Greeter's Manual
The Greeter mission is to enthusiastically welcome each participant (first time or experienced) home, ensure that they are educated and prepared, orient them, answer their questions, and set the vibe for their amazing experience at Burning Man.
What is H.A.P.P.Y.?
- H - Happy
- Be fun, be playful. Infectious enthusiasm! Greeters are the first impression at Burning Man. Your vibe helps to create their vibe. Welcome each and every participant.
- Be a role model.
- Come well rested and prepared and be a role model.
- If someone is being upset, feeling confused then we are not doing our job.
- A - Answer questions, Ask questions, Assess the participant
- Ask if they have any questions - understand what they are asking and assess the questions.
- Ask if they have video capable equipment - give them a tag and the form to complete.
- Assess what they are bringing with them.
- Ask if they are involved in a registered theme camp - they must talk to the Lead Greeter.
- P - Pass out collated materials and camera tags
- Use this time to encourage participants to help with clean up
- P - Participate
- By this time you know who you are greeting
- Do they need help with the map - orient them on the map
- Do they know where they want to camp??? Encourage them to park in our lot if it is dark
- What cool things are happening on the playa this year?
- Encourage volunteerism
- Y - Yours is yours and mine is mine
- Accept gifts and invitations but demand or ask for nothing
- Appropriate behavior at all times means Happy
Types of Greeters
Greeter
- Greeters take on a shift of 4 hours of meeting and greeting and welcoming home a lot of weary travelers. Our welcome packages include the city map, the what\where\when book, the famous city sticker. We search for registered theme camps and hook them up with a Lead Greeter who then connects them with their placer or their campmates who may have already arrived. If our denizens have video capable equipment, we happily provide that necessary camera tag. All of this while we are smiling and laughing and offering the Virgins the opportunity to ring in the beginning of an experience that will forever change their lives. We rock and we are here for the community and to have a great time!!!
Lead Greeter
- Works a 4 hour shift
- Manages the greeters on shift
- Leads DO NOT greet unless absolutely necessary. Leads are there to support the greeters.
- Trains the incoming volunteers before shifts
- Watch out for exhaustion, dehydration
- Helps if you are flexible and good with a wide variety of personalities
- Lead greeter is not for the timid, and requires keen observation and people skills
- Teach - listen - watch
- See that the process is being done properly and traffic flows smoothly and that everyone is having a good time - help the greeters do their job
- There are 2 leads per shift
- One of the leads will be responsible for theme camp placement and will have the list
- Know radio protocol
- Contact Meta or Project Manager if there are any problems
- Strongly discourage spanking - use the spanking coupon instead
Station Manager
- Works a 4 hour shift
- Station Managers DO NOT greet unless absolutely necessary
- Total responsibility of orderliness and cleanliness of the station
- Be sure that trash is under control
- Keeps beacons full of collated materials
- Keeps greeter bags full of supplies
- Keeps tabs on flashlights and batteries
- Turn on\off beacon lights
- Strongly discourage spanking - Use the spanking coupon instead
Meta
- Works an 8 hour shift
- Metas should have at least (3) years of greeters experience, a good working knowledge of Burning Man organization and philosophy
- Problem solver - available to answer all questions and solve problems
- Keeps the Theme Camp List up to date - works with the Project Manager on this
- Monitors all radio calls on shift
- Gets volunteers if needed for the station
- Conduit between departments
- Needs to be at station during shift change
- Strongly discourage spanking - use the spanking coupon instead
Greeter Shifts
Arrival time\Preparedness
- Arrive 15 minutes before the start of your shift
- Be well-rested and sober enough to greet
- Locate your lead greeter and check the white board for important info
- Make sure that you have read the material that you are handing out
- Be prepared to stay 15 minutes late
What to Bring --- Make sure you bring the following to each shift
- Water\water vessel
- A Snack - four hours is a long time to go without food
- Weather protection (sun\wind\rain\dust\cold)
- Adequate clothing
On Shift
- Have fun!!! Maintain excitement and exuberance
- Be considerate and clear
- Be aware of what is going on around you
- Be a role model --- remember, leave no trace
- Recruit new greeters as you work
- Do not overexert yourself. Piss clear. If you need a break, tell your lead
- Make eye contact with each individual in the vehicle
- Alter your spiel according to burner experience
- If the arrival is a virgin - make sure they know the basics\old problems
- If the arrival is experienced - new policies\old problems
- When slammed, stop ringing the bell
- NO Spanking - offer the spanking coupon instead
Greeting and Assessing Fellow Burners
- Say hello - welcome home - give the participants the collated materials
- Ask if the participant is with a registered theme camp. If they are, get the lead's attention to ask if the camp has been placed yet (even if they think they have). You can greet while the lead is looking this up. After Wednesday, there are no more reserved camps and it will not be necessary to ask this question.
- Ask if anyone in the car has video capable equipment. If so, have them fill out a form and give them a tag.
Communication and Participation
Depending on the time of the day and who you are greeting here are some topics you should be familiar with and ready to share and discuss. If there is more than one greeter at the car, remember, only one of the greeters, should be speaking. Also, you may find yourself greeting an expert on Burning Man (Larry maybe), let 'em go through as long as you have asked the first 3 questions above.
- Porta-Potties - If we lose porta-potties, Burning Man will stop. We continue to talk about this because there are still problems. If an item in the pottie cannot be sifted through a small screen at the processing plant if cannot go in the pottie. For example - baby wipes, rubbers, tampons, etc. Even the flushable baby wipes cannot go in the potties. If it doesn't come out of your body, it doesn't go in the potty.
- Night time cautions - Driving is very dangerous. All are welcome to park at Greeters Station or the outside road and wait until morning to find their campsite or friends.
- Burn Platforms - Do not overload the platforms. Only plywood and paper should be burned. Also, be prepared to remove the cooled ashes.
- Driving Policy - 5 mph - Drive along the outside road and up the street closest to your campsite. Do not drive (or walk) behind the water trucks. Once your car is parked, be sure that there are no fluid leaks.
- Newbies - always offer them the opportunity to ring the Virgin Bell.
- Questions? Answers and Rumor Control - If there is a question that you cannot answer or are not sure about, ask the lead and\or refer them to Playa info.
Send 'em on their way!!! Welcome Home