MAGFest Indie Arcade Staff Quickstart Guide
Welcome to the Super MAGFest Indie Arcade! Now what?
If this is your first time staffing the department, this guide serves as a tool to help you best position yourself for success at the coming Super MAGFest. If you’re a returning staff member, welcome back - consider this guide a refresher, as well as a notice of any changes we expect for this year.
Right now:
- Join the Indie Arcade Discord (discord.gg/eVQAcu5g5v) - this is a shared Discord between our department and our neighbor department, MIVS. Beyond a Discord server, we share an expo hall, an ops booth, and some shift coverage at the event. The Discord server is our primary hub for communications at-event, both internally as a team, and with our developers who are exhibiting at the event.
- Read through the Department Handbook (tinyurl.com/MAGFestIAHandbook) to get an idea of who we are and what we do.
Before the event:
- Fill out your volunteer checklist! You will receive an email from MAGFest Staff Operations ([email protected]) with detailed instructions, but this includes your personal information, t-shirt sizes, crash space requests (if you are working 30+ weighted hours).
- Sign up for shifts in the Indie Arcade (notifications for this will be emailed to you, as well as reminded in the Discord).
- Make sure you have transportation to the event and housing at the event (if you have not qualified for staff crash space).
At the event:
- Staffers either arrive Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. If you are utilizing staff crash space, you must be approved by your department heads to sign up for Wednesday shifts and use Wednesday night crash space.
- Attend the Indie Arcade staff orientation meeting - a short mandatory shift (with shift credit!) to learn what the show floor is like, how meals and timesheets work, and what is expected of you during your shift.
- Work your shifts, following the guidelines in your shift checklist as well as requests communicated via DH, via the staffer handing off to you, or on our Discord..
- Shifts might include helping developers load-in or load-out their exhibits, cabling and securing power, and being present in the ops booth to answer dev or attendee questions, loan tools, and supervise the show floor. For more information, see the Duties section of the handbook!
- Monitor the Indie Arcade Discord for department communications, questions from developers, meal communications, etc.
- You are welcome to hang out in the ops booth when not on shift, and to keep gear/belongings in the booth, although we cannot guarantee safety/security of your items. If you have anything precious or valuable, please store it in your hotel room or secure it elsewhere.
After the event:
- There will be a post-mortem event and/or feedback form for our staff volunteers. Please attend if possible and share your feedback with us.
- If interested in participating in off-season work and planning for future events, come to our weekly department meetings if you can, and indicate to any department head what you want to work on, if anything, in the pre-event cycle (i.e. curation team) so you can be looped in to the relevant meetings and discussions.
Gear you might want to bring (label anything personal or it will vanish!)