Volunteer Terms Please Read
GrandCon Gaming Convention is among the best regional show’s in the country, and is Michigan's largest. The event is held annually at DeVos Place Convention Center downtown Grand Rapids. The show is made up of distinct elements that allow attendees to be entertained, shop vendors, and mingle with industry guests. A show for all ages! The opportunity for people to volunteer is key to the culture, success, and understanding of GrandCon within our local community.
Exhibit Halls
GrandCon has a shared area for exhibitors and gamers. The exhibitor area covers approximately 60 artists, crafters, publishers, retailers, and designers related to hobby gaming. GrandCon encourages vendors to offer the opportunity to demo games without the obligation to buy.
Scheduled Gaming
GrandCon hosts scheduled gaming which can include: charity events, tournaments spanning across all genres of the hobby games market - Board Games, Card Games, Live Action Role Playing (LARP), Costume Play (Cos-Play), Miniature Games, and Roleplaying Games (RPG). Scheduled gaming is a crucial facet of the show, and offers hundreds of game events in which people can participate or play.
Open Play
While many people enjoy scheduled gaming, others like to either play games they have purchased at the show or games from our extensive gaming library. We provide large open gaming areas to facilitate this for attendees.
Guests - Seminars - Special Events - and Workshops
Each year we hold a wide range of seminars featuring industry guests and/or gaming luminaries. In addition, we also hold special events such as the “D&D Improv Experiment” comedy show. These events are always gaming-related and offer a wider understanding and experience for our attendees.
Why do we UTILIZE volunteers?
The organizer of GrandCon has always felt that the show is something in which we all participate, rather than something that is simply attended. It is a social-community event as well as a gaming event. We have found over the years that many people who come to the show want to contribute to this community and at an event that they find enjoyable. Simply attending is just not enough for some. Many of the activities we run are labor intensive and require several people to run effectively. Nearly everyone you see working at the show is a volunteer. Without volunteers, GrandCon would not only be impossible, we feel it would be a less attractive show.
Types of Voluntary Roles
General Staff Volunteer - Individuals who help make the show run, carrying out a wide range of tasks, from stewarding of attendees, selling tickets and merchandise, door watch, crowd patrol, game librarian, and in some cases assisting with setup and teardown.
Core Staff Volunteer - Show Coordinators with more responsibilities and specific roles expectations.
Game Masters - Individuals running roleplaying or board/card/miniature games or tournaments for attendees.
Expectations
General and Core Volunteers
Ensure you are aware of the tasks assigned to you, and who to report.
Show up on time to your scheduled shift.
Provide a excellent experience, and a safe and respectful show for everyone.
Consult supervision or core staff when any problems arise that need an immediate solution.
Be friendly, welcoming, and helpful.
Work reliably and diligently.
Alerting core staff if you are unable to fulfill position in unforeseen circumstances.
Be presentable, wear sensible clothing and footwear while performing your duties.
Wear your Volunteer Tee and Expo badge at all times while you are on shift
Remove your Volunteer Tee while you are not on duty.
Act in the best interest of GrandCon and others around you.
Report to your Team Leaders any actions by anyone that you feel could be considered harassment, anti-social behavior, or constitute a health and safety risk. This will be taken seriously by your Team Leaders at GrandCon.
All volunteers must agree to attend an informal training via a social gathering or webinar, dates TBD.
Volunteering is not be construed with employment either now or potentially at any time in the future.
Age Restriction
All volunteers must be age 18 or older at the time you start your first volunteer shift.
Recruitment
General Volunteers - You will be recruited via an online application, which will provide GrandCon with all the necessary information to process your application. Please complete this as fully and as honestly as possible. We are keen to build a volunteer team comprising committed, hard-working and dedicated people who will help us to make GrandCon an excellent experience for visitors.
We want to create a community within the volunteers, and enhance the existing community, and our expectation is that volunteers will work for at least 12 hours, over the Thursday to Sunday of show week. Please note that there are only a limited number of shifts available on Thursday; the majority of volunteers are needed during the show opening days. We will provide details of the various volunteer schedule types with your application.
We will be assessing applications on an individual basis and it may not be possible to assign all applicants to volunteer slots. We understand that it may be disappointing if your application is not successful and we will inform you in a timely manner.
Any information provided during this application process will be kept confidential and we will keep the personal information we request to a minimum.
Please do not book in to tournaments or events until you have received your shift allocations. If there is a specific event you wish to attend, please let the Team Leaders know, and they will strive to work around this, however no guarantee can be made to meet these requests. Due to the length of most tournaments, it is not usually possible to both volunteer and take part in tournaments.
Game Masters - Are folks recruited via the event submissions process as detailed on the website.
Core Volunteers - Are recruited by showing dedication, and are experienced volunteers; if you are a Core Volunteer, you will generally take on more show responsibility for GrandCon.
