Volunteer Basic Info

Communications

Please note that cell reception can be pretty bad inside the hotel. Don't rely on being able to call people in the hotel. Depending on the state of the wifi, e-mail may be better. At the conference, we will be using two-way radios to communicate when we're outside the A/V room. There will usually be someone in the A/V room at all times, and we'll have a whiteboard to leave messages.

Registration

Registration for volunteers is handled by the team lead, and those of you who signed up early should be registered. You should just go through the normal check-in in the registration area to receive your badge. If you encounter problems, you should ask for Lan at the A/V operations center. Please come by the A/V room at your earliest convenience so we can meet and you can see what we're about. Ask at the registration desk for directions.

Check-in for rooms

If you are staying at the Hilton, you can check-in at the front desk. You should've received room confirmation details with the dates of your stay. They will require a credit card on file to cover any extra charges. If you have a room at the Hilton, parking should be covered through the room. Be sure to let them know if you need a parking pass. You should also ask about whether the Internet access is covered by the room, and if so, what the code is.

Parking

You should park at the Hilton. Don't necessarily believe the "lot full" sign; go through the parking structure anyway.

The parking rate through SCALE is $10/day. If you are a volunteer, you would get your ticket validated by Bala at the registration desk.

There are parking pay stations in the hotel near the parking elevators. You should take care of your ticket there before you return to the car. If I recall correctly, you insert your parking ticket with the validation ticket and you receive another ticket in return that will allow you to exit the parking garage.

If you are staying at the Hilton, parking is covered by the room, and you can use the parking pass they give you to enter or leave the hotel parking.

Meals

Your meals are covered for the shift you work. Meal vouchers will be handled by Lan. Meal vouchers cover Friday through Sunday. Dinner will be provided on Thursday.

Shifts

According to the SCALE schedule, talks begin at 10am and end around 7pm. Some of us come in a little earlier to check over all the rooms at the beginning of the day.

You are expected to be available during the time periods you agreed to work. You may be needed to troubleshoot rooms or relieve someone to go off to lunch or take a break. Unless you are operating cameras, monitoring rooms, or manning Radio Central, you have some leeway to go off for a bit and come back. There will be a mechanism for you to leave messages so we know when you will be back.

Training

Tom will be doing training sessions on Thursday evening and Friday evening, time TBD. We'll be training each other, for the most part. We'll all be busy, so please ask if you have questions, but don't be offended if we can't answer right away. Just be patient and find someone to shadow.