The Best Volunteers in the World!

If it’s true that an event is only as good as the volunteers, then WordCamp Austin must have been phenomenal!

Our small army of folks started arriving at 7:00 am to help get everything set up and ready for registration. Shirts and name badges were already prepped and ready to go thanks to the dedicated work of a number of people a few days before, so it was easy work to lay everything out. Others helped hang signs and banners, put out beverages, set up electrical cords and tables in the classrooms (we made sure everyone could plug in!), and lay out our sponsor swag.

And then off we went!

Throughout the day it was difficult to find anything that needed to be done, because the volunteers took charge of every tiny detail and made sure things ran like clockwork.

  • We need recycling containers? Done.
  • Speaker release forms? Done.
  • Presentation introductions and surveys? Done.
  • Happiness bar assistance? Done, done, done.

It was fantastic to see how many people took the initiative and got the job done – even if it was a task we had never anticipated beforehand!

At the end of the day, the volunteers moved back in like a swarm of fire ants and magically, in minutes everything was back in its place, thrown away or loaded back into vehicles… as if we had never been there at all!

The truth be told, the whole event seemed to run effortlessly, but only because so many people worked so hard behind the scenes.

The beauty of WordPress is the community, and in Austin, our WordCamp volunteers proved that community is the backbone of everything we do.

WordCamp Austin Blue Ribbon Volunteers:

Ryan Duff
Melinda Helt
Eric Highland
Karen Kreps
Sherry Scott
Martha-Gail Moore
Tara Payne
Michele Myette
Andrew Lippert
Shirley Allaway
David Vogelpohl
Bella Guzman
Charleen M.
Shelly Kochhar
Debra Schmidt
Sandi Chevalier-Batik
Jackie Dana
Bobby Brooks
Brittany Highland
Colleen Lynn
Cathy Yang
Jeffrey Bernier
Robin Brown
Audrey Lentz
Lorraine Rylance
Russell Freeman
Carol Cody
Yvonne Young
Rachael Butts
Matthew Campbell
Nick Batik
Josh Miller
Sherry Lowry
Pat Ramsey
Clark Wimberly
Bill Erickson

From the Organizing Committee, and on behalf of all of our attendees:
THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!

About Jackie Dana

Jackie is a professional writer and editor, specializing in website copywriting, blogging, and documentation. She's also a novelist. Jackie runs the meetup group Write It Already Austin, is a Municipal Liaison for NaNoWriMo. Get in touch at jackiedana.com.
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2 Responses to “The Best Volunteers in the World!

  1. Deb says:

    Thank you all!!!!!!!

  2. Pingback: First reflections on WordCamp Austin « jackie dana