Dress Code
General and Core Volunteers - You will be given a GrandCon tee shirt, in the size specified by you on your application. You must wear this volunteer tee shirt for all shifts worked, along with appropriate clothing, which is not torn, ripped or dirty, and suitable closed-toed footwear. It is likely that the tasks to which you are assigned will involve a reasonable amount of standing, walking, lifting and carrying and it is expected that you will ensure you have clothing that keeps you comfortable, presentable and safe for these tasks.
GMs and Tournament Judges - GMs are not required to wear any special uniform. However, Umpires may be required to wear some form of branded clothing depending on the tournament being run and any possible sponsor requirements. You will be notified of this in good time prior to the Expo weekend.
Appreciation
GrandCon thanks its volunteers based on the number of hours volunteered at the show.
Level 1: Volunteer for 12+ hours will earn you a free GrandCon badge and volunteer shirt.
Level 2: Volunteer for 16+ hours will earn you weekend parking passes, plus level 1 benefits.
Level 3: Core Staff Volunteer 24+ hours earn you all benefits of levels 1-2 and more.
Volunteers should consider not buying a badge if you plan on volunteering for 12+ hours.
GrandCon tries to be as flexible as we can with all volunteers. The commitment we require from you varies depending on the level of commitment you're willing to offer. All of this is to be determined prior to scheduling for the upcoming - please see below.
SCHEDULE TYPES
Standard Volunteers
Minimum time commitment: 12 hours from Friday at 7:00am until Sunday at 7:00pm, may include evening shifts.
(These times may change slightly as GrandCon grows or new plans develop)
Expectations: General volunteering roles, possibly Ambassadors
Core Staff Volunteers
Time commitment: 24 hours or more from Thursday 7:00am until Sunday at 7:00pm, may include evening shifts.
(These times may change slightly as GrandCon grows or new plans develop)
Expectations: Various roles that support the show in specific capacities
Senior Volunteers
Core volunteers please see the Volunteer Policy for details.
Health and Safety
Volunteers are crucial to helping GrandCon Gaming Convention a safe event for all participants. If you see any issues which you feel may lead to Health and Safety risks, please raise them with a Team Leader as soon as possible. If you are unable to find your team leader, please raise the issue with the area’s Floor Managers. Please do not ignore a potential issue; we would rather you raise a concern, than risk an incident. Several tasks at the show may involve manual handling (lifting, moving or carrying objects), some of which will be heavy or bulky. We have provided space on the volunteer application form for volunteers to tell us what lifting you are comfortable doing; if the information you have provided changes before the event (e.g. due to injury) please let us (via email to info@grand-con.com) as far in advance of the event as possible, so that schedules can be updated accordingly. Please note this may mean a change to your shift or hourly allocations.
If a task you are undertaking involves lifting or carrying, please follow the below guidelines:
Before lifting
Does the item really need to be moved? Don’t move items for the sake of it.
Are you capable of lifting the load by yourself? If not, please ask for help from another volunteer, contact your team leader, or see if a trolley/sack truck is available.
Don’t carry too many things at once, if the load can be split into smaller units.
Is the area where the item needs to be transported to clear? Ensure you have somewhere to put the item down at the other end.
If you need to move large or heavy items through public show areas while the
Expo is open, be aware of members of the public who may not pay attention to what you are doing.
Think before lifting or handling: plan the lift, where are you going to hold the item?
During the lift and handling
Adopt a stable position, maintaining balance throughout the lift
Get a good hold, hugging the load as close to your body as possible
Start in a good posture - a slight bending of your back, hips and knees is preferable to stooping or squatting
Do not flex your back any further while lifting
Keep the load close to your waist and the heaviest part of the load towards your body, where possible
Avoid twisting your back or leaning sideways
Problem Solving Procedure
As we would wish that show volunteering experience will always be a positive one, we understand that issues may arise. Once raised, these will be addressed in a sensitive, serious and timely manner. The following information is provided so you are aware of our problem solving procedure when handling complaints.
If you are a volunteer making a complaint - This part of the problem solving procedure gives you, the volunteer, the opportunity to complain if you feel you have been unfairly treated or if you have an issue or a cause for concern within the organization.
Stage 1 - Verbal Complaint
Should you experience any problems during the show, please raise them with your Team Leader. If the issue concerns your Team Leader, if you are unable to locate your Team Leader; or you are not sure whose team you are in, please get in touch with the show owner.
Before and after the show , please raise any issues with your direct volunteer leads, preferably by email (info@grand-con.com). If the issue concerns a lead, then reach out to Brian Lenz (brian.lenz@grand-con.com) immediately.
Stage 2 - In Writing
If you, the volunteer, are not satisfied with the outcome of the verbal complaint, you should make a formal complaint in writing to the volunteer managers (info@grand-con.com) If the complaint concerns the volunteer managers then please submit the complaint to the owner Brian Lenz (brian.lenz@grand-con.com) GrandCon will respond to this complaint within 7 days.
Stage 3 - Opportunity to Appeal
If you are not satisfied with the outcome, then you may make an appeal to our independent advisor Jan Lenz (jshalt@hotmail.com). This will then be resolved and the final resolution given to you when completed.
GrandCon Gaming Convention LLC promises to abide by the independent advisor’s findings.