DOWNLOAD THE SURVIVAL GUIDE!VOLUNTEER
Apogaea is an event held by the participants, for the participants. That means we need everyone's help to make it work. We're asking all participants to volunteer for one 3-hour shift in one of the following roles. Those who can do more will be blessed with extended good karma! Volunteering is a perfect opportunity to get involved, meet great people, give back to the community, and have a lot of fun in the process!
This page summarizes each of the volunteer roles we need to staff. At the bottom you'll find two links. One of them lets you sign up as a volunteer, giving us some basic info on who you are, how to contact you before and during the event, and how you want to help. After you add yourself to the volunteer list, the second link let's you schedule yourself for particular shifts. The schedule you'll see isn't fixed in stone - it's just a record of individual preferences. Please help us schedule at least one person in each role for each shift, or we may need to ask people to switch from more popular shifts to the ones left blank.
Regardless of which volunteer role you choose to fulfill, please try to arrive for your shift about 15 minutes early. This will help smooth out shift transition and allow for a few minutes of training.
Department of Public Works: Help with set-up and tear-down of the main public spaces and facilities. Since this role mostly works before the official start of the event and after the event is over, you won't see it on the schedule. Instead of using the form, please email and let us know when you can arrive and/or how late you can stay, what kinds of related skills you have, and how much time you can commit.
Greening Apogaea: Help us Leave No Trace at the end of the event. No special skills are needed, but the ability to encourage people to clean up after themselves and recycle is key in this role. If you are interested in volunteering to keep Apogaea green, please sign up for a shift with the Info Booth.
Clean Up: Help us Leave No Trace at the end of the event. No special skills are needed, but the ability to encourage people to clean up after themselves is key in this role. Again, since everyone in this role will be working late Sunday and into Monday, you won't find it in the schedule. Please email and let us know when you can help. Volunteering for this crucial position will help with the all-important goal of returning our site to it's original condition.
Info Booth: Sit in our shaded Info Booth, answer people's questions, and call on the radio for any needed Ranger or 1st Aid help. The radio (and answers to many common questions) will be provided. Those who are familiar with the event layout and logistics will be most comfortable in this role, but anyone is welcome to take on the role and meet a whole new set of friends. Feel free to have friends join you at the booth.
Placement: As usual in Colorado, we have lots of space at this site, but little of it is open and level. If we're going to find comfortable space for everyone, we'll have to use that flat camping space efficiently. That's where the Placement crew comes in - you'll help people who are arriving find a good place to set up, make sure our space is used efficiently, and help park cars so that access isn't restricted. We'll need a crew of patient people with good spatial and communication skills beginning Thursday afternoon and continuing through Saturday night.
Parking Badgers: Help us jam the cars in like sardines, while maximizing the Flat space for Humans and Tents. Benefits: Roam through HAR visiting people (and asking them to move their cars), act Important, wear orange vests, costume opportunity (sheriff, bad cop, Reno 911, *just* an orange vest, badger badger).
Gate: Whle Greeters are all about the fun factor, volunteers at the gate help us stay on top of important business. Help collect waivers, check Ids, give out wristbands and get attendees on ther way to the greeters station! Bring your smile and organizational skills to help make a first impression.
Greeters: In many ways, this is the most important role to be filled at Apogaea. It's also one of the most fun! Greeting is all about helping new arrivals make the transition from the hassles of their work week and the long drive into that fabulous magical world that brings us together. There's plenty of information to give out at the gate, but the most important part of the role is, well, funkadelic vibe induction! If you think your groove is contagious, we'll need a good sized reception crew all the way into Sunday. Consider enlisting your campmates to work the same shift as you do - team greeting is a blast!
Floater: Sometimes you just don't know what's going to come up. This is the role that handles that - you'll be doing whatever is needed just then. That could be filling in for another role that's short-handed, taking care of odd jobs, or three different things over the course of the shift. This job is perfect for you Jack-of-All-Trades types. We'll try to have two people scheduled in this role for each shift between noon and midnight.
Emergency Services: If you have real-world certification as a First Responder or higher, we could use your help. We want to have at least one professional Fire/Medical response coordinator on call at all times, 'cause you never know when someone will cross the line from happy to broken. Since this is an on-call role and there are relatively few people who are qualified, we're scheduling 6-hour shifts to stretch the resources to cover all 24 hours, all weekend long. You won't have to stay in one place – you'll just need to stay sober and carry a radio.
Trained Rangers: Anyone with a level head and positive spirit can make a large difference in how fun and safe the event is for others, but a little bit of preparation can go a long way toward focusing those skills and improving communication in this often-delicate work. The ranger meeting and training session will be announced. Expect 3 to 4 hours of discussion and role-playing. Contact if you are interested. It's possible that there might be a second training session scheduled. If you can't make it on the date (yet to be posted), but you are interested, please contact the above email address. To stretch the resources of people who put in this kind of investment of time, Trained Rangers will work 6-hour shifts between noon and early morning, roaming the site and keeping an eye out for problems. This is your chance to make a truly huge difference in someone's day. Common sense and humor are the best traits to bring to the job. If you have a mountain bike you can bring to the event, it will come in handy.
Ranger Deputies: If you have a spirit to help avoid crises, but can't make the time commitment to get trained, we still need your help. There's no such thing as a lone Ranger - anyone stepping into "hot" situations needs someone to watch their back, and a sounding board and extra set of hands are always valuable. This is a 3-hour ride-along position for community members who can help the Trained Rangers spread their trained resources thinner. We need all the help we can get for the busy shifts on Friday and Saturday nights, and it's a fun way to meet the rest of the community in the quieter hours too. If you have a mountain bike you can bring to the event, it will come in handy.
Ok... there it is... which position calls to you? Thanks for your participation. This couldn't happen without your involvement!