What about people like me who helped out on the registration desk, was
a session chair, and helped with bad stuffing, setup, and tare down?
Also consider having a person to be an at-conference volunteer head
(or gopher herder) and having a 'community co-ordination office' (or
something with a name not so obtuse).
Make it obvious you need volunteers to help out and a means for
'walk-in' volunteers. It is a great way to in doctrine people to help
out for the following year before the conference starts. Many people
will not commit to volunteering before the conference, but once there
will find themselves with free time and offer it. Having a person and
a place to help best utilize this resource is always beneficial.
(Sticking the bag stuffing/wire tapedown, and other efforts on the
schedule as 'social events' has paid off in spades for PyConUS)
-Doug
On Jan 31, 2008 7:29 AM, John Pinner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hello,
>
>
> On 31/01/2008, Laura Creighton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > >From Aahz, on python-organizers, but applicable to us, and I think
> > a good idea.
> >
> > Laura
> >
> > ------- Forwarded Message
> >
> > Return-Path: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Delivery-Date: Thu Jan 31 01:28:02 2008
> > Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > From: Aahz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: pycon-organizers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >
> > On Wed, Jan 30, 2008, David Goodger wrote:
> > >
> > > Yes, I am, but the semantics play into the perception. Call it "spin"
> > > or "framing" if you like. If people think of PyCon as a community of
> > > volunteers, it's a lot easier to accept the consequences. Keeping
> > > PyCon as a community of volunteers (both the reality and the
> > > perception) will be a challenge as we grow. And I'm clueless about how
> > > to approach it.
> >
> > One way that volunteer-run SF cons have approached this is by continually
> > hammering on the notion that one does not buy a "ticket" to attend a
> > convention, but buys a "membership". This is in particular contrast with
> > commercial SF cons (especially the Star Trek cons).
>
> At PyCon UK, paying delegates became members of The Pycon UK Society, but
> this was not obvious to them until we held the AGM at the conference. That
> made them aware of the community nature of the conference, but it was far
> too late in the day.
>
>
> > Another way to do this: make the volunteer option a separate page on the
> > registration process, so that every person who registers has to make an
> > explicit decision about volunteering. If nothing else, it highlights the
> > volunteer nature of the conference.
>
>
> Good idea. I suggest that we do something on the EuroPython booking form,
> but even more obviously than Aahz suggests:
>
> One of the dropdowns on the booking form will be to register exactly what
> help you're up for: for example 'Session Chair', 'Speaker Shepherd',
> 'Registration Desk', 'Not able to volunteer'
>
> OK?
>
> Thanks Aahz,
>
> Best wishes,
>
> John
> --
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> [email protected]
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>
>
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