TOPIC: Volunteer Logistics

Before (pre-TD obsession days) when I've done gencon I've kinda just registered the moment it becomes available and getting lodgings set up even earlier, yet this year I was planning on volunteering full-tme.

I was wondering how the two worked out logistically- mostly in the sense of wondering how well ahead of time you find out volunteer assignments and if it is with plenty of time to spare under the circumstance that there is a glut of volunteers and I'm not able to do so. Ultimately, it comes down to this: if I plan to volunteer full time, should I still be looking into alternate housing accommodations and pre-registration for Gencon?

Td vol schedule for gencon is usually given out before event registration opens.

On the vol app for hotel there are couple of options.
1 need crash space to attend
2. Want crash space but don’t need it
3. No crash space

Azzy wrote: Before (pre-TD obsession days) when I've done gencon I've kinda just registered the moment it becomes available and getting lodgings set up even earlier, yet this year I was planning on volunteering full-tme.

I was wondering how the two worked out logistically- mostly in the sense of wondering how well ahead of time you find out volunteer assignments and if it is with plenty of time to spare under the circumstance that there is a glut of volunteers and I'm not able to do so. Ultimately, it comes down to this: if I plan to volunteer full time, should I still be looking into alternate housing accommodations and pre-registration for Gencon?

Before volunteering the only lodging we could ever seem to get was about 20 minutes away on the beltway. Since that time several hotels have been built but you should find out plenty enough ahead of time to find other lodging options if necessary.

Comes down to how committed are you to a downtown room? I can understand that little private fear of 'will i be accepted or not' go through it every time myself.

I usually end up buying my badge in January so i can enter the housing lotto. If i end up volunteering as i've done past years my badge gets refunded once i get assigned the GM badge.

Room i'll book and just figure worse case i'm eating the $50 as i'll know before the drop dead date if i'm getting housing through TD or not by then. If I end up not volunteering it's comfort knowing that i do have a room booked as backup in block.

As shared logistics even when I volunteer i still arrange/participate in shared carpool to save on travel/parking expense for con itself. Even a post around the forums here could help you in that regard.

Hope that helps,

Excellent! Thanks for the replies. XD

As far as logistics go, what I've done previously was just get an airbnb with a bunch of friends and take ubers to the con and back. With six of us splitting costs, it ended up a lot cheaper than trying to find somewhere downtown. Carpooling to the con itself from my home isn't really feasible since I live in Colorado (so like a 15 hour drive), so I've mostly just relied on someone who was driving in to pick us up from the airport and drop us back off there on their way out.

The way it seems, I figure I'll prolly end up getting tickets when preregistration opens but holding off on the housing depending on how volunteering turns out.

So, as a brief follow-up clarification: you mentioned the badge getting refunded once you get assigned a GM badge. Is that something I basically just contact the gencon support folk to get taken care of after I get a volunteer assignment/GM badge stuff?

Also, with regards to gencon: do they often cap out on volunteers and have to turn people away? I had the impression they can pretty much always use more volunteers at most cons, with gencon being the main outlier.

It’s harder to get Gencon to refund badges these days than it use to be. Personally I would wait until a day before events go on sale to buy a badge, basically exhaust the other options before you purchase a badge. TD will likely have accepted or rejected your application by then.

I have ran game at gencon as just a regular GM and that isn’t a bad option as well. 16 game hours get you a free badge. I’ll be running my own game at Origins this year again for that same reason.

I will say that Origins is a better con to volunteer at if you are a GM running a game other than TD. I can’t speak to which is better to volunteer with TD at.

Wayne Rhodes wrote: It’s harder to get Gencon to refund badges these days than it use to be. Personally I would wait until a day before events go on sale to buy a badge, basically exhaust the other options before you purchase a badge. TD will likely have accepted or rejected your application by then.

I have ran game at gencon as just a regular GM and that isn’t a bad option as well. 16 game hours get you a free badge. I’ll be running my own game at Origins this year again for that same reason.

I will say that Origins is a better con to volunteer at if you are a GM running a game other than TD. I can’t speak to which is better to volunteer with TD at.

I've never had an issue at Gen Con with TD badges and refund, long as you're assigned a badge early enough (before the ship deadline usually) drop Gen Con an email or call and they'll handle refund direct as they see the duplicate badge on your account. This is the exception to the no refund rules when buying a normal badge.

If playing TD at con is important then Gen Con is really the only con to volunteer at due to the nature of split shifts. Gen Con has day/evening shift vs other cons have been single shift for TD makes it a hurdle to play if you can at all. I'm not saying it's easy at Gen Con (hello event reg lotto...) but with some work/luck its usually doable vs other cons where you're stuck and unable period.

Doing other gaming events isn't usually an issue as most cons have other events you can register for and play before/after your shift. I did that quite a bit at Origins where i signed up for various boardgame events before/after my coaching shifts at Origins 2017.

Huzzah! You all rock. Tickets in order and volunteer applications submitted to both Gencon and Origins. Hope to see all you fine folks there!