EA - My experience attending and volunteering at an EAGx for the first time by Nayanika

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: My experience attending and volunteering at an EAGx for the first time, published by Nayanika on April 13, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.TLDR: This post might be helpful for people who are about to volunteer or attend an EAGx for the first time.This is a relatively late post (due to unforeseen circumstances) as the conference had taken place exactly two months earlier from this date.Right from the shuttle service to the venue, till the last day of post-conference retreats, it's been one of a kind an experience at EAGxIndia, my first ever EAGx.Volunteer application experience: I applied for a full-time volunteering position so that I could understand the maximum essence of co-working in the EA community. The organizing team had quite prudently decided to allocate me a part-time. Later during the conference, I couldn't help but wonder how insightful a decision it was; personalized for me as a first-time attendee. Of course, the organizing team had an idea of my background since I was already a part of the community (Indian Network for Impact, previously EA India). But I understood how meaningfully I was allowed to volunteer part-time and observe the conference for the rest.The procedure involved: I went through a screening with an organizing team member. A cheerful face (Harriet Patterson) asked me about my aspirations for volunteering at the conference. Next, within a week I got an outcome of my screening and was selected as a part-time volunteer. Part-time volunteers were requested to arrive a day ahead of the main conference. The full-timers perhaps arrived 2 days ago. Volunteers were also invited to join an online training a week before the main event.Arrival at the conference: As I landed at the location, (Jaipur, India) I recalled that it was the land of India's rich history. I cherished my presence on this land for the first time after reading about it in my school history book. The venue selection was spot on! Comes next, is the shuttle assistance. Although I didn't have a shuttle close to my arrival time, I communicated with the coordinator that I would take a cab. This coordinator took care of my safety (by asking for my live location) throughout my travel from the airport to the accommodation venue. I was also told that I would be reimbursed for my cab expense since I was a volunteer. With this, my immediate understanding was- You're greatly taken care of as a volunteer at an EAGx!The coordinator surprisingly had a very friendly nature. This in turn unsurprisingly made him a good friend and the first point of contact (in case of any anomaly) for me and hopefully a few others at the conference. This helps especially when you're alone at a place for the first time. Came to know later that he was studying Law and had been exposed to EA for the first time.About the accommodation: It was a decent arrangement. Shuttles were arranged for transportation purposes between the stay and the conference venue (both were about 10 mins apart).First day of the conference: I somehow gulped something for breakfast as the training was about to start and attendees were to arrive by that evening. Unfortunately, I caught a bad cold. The organizers had arranged Covid test kits for everyone. I took a test and could continue being in the conference as the test result were 'negative'!Volunteering begins: After a short training with Harriet, we were handed over to the leaders of our respective volunteering departments (e g. Logistics, Registration, Speaker Liaison). I was on the registration team. Our team lead, Ivan Burduk, took us for scouting around the venue. It was fun for sure. We were figuring out the locations ourselves so that we could promptly guide the attendees.Then, we started arranging the IDs for the attendees and speakers at the registration desk. But w...