BGG Con 2015: From the eyes of a volunteer

I meant to write this post sooner but things got busy during Thanksgiving weekend. Hope everybody had a wonderful holiday weekend! And one of the things I’m thankful for is being a part of a wonderful board-gaming community.

Anyway, if anybody has any reservations about joining Team Geek at BGG Con, I would say to you: Do it! You’ll be glad you did! (Plus, you get a super sweet jersey!)

I applied to be on Team Geek way back in March. When you’re selected, BGG pays for your convention ticket, and, in return, you sign up for 16 hours of volunteer time during the convention, in two hour blocks. I flew in on Tuesday to attend orientation that night and to meet other volunteers before the Con started on Wednesday. Upon arriving at the hotel and dropping off my luggage, I quickly saw first-hand how much preparation was needed for the convention.

I dropped by the main ballroom to see where I could help out and was immediately greeted by tons of volunteers and piles and piles of cardboard. Board games in shipping boxes were dropped off by the pallets, and we were taking them out to put on display for convention-goers in the morning. Upon registration, attendees all get tons of swag and games, which is pretty sweet. I noticed later that a lot of first-timers to the convention were uber surprised by the amount of swag they all get. There were also a million badges that needed to be sorted and lanyards separated from their each other.

I quickly ran into a friend I had met at last year’s convention and she was on Team Geek as well! That totally put my mind at ease, knowing that I already knew another volunteer right off the bat. But as the convention continued, I realized that everybody on Team Geek is pretty awesome. I was surprised to see that about a third of us were first-time volunteers. A pretty cool perk of volunteering is that if you come back next year, BGG gives you an extra ticket for your significant other or spouse. Team Geek leaders then did a quick tour of the various facilities we should be aware off, and then treated us to an awesome Mexican food dinner.

And then it was Day 1. My first shift was at registration at 11 a.m. I heard folks were lined up for registration about the time I went to bed around 2 a.m. so they could get their badges at 9 a.m. I figured they wanted to immediately start gaming or get in line for the vendor halls, which opened at noon. Registration was insane, the line snaked up and down the convention floor, and all the way up the stairs into the hotel lobby. Crazy! But it was awesome to see so many people eager for the Con. That first shift blew by quickly! I was helping people pick out some of their swag and making sure lanyards were in order, right before they turned the corner into the registration desk. I signed up for a few other registration mid-morning shifts, which was nice because I’m not a morning person, and I also got to meet people first coming into the convention.

The other main shifts that I had signed up for were floating night shifts (again, because I’m a night owl). These shifts started around 9 p.m. and went as late as 1 a.m. These shifts required me to walk around the convention floor and main ballroom, helping people out as they needed, and making sure everything was OK. I helped answer questions about events, times, locations and even how to check into the hotel Wi-Fi. I would wander around the “Hot Games” area and see if anybody needed help. The “Hot Games” are were this year’s in-demand games that were laid out on the table so that people can learn how to play them. During the day hours, there was an actual teacher present, but during these late-night shifts, people read through the rules themselves. I would sometimes run over to the library and ask if they needed help or if they wanted some water (which I would grab in the volunteer lounge, which was filled with water and snacks, another awesome perk of Team Geek.)

The last shifts I did was cleanup on Sunday afternoon. My flight going back to Phoenix wasn’t until 6:45 p.m. so I helped with the packing up the Hot Games, sorting and packing up games in the library and moving everything into the main ballroom so that it would be loaded onto the trucks quickly. The library portion of this took up the biggest chunk of the shift. All the games in the library are sitting on these rolling metal bookcases. Before they get loaded into the trucks, the games needed to be packed tightly into each shelf so that there isn’t much shuffling during transport. It was like a giant game of Tetris! Then after that, the fronts of the bookshelves had to be covered  with this rubber chicken-wire contraption that needed to be zip-tied tightly to the bookshelves.

I originally signed up to be on Team Geek to meet more people since I travel to the Con by myself.  Naturally, wearing the BGG jersey makes you more approachable to people, either for questions or just saying hi when walking through the convention floor. So yes, I did meet lots more new folks in addition to the wonderful Team Geek members. Total success! Lastly, there are tons of perks and giveaways for Team Geek members. In addition to receiving games and an official Team Geek jersey, I scored a sweet BGG Con dice tower and two playing mats, a space-designed one and one specifically for the The Grizzled, which helps your game components stay in place on the table. So that basically sums up my Team Geek experience. I can’t wait to do it again next year!