Putting on a big graphics conference or workshop takes a lot of work. Usually, this is the result of a team of volunteers. Typically the conference chairs, papers chairs, posters chairs, reviewers, and many others are all volunteering their time. Without people giving their time back to the community, many of these events would never occur!
In addition to helping the community, volunteering can give you valuable experience.... And often nice perks.
The two most common ways students volunteer in the graphics community are:
Reviewers of paper submissions not only gain experience judging other research, but also gain perspective on numerous issues important for your own submissions. For instance: how to write a good paper, what important and irrelevant information needs to be added or removed from papers, what sort of evaluation is necessary, and how to sell your work to others.
So if that sounds like a good deal, how do you go about volunteering?
Most major conferences have established proceedures for volunteering, with online forms you can fill out to apply. Because major conferences are both large and very expensive, more students typically volunteer than the conference needs. So just because you offer does not mean they will accept. However, here are some links to explore:
Beware that these links change every year, though if you go to a conference web page there will usually be a link for "Call for Volunteers" or "Student Volunteers" with similar information. Other conferences that sometimes ask for student volunteers include Eurographics and Pacific Graphics.
Volunteering to review is a little easier because often I serve on program committees for conferences that require me to find reviewers. Thus, if you simply ask me I can give you a paper to review at some point in the future. It will save me time in looking for other reviewers and gives you the opportunity to help out.
Last Modified: Friday, October 17, 2008
Chris Wyman (cwyman@cs.uiowa.edu)