Volunteering at DGSKA2025 conference at Cologne

Welcome and thank you for considering joining our volunteer team to help organise this year’s DGSKA conference in Cologne.

Whether on the registration desk, advising on basic presentation technology issues or giving people directions, volunteers will play a vital role in ensuring that the 450 in delegates are welcomed to the conference and shown the best of the university, Cologne, and the DGSKA.

The conference organisers are being assisted by NomadIT, a team of freelance event organisers, who will be managing the volunteer team.

Volunteers will be needed throughout the conference – we are therefore looking for people who are able to help in shifts on all 4 days, 29 September-2 October.

The volunteer tasks will include:

• rotating shifts at the reception desk (usually a 3 hour shift)
• setting up the reception desk and checking in delegates on arrival
• looking after the presentation AV of panels:
• transferring files to the presentation computer from USB sticks
• making sure the beamer has been switched on
• or that the audio speakers are working (if needed) etc
• ushering and guiding at the beginning and end of events and breaks
• operating the roving mics during keynote/plenary Q&A sessions
• running errands for the conference office
• helping with the Book Exhibit

Training

On Sunday, 28 September at 15:00 we will train all volunteers on using the reception check-in app, managing the AV in panel rooms, knowing the way around, conference information such as the timetable, venue etc. The training usually takes about 2 hours, room to be confirmed.

We recommend arriving to the training in-person, as then you can also test out the panel rooms switches and see where the rooms are to get oriented and get familiar with the campus and location.

If indeed you are unable to attend the in person training, please let us know.

What do I get out of it?

In return for your help at the conference, you will have full access to all the sessions (when not working). We also organise a lunch for you and you can have as much tea and coffee as you like.

Volunteering will give you access to some very interesting presentations/discussions; you will also meet people from different Universities across Europe and further. This is the time and place to network and nurture academic relationships.

Working as a part of a conference organising team is good work experience – and quite good fun!

Gathering your information

If you have read through the previous and everything seems agreeable, then we ask you to continue with following steps:

1. First make sure you have signed up with the conference system. Click on the button below. If you have no account (thus can not log in) click ‚create new account‘ at the login screen. If you have an account already, log in.
2. Second – once you have an account, have a look at the conference programme and log in – this way you can star the panels that you would like to attend. You can scroll through the list of panels, or search by the convenor/presenter name. You can also browse by stream (under ‚filter‘). Starring your favourite panels will make it easier to mark them as your preferred panels later on the form.
3. Third – if you have selected the panels most interesting to you, then you are ready to move on to filling in the volunteer form. There we ask your contact details to create a WhatsApp group to coordinate and other details. You’ll notice that the starred panels will be listed at the top of the panel selection list, making it easier to find them.

After filling out the volunteer form you will be forwarded to the registration page, click ‚register for the conference‘ – your registration/participation fee will be automatically waived.

Based on your preferences, we will then compose a work schedule that takes into account your interests and commitments (if you are an active participant/presenter) as best as possible. However, please bear in mind that the event is large and complex, and not all wishes can be met.

Please notice that the form is asking for T-shirt cut and size, but unfortunately we are not doing T-shirts for the conference. Please just choose random response on T-shirt fields. Also you would need not to deal with Zoom as the conference is in person only.

We no longer accept volunteers for the conference.

If you have any questions contact us via conference email dgska@nomadit.co.uk.