Volunteers

About Volunteering

Like any other Eastercon, Olympus is going to need your help. Although we promise to work the committee to the brink of exhaustion and mental collapse, even they can't do everything - which is where you come in.

Olympus needs volunteers in a lot of different areas, in order to help the convention run smoothly. Helping out is a great way to meet new people, learn new things, and have a great deal of fun while you're at it.

Who We Need

We need people in the following areas:

  • Art show: organising the boardings, getting all the exhibition pieces signed up and mounted, bag-check and bid notifications, the auction that follows, and so on.
  • Cabaret: Cabaret (no prize): Perform a song, sketch, dance, or anything else that may appeal to your fellow fans. Performances should be no more than three minutess in length.
  • Gophers: General at-con runners, getting information and bits'n'pieces from A to B, whether it's a replacement microphone, a glass of water, or committee member. Our Gopher team will also be carrying out Steward duties, making sure that only convention members are in the convention areas, keeping food and drink out of the art show, etc.
  • Green room: The Green Room is mainly a place for programme participants to gather before their item starts, so Green Room staff would typically be trying to ensure that the right people for the next set of programme items are there, getting them a drink each as thanks for being on the programme, and encouraging them to go to their item in good time. After that, there's usually have some quieter time, where the Green Room might deal with programme-related questions (passing them on if GR staff don't know the answers ourselves) and chat or do jigsaws, until it's time to do it all again for the next set of items.
  • Masquerade: A chance to show off costumes that you have made yourself and win a prize. Prepare a short performance, or just display it to music.
  • Newsletter: the occasional and intermittent at-con publication that carries programme changes, restaurant recommendations and scurrilous rumour and outrageous libel ( as long as it’s funny...) We need editors to feverishly pound away at collecting the reports and getting each issue out. We also need photographers, who will be directed by the newsletter editors to take photographs of key events during the convention.
  • Ops: the beating heart of the convention. Ensuring that the programme is running according to schedule, getting programme changes out to the members, finding missing panellists, etc.
  • Programme: Lots of work before the convention actually starts, to ensure that there's an excellent and exciting programme for everyone involved. And then making sure that everyone on it knows where they need to be, and when. Dealing with the inevitable last-minute changes.
  • Publicity: Olympus needs people who can help get publicity out to all potential members. This includes taking flyers and posters to local specialist book and comics shops, libraries, SF fan groups, other conventions, comic marts and anywhere else where the fans of tomorrow can be found. If you can print them off, we will supply electronic versions of the flyers and posters, and if you can’t print them yourselves, we’ll send you as many as you need! Please get in touch if you can help.
  • Registration: Making sure that everyone who turns up gets their badge, README and related stuff in an orderly fashion, signing up the walk-in membership, and so on.
  • Stewards: making sure that only convention members are in the convention areas, keeping food and drink out of the art show, etc.
  • Tech: Lights, sound, and possibly action, too. The tech crew are responsible for the microphones, mixing desks, cabling, projectors, and so on that are used during the main hall events such as the opening and closing ceremonies and the masquerade. They also supply tech facilities as required to the other programme rooms.

How to Volunteer

First - join the convention! You can't help us out unless you're a member.

Once you've joined, if you've got on-line access, you should be able to access your membership details via a web browser (Membership Services has more details on how to do this). When you go to the form for editing details, you'll find a "Volunteer!" section part-way down the form. Just check the boxes where you'd like to help. Note that if there are several people on the booking, all sharing the same address, there'll be a separate set of checkboxes for each person. Please use the "Other Notes" section to provide specific details as necessary.

Once you've selected the appropriate boxes, go to the bottom of the form, and click on "Modify Details". We'll get in touch with you.

 

"But I've never done this before..."

Don't worry about it. If you're new to Eastercons or conventions, helping out is strongly recommended as an excellent way to get involved. There'll be people there who can show you what needs doing and how to do it, and you'll learn something new as well as having a good time.