So you wanna work for Kumoricon?

Kumoricon is an organization designed, staffed, and held together by volunteers. Everyone who puts their time and effort into the production of this convention is a volunteer! From the board of directors and executive staff of Altonimbus Entertainment (our corporate name and the company that holds Kumoricon) to the people who come to the convention every year and help out with line control or bringing food to staff for a few hours in between panels. All of these people get no monetary compensation for their hard work and dedication to the convention, making them all amazingly valuable volunteers. It’s important to understand this when you start thinking about working for Kumoricon, because while the rewards are invaluable, you need to know your options!

Voting Members of Altonimbus Entertainment 101

OR; The great and wonderful world of staffing our convention!

Within Kumoricon, when we say “staff” what we mean is a voting member of Altonimbus Entertainment, someone who has paid their dues (like being a Honor Society member or a part of a Scouts troop), and has the right to vote at General and Annual meetings. By paying their dues and working the convention for the minimum required hours (currently 16 hours and may not include time spent before or after the convention helping to prepare for it), they receive access to the convention, a Kumoricon staff shirt, many other fun oppourtunites, as well as the benefit of being a part of an incredibly loving team of anime fans dedicated to puting on a great show! It’s hard work, and it takes a lot of patience, perserverance, and the ability to take direction and use good judgement, but the joy you get from becoming a part of such a strong community is priceless. Your opinion matters and has weight in the overall structure of building the convention each year as you hold voting rights within Altonimbus Entertainment. This means you have a say in who is elected to the member-elected board positions, and if any other matters are brought before the staff to vote on, you have a say in those too. When you staff our convention, you have volunteered yourself to be an asset to Altonimbus Entertainment, and you have decided that you wish to help shape the convention by letting your opinions be counted toward any changes proposed!

The August 14 staff registration deadline for Kumoricon 2011 has passed. However, we are still eager to accept volunteers at the convention.

Volunteers at Kumoricon

OR; How to help out without selling your soul.

There are a lot of people within the anime community of the Northwest who, while loving our convention and wanting to get involved, simply do not have the time to donate or the energy to be a full-on staffer. There are also people who love the convention intensely, but have no desire to be a part of the overall corporation/organization that makes the convention run. They may not have personal opinions about the day-to-day runnings of the convention before and after it takes place and so they don’t feel the drive to pay dues and become a member. And that is A-OK! The convention thrives on people who can donate just a few quick hours to give those staffers who pull long shifts and have their nose to the grind constantly the brief moments they need to get some food, or take a nap. Without these day-of-convention volunteers we would be sorely understaffed and very very tired! The benefits of volunteering are really great for parents and older teens who do not have time or access to monthly meetings or who just want to help in small ways that make a big difference. You are not required to volunteer for more than 2 hours when you sign up as a volunteer, leaving you all the rest of the convention to enjoy panels, meet with friends, and cosplay to your heart’s content. You also forego the responsibilities of being a member of the parent organization, so voting and making choices at meetings is not expected of you. It allows you to help, no strings attached, and support those who need it. When you become a volunteer at Kumoricon, you have donated a small portion of your convention time to a great cause, but still have the freedom to spend the greater part of the convention however you see fit!

CWE with Altonimbus Entertainment

OR; How college kids can help Kumoricon in big ways!

Even still, another option is available to our mass of college-bound constituents. If you have skills or expertise in an area of study that is or can be related to helping a convention run, many schools participate in a program that allows you to be free labor to a corporation while gaining valuable real life experience in the field that equals credits in your degree and portfolio plumping credentials! Many of the positions open to members of Altonimbus can be traced back to things students are learning to do every day. Are you a photographer-in-training and need a few jobs to show off your skills before you can graduate so you hit the ground running? Using CWE, you can be automatically made a member of Altonimbus Entertainment (CWE students are not required to pay dues, due to the nature of the program) and provide Kumoricon with work that equals credit in your major or degree as well as learning experience. Minimum required hours depend on the program and CWE requirements for credit hours, but our CWE Manager can help you build a position that gets you what you need and helps Kumoricon get quality work out of you. Using CWE with Altonimbus Entertainment means getting college credit for working the convention and helping a convention get the skilled staffers it needs in the more technical areas of the overall production.

Three choices for volunteering with Kumoricon, with different benefits, pros, and cons.

It’s up to you to figure out where best you’d be suited to help the convention. If you are ready to join in on the fun and experience the behind-the-scenes world of Kumoricon, check out the staff registration page for more details, or email volunteer@kumoricon.org or contact our CWE manager at cwe@kumoricon.org and start finding out what it takes to get involved and make Kumoricon the best convention it can be!

With your help we can put on a great con!