G20 Vol. Training Begins

More than 2,000 people have signed up at the Pittsburgh G20 partnership website to be volunteers during the two-day G20 Summit. The first of five general training sessions was held at Point Park University Monday. Pittsburgh G20 Partnership Spokesperson Bill Flanagan says with that many people offering their time The Partnership will not be able to put them all to work but they want to make sure everyone gets at least some basic training. The first sessions deal with everything from outlining Pittsburgh’s story of rebirth to how to handle controversial questions. Flanagan says volunteers should feel free to answer those questions but to make it clear it is their opinion and the visitor may want to ask others the same question. He says some of the volunteers will be called back for more intense training. The Partnership is especially interested in volunteers with media relations experience and those who speak more than one language. He says they will be using many of them at the welcome centers. The Partnership will be staffing welcome centers at 14 hotels and the airport for the entire week of the G20 to accommodate people who are arriving early for the event. Anyone being asked to work the welcome centers will be contacted after Labor Day. In the next few days, the city will be contacting about 1,500 volunteers for a massive clean up effort September 12.

Four training sessions remain.

Wednesday 5:30pm – 7:00pm at the University of Pittsburgh Connolly Ballroom.
Thursday 5:30pm -7:00pm at the CCAC Boyce Campus.
Friday 12:00- 1:30pm at the CCAC North Campus.
Saturday 9:00am-10:30am at the CCAC Allegheny Campus.