Help Run DjangoCon US
We have a wide variety of volunteer slots available! Here’s more information on each one.
Session Chairs and Runners
(This section is cross-posted from the personal blog of our Coordinator of Session Chairs and Runners, Adrienne Lowe.)
Headed to DjangoCon US this year? Do I have a terrific opportunity for you!
The organizing committee is looking for folks to serve as session chairs and session runners.
I love these volunteer opportunities because they allow you to make a huge difference for the conference, speakers, and attendees, while doing relatively little work. After all, you were probably going to attend a few talks anyway, right?
Read on…
Session runners and session chairs work together as gatekeepers of a terrific DjangoCon US experience. You’ll help foster a supportive environment by welcoming guests, introducing speakers, and making sure folks get to where they need to be.
Session runners are the shepherds of the speaker room. Your job starts in the Green Room (Willow II) fifteen minutes before each talk, where you’ll meet your speaker and help them get ready by testing their laptop and briefing them on what to expect. Five minutes before their talk, you’ll walk with them to their session room and help them get their laptop set up. You’ll hand the speaker off to the session chair, and then relax and enjoy the talk. Your job is done until 15 minutes before the next talk!
Session chairs are the moderators of the session. You’ll arrive in the speaker room 10 minutes before the talk starts. Meet your speaker and find out a few things: how do you pronounce your name? Do you want to take questions? How do you want us to count down time? At showtime, you’ll introduce the speaker to the audience, keeping it simple — their name, where they’re from, and talk title. During the talk, watch the clock and let the speaker know when it’s time to stop for questions. Mediate questions (if any), and let speaker and attendees know when it’s time to wrap it all up. After that, help the speaker disconnect the microphone and make any announcements.
Pretty cool, huh?
If you’re on the fence, consider what I said earlier. You were probably going to attend a few talks anyway, right? Why not make a huge difference while you’re there? Thanks 
I’ll be available on Twitter this week to answer any questions about session chairing and running this week, and am happy to help at the conference. (Yep, I love it so much I help run sessions, too!) Looking forward to seeing you there.
(The following is from the rest of the DjangoCon US Organizers)
Swag Bag Stuffing
We’ll be stuffing swag bags for everyone on Sunday afternoon! If you’ll be around and not in a tutorial, we’d appreciate your help. The more people we have, the faster it will go.
Registration Desk
We’ll need people at the registration desk to check people in to the conference and help answer questions. Shifts are one hour long, and you’ll always have a partner working with you!
Sprint Mentors and Volunteers
Sign up to help mentor or run errands at the sprints. For this volunteer opportunity we need two types of volunteers. Both types can help the sprint organizers focus on things that only they can do.
- Mentors: people willing to help newcomers to the sprints make their first commits. Remember: even if you’ve only recently made your first commit, you can still help someone else make theirs. You actually might be the BEST person to help a new contributor. We also need mentors to help slightly more experienced contributors make MORE commits.
- Volunteers: people who’d like to help the sprints run smoothly. That can cover a lot of things like running errands, making signs, or helping people find the different sprint groups they’re looking for. If you’d LIKE to contribute to the sprints, but you’re worried you’re “not ready,” this is an EXCELLENT way to help, while seeing a sprint up close. Who knows, maybe you’ll make a contribution too!