[JNOtaku]

So, I am definitely interested in volunteering for Anime Central 2008! I had plenty of downtime during Anime Central this year, so I would definitely have some time to help keep the convention going. In addition, my Sudoku panel got a lot less people this year than last year, so next year would be a good time to transition to staff. Here are some of my details:

First Name: Jason
Occupation:

Student at Bradley University (will be a junior in May of 2008)

Double Majoring in Mathematics and Music

Musical instruments are Piano and Percussion

Notes:

President and Founder of the Bradley Music Video Gaming Club - September 2006 - present

Active member of the Bradley Anime Club (August 2005 - present), and Librarian for the club (August 2006 - May 2007)

Active member of Bradley Symphonic Band and Bradley Basketball Band

Anime Central Experience:

Attended Anime Central every year since 2002

Attended only Saturday in 2002 and 2003

Attended all three days in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007

Was a panelist in 2006 and 2007 (my panel was Learn Sudoku!!!)

I have never volunteered as a staff member at Anime Central, but I am willing to volunteer in 2008. I do need plenty of sleep (around 9.5 hours a night) to feel awake and keep my sanity, so are there any positions that require 8 hours or less of work per day?

Thanks,

JNOtaku


P.S. Anyone else who wants to volunteer for 2008 can post in this thread!

P.S.S. It looks like the full subtitle didn't appear. It is supposed to be "For anyone who wants this year's convention to run smoother than Anime Central 2007".

[yoru]

hi my name is shelby Coffee i have attend acen twice and willl 18 on my next year of attending. I don't know about the age limit for doing things but i will be staying all three days next year so i really wanted to help beacuse i really did nothing last year. i am up for doing just about anything but i was really thinking about .i.r.t because pixie wanted me to join.

[simonsaz3]

I'd love to volunteer for ACen as well! Always willing to help out anywhere I can! So should we just post our info here, or is there a form on the site that we have to fill out?
=)

[JNOtaku]

simonsaz3, on May 21 2007, 12:12 PM, said:

I'd love to volunteer for ACen as well! Always willing to help out anywhere I can! So should we just post our info here, or is there a form on the site that we have to fill out?
=)

I'm not sure if there is a form on the site that we should fill out or not. I just decided to post my information here so that any moderators who were in charge of staff (who happened to check out this forum) would see that I was interested.

JNOtaku

[arina_shirakawa]

JNOtaku, on May 22 2007, 01:00 AM, said:

I'm not sure if there is a form on the site that we should fill out or not. I just decided to post my information here so that any moderators who were in charge of staff (who happened to check out this forum) would see that I was interested.

JNOtaku

I forgot what the exact email address is, but your best bet would be to email the person who's the chief of staff. They should announce it here on the forums once the ball starts running again

[JNOtaku]

Thanks for the quick response! Hopefully, the ball should be rolling a lot quicker than last year.

JNOtaku

[Edward Elric]

I'm Chris and i Have been to Acen Once at the 2007 one, but I am 17 btu will be 18 by 08's Acen, I do have Crowd Control and disaster experiance because I was with a NON-profit emergency response team Called REACT. And i just wanna get an I.R.T. expeiance, and i was wondering if irt's can carry loaded airsofts JUST IN CASE, if not meh, no biggie TY!

[simonsaz3]

Hmm... maybe we should do something to bring their (meaning the ACen staff's) attention to this forum.
=P

[ScoobySchmitty]

I do believe that there will be a thread for volunteering posted eventually. IIRC, the call for ACEN 2007 IRT went out towards the beginning of 2007, not sure about the rest of the staff.

To answer your question Edward, no loaded Airsofts in IRT. We are a security force, not military. If you are worried about needing to defend yourself, then take a self-defense course before applying to IRT. I have not personally seen a need for it, but being 6'2" and weighing 250 lbs helps cut down on potential challengers, at least for me. Honestly, a more useful expense of your time would be a CPR/First Aid class or security training course. Check your local comm. colleges, they might have something listed.

Also, if you plan on joining IRT, you better be ready for long shifts. A LOW number of hours for our ops this year was FORTY. LOW number. This is because we had about half of our accepted ops drop-out, because they were in it for glory and excitement. That's not why we do IRT. It's because we want a smooth running convention with minimal problems. We don't like "exciting", it means things are getting out of hand. So if you want to join IRT for that, know you quite possibly will be disappointed and quit. We want people to stay, so I'm warning you ahead of time. If this doesn't deter you, then IRT very well could be what you are looking for.

