My first article on a brand new website! Are you as excited
as I am? Yeah, you are. So what’s my first post about? Volunteering.
Excited yet? You should be.
I can’t stress how much I love volunteering for Sci-Fi
conventions. In the past three years, I’ve made it a point to not pay for any
major event, and I haven’t. Along the way, I have learned a lot of lessons and
wish to pass some of that knowledge on to you. For today, I’ll just discuss the
Pros and Cons of the wondrous world of volunteering: Nerd Edition.
Pros:
“Look, ma! I saved
you loads of cash!” Don’t have $75+ laying around for the Comic-Con that finally
rolled into your town or $200 for the fandom centered convention? Yeah, neither
do I but I still get in. You should use all that money you saved not paying for
a ticket to get that limited edition, super cool action figure you wanted since
you were 12 or whatever.
“You spent how much
on that thing? Well, I got it for free. Sucker.” Now, I’ll admit you may
not always get free stuff, but you usually do. So far I’ve gotten free
toys, more posters than what I know what to do with, movie tickets, free autographs and art
(which I’ll discuss more below), t-shirts, movies, and hugs. If there is something you got that you don’t
want, then you could just sell it. (Anyone want
20 Dungeon & Dragons booster decks?)
“Oh. My. Gawd. I
loved you in that one movie! Sign my boob?” Laugh as those poor suckers wait HOURS in
line to pay $25 for an autograph and/or a photo. Most actors are kind enough to do that stuff
for free when it comes to the volunteers. Don’t pester them for the stuff though,
you’ll have to be patient and sometimes wait to the end of the show. The other
option is to assist the actors. (If you’re a newbie to the convention, don’t
expect to get this job right away. It’s sought out by 85% of the volunteers.) I
got to hang out with Lou Fucking Ferrigno for two hours! For two hours, The
Hulk relied on me. I had a chat with Luciana
Carro of Battlestar Galatica about pie. I got to hear Tom Felton say a couple
of rude words about William Shatner because he was treating fans badly. It was
awesome.
“Can you draw Batman
fighting Predator in space?” While most people go crazy for helping the
actors, I personally have more fun with the artist. Hell, I even made out with
one! … but that’s another story. I have gotten so many things either discounted
or free. One tradition amongst volunteers is to have our t-shirts signed and drawn
on by the artist. It’s just another special little treat.
“True story, bro.” You
have so many adventures, you could write a novel.
Cons
“Wow. William Shatner
is a douche bag.” It has been said many times, don’t meet your heroes.
While I am happy that I’ve meet all these wonderful actors, I don’t see them as
anyone special. (Besides Lou Herrigno. He’s THE Hulk!) I blame that on my first
convention where I met an actor I adored (not William Shatner) and he was a total
jerk. At another convention, my poor fangirl heart was broken to find out one
of my heroes is a womanizing creep. I wasn’t allowed to help him out because
other women had issues with the way
this particular actor was treating them.
“Work, peon! Work!” At the end of the day, volunteering is still
work that you are pretty much doing for free.
Depending on the convention, you may even be treated like crap. If
you’re a newbie, you might not always get the job you want. No matter how cool
and relaxed the place is, you have to remain professional and make sure you
please as many people as possible.
“Yeah… that panel
finished an hour ago.” The worst thing that can happen is that you miss
something you were really looking forward to. You get caught up with juggling a
million things and forget to take a break during the one panel you were looking
for.
So there you have it! A whole, organized list of pros and cons about volunteering for conventions (or anything, really.) In the end, you'll know if volunteering for super cool stuff is for you or not.
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