We need to make some decisions about the extent that IDECers will
participate in cleaning and food prep at IDEC 2008.  We have had
feedback on both sides, some suggesting that it's best to have
everything taken care of and others saying that it's nice to get
folks involved in the clean up.

Please share thoughts and ideas if you have 'em.

In my long experience of such matters, it's far far better to have a dedicated team that clean up, than to get other folks involved. However nice it may sound it is almost impossible to systemise, and if there is one thing you want really systemic is the cleaning up. A small dedicated team can achieve a 'cleaning up' far more efficiently and effectively than a larger, perhaps haphazard, team of volunteers. There are certain aspects of any organised event than can be open for volunteers, but it is better not to rely on this for cleaning up. It is important the team are paid, and while yet another line on the budget may look overwhelming, this is not to be overlooked. There are ways of generating the extra income needed to pay for the Clean Team; you will find on the whole people are happier to volunteer some 'tip money' than the work itself.

As for food preparation, the same applies. As anyone who has had anything to do with catering will tell you; the kitchen is not a democracy. There are also health and safety aspects to be considered (seriously!). So much of preparation is cutting and peeling, accidents happen. It's again something from which you want to eliminate the haphazard, and again it can be offered as a job, and again can be built into the budget.

It may sound a bit 'army style' but in these two aspects of event handling, you should have people who know exactly what they are doing (or think they do!), and those who do exactly what they are told and don't start discussing the finer points half way through the job. If you eliminate the later, difficult to find in the democratically minded, you have an army comprising only generals, which to my mind is exactly what an army should be.

Would you say the same about setting up tables and chairs for an eating space, taken them down again.  Because of health code and the fact there there are no kitchens where we will be, tables are the most likely place that volunteers would be used to assist in meals.

Any idea how many table and chairs are in the equation, and the frequency of the action?