Today’s topic is “Event Staff. As some of you may know, I staff various events to the extent that those of you who often attend web-related events will say, “Oh, you are always at various events.
I have a feeling this is going to be a very long article if I write it down, so I’ll just summarize the main points.
Unfortunately, the content may not be useful for everyone, but we hope it will help those who are struggling or lost in their current situation.
How it all started
I have written several articles in the past to a similar effect, and I know I am repeating myself, but I staff quite a few events and meetups.
Just to give you a quick idea.
Many official WordPress meetups, some WordCamps
JavaScript Festival
DIST
Spectrum Tokyo
Design Matters
WPZoomUP
CSSNite (when offline)
These are just a few of the typical ones…
Recently, there have been fewer events due to the Covid-19 disaster, but there have been more events if you include the ones I used to help out with. There are also events hosted by our own company.
Well, I’m just saying that it’s stupid to be such many events’ staff member, but there is a deeper reason (for me) for this to have happened in the first place, and I will share it with you.
At first, to make acquaintances and gain knowledge
I changed jobs from a job that has nothing to do with the Web, that was a “blue-collar job”, and although I attended a vocational training school, it is, well, not hard to imagine that “there is no way I can get a job at this level”.
I would say that I studied very seriously (or perhaps “desperately” would be more appropriate) at the vocational training school, so I think I have acquired a very minimum level of knowledge and skills. However, even as a beginner, I knew that this was only a “minimum” and that it would not be enough to get me a job right away.
I was in my mid-40s when I changed jobs, and everyone around me was younger than I was. Anyway, every day I went to various places to ask for instruction. But this may not have changed much….
To begin with, even if I attended a study group or event, there was no way I could understand what I heard because I didn’t have the basics. There was no one I know, so there was no one I can ask. Even if I attended, I would only “understand what I didn’t understand” just by being there.
When I attended the after party of the event and talked with other participants, they were all interested in what I had to say, but it was still not enough for me to gain proper knowledge.
So, I thought about what I could do to get to know the organizers and speakers of those events better and hear more about them, and the result was “becoming a staff member”.
It was fun to try.
This is how I ended up helping out with staff duties (or more accurately, was “made me a staff member”), and it was all good when I actually became a staff member.
First and foremost, I still enjoyed “physical works”.
At first, I didn’t know what I needed to do there, so I didn’t have much to do. In many cases, I was given tasks that require a great deal of physical strength, such as picking up necessary items or guiding visitors around the venue. The person who assigns me the task didn’t know “What can this person (=me) do?” So, I started out with low-level tasks that was not too difficult. This is true not only for staff work, but also for business work.
I have always been in the field of physical labor, so I am very good at physical work (it is more correct to say that this is the only thing I can do).
Thanks to this, I was able to be useful even to myself like this, I think.
After attending several times, I was happy to see that other staff members and participants remembered me.
Since that time, it has been said that “the after party is the real event,” and I believe this is indeed true. At least in my experience, this is the truth.
During the event, I was so busy that I didn’t have time to talk with anyone, but at the after party, I enjoyed talking with people I happened to be standing next to and learning a lot of things from them on the spot.
I worked at random events and learned a lot, even if they were outside my field of expertise, and I was simply happy to gradually make new acquaintances in a completely unknown world.
Make friends with people you wouldn’t normally get to know
One of my goals when I originally started the staff, “to be friends people who are knowledgeable about technology and information,” was quickly achieved in the very early stages.
Above all, I really appreciated the opportunity to get to know the organizers and speakers of the event by helping with staff duties.
The people organizing the events are usually knowledgeable about the subject matter, and of course the speakers. As a beginner, I was very grateful to have a “teacher close at hand”.
I am an engineer, but it is safe to say that my work is never completed on my own. I communicate with the director and designers to implement the project, and I often participate in client meetings.
I was able to hear the way of thinking and working of people in a different position from myself at these events, and it was full of positive experiences for me.
It was a unique opportunity to hear from people in positions such as marketers and legal professionals with whom I rarely have the opportunity to interact, and I think it was a benefit to be able to communicate not only as a participant, but also as a staff member.
