What's the difference between Staff and Volunteers?

[DarkDrai]

How much does each do?
What do they each do?
What perks (or rewards) do they each get?
What responsibilities does each have?
What can staff do that volunteers can't?
What can volunteers do that attendees can't?
What must one do to become (and maintain status of) a volunteer/staff? (As in meetings, etc.)

In short: What's the difference between Staff and Volunteers (and Attendees)?

[Zain]

The basic difference is that volunteers are people who sign up during con while staff are people who have been working for us before and after con.

How much does each do?

In the past, the requirement for both has been to perform around 24 hours of duty during the four days of the con. The vast majority of staff work way more than that, and a good number of people are working every waking hour (and often get called when they're asleep). Plus, staff work countless hours between each year.

What do they each do?

Most volunteers do grunt work like manning doors to check for IDs, moving stuff around, or running stuff across the con floor. Staff do everything - planning the budget, negotiating the contracts, deciding on what anime to play, etc etc etc.

What perks (or rewards) do they each get?

Staff get a free badge and a discounted hotel room. Vols get their badge fee refunded at the end of the con.

What responsibilities does each have?

Staff generally have far more responsibilities than vols, but the extent of that depends on the position.

What must one do to become (and maintain status of) a volunteer/staff? (As in meetings, etc.)

To be on staff, you need to come to at least one meeting and sign up with a department. After that, you need to be in constant contact with your department head and you need to do the responsibilities assigned to you. That generally means you need to attend a fair number of meetings, though exceptions can be made if you physically cannot but you're responsible otherwise.

To be a vol, you need to go to the vol room during con and sign up.

[SuperKawaiiNeko]

Jeez, man. Youre gonna scare this poor boy XD

If I may...

This is my tenth fanime coming up, and my sixth time volunteering. Im also good friends with a bunch of staffers.

In a little more detail...Yes, volunteers sign up at con and staff sign up beforehand. Also: Staff members are a member of a specific department (Con Ops (my personal favourite,) Registration, Asian Films, Logistics, Stage Zero, etc.) wheras volunteers are not. Hrmm..I think Im getting ahead of myself. Lets start at the beginning.

Volunteers are actually pretty simple. If youre still fairly new to conventions and you want to get into helping out (or you just want the perks and benefits ^_~) I would highly reccomend volunteering. The only requirement is you must have proof of paid admission to volunteer. Basically...you need to have gotten your badge. Unless youre working the thursday before, in which case you must get your badge as soon as registration opens. After youre signed up at the vol headquarters, or vol hole (hopefully they wont hide it this year <_<,) there are several options open to you. You can sign up for specific shifts at specific places (this is mostly line and badge duty.) Or you can run around to the different departments looking for work. Or you can be "On Call" in the vol hole and hope some work comes to you. These jobs can be literally anything, from helping a senior staffer recieve an important shipment, to helping some guy unload his car, to fetching food drink or objects, to running messages. There's a lot of moving and lifting involved in these jobs XD

After you've worked a certain number of hours (each of which must be signed off by the individual you worked them for) you become eligable for a reimbursment of your registration fee. The exact number of hours fluctuates from year to year, and tends to go up as the con keeps getting bigger and bigger. I believe last year was 24 hours total. I like to knock out a large portion of my hours on thursday before the con starts, to leave more time open for actual conventioning ^_^


Staff is quite a bit more involved regardless, but how much so depends on what level of staff you are and what department youre in. As was previously stated staff members belong to individual departments (unless you are a very very senior staff member.) The duties of staff members vary greatly (again depending on department) as do the time in which they are preformed. Some departments work only before and/or after the convention, some work only DURING the convention, and some are busy all the time with varying degrees of balance. The exact number of hours that are required to be worked vary by department. Some require more than others, but almost all of them require at LEAST as many as volunteers.

There are a few things standard between all departments, however. You must sign up before the convention (sign ups are on the website.) You must be approved by your department head. And you must attend at LEAST *one* general staff meeting. Of course, some departments have additonal requirements.

Anyway, I hope we've helped you out, and good luck ^_^

[Pimpstress Rei]

I personally like staffing for the cool laminated staff badge  :D

Funny how I'm willing to work like a hundred hours for Fanime and I'm happy to just get my staff badge...

[SuperKawaiiNeko]

Vols get a lamibadge, too ^_^

...its not as cool as the staffybadges though ;_;

Some day *I'LL* have a red badge... ;_;

[otakuya]

Staff: meetings, specific areas on where to work, staff discount hotel room, no charge admission
Vol: freelance on-call, work anywhere, generally, vol hole lounge, refunded admission

[otakuapprentice]

hmm, both have their strong points.

if i dont get in on staff this year, im definitely gonna volunteer, for the spiffy laminated badge AND for the refunded con admission.