Volunteer FAQ

Welcome to Arisia staff!

Whether you've been on staff for many years, or you're new this year, this is a handy reminder page for vital Arisia information

New to staff? Do these things first: Sign up for Staff Announce List. This is the most important list we have for communicating the critical information staff needs to know. Everyone is expected to subscribe to the Staff-Announce list. Optionally also sign up for Staff Discussion List. This is occasionally high volume and argumentative, but you may find some interesting content there. Click here to request an account on the staff wiki (Account activation is done by a human, so there may be a slight delay. If you don't hear anything in a day or two, send mail to Find out the staff email lists for your area, and ask your area head or division head to request a list update so that you are subscribed to them. Put the concomm meetings on your calendar. You can find them on Arisia's Calendar page: http://corp.arisia.org/calendar Take a look at the Divs & Areas section of the Wiki and see what information is available. If there is not information there, ask your division head or staffservices@arisia.org to help you with a job description (and please consider it updating it as you get familiar with your position). Read the debrief reports from the past couple of years for your area.

Arisia Email and Mailing Lists

• When sending and receiving Arisia email, please use the area's email address, not a personal address.
  • For more information about dealing with email within Arisia, please see: How-To_Email
• Staff-Discuss vs Staff-Announce (what’s the difference)
  • staff-discuss is a discussion list. staff-announce is low traffic and announce-only.
  • Mail sent to staff-announce will be held for moderation.
  • To subscribe go to:

http://mailman.arisia.org/mailman/listinfo/staff-announce Staff Announce (required)
http://mailman.arisia.org/mailman/listinfo/staff-discuss Staff Discuss (optional)

Some other internal mailing lists:

• area-heads@arisia.org
• div-heads@arisia.org
• con-chair@arisia.org (if you have a question you want to escalate)
• keys@arisia.org (email list of people with keys to Arisia Storage, useful if you need access to storage and don’t have a key).

• If you are sending official email as a representative of an Area, you should setup your email so you can send using your Area’s email address (and CC it when sending). Please see How-To_Email for details.

• postmaster@arisia.org if you have a question about email addresses, want to be added to an alias, or have problems with a mailman list.

• For a full list of email addresses see: Email_Lists

Arisia Online Resources

• Staff Wiki
  • The URL is http://staff.arisia.org (you're looking at it)
  • What can you do with the Wiki?
    • Find info (Look to the menu on the left for:)
      • Debrief Reports from previous years
      • Org Chart
      • Hotel info
      • Deadlines
      • Info about your area
      • ...
    • Add stuff to the Wiki - How-To_Wiki

• Request an account on the staff wiki
  • Account activation is done by a human, so there may be a slight delay. If you don't hear anything in a day or two, send mail to wiki-help@arisia.org
  • For basic wiki rules and how to's see Rules of the Road

• Slack is the chat program used by Arisia staff.
  • To request an account on the Arisia Staff team Slack, either for yourself or someone in your department, e-mail slack@arisia.org and include the e-mail address you want associated with that account
  • https://slack.com/ for more information about Slack

• Arisia Calendar
  • URL is http://corp.arisia.org/calendar
  • If you use Google Calendar, the page above has info on adding it to your own calendar.
  • Directions to the usual meeting locations can be found at: http://corp.arisia.org/directions

• Zambia is Arisia’s Scheduling application.
  • http://zambia.arisia.org/ (the 2016 site is still up, at http://zambia.2016.arisia.org/ The 2017 site is not quite up)
  • For an introduction on how to use Zambia - How-To_Zambia

Other online resources

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arisiainc/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arisiainc/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/arisia/
• Arisia Website: https://arisia.org/
• Conrunner.net has lots of information about running cons (but some of their advice may not apply to Arisia).

Arisia Corporate:

• The convention is governed by Arisia's Bylaws and Policies.
  • Bylaws: http://corp.arisia.org/bylaws
  • Policies: http://corp.arisia.org/policies
• Joining - Come to a meeting and see what it's about: http://corp.arisia.org/calendar

Other Stuff:

• Comp memberships are largely governed by Corporate Policies.
  • If you can't afford a membership, you can volunteer for at least 12 hours pre-con. If interested please contact the relevant Area Head or Division Head of the department you are interested in or with which you're already helping. Many areas need help pre-con.
  • Volunteering for 12 hours once you have your membership earns you a membership for the following Arisia.
  • Hours volunteered during loading, unloading, setup, teardown, and some special cases from the Wednesday before con through the Tuesday after con count double.
  • So, you could earn a free membership for Arisia by helping for six hours on the Wednesday, Thursday, or even Friday before Arisia.
  • There are various gifts for volunteering other number of hours, usually including a special staff t-shirt at 8 hours.
  • Please fill out a timesheet, even if you're a Div Head
    • Timesheet: (PDF)

Relaxacon:

• Arisia's annual weekend get-away on Cape Cod (usually the weekend after Memorial Day)
  • Relaxacon Website: http://relaxacon.arisia.org