All Hands on Deck! Crew Members Wanted!

PAWCon is 100% volunteer-run - powered by passionate individuals dedicated to creating a welcoming and positive experience for both fellow volunteers and our beloved attendees. From first-time recruits to long-term Board Members, everyone plays a vital role in supporting the success of our ‘silly con valley’ furry convention. 

We’re currently recruiting new members for our crew! In addition to general volunteer positions, we’re excited to announce that several lead positions are open for this year and beyond. We’re looking for critters who are committed to helping PAWCon succeed and grow.

New this year: We’re happy to share that volunteers will receive a refund of their con badge (registration fee) after the event.

For more information, please visit our Volunteer Page. If you’d like to apply for one of the open lead positions, feel free to email us at volunteer@pacanthro.org.

Open Lead Positions

Programming Director

Programming is the nuts and bolts of the convention, the anchor around which everything else is arranged.  Programming consists of panels, main stage events, and special events like our 18+ “UnderPAW” evening.  The programming director, in conjunction with their team, should seek input from the community on panels, communicate with panelists before the convention, arrange a panel schedule and rooms, determine and provide any equipment a panel may need that the convention could reasonably be expected to provide, coordinate with panelists on site, determine whether panels are appropriate for the convention and if they should be general audience or 18+, and communicate any panel changes so they can be reflected in social media announcements during the event.  For main stage and for special events, they should work with our A/V crew and with the various main stage or event participants (DJ coordinator, guest of honour, charity, performing artists, event lead, etc.) to insure proper scheduling and availability of resources, and work with the hotel lead to insure the hotel provides what is needed for each event (e.g. chairs vs dance floor).  They should also work with Venvi, our online scheduling service, to insure that all panels and events are properly recorded and that any changes are reflected on the schedule during the convention.

Social Media Lead

Social media is how the convention reaches out to our attendees, both during the event and the rest of the year. The lead should, in conjunction with their second and any other members of their team, maintain the convention’s social media accounts, post periodic updates on the convention’s status and announcements, respond to reasonable concerns expressed on social media in coordination with the Board of Directors, update our attendees on news of interest during the convention itself, provide reasonable moderation to any convention-managed channels in which attendees are allowed to post (e.g. Telegram), and make recommendations to convention staff on how the convention can present its best public face.

Artists Alley Lead

Artists Alley is new to us this year. It’s a venue where artists can offer their work for sale without the structure and commitment of the Shopping District. The lead should manage the space, provide a table and a schedule for each artist who expresses an interest, allocate the available space in a fair and equitable manner if the demand for space exceeds the supply, maintain reasonable policies for the space in terms of what may or may not be displayed or offered for sale, or any other area where clear guidelines are needed; obtain the consent of each artist to those policies and enforce them, confirm with each artist that they conform to all legal requirements to offer products for sale in San Jose (note to self - what are San Jose’s rules for only occasional sales?), and otherwise insure that the space runs smoothly.

Shopping District Lead

The Shopping District is our structured area for merchants or dealers who want to commit to the entire convention to offer their wares to our attendees. The lead is the primary point of contact for our merchants before, during, and after the convention. The lead, in conjunction with their team, communicate with merchants before the event, lay out the space available for the Shopping District, coordinate with merchants on their needs for table space, power, WiFi for payment terminals, and any other facilities the convention could reasonably be expected to provide, assign merchants to tables, insure that merchants are properly registered and paid for the event, allocate merchant space in a reasonable manner if the demand for space exceeds the supply, acquire a copy of each merchant’s California sales tax permit (or help them acquire one), assist merchants with any needs that arise during the convention, coordinate with the hotel lead to insure that anything merchants require that is within the purview of the hotel (e.g. tables and chairs) is satisfied, and otherwise insure that merchants and attendees have a smooth sales and shopping experience.

Registration Second

Registration is both where the convention says hello and where we manage the revenue that allows the convention to happen. As every attendee’s first experience of the convention, our goal is for registration to be welcoming, quick, and smooth. The lead, in conjunction with their team, will handle routine registration issues before and after the event, insure that the registration equipment is maintained and properly supplied, manage the registration space, including setup and teardown of equipment and “swag”, handle any convention funds in the registration space in coordination with the Treasurer, coordinate with the hotel lead to insure the registration space is adequately laid out and furnished, actively manage the registration process during the event, coordinate with Operations to insure that registration has sufficient volunteers to manage the expected flow of attendees, and otherwise act as necessary so that attendees have a positive registration experience that maximises their enjoyment of the event.