy would not appreciate this type of experience, whereas in Italy students had to volunteer, which was also appreciated by the community. The results show that the retention rate may be higher in Val di Fiemme due to the Nordic WSC being a project-based undertaking. Hence, local community loyalty or simply hobbies could show an increase in retention. For future events further research should be undertaken in this field of research.