Volunteers are crucial to the success of our conferences. Volunteers sign up to work a minimum number of shifts and attend volunteer training before the event starts, but besides these times, participate in the conference as all attendees do. This is why we require you to be accepted to the conference as an attendee before you can offer to volunteer. Volunteers help the conference run smoothly in a variety of ways, such as liaising with speakers, welcoming attendees, managing the content rooms and helping attendees navigate the venue. In the past, volunteers have found connecting with each other and the conference organizers to be extremely valuable, and we view this benefit as a crucial aspect of the volunteering process. We think volunteering is particularly useful for: Attendees who want to try their operations or event-running skills Attendees who would like to help out with the conference First-time attendees who don’t expect to be completely booked with meetings Attendees who would like to meet other volunteers for a given reason To volunteer, simply express interest in the application for the event itself.