Event volunteering: current understandings Event volunteering has grown in popularity as an area of research interest in recent years. Sporting and mega events, in particular, have been afforded signifi - cant attention as the backdrop to event volunteering studies. Common topics of interest across the fi eld include a focus on examining event volunteer profi les, motivations and expectations (Farrell, Johnston and Twynam 1998; Strigas and Jackson 2003; Twynam, Farrell and Johnston 2002/03); experiences and satisfaction (Farrell et al. 1998); aspects of commitment (Cuskelly et al. 2004; Elstad 2003; Green and Chalip 2004) and trends and management issues (Coyne and Coyne 2001; Smith and Lockstone 2009). There is, however, a dearth of studies examining dominant and alternative models of event volunteering.