VOLUNTEER

Besides the feel-good emotions associated with giving back to your marine mammal community and a stylish volunteer garment, if you are able to volunteer a minimum of 12 hours of your time, you can apply for a volunteer position to receive a reimbursement towards your conference registration costs. Student members and low income country members will be reimbursed 50% of their conference registration, while full members will be reimbursed $100 USD ($154 AUD) of their conference registration.

The following are the requirements to receive a registration reimbursement for the conference:

• You must be a current member of the Society for Marine Mammalogy and be registered for the conference by the Early-Bird Registration deadline on July 24, 2024.
• Volunteers are required to work for at least 12 hours to be eligible for a registration reimbursement.
• Volunteer shifts are usually not less than 4 straight hours and may start as early as 7:00 AM and end as late as 11:00 PM.
• Fluent in English (other languages are very helpful!).
• There will be a mandatory volunteer training on Sunday, November 10, 2024.
• All your shifts must be covered to receive reimbursement. All refunds will be issued AFTER THE CONFERENCE once all volunteer shifts are complete.

Volunteers, like all conference delegates, will also be able to purchase any extras (e.g. closing celebration tickets or other conference merchandise) using the same method as other delegates via the normal conference login.

Volunteers not in need of registration reimbursement are welcome to apply. Please be sure to let the volunteer coordinator know if this is the case.

Volunteers will wear identifying garments provided by the SMM2024 Committee during their shifts. Tasks may include, but are not limited to, assisting with:

• Conference Events (e.g. PODs)
• Greetings, directions and general information
• Help Desk
• Merchandise Sales
• Pre-conference online support
• Poster Session (i.e. set-up and take-down)
• Registration Desk
• Room Monitor at plenary sessions, concurrent sessions and awards ceremony
• Welcoming Reception/Closing Celebration

More information on volunteer shift scheduling will be available after the volunteer selection process is complete. 

Volunteers will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis, and the planning committee has the right to refuse a volunteer. Both successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified shortly after submitting their application.