8th International World Wide Web Conference:
Volunteer Newsletters

The volunteer program has been associated with all 7 previous conferences and has become an integral part of running each one. There is a lot of information about volunteer activities and members available from this site, thanks to Gio for keeping it running.

If you are thinking about volunteering for the first time it's fairly simple. Once the arrangements have been finalised an online registration form will be available at this site. There will be a limited number of positions so you need to submit this form by the closing date and we will advise you. Below are some FAQ's to explain how it all works.

Volunteers typically are people with an involvement in the World Wide Web, who are interested in experiencing the conference but otherwise, could not afford to attend or need help with accommodation. We are looking for people with a background in building and running networks and or associated AudioVisual technology.

The program has evolved a lot over the last 7 conferences and the volunteer role is now defined as technical support. This means that you will be expected to have knowledge or experience in building a large distributed network to supply connectivity for the conference. We are also looking for people to set up and operate the specialised AV equipment that a conference of this type requires.

You don't have to be an expert! Students and enthusiasts work alongside industry professionals. Enthusiasm and interest are important qualities. There are usually more applicants than positions so make sure you use the spaces provided in the registration form to tell us as much about yourself as possible. You must have a good attitude and a love of the web but you definitely don't need a degree in computer science. The conference is a great place to learn more about web development and authoring but this kind of experience is not particularly relevant to volunteering. We are about Routers and IP addresses, not HTML and Java.

Volunteers receive conference registration, accommodation and meals for the duration of the conference. You will be required to work a fixed number of hours in exchange.

We are currently finalising arrangements which will allow a scaled level of participation - you can sign up for registration only, accommodation only or both. There will be a flexible roster system that will allow you to schedule your work commitments between attending the parts of the conference that interest you.

An online registration form will become available from this site in the next few weeks (early February). Fill this out and submit it and we will be in touch.

Final details for this year's conference are still being worked out and we will keep you updated. Many people have been asking if there will be a volunteer program for WWW8.

The answer is yes, we are up and running and look forward to working with the regular volunteers, some have now been to every conference, as well as the new recruits.

Volunteering at a web conference is a great opportunity to meet and work with people of similar experience from all parts of the world. Toronto locals are encouraged to participate, we depend on your local knowledge and you can participate for registration only if you don't need accommodation.

That's about all I can tell you right now, please check back here regularly, meanwhile have a look at the information about volunteers and previous conferences.

John Miller

Co Chair, Volunteer Organising Committee, WWW8