[simonsaz3]

Edward Elric, on May 22 2007, 12:45 PM, said:

I'm Chris and i Have been to Acen Once at the 2007 one, but I am 17 btu will be 18 by 08's Acen, I do have Crowd Control and disaster experiance because I was with a NON-profit emergency response team Called REACT. And i just wanna get an I.R.T. expeiance, and i was wondering if irt's can carry loaded airsofts JUST IN CASE, if not meh, no biggie TY!

ScoobySchmitty, on May 22 2007, 02:20 PM, said:

I do believe that there will be a thread for volunteering posted eventually. IIRC, the call for ACEN 2007 IRT went out towards the beginning of 2007, not sure about the rest of the staff.

To answer your question Edward, no loaded Airsofts in IRT. We are a security force, not military. If you are worried about needing to defend yourself, then take a self-defense course before applying to IRT. I have not personally seen a need for it, but being 6'2" and weighing 250 lbs helps cut down on potential challengers, at least for me. Honestly, a more useful expense of your time would be a CPR/First Aid class or security training course. Check your local comm. colleges, they might have something listed.

Also, if you plan on joining IRT, you better be ready for long shifts. A LOW number of hours for our ops this year was FORTY. LOW number. This is because we had about half of our accepted ops drop-out, because they were in it for glory and excitement. That's not why we do IRT. It's because we want a smooth running convention with minimal problems. We don't like "exciting", it means things are getting out of hand. So if you want to join IRT for that, know you quite possibly will be disappointed and quit. We want people to stay, so I'm warning you ahead of time. If this doesn't deter you, then IRT very well could be what you are looking for.

Not to purposefully sound like a noob, but umm... what's IRT and IIRC?
=P

[Lenne]

IRT is the Incidence Response Team, aka con security.

IIRC is short for "if I remember correctly".

[simonsaz3]

Lenne, on May 22 2007, 07:22 PM, said:

IRT is the Incidence Response Team, aka con security.

IIRC is short for "if I remember correctly".

Thankuz! I no longer feel nooby!
=)

[Cherry_Wolf]

Like I mentioned before, I might staff... I am going to see where the year takes me first, but I am willing to volunteer for ACen if things go a certain way =3

[sammy-45]

OH this is soo cool I will have Sisterdiscored check out this thread.!!!!

I love it when we get new people. It bring in lots of new ideas.

[simonsaz3]

sammy-45, on May 23 2007, 10:14 AM, said:

OH this is soo cool I will have Sisterdiscored check out this thread.!!!!

I love it when we get new people. It bring in lots of new ideas.

Recognition... sweet! Thanks a bunch! Can't wait to put in my two cents worth into ACen '08!!
=)

[Green Dragon]

I'm Brian and I've been to Acen since 2004. By next Acen I'll be 20. I'm willing to work anywhere you'll place me. IRT, panels, you name it, I'll work that.

[Edward Elric]

ScoobySchmitty, on May 22 2007, 07:20 PM, said:

I do believe that there will be a thread for volunteering posted eventually. IIRC, the call for ACEN 2007 IRT went out towards the beginning of 2007, not sure about the rest of the staff.

To answer your question Edward, no loaded Airsofts in IRT. We are a security force, not military. If you are worried about needing to defend yourself, then take a self-defense course before applying to IRT. I have not personally seen a need for it, but being 6'2" and weighing 250 lbs helps cut down on potential challengers, at least for me. Honestly, a more useful expense of your time would be a CPR/First Aid class or security training course. Check your local comm. colleges, they might have something listed.

Also, if you plan on joining IRT, you better be ready for long shifts. A LOW number of hours for our ops this year was FORTY. LOW number. This is because we had about half of our accepted ops drop-out, because they were in it for glory and excitement. That's not why we do IRT. It's because we want a smooth running convention with minimal problems. We don't like "exciting", it means things are getting out of hand. So if you want to join IRT for that, know you quite possibly will be disappointed and quit. We want people to stay, so I'm warning you ahead of time. If this doesn't deter you, then IRT very well could be what you are looking for.

oh drat.. worth a try thanks for that

[sammy-45]

Hey All, not to scare you from staff but to give you some truth to the matter.

Many staffers work more then the required 24 hours at the con. In fact there is a lot of work pre-con that happens. For many people it is like a second full-time job without the pay.

So here is a little bit of what I did at con so you know what a staffers life is like, thought most of you won't be at where I am for a year or so.

Arrived Wesnday night- late about 1 am.
Got up Thrusady about 9am. Went over to the cc(convention center) to check on Merch. Went back to hotel, helped out with a few things. Then went back to cc to help unload Merch stuff. And sort. Then went back to hotel to help Press. Then back to cc to help with the other load of Merch stuff. Then helped unload program books. Then went crazy- fixed problems with program books. Went back to hotel, to check on Press, and production. Went back to cc to check on Merch. Then back to the hotel to check on Main Programing. (Oh sometime in all this I helped out GR with getting stuff, and MP, and I ate two muffins- which is all I really got to eat that day.) Finaly about 10:30 pm I had to go to bed, it was the no food thing.

