Wrangling volunteers is indeed one of the things Operations does, but since we’re so spread out now the elegant simplicity of the volunteer light from the Adam’s Mark days is impractical. We’re exploring technical options, such as getting cell phone numbers from volunteers so they can be texted when a need arises.

I’ll go ahead and voice this here: I’ve heard, over the years, a number of people perpetuating a rumor that the Board feels “Anthrocon has enough staff” – generally stated to imply that AC will not provide any more free staff badges.

If that is truth, then Anthrocon needs to clearly dictate what constitutes “staff” and what constitutes “volunteer” in order to adequately fill all necessary roles. If that is fallacy, it is imperative that the rumor be quashed and the call for staff be made clear.

Nobody’s told me I couldn’t recruit more staff — but I’m not a people person, I don’t know how to find people who’d be interested or willing, other than shanghaing clueful volunteers. I recruited three last year, but three regular staffers from previous years couldn’t make it, so net growth was zero. I had 16 staff this year; I need 25 people for all the positions that need to be filled on Sunday afternoon. I’ve recruited three more this year, and some from previous years will be able to attend again next year, so it’ll be better but still not optimal.

Generally, volunteers are those who want to help out only for a few hours here and there, or in different departments. Staff are those who are willing to accept greater responsibility (in exchange for roughly the equivalent of a supersponsor membership) to put in at least 5 hours or more a day in a particular department.

Rama, just how in the hell do you plan on working any harder? For a while there i thought you were going to put down roots.

The solution is clear:

More robots.

I will not mind repeating my secondary role of keeping the department manager caffeinated. 😉

It would help…and I don’t know if this has changed since last time I went to AC…but it would help if they had a volunteers department. I’ve attended a lot of other conventions. AC is the only one I’ve gone too that doesn’t have a volunteers department. Granded some of that is mitigated by the Dorsi who handle badging duties and such. And I know Ops in years past has also been the focal point of volunteers. But IMHO I think it was ridiculous when a call came in from artshow that someone from ops had to go and run and track down someone with a ribbon and ask hey you want to help out. A volunteers department really needs to be created…IMHO of course. A convention’s board is perfectly capable of making the decisions they feel are best. I just think its just different is all.

But in most cases, it’s a labor of love.

So the trick is in the recruiting and delegating – something I’ve had issues with in the past myself. I tend to not let go, and then I’m not as active in getting help as I could be. I’m trying to get better about that…

*Thinks about his post* No that was not an offer…. 😛 As much as I loved going to AC the cost has become prohibitive the last few years. Missing that one AC it showed just how “happy” my wallet was after that.

The staff:attendee ratio is absurd at Anthrocon. I’ve run a few cons in my life (hah), and a 10% staff margin is nominal – in fact, in chatting with folks from some of the mega conventions, they approach 20% in some cases.

The convention, as a whole, needs to make a committed effort to recruit and retain staff. Everyone is burning out, and the event is going to suffer significantly if there aren’t a number of improvements.

I’ll go ahead and voice this here: I’ve heard, over the years, a number of people perpetuating a rumor that the Board feels “Anthrocon has enough staff” – generally stated to imply that AC will not provide any more free staff badges.

If that is truth, then Anthrocon needs to clearly dictate what constitutes “staff” and what constitutes “volunteer” in order to adequately fill all necessary roles. If that is fallacy, it is imperative that the rumor be quashed and the call for staff be made clear.

I’m certain that our stress levels will be significantly improved should there be 378 staff at our disposal next year.