Although I wrote at the beginning that the content may not be useful for everyone, I think this idea will be especially useful for beginners. And I think it is also very valuable as an opportunity to learn about the thinking of those who are in a position to have a different point of view from my own.
Why would you do that?
I’ve written most of the answers so far, but staff work has only been useful to me. That is why I have been doing it for so long, and I am still doing it.
Of course, I enjoyed learning about technology, but I also enjoyed gaining new perspectives by getting to know people I would not normally have contact with, interpreting the work assigned to me in my own way and communicating ideas for improvement, and reducing waste in my work by improving efficiency, even if only a little.
For me, it was all a learning experience, and I think I am actually making use of it now.
Above all, it was great to realize that “someone needs me”.
Even I was full of anxiety when I first entered this completely unknown world, not knowing where to start or what I could do, but I believe that this was a valuable opportunity to gain guidelines.
There is no doubt that I am where I am today thanks to my many predecessors.
Even if the duties assigned to you are, for example, holding a sign outside the venue, there are many things you can do at that time, I think.
It was fun to think about and devise ways to make things more convenient for the participants as well as the tasks assigned to me, and I was able to learn “how to manage” and “what to prioritize” by looking at the management side from the inside. I believe I will be able to make use of this experience when I become the one in charge of running the event.
Before you know it, you’ll be an old-timer.
In the meantime, I, who was a complete amateur, became an old-timer before I knew it, and I have been a staff member for more than 10 years.
Thanks to helping out at various events, I have made many acquaintances, and my decision to work at mgn was originally based on meeting Megane-san at many events.
I have also started to organize my own events as an organizer, online events across the Covid-19 Disaster, and using UD Talk to grant real-time transcriptions has become rather common.
I originally became interested in accessibility after listening to a session at an event, and although I still lack knowledge and skills, I believe I am now able to deal with accessibility without lacking “awareness”.
Regardless of the size of the event, any event or workshop can be useful, and looking at it as a staff member, there are different difficulties for each size of event.
I really believe that there is a lot to be gained by actively participating in events and study groups with one’s own objectives, rather than just randomly attending events and study groups.
And as I have attended many events, I have become aware of many details. Regardless of whether it is online or offline, there are still many things I want to do and should do to improve the experience for the participants, how to make the speakers enjoy themselves, and how to make the event better.
And we will continue to do so.
In the meantime, there is no doubt that my body will not be able to move as much as it should, but “physical work” is not the only staff duty.
One of my important roles is to verbalize the knowledge I have gained and pass it on to those who will come after me. As I get older, my knowledge and experience will increase, but I will always remember my original intention and always consider whether this is the best choice.
I may not be able to perform staff duties at some point, but what I have gained so far is not unique to me, and I will try to cooperate so that I can make the most of it in the future.
What I have gained from working as a staff member is, of course, the management of events and study groups, but I also use it in my work to pay attention to various things, to notice discomfort and problems, and to take the initiative to solve problems. Thinking about it, I have been doing such things since my part-time job as a student. I think this is the reason why I am still able to do what I do in this corner of the world.
There is really only so much one can do on one’s own, and there is only so much an ordinary person like me with no talent can do.
Still, when I cooperate with others, I can do things that I would not have thought of on my own, and I can feel that I am needed by someone. I have a rather low self-esteem, so I’m very happy to be able to feel that.
What I have learned from the people I have met through staff work is a direct result of their knowledge and experience. It is their knowledge and experience that have made me who I am today, and now it is my turn to return the favor.
Because of this, I recently had the opportunity to help out at WordCamp Kansai 2024 and WordCamp Asia 2024 as a volunteer on the day of the events. Volunteering at overseas events in particular can be quite difficult due to the language barrier, but I have become accustomed to event management itself, and I think I am now good enough to handle any task that is thrown at me.
I’ve written about the “ability to get involved on one’s own” (Makikomare-ryoku) in a blog I wrote a long time ago.
Even if I don’t organize something myself, doing what I can do to help others by being there for them can be useful to others, and as a result, it has been useful to me.
Be actively “involved”.
We don’t know what the future holds, but what we do for someone else will always benefit us in a roundabout way.