Now not everyone will go through that. Firday, Sat, and Sunday I did not do as much back and forth. But I did go back and forth some beacuse I have departemnts under me in both locations. I left about 2pm Monday afternoon.

Now this is typical for the normal staff.
You would get there sometime Thursday- go through staff check in, go help your department set up, and if you get done early maybe help out somewhere else. Then on Friday you would work a shift, about 6-8 hours, then get some free time. If you want to help out more then your shift thats great. Saturday and Sunday would be much the same thought you might work longer on Sat. Then Sunday after the last thing in your area is done, you pack up to be out of the room that the event was held in.

I hope this helps you see some of what we do on staff. And also gives you a better idea if this is what you want to do.

[JNOtaku]

sammy-45, on May 24 2007, 06:39 PM, said:

So here is a little bit of what I did at con so you know what a staffers life is like, thought most of you won't be at where I am for a year or so.

Arrived Wesnday night- late about 1 am.
Got up Thrusady about 9am. Went over to the cc(convention center) to check on Merch. Went back to hotel, helped out with a few things. Then went back to cc to help unload Merch stuff. And sort. Then went back to hotel to help Press. Then back to cc to help with the other load of Merch stuff. Then helped unload program books. Then went crazy- fixed problems with program books. Went back to hotel, to check on Press, and production. Went back to cc to check on Merch. Then back to the hotel to check on Main Programing. (Oh sometime in all this I helped out GR with getting stuff, and MP, and I ate two muffins- which is all I really got to eat that day.) Finaly about 10:30 pm I had to go to bed, it was the no food thing.

Now not everyone will go through that. Firday, Sat, and Sunday I did not do as much back and forth. But I did go back and forth some beacuse I have departemnts under me in both locations. I left about 2pm Monday afternoon.

Now this is typical for the normal staff.
You would get there sometime Thursday- go through staff check in, go help your department set up, and if you get done early maybe help out somewhere else. Then on Friday you would work a shift, about 6-8 hours, then get some free time. If you want to help out more then your shift thats great. Saturday and Sunday would be much the same thought you might work longer on Sat. Then Sunday after the last thing in your area is done, you pack up to be out of the room that the event was held in.

I hope this helps you see some of what we do on staff. And also gives you a better idea if this is what you want to do.

Thanks for the heads up. And yes, I would be willing to volunteer 24 hours during the convention.

JNOtaku

P.S. Is it true that you get a free hotel room, a badge, and some food for volunteering? That would not be my primary reason for volunteering (especially since I want to help ACEN survive and thrive), but it would be a very nice bonus!

[Shay]

sammy-45, on May 24 2007, 11:39 PM, said:

Then helped unload program books.

Hey... I wasn't even staff and I helped unload program books... or at least helped cart the boxes to the office at the convention center.

But yeah... staffing conventions creates a major shortage of free time. I'm a DH for Youmacon and I'm staff for Penguicon (a sci-fi/fantasy/computer convention in MI)... at Penguicon I was just supposed to be a guest liaison for our Artist/Webcomic Guest. I ended up doing that along with running the webcomic programming track and creating all of the panels that anything dealing with comics, coordinating schedules with the other panelists who were on panels with my Guest, and proofreading the entire programming schedule... and that was just some of the stuff I did BEFORE the convention. Then I was busy with my Guest from Thursday afternoon until Monday morning.

I figure for any convention that I'm staff on, I'll be spending at least 30 on planning things before the convention and putting in at least 8-10 hours shifts every day at the convention (so 24-30 hours for the con weekend). If I'm a DH, I figure that I'll be spending at least double the pre-convention time on planning... and then I'll be lucky if I get any sleep during the con. I was staffing 5 conventions at one point, so I had zero free time.

*grin*

But I love staffing conventions!

[KnitChick]

I'm interested in helping, but I still want to have time convention weekend to enjoy myself. But I live in Chicagoland so I can help out with pre-con stuff (I'd really like to help with production - I have experience laying out both a literary magazine and a newspaper in Adobe Pagemaker as well as some graphic art experience). Is it possible to help out before the con but not work so many hours during the con? I don't care about a free badge or even a staff badge, I'm willing to pay for my badge, but I'd like to help keep the con going. I had so much fun this year, I want to make sure next year is just as awesome if not more!

