How to stop two volunteers contacting the same speaker

Nobody sets out to message a speaker twice. It happens because recruiting is spread across several people, each working from what they can see on their own phone.

• ·A shared spreadsheet nobody updates. The list exists, but volunteers message first and fill it in later, or never. By the time a second volunteer checks it, the first contact is not on it.
• ·Several WhatsApp chats. One volunteer asks in the committee group, another in a subcommittee group, a third messages the speaker directly. Each chat holds part of the picture.
• ·Chair rotation.Committees turn over every year, and the record of who was asked often leaves with the outgoing chair’s phone.

Scale makes it worse. One physician association’s young physicians committee set out to “aim at getting 400 plus mentors” in a year, and its Canadian arm planned a “google sign up sheet for mentors and mentees” (SUNO APPNA). Decisions are shared too: nearly seven in ten event planners say two to five people at their organisation are involved in choosing speakers (PCMA).

The cost lands on the speaker. Two messages from the same association read as disorganised. Two messages with different dates or topics put the speaker in the position of choosing between your volunteers, and some simply answer neither.

Pick a single outreach list for the whole committee, and agree that anything not on it has not happened. One row per person you might contact:

• ·Name, and specialty or topic
• ·How to reach them (only the volunteers who need it should see the number)
• ·Claimed by, and the date claimed
• ·Status
• ·Date of last contact, and the next step
• ·Notes: how you know them, what was offered, anything promised

Keep it in an account that belongs to the association, not in a volunteer’s own drive. The list should outlast every person who uses it. For the columns and formulas that keep a list like this readable, see how to track RSVPs in a Google Sheet.

The rule that stops double contact is simple: write your name before you write the message. A volunteer who wants to approach someone adds them to the list, or finds their row, and puts their name and the date in the claimed-by column first.

• ·Already claimed? Message the volunteer who claimed it, not the speaker. They may be mid-conversation, or happy to hand over.
• ·Claims expire. A claim with no contact after a week goes back to the pool. Otherwise names get reserved and never asked.
• ·One claim per ask. If two subcommittees want the same person for different events, they agree an order, so the speaker gets one request at a time.

Six statuses cover most recruiting. More than that and volunteers stop choosing carefully.

• ·Claimed: someone plans to reach out.
• ·Contacted: the first message has gone.
• ·In conversation: the speaker has replied.
• ·Confirmed: they said yes to a specific date.
• ·Declined: they said no to this ask.
• ·Not this time: no for now, happy to be asked again.

Update the status the same day it changes. A list that is a week behind is how the second volunteer ends up sending the second message.

Agree the rule before recruiting starts, not during an awkward moment. The simplest one works: whoever made first contact owns the conversation until it closes with a yes or a no. Everyone else passes messages through them.

Two exceptions are worth writing down. If another volunteer knows the speaker personally, the two agree who leads, and the chair decides if they cannot. And once a speaker has confirmed, the program coordinator can take over logistics, as long as the owner introduces them. Confirming the details is covered in how to confirm webinar speakers and panelists on WhatsApp.

A new committee year is when double contact spikes, because the new team does not know who the old team asked. Before the outgoing chair leaves:

• ·Every open row gets a status and a next step.
• ·Every open conversation gets a new owner, introduced by the old one.
• ·Access moves to the new committee, and leavers lose edit access.
• ·Declines and “not this time” answers stay on the list, so next year’s team does not ask again too soon.

The same steps work for any list a committee passes on; see how to hand over a club contact list.

Avently’s team outreach puts the claim, the status and the duplicate check in one place. It warns a volunteer about an earlier contact; it does not block them.

1. Step 01

   Each volunteer gets their own private page

   To recruit someone, the volunteer enters the person’s name, specialty, phone number and a note, and Avently gives them a personal link to send.

2. Step 02

   The page warns about an earlier contact

   If anyone on the team already contacted that person, the page shows “Someone may already have contacted this doctor”, naming who and when, with Cancel or Contact anyway. The volunteer decides.

3. Step 03

   Everyone sees the whole team’s list

   Every volunteer sees each person the team has approached and their status: Contacted, Clicked, Opened, In conversation, Confirmed or Declined. Phone numbers are masked, and other volunteers’ notes are hidden.

4. Step 04

   The recruited person writes first

   They tap the link, WhatsApp opens with a message ready to send, and they send it. Avently greets them, for example “Hi Dr Zaid 👋 Sarah from Northside Physicians Association invited you to the residency webinar on Thursday 12 November”, asks whether they are interested with Yes and No buttons, then asks your follow-up questions. Because the person writes first, this works on US numbers too.