Written By: Kyle / Antharis
As this was my first time volunteering, I was completely unsure of what was to be expected. Fortunately the head of Volunteers, Mayan, was incredibly well organised and helpful. There were quite a few new Volt members and one thing that stood out to me was filling of the swag bags. Made us work like a train and it was honestly great watching it work and seeing how smooth it was. We also got given our own swag bags, of which I am still using the mouse mat as it is fantastic.
On the day of B-sides, even with the initial chaos that started when people arrived and handling the lines coming in, it was quickly handled by the leadership team and people were very understanding when they arrived. Attendees were co-operative and patient while dealing with the initial rush. The other Volts were always willing to step in and assist where there may be a need to do so, irrespective of the task. Once the initial rush has calmed down at the start, you had a bit more freedom to move around and attend some of the talks if you wanted. I didnt get to attend any this year but that was owing to my own desire to make sure I was always available if need be.
The leadership team for this were also very understanding when I needed time to sit down as my sugar levels were dropping as a diabetic and were offering to help and just told me to sit down and look after myself. If you do get selected to be a Volt, you will be appreciated for your hard work and helping out.
Once the closing speech has happened, you will be able to join the crowds that remain and interact with them in a more relaxed atmosphere. This would be a great time to start building relationships that you may not have been able to during the event as you were helping out as a lot of the companies stay around for the social part afterwards. I actually got to know a few more of the Volts and found out that some of them came from Zimbabwe and so did some of the attendees.
Having been an attendee in 2023 as a company and then a Volt in 2024, it was a great experience to see both sides of how the event is run and you learn a lot more when doing the volunteering and seeing just how much work goes into an event of just a couple days and seeing that the members of the B-Sides team do not care what company you are from or your role in the industry, just that you are there to make this work and make sure that people enjoy the event with as few issues as possible.
