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Volunteer at the Anthropology and Geography Conference 2020

The Royal Anthropological Institute is recruiting a team of 100 volunteers to help at the online Anthropology and Geography: Dialogues Past, Present and Future Conference (14 – 18 September 2020). This conference is organised in partnership with the British Academy, British Museums, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and School of Oriental and African Studies.

This is a great opportunity for students to be involved with a major international conference, learn new online skills and virtually attend some conference panels. Volunteering is only open to current university students and recent graduates.

The conference will be run on a Shindig platform.  This replicates many of the experiences of a face-to-face conference in a virtual environment.  Participants are all visible in the room and can ask questions either in person or through text.  Participants can also chat with each other privately, either via video or text.  We will have virtual exhibitor rooms and a virtual coffee room!

Please familiarise yourself with the Shindig platform using these resources.

We are looking for enthusiastic people aged 18 and over who enjoy working with others and are willing to dedicate their time for the duration of the conference.

  1. To volunteer you must be available for the following two training sessions to understand your role at the conference and get practical experience using Shindig:
    Volunteer training: Monday 24th August 10:00 – 12:00 (all volunteers need to attend this)
  2. One ‘hands-on’ training session of 90 minutes, in which you will be trained in small groups to use the Shindig platform. You must select one of these hands-training sessions to attend.
  3. There will be a volunteer briefing on Monday 7th September 2020 at 14.00-16.00 (BST). This will include final information about volunteering at the conference and be another opportunity to ask questions and get to know the team!

In return for your assistance during the conference, we offer all volunteers free conference registration.

Volunteers will play an important role in the conference, helping out in virtual panels and other online areas of the conference. In each conference panel, two panel convenors will be trained as administrators to run their panel. A volunteer will have a third supporting admin role, communicating with conference attendees in the text chat box to help attendees resolve basic interface questions. Volunteers will be trained to use shindig and given instructions on how to respond to the questions they may receive. Although there will be opportunities to network, we need people we can count on to help ensure the event runs smoothly. Because the volunteer team works on a rota system, we need to ensure all stations are covered. The days run from 1pm – 8pm (and you will be scheduled into volunteering shifts between these times - with breaks of course!) Although you will not able to pick and choose which panels you attend at the conference, you will be asked to indicate if you have a preference for a panel you would particularly like to see (a panel preference form will be circulated once the conference programme is set).

If you would like to volunteer, we advise you apply at your earliest convenience as applications are considered as they arrive.

To apply please complete this online form.