{"id":3072,"date":"2019-03-07T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=3072"},"modified":"2024-01-15T13:11:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T18:11:24","slug":"2019-bwips-volunteering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2019-bwips-volunteering\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 BWIPS Volunteering"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

As I mentioned in my last post, this was my first time as pen show volunteer staff. It’s an experience I look forward to repeating many times in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Corinne, the show organizer, put out a call to the DC Pen Crew for volunteers, I eagerly signed up. My reasoning, beyond wanting to help out, was that if I was volunteering, I wouldn’t be spending money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That theory worked out well. When I received the schedule, I was happy to see myself listed for Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. That shift schedule worked so well that I’m hoping for the same next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Shifts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I came “on shift” on Saturday, I did my best to introduce myself to each vendor. I had to skip over a few that were very busy with customers. I explained, to those who looked confused, the purpose of the volunteers (getting answers, allowing breaks, etc.). I found myself booth sitting a lot on that first round as people ran to the bathroom or got food. It took me around 2 hours to complete that first trip around the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that first pass, the need to a booth sitter dropped dramatically until the last hour or so. What didn’t diminish was the vendors’ interest in talking with the volunteers. I found myself pulled into several conversations as I checked in on people throughout my shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end of my Saturday shift was interesting, it mostly involved helping the single vendors cover over their tables. Not that anyone “needed” help, but I tried to make it a little easier on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday’s shift started out a bit busy, helping people set up and fetch things. But once the show officially opened, there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do. Booth sitting help wasn’t needed until a couple hours later as people started needed breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the bad weather, vendors started closing up early. By the time my shift finished, about a third of the vendors had left. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Good<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The vendors were genuinely appreciative of the volunteers. Everyone I spoke to was very happy to have people available to relieve them, if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a volunteer, and needing to introduce myself to people, helped with my introvert qualities, and I made several new friends amongst the vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also enjoyed speaking with customers as I booth sat. It was nice to help people out (as much as possible).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potential Improvements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of my pen friends, and a fellow volunteer, Diwakar, mentioned that it would be useful to have something that the vendors could hold up to “flag down” a volunteer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something like those paper fans on popsicle sticks that get handed out at outdoor events would work really well, especially in a bright color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also think it would be useful to have a more obvious way to denote volunteers. Whether that be a shirt (which didn’t quite get arranged this year), a colorful button, or even an arm band, it doesn’t matter. I just don’t think the white name tags we were given stood out enough from the vendor name tags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In general, I had a fabulous time. I’d say the only negative about the experience is that my feet hurt at the end of it. That’s not a major issue, though, nor is it anything that the BWIPS organizers could fix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I said earlier, I very much look forward to volunteering again next year. And I might even teach a class. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As promised, here’s my post on my volunteering experience at the 2019 Baltimore Pen Show. I look forward to volunteering again next year.<\/p>\n

Keep Reading2019 BWIPS Volunteering<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[82,134,81,196,43],"class_list":["post-3072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pen-shows","tag-bwips","tag-bwips-2019","tag-pen-show","tag-pen-show-review","tag-story","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Z77k-Ny","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3065,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/bwips-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":3072,"position":0},"title":"2019 Baltimore Pen Show","author":"Rachel","date":"March 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Baltimore Pen Show was a blast! 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