Hey everyone! This is the post where we ask for your help!
Kiwi PyCon XIII is shaping up to be a great one. We’ve got two amazing keynote speakers, a beautiful venue, the call for proposals is open, and tickets are selling.
The next thing on the list is for us to start finding helpers and volunteers who can help ensure the event runs smoothly and that everyone has a fantastic time.
When it comes to volunteering at a conference, there’s always a handful of fairly specific roles, like “staffing the registration desk” or “A/V camerawork”, but there are also always just a bunch of things that suddenly you discover need to happen like “oh crap we need better signs pointing the way to rego” or “quick! the sanitisers need refills/we need tape/we forgot water for the speakers/we need a power extension for this sponsor booth”, as well as just the labour of getting set up and packed back down.
On our “become a volunteer” page, you can register your interest in helping with any specific roles, or all of them!
You don’t need any prior experience. There will be a bunch of us volunteering who have done this before, so we can show you what needs to be done. That said: being a volunteer is sometimes just about noticing a need, and finding a way to fulfil it, if you have an instinct for that, you’ll be amazing.
I want to answer the obvious question: “What will I be sacrificing by volunteering?”
- The biggest one (to me): you might lose some autonomy when it comes to which conference talks you get to see live. For example you might be doing A/V in one room while another room has a talk you want to see. That said: we try to work around everyone’s interests, and the more volunteers we have, the easier that is.
- We’d really like you to be at the venue early enough to help set up, and late enough to help close it down, so you might sleep-in a little less than you otherwise could.
- If you’re keen to be on the A/V team there will probably be a training session with the team that it’ll be important you not miss (details TBD).
At Kiwi PyCon, we’re all volunteers, and every single person participating makes the conference that little bit better. Head to the “become a volunteer” page, to sign up and help us make it all happen!