The host's handbook
The whole job, in the order it happens: when you'll hear from us, the one page you work from, the morning itself, and the report afterwards. About ten minutes of reading, and a couple of hours on the morning. You do not need an account, and you do not need to be an expert on plants.
Not much of a phone person? Step by step, with pictures shows every screen and exactly which button to tap.
Chapter 1
The job in one page, and what you agree to when you say yes.
A host is the person who turns up first, knows the plan, ticks people in, keeps everyone safe and says when to stop. That is all. You are not the organiser: the coordinator sets the party up, emails the volunteers and handles anything that needs a computer.
Roughly 14 days before a party, everyone on the hosting list gets one email asking. The first person to tap yes hosts it, and saying yes is also what puts the party on the website for volunteers to sign up to. Anyone who says yes after that is offered backup or co-host.
Changed your mind later? I can't host anymore on your link hands it to the backup or back to the list. It is always better than not turning up.
Chapter 2
Every email a host gets, and every tap that is yours.
About 14 days beforeYours
Everyone on the hosting list gets one email asking. It goes out at roughly the party's own start time, so a Saturday 9am party is asked about around 9am on the Friday 14 days before. Nothing is booked until you tap.
Email: "Can you host …?"
You tap: Yes, I'll host, or Not this time. First yes hosts. If someone beat you to it you are offered backup or co-host instead.
About 9 days before
Only if nobody has said yes and you joined the list after the first ask: you get the same email.
Email: "Can you host …?"
The moment you say yesYours
The party goes on the website for volunteers, and your host link arrives. Bookmark it: it is the only thing you need, with no account and no password.
Email: "Your host link for …"
Any time before the dayYours
Open the link, read the plan and the notes for that site, and change what the group will work on if it no longer makes sense.
You tap: Change the plan, if needed.
Early that morning, about 6–7am
Your day-of email: the plan, the time, and a button straight to your host page.
Email: "Hosting today: …"
The day before, or over breakfastYours
Tap it once on your host link. That is the only check-in we ask for. Ticking in the first person who arrives counts too.
You tap: I'll be there.
About 2 hours before the start
Only if you have not confirmed: a short reminder email.
Email: "Hosting at … today — still on?"
1 hour before the start
Only if there is still no word: your backup and the coordinator get a heads-up in case you need a hand. Nothing else happens, and nobody minds.
At the partyYours
Tick people off as they arrive, add walk-ups, and post a note if anything changed.
You tap: Each name on the roster.
When you finishYours
This opens the report form for everyone who came. About two hours after the scheduled finish they get the thank-you email asking them to report.
You tap: We're done for today.
Midnight that night
If you forgot to tap done, the party closes itself. A host who tapped nothing and ticked nobody in is recorded as not having turned up.
Within 7 daysYours
File the city's activity report from the same link, then tap "I've submitted it". After that the link stops working.
You tap: I've submitted it.
Regular host for a schedule?
Backup or co-host?
Chapter 3
A tour of the one page you need, top to bottom.
Everything you need is on one web page, your host link. No account and no password: the link itself is the key, so keep it to yourself. It opens once you have said yes, and stops working 7 days after the party. These are its parts. The page puts first what you need now: on the party's day the roster moves up to the top, and afterwards the city's report does.
You're hosting
Your three steps
Before you start
The plan
On the day
Who's here
Report to the city
Chapter 4
Before the day, arriving, people arriving, finishing.
The same at every party, wherever it is.
Ten minutes, any time after you say yes
Fifteen to twenty minutes before the start
The first fifteen minutes
Two minutes at the end
Chapter 5
Rain, can't make it, nobody turns up, the plan is wrong.
Chapter 6
Ten minutes at home in the week after.
The city keeps a log of volunteer work on its land, and asks for the certified person who was there to send in the numbers. That is you. Nothing is being tested: the figures are already counted up for you.
Ten minutes, at home, any time in the week after
Chapter 7
Our own rules, the same at every one of our sites.
Nothing written down yet beyond the steps in this book. If a coordinator adds house rules, they appear here and on every host link.
Chapter 8
Where we work, and where the site details are.
Every site is different, so what you need on the morning (where to park, how to get in, where the tools are kept and how to get at them, anything odd about the place) is written for that site and appears on your host link for that party, under Before you start. It is not in this book, because some of it is the sort of thing you would not put on the open web.
If something about a site is missing or wrong when you get there, tell the coordinator so they can fix it for the next host.
Chapter 9
What goes in the note, and what goes to a person.
You see the site. The coordinator mostly doesn't. What you tell them shapes the next plan and the notes the next host reads.
Chapter 10
So nobody does the coordinator’s job by accident.
Yours: the morning itself. Deciding what the group works on, checking people in, keeping everyone safe, posting a note if things change, and calling it off if you have to.
Yours, but not on the day: the city's activity report. It asks for the certified person who was there, which is you. Your link stays open for 7 days so it never has to happen in a car park.
Not yours: chasing people who did not report, moving a party to another date, and anything to do with the website itself. If something there needs doing, say so in the note or to the coordinator. They also file the city report for you if it does not get done.
Chapter 11
Certification, joining, leaving, and what to read first.
A removal on city land has to be led by a certified Weed Warrior, so for those parties we only ask people the coordinator has confirmed. Other kinds of party, like litter pickups and planting, need no certification. What a Weed Warrior is, and how to become one.
After a party you came to, you get an email with a one-tap link to join the hosting list. One tap takes you off again, and every ask has Not this time, which costs you nothing.