Staff testimonials

[BigGuy]

So I would like for current or former staff to post some of the reasons that they join staff, and why they do it year after year. Hopefully this will appeal to potential new staffers, and give our staff a place to voice their experiences. This is more of a casual speak your mind thread, we will have an official thread soon.

I'll start.
 I love staffing because I like working hard on the setup of con, and then seeing all the people show up and have fun. There is a lot of hard work that goes into putting on a con, but it's totally worth it when even one person comes up and says "thanks I had a fun weekend"
 It's also nice to be part of the behind the scenes crowd, staff have a lot stuff to bond over. Whether it's working together to get the main stage lighting set up(the AV guys do most of that, they just need some muscle to help) then seeing it all finished and awesome, knowing that you helped on it, or getting to the staff areas and seeing the people who just helped you funnel a couple hundred people into main events and there is that "we did it" moment.
I personally started in Operations because I was drawn to the "go here, fix that" aspect of the department. When things were going smoothly I'd wander around checking on other departments seeing if they needed anything. When something went wrong I'd feel a sense of accomplishment if I got there and helped fix it.
 
 We have many jobs open, and almost anyone can help out and make a difference. If you can't join staff we have a volunteer department that helps out the staff and we love volunteers for the help they give us.

Now I'd like to hear from some of the other staffers.

[@random]

What got me into it? Accident, actually. I came down for Kcon 2004 with a couple of people after seeing a flyer up in Jay's Anime a few days beforehand. (This was before I'd ever heard of "caps".) The con was sold out, but someone was kind enough to let the people with me in as long as I put in some time as a volunteer. I loved the feeling of being able to do something good for my friends and getting to help out behind the scenes. And it definitely didn't hurt that we had a wonderful volunteer manager, who was great at making people feel appreciated. (My secret goal is to be even half as good as she was.) I wound up putting in so many hours that she had to kick me out from time to time, for my own good.

It was a blast getting to be full staff next year, and getting to work with everyone again. Stuff happened IRL, and I wound up taking a few years away from the con - but I realized that I missed the heck out of it. So last year, I had to come back. And even though most of the faces had changed, you know what? Staff is still "family", and I suspect always will be.

We do work long hours, but it's not because we have to. It's because it's really, really worth it. You always have a place to go when there are no panels you really want to go to - someone will always be glad for a little help. You have people looking out for you, making sure you get enough rest and something to eat. You meet a whole lot of nifty people, both "behind the scenes" and among the con-goers. You get a lot of perks. But most of all? You get to know that you're part of helping a lot of people make wonderful memories.

[benjamin.riker@oit.edu]

my first year was back in 08 and it was also my first con, i walked around went to the the panels i wanted to but i found that there were long hours where i wasnt doing any thing other than just waiting around for stuff. so i found a nice quite place to sit down and that happened to be right next to the Yojimbo office. over the course of two days i became quite good friends with a couple of the yojimbo and they pointed me to the site and gave me a name of some one to talk to. Kylite.

as it was i needed an account to post on the forums and right smack dab in my first ever con hangover i entered in my email and contact info and what not and as you can see i picked the wrong fields for some of the information. but any who kylite had me come to a meeting and being a broke college kid without a car i Shanghaied three friends to come with.

as we walked into the meeting the first thing we heard was a rousing rendition of POWER THIRST, the tune of some people playing pokemon, and the 8 bit graphics of doom. the four of us just stood there and the first thing out of my friends mouth was "We're home".

And thats been one of the thing keeping me coming back, the staff as a whole is a giant family, and there is truly no other feeling that compares to watching some 5000 odd people having a good time and knowing that you helped make it happen.

i wont lie, the hours can get long but for the most part thats just because you dont want to stop doing what your doing, and sure there are perks but i could care less about those, its the people and the memories that make it worth all the work. just come to a meeting and ask around i am sure any one there could tell you about the times they have had.

[steelychan]

What got me into staffing was when doe (luvan1me) started complaining about stuffing envelopes around december. I had enough time to help out and thus i became a staff member. i just did an 8 hour shift at epic gaming... i have to say this, you guys made inputting data entertaining. in 2009, i did volunteer a little in the info booth and that was fun. but, im seriously looking forward to this year's con. i like being the part of the behind the scenes. just a simple thank you is what makes those 8 hour shifts f****ing worth it. I do volunteer at other places. but, this staff position is the most fun so far. Mostly cuz i dont have to wear khakis or dress professionally. and if i decided to dye my hair firetruck red, reg staff wouldnt really care and maybe even cheer me on. its that kind of family-like support that helps make reg staff fun. in fact, hearing brian tell brandon "yeah. she's been working the whole time. she's a trooper." made me blush. which is kinda hard to do. so thanks you guys for a fun reg meeting! and if you ever need me on a weekday, let me know!

[Washougal_Otaku]

I joined the staff in 2006.  I was in an anime club at my college, and we were wanting to go to a convention for a school trip.  Originally, the plan was for Sakura-con, but things fell apart quickly.  So, we decided to go for Kumoricon.  However, we needed a tax ID number (or something like that), so we came to a general meeting.  At this meeting, I heard the person responsible for guests said that they needed more liaisons, and that Tiffany Grant had been confirmed as a guest.  Tiffany was my favorite voice actor at the time (and is still one of my fav's), and so I decided to jump at the opportunity to be her liaison.  I was also the liaison for Piano Squall, and during my time off, I serves as a Yojimbo, too.