~MJ~

[arina_shirakawa]

JNOtaku, on May 25 2007, 04:13 AM, said:

P.S. Is it true that you get a free hotel room, a badge, and some food for volunteering? That would not be my primary reason for volunteering (especially since I want to help ACEN survive and thrive), but it would be a very nice bonus!

Badge - Yes, 100%. Your shiny staff badge acts like your badge, which makes sense =D
Food - Yes, 100% Staff have their own staff suite prepared by the lovely ACen cooking staff (last I remember the staff who did the cooking got certified )
Free Hotel - Most of the times, but NOT all the times. I would say for registration, roughly 25% of the staff don't get hotel rooms due to budget. HOWEVER, most people compensate it but crashing with other staffers. Sometimes so staffers are like me who decide to commute. And sometimes some staffers crash with their non staffer friends who already have a room

[Shay]

Yay! I spent 8 hours at the American Red Cross and I'm now certified for Standard First Aid and Adult & Child CPR/AED... so that will be an added happiness when I staff cons.

[ZeoCetra]

I usually only read the forums so this is the first time posting.
Reason is, I'm interested in volunteering for acen2008. I'm a registered EMT in Indiana and Michigan. I might be able to get my registration for Illinois before next year either by submitting my other registrations to to state or simply taking the National registry if my testing window is still valid to do so. Though, the national registry is a horribly annoying test T_T So a reply would be nice so I can get the test done if needed before my window of opportunity expires and have to take a refresher course. Tis not going to take national registry otherwise.

[excel excel]

I think this is something I would be intersted in. Anyway I can help out for ACen that would be nice I spent most of the con wandering for 8 hours and I work 8 hours a day at my job. This is definately up my alley!

[sammy-45]

Excel if you join staff I am going to have you made a forum mod. you seem to find all the spam, and you are always on here anyway.

well maybe. I have to ask the other forum mods too.

[excel excel]

sammy-45, on May 29 2007, 07:33 PM, said:

Excel if you join staff I am going to have you made a forum mod. you seem to find all the spam, and you are always on here anyway.

well maybe. I have to ask the other forum mods too.

Oh wow! That would be an honor and a pleasure I never did think about it. I do spend a lot of time on the forums and I can be of great assistance in eliminating spam. Plus I have a good rep with some of the forum people! I have a lot of downtime at work so I can definately assist you all in that area!

[Larek]

JNOtaku, on May 25 2007, 12:13 AM, said:

Thanks for the heads up. And yes, I would be willing to volunteer 24 hours during the convention.

Remember 24 isn't the maximum, its the expected minimum. I hit 30 hours midday the second day.

Depending on where you work, can change when you start Wed/Thursday. And I didn't get out of their until right about dusk, which puts it at about 8pm

JNOtaku, on May 25 2007, 12:13 AM, said:

P.S. Is it true that you get a free hotel room, a badge, and some food for volunteering? That would not be my primary reason for volunteering (especially since I want to help ACEN survive and thrive), but it would be a very nice bonus!

No, yes and Yes.

Goffers are the volunteers, for working they get free food, and can earn a badge refund and a tee shirt if they work enough hours. They also have a lot more freedom than staff, to come and go as they please.

Staff, get the same but can additionaly sometimes get a free room. They do volunteer their time, but calling them volunteers is (in my opinion) too loose of a term. Staffers need to take the jobs very seriously, like a job. Sure you can have fun, and enjoy the con, but Staff need to be dedicated to work too.

And the food is really gooooooood (however the coffee was really bad this year )

arina_shirakawa, on May 25 2007, 10:22 AM, said:

And sometimes some staffers crash with their non staffer friends who already have a room

Don't forget

And sometimes non staffer friends rely on a staffer to still pull their weight on the cost of a non-compt room. I've personally never gotten a compt room, and for this reason probably never will.

[excel excel]

Larek, on May 31 2007, 06:34 PM, said:

And sometimes non staffer friends rely on a staffer to still pull their weight on the cost of a non-compt room. I've personally never gotten a compt room, and for this reason probably never will.

You may not know that. I had a staffer who was my best friend and I let her stay with me for free because she wasnt comfortable sharing a room with someone she didnt know too well. And she's going to college soon so she didnt have enough money.Plus she's an awesome person to be around and she was fun to hang around with! We had fun watching movies and eating pizza!
Anythings possible with a little kindness <3!

[XenoBlade]

sammy-45, on May 29 2007, 07:33 PM, said:

Excel if you join staff I am going to have you made a forum mod. you seem to find all the spam, and you are always on here anyway.

well maybe. I have to ask the other forum mods too.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! She bust down on me and two other guys I know!!! lol

But seriously, it would be cool. Also I MIGHT be interested in volunteering myself