Hi everyone, I hope you are all well.

This is my first post and after today I am 5 days into my placement. So far I've really been enjoying my time and everyone that I work with is enthusiastic and eager to help which is always good.

On my second day I was lucky to be included in the orientation and induction presentation they put on for two of their new staff. At the beginning of the PowerPoint was a slide that had an outline of the presentation and I noticed that it would go for three hours! I thought I was in for a really long morning but I found that time went really quickly. They had each of the managers come in to discuss their division and what they do and how it is run which was interesting and the CEO presented their vision, mission, values and objectives which was great to know as well. What I thought was really great was that they had organised with the other staff to take their morning tea time at the time set out in the presentation so new staff could meet current staff. Everyone was keen to hear I was going to help them with their volunteers and offered suggestions which was helpful. Although now everyone can put a face to the strategy I will eventually finish (which most of them will read after I've gone) I'm feeling a bit scared! Although I suppose it's good to make sure I really push myself into doing well!

I've been given the task of developing a volunteer engagement strategy for the organisation I am placed with as they are not for profit so rely on help from volunteers. I've been doing a lot of research and am so surprised at how much information is out there on volunteering - National Standards, best practice models, types of volunteers... you name it - it's out there! The problem is sorting through all the information and deciding what is most appropriate and relevant to my organisation.

I have volunteered before in helping to run events such a Relay for Life, but was only ever involved because I knew someone else already involved. I'm been so amazed at how many programs have been developed for sourcing volunteers - mutual obligation volunteers, find20, local government resource centres (there's about 20 of them!).

I've also been able to help with their 'roadshow' which involves visiting Primary Schools to promote inclusion of children with disabilities. Last Friday I went out with one of the other work experience girls to Armadale - lucky we left so much time to get there because we got really lost :) - but it's so great to see the kids get so excited by the big mascot. The teachers really loved the presentation and were so grateful for the visit, their feedback was all so positive so it was a good day!

I have to organise a meeting with the managers of each of the divisions which I'm a bit nervous about. I drafted an email today that I am sending to about 20 different people so I had to make sure the email was generic but would also be taken seriously. I sent it to my supervisor for her to check over and she provided me with lots of feedback which was good. Not too much of what I wrote was changed (although a bit was added) so I need to work on sounding a bit more professional in emails from now on! Tomorrow I'll be preparing for my meeting to make sure I don't waste anyone's time and get everything I need out of it.

Anyway, I'm happy in my placement which is a good thing, although time seems to be going too quick! Although that is so much better than having days that drag on and on.

Let me know if you know of any great ways to source volunteers!