Volunteering

poppy · Post by **poppy** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:23 am

Hi Hello to All Buners ï

Nitevenus · Post by **Nitevenus** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:37 am

Poppy, welcome home! So many newbies (once, me too) worry about the "gifting" and feel the pressure for tangible things. You, in your own unique and wonderful self, is a gift with time and talents. Your biggest gift to the playa is to be prepared and then seek out where you can be an asset aka gift. Keep reading posts, post yourself and with your talents/experience and training, you will find your direction. How exciting! ...and you have all year to prepare.

poppy · Post by **poppy** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:10 pm

[quote="Nitevenus"]Poppy, welcome home! So many newbies (once, me too) worry about the "gifting" and feel the pressure for tangible things. You, in your own unique and wonderful self, is a gift with time and talents. Your biggest gift to the playa is to be prepared and then seek out where you can be an asset aka gift. Keep reading posts, post yourself and with your talents/experience and training, you will find your direction. How exciting! ...and you have all year to prepare.[/quote]

Nitevenus Thanks so much for such an warm and inspiring welcome I will keep an eye open :D

Grazelda · Post by **Grazelda** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:28 pm

You'll be fine with gifting smiles, hugs, spankings, random acts of kindness, and volunteering at one of the many places which seem to thrive on fresh smiling meat... There's no gifting quota, no swag competition, no expectation aside from participation.

Irish people are fun to hug. You'll be mighty fine with zed gifts.

dr.placebo · Post by **dr.placebo** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 4:51 pm

I'm going to go a bit against the grain and suggest that some kind of volunteering is actually the best way to learn about Burning Man. And it is a great teaching to volunteer for a job that bears no resemblance to what you do off the playa.

Of course, the other side of it is to pace yourself. Since there is never any shortage of work it is easy to get eaten up by Our Lady of Perpetual Volunteers. Keep it limited enough to enjoy both the volunteer job and the rest of the circus.

Orchid · Post by **Orchid** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 7:05 am

You could always volunteer to be a temple guardian - it's just a few hours of your time and an excellent way to connect with people!

PavementBlues · Post by **PavementBlues** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 9:58 am

dr.placebo wrote:I'm going to go a bit against the grain and suggest that some kind of volunteering is actually the best way to learn about Burning Man. And it is a great teaching to volunteer for a job that bears no resemblance to what you do off the playa.

Of course, the other side of it is to pace yourself. Since there is never any shortage of work it is easy to get eaten up by Our Lady of Perpetual Volunteers. Keep it limited enough to enjoy both the volunteer job and the rest of the circus.

What this guy said. My advice would be to focus on getting to know the event for your first year. Feel it out and start to wrap your mind around the community, maybe by finding some low-commitment volunteering. Then, as you start to see how the place works, you fall naturally into some niche or another based on your own preferences. My first two years I didn't do anything but go and be as enthusiastic and participatory as I could, and then this year I joined the Rangers and couldn't be happier.

Metropolis 2010! Fuck yeah!