Volunteering at IndiaFOSS

[This page is an update to the Volunteering at FOSS United conferences post. ]

IndiaFOSS at its core is a volunteer driven event. Every year, active members from the FOSS United community, city chapters and student clubs come together to organise the conference.

All volunteers are assigned specific workgroups in which they can contribute. Volunteers are onboarded in 2 phases, typically pre-event remove volunteering activities and during-event on ground activities.

Expectations

  • We expect the volunteers to have a basic understanding of our vision of promoting FOSS.

  • Try to put in 3-4 hours a week; this might slightly increase for some workgroups as we get closer to the event.

  • Be consistent with the deliverables expected.

  • Inform the team about any other commitments you may have, or if you will be unavailable for a certain period of time beforehand.

🚀 Work Groups

Phase 1

  1. Marketing

    • Manage social media accounts and engage with the audience
    • Work with the design and content team to ideate posts.

  2. Design

    • Create graphic designs for promotional materials
    • Design event banners, flyers, and other visual assets

  3. Community Outreach

    • Reach out to relevant communities to promote the event
    • Collaborate with local organizations and groups to increase participation

    Over time, we have realised that a fundamental change is required in community partnerships for IndiaFOSS. The conference is now "popular" enough that we don't require communities to post about the event regularly. Instead, the goal of community partnerships is now to give a platform to small communities that resonate with our philosophy, and to encourage them to talk about their initiatives.

  4. Speaker Management (and outreach)

    • Reach out to potential speakers for the event asking them to apply for the CFP.
    • Maintain regular communication with selected speakers
    • Resolve queries via emails

  5. Diversity

    • Ensure diversity and inclusion in the event.
    • Implement strategies to attract a diverse range of participants and speakers.
    • Manage the Diversity Scholarships Program
    • Ensure everyone feels welcome at the event. Diversity in terms of participation does not make sense if people feel they don't "fit in".

  6. Video Editing

    • Edit and produce videos for event promotions.

  7. Sponsorships

    • Identify and reach out to potential sponsors for the event.
    • Regularly communicate with sponsors and resolve queries.
    • Inform sponsors on the various ways they can participate in the event. While we do not give talk slots, sponsors are encouraged to showcase their open source projects in booths, host workshops, BoFs etc.

  8. Content

    • Create and curate content for event website, blog, and promotional materials
    • Develop engaging copy for social media posts and email newsletters

  9. Parallel Sessions’ Management (and outreach)

    • Look for and reach out to communities and individuals who can host parallel sessions like workshops, project showcase etc.
    • Curate and manage parallel sessions for the conference like workshops or experience labs.
    • Maintain communication with the session heads and navigate necessary arrangements for them.
    • Curation and management of activities happening at the open spaces.

    Sub-Group: Booth Management (and outreach)

    • Reach out to open source projects and communities and invite them to apply for a booth at IndiaFOSS.
    • Maintain regular communication with booth hosts and provide necessary updates.

  10. Tech

    • Working with the developers team on the website and event platform (Our tech stack is tailwind, vue and frappe)

  11. CFP Workgroup

    • Reviewing the talk proposals.
    • Conducting Mock presentations of shortlisted talks.

Phase 2

  1. Venue Management (Local to Bengaluru)

    • Find vendors and coordinate to arrange materials like AV, tables, chairs, and other essential goods.

  2. Travel Desk (Local to Bengaluru)

    • Curate the list of travel modes to the venue, and accommodation spaces near to the venue, for publishing.
    • Handle queries and perform coordination for attendees.

  3. Hosts/Emcees

    • Hosting the talk sessions happening parallelly in 2 audis.

  4. Production Volunteers

    • Find vendors and coordinate to arrange:
      1. Livestream for the event.
      2. Recording of talks
      3. Photography and videography

  5. Managing Ad-hoc Jobs

    • Managing miscellaneous requirements.

  6. Volunteer Manager

    • POC to manage and coordinate between volunteers of all workgroups.