Volunteer at the LDSPMA Conference

Come put your shoulder to the wheel! We have a need for 20–25 volunteers to make our 2025 conference happen.

Can’t volunteer in person? We have a few virtual-only volunteer opportunities this year.

Why should I volunteer?

• Build relationships with other volunteers, speakers, leaders, and attendees
• Help improve the quality of the conference
• Gain experience with event management
• Receive free registration for the conference

In addition, volunteering at the conference is a great way to explore the possibility of becoming a year-round volunteer or a board member.

What’s the time commitment?

To receive free admission to the in-person conference, you must be able to give 12 total hours of volunteer time before or during the conference.

What would I be doing?

We have several roles and responsibilities. You can fulfill multiple roles.

• Registration Desk Staff (10–12 needed): Sit at the registration desk and hand out badges, lanyards, and swag bags; answer questions; assist those with special needs; help usher before and during keynote sessions; help pack up unused supplies at the conclusion of the conference.
  
• Room Facilitators (12–15 needed): Begin the breakout session and introduce the presenter; assist the presenter by distributing handouts, getting bottled water, and turning lights on and off; hold up cue cards to help the presenter end on time.
  
  • If you volunteer to be a room facilitator for a Thursday workshop, you will receive free access to that workshop, but that time will not count toward your larger total. This is because facilitating a Thursday workshop involves very little work; you are basically a participant who gets in for free by doing a few extra duties.
    
• Virtual Room Facilitators (5–8 needed): Help facilitate our virtual sessions held from September 9 to October 11 (on Tuesday and Thursday evenings 6:00–7:20 MST, and Saturday mornings 10:00-11:20 MST); start and run the Zoom meeting; introduce the presenter; monitor the chat; facilitate the Q&A portion; facilitate a 20-minute informal networking period following the presentation.
  
• Camera Operators (7–10 needed): Help monitor a camera recording set-up in an assigned break-out room during the conference (it is not complicated – you do not need experience with recording equipment so long as you are reliable and generally comfortable using technology. We will give you full training of what to do beforehand). Attend a brief training on the Thursday of the conference. You are also welcome to help the Conference Recording Coordinator set-up and take down recording equipment if you are available.
  
• Video Recording Editors (5–10 needed): Edit 6-8 recorded breakout sessions in the days following the conference to prepare the recordings for the release. Basic video editing skills and a video editing software (e.g. Premiere Pro or Davinci Resolve) and a computer that can run it are required. The editing is not particularly hard and you will be provided detailed instructions and supported by the Conference Video Editing Coordinator. These volunteers can be remote.
  
• In-Person Fast Pitch Ushers (2-4 needed): Manage traffic at the entrance to the Fast Pitch room. Guide pitchees to the proper “on deck” seat prior to their pitch. Help editors and agents stay on time.
  
• Virtual Fast Pitch Facilitators (7 needed): ZOOM HOSTING SKILLS REQUIRED (or at least comfortable using technology). Help shuffle pitch participants between Zoom breakout rooms (rooms for being on-deck and rooms for pitching to the publisher or agent). Call or text attendees that fail to show. This is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 25, from 1 to 3 pm Mountain Time.

How will the volunteer schedule be created?

In August, we will finalize the schedule of which speakers will present at which times. At that point, we will send out a spreadsheet showing available volunteer slots. You will then mark your name under the roles and time slots you would like to fill until you have signed up for the required number of hours. Slots will be first come, first serve.

Prior to the conference, we will hold training meetings over Zoom for each role (times TBD). These meetings will count toward your total volunteer time.

Example: You could attend a 1-hour training for virtual room facilitators in September, facilitate four 90-minute virtual sessions in September and October, attend an in-person volunteer training in October, and spend 4 hours at the in-person conference staffing the registration desk. This would meet the 12-hour requirement for free registration.