Volunteering

Volunteering

Thank you for your interest in volunteering at Balticon. There are lots of things you can do to earn your spiffy teal Volunteer Ribbon! Read on to find which opportunities suit you best, then send us an email and our Volunteer Coordinators will connect you with great ways to get involved. 

Pre-Con Opportunities: 

Data Entry
Date: Sept thru Memorial Day
Location: Work from Home

Email  Program Coordinators


Truck Loaders
Date: Thurs 5/26 & Tues 5/31
Location: BSFS HQ, Baltimore

Email  Volunteers at Balticon and  Logistics at Balticon

Help us get this show on the road! We’ll be loading up all the Balticon supplies and taking them from the clubhouse in Highlandtown to the convention site, downtown, and then doing the same in reverse on Monday. We will need help both loading and unloading on both days.


Truck Crew
Date: Thurs 5/26 & Tues 5/31
Thurs, Mon, Tues
Location: BSFS HQ, Baltimore
Renaissance B. H. Hotel

Email  Volunteers at Balticon and  Logistics at Balticon

Truck Crew is a minimum 16 hour commitment. They earn current year Balticon membership AND they can run a separate hours tracking sheet to earn comp toward the next year. They must work both Thursday load-out and Tuesday load-in at BSFS HQ and both Thursday load-in ​AND Monday load-out at the hotel. We feed truck crew dinner on Thursday and lunch on Tuesday and they are invited to the Dead Dog party.


Sponsorships Assistant
Date:  August through May
Location: BSFS HQ, other

Email the Sponsorships Administrator

This volunteer will help the Sponsorships Administrator find and keep track of sponsors.  This is a year-round position. The sponsorships administration team works with sponsors, the publications department, and the webmasters group.


At-Con Volunteer Roles during Balticon at the hotel venue:

Room Gofers
Date:  Shifts available Thurs thru Mon
Location:  Various

Email Volunteers at Balticon

Help the show run smoothly by doing program census counts, help to make minor room setup adjustments for programming, move supplies to and from the children’s program room, Green Room, classrooms, presentations, and Kaffeklatsches. Generally, you go fer this and go fer that.


Green Room Crew
Date:  Friday, Monday at Noon
Location:  Green Room

Email Volunteers at Balticon and Greenroom@balticon.org


Tech Crew
Date:  Thursday thru Tuesday
Location:  as assigned

Email  Volunteers at Balticon and Tech at Balticon

Tech savvy? Know theatre tech? Good with A/V equipment? Know your way around a stage? Our tech crew wants you!


Assistant Balticon 50 Sales Desk Manager  Email  Patti Kinlock

The Balticon Sales desk is located in the Art Show. The assistant manager will work our their hours of coverage with the manager.


Information Desk Email  Patti Kinlock

Are you willing to study the hotel maps and study the pocket program until you know them backwards and forwards? Are you REALLY good at giving directions and at understanding what people want to know even when their questions don’t make much sense? Then we need you at the Info Desk!


Con Suite Minders
Date: Friday thru Monday
Location:  Con Suite

Email  Volunteers at Balticon

Limited mobility? Help with arranging and replenishing snacks and keeping things clean and tidy in the con suite.


Food Prep Assistants
Date: Friday thru Monday
Location:  info for staff only

Email  Volunteers at Balticon and Con Suite at Balticon

With the change of hotel comes a reorganization of Balticon food service functions. The Con Suite and the food prep areas are far apart. So Leigh needs dedicated food prep assistants to help her in the pastry kitchen that the hotel has assigned to us.


Berserker Lair Team
Date: Thursday thru Tuesday
Location:  Berserker Lair

Email  Volunteers at Balticon

We need talented people with experience in food service and good people skills to make sandwiches for the volunteer/staff lunches ​and help Berserker Lair Papa Mykeal keep the room neat and tidy and tuck folks in at night. Could this be you?


Art Show Cashiers
Date: Friday thru Monday
Location:  MD Salons E&F

Email  Volunteers at Balticon   AND   Patti@Balticon.org

This job requires a bit of a training period as there are a lot of eggs in this basket. Can you keep a new, somewhat complex system and new computer software both in your head while learning on the fly? If so, the Art Show wants YOU!


Con Sales Cashiers
Date: Friday thru Monday
Location:  MD Salons E&F

Email  Volunteers at Balticon  AND  Patti@Balticon.org

We haave more product than usual to sell this year, what with this being our Golden Anniversary and GRRM being our Guest of Honor. If you have some retail experience, this could be the place for you!


The Night Watch
Date: Thurs thru late Monday
Location:  As assigned

Email  Volunteers at Balticon  AND  Operations at Balticon

Night Owl? We need overnight help in the Anime Room, Art Show and Convention Operations Center. All overnight ConOps position MUST be approved by the Convention Operations Chief.


And there’s plenty more not listed here! You can make a decision now and we can fix you up a schedule pre-con, or you can come to the volunteer desk at con and get started there. We’ll even gift you an hour for booking 20 or more hours pre-con and doing all your scheduled hours.

Perks of Volunteering: Volunteer perks increase with hours invested, from free home-made cookies (there are folks who volunteer just to have access to the cookies!) as soon as you log your first hour to preferred event seating at 8 hours, spiffy Berserker T-shirt at 10 hours, and complimentary membership to next year’s con at 20 hours. Volunteer hours during truck loading/unloading and set-up on Thursday and Friday and break down and truck loading/unloading on Monday and Tuesday count double and you can earn up to 12 hours working at the 2X rate. (Not that you can’t work 20 hours just doing set up and break down — many of us do. We encourage you to work as much as you want as long as you’re having a good time doing so! However, you can only get 12 hours credit towards B51 comp at the 2X rate.) For information about earning membership for the current year, meals for staff and volunteers and limited crash space availability, contact volunteers AT balticon DOT org.

Important Documents:

Here are the Balticon Volunteer Rules 2016.

Release forms for adults may be digitally signed and emailed to volunteers AT balticon DOT org or printed, completed, and droped off at the volunteer desk when you arrive. ** If you are a minor, we must have the original copy with your parent or guardian’s signature dropped of at the volunteer desk.

B50 Volunteer Reg & Release for Print 2016

Documents to download, print and complete by hand: – Everyone should print and hang onto their Timesheet – you will use it to keep track of your hours.

B50 Truck Crew Time Record for Print 2016

B50 Volunteer Time Record for Print 2016

To complete forms on your computer using Adobe Acrobat or other PDF reader, click the links below. These cannot be completed from a browser window, you have to download them to your local drive.

Volunteer Reg & Release e-Fill-In Form 2016

Volunteer Time Record e-Fill-In Form

Truck Crew Time Record e-Fill-In Form