Current Volunteer Opportunities

Help Austin Browncoats work our dealer's booth at Dallas Comic Con. A mix of comic book artists and Hollywood actors, Comic Con will offer a few thousand attendees and an 8' x 8' booth space for selling our goods. This will be a challenging booth because of limited space, but will give us a good idea of what we need to purchase to complete our booth set-up.

We currently have the following positions filled:

Event Chairperson: Elizabeth Nelson
Sales Coordinator: Ryan Campbell
Booth Design: Claudia Drinovsky

We still need the following:

Booth Salesman

You will work closely with the Sales Coordinator and Chairperson. You must have sales or customer service experience for this position. We have 4 hour shifts available during this two day event. You can work multiple shifts, but we require at least a 30 minute lunch break for all Booth Salesman. You will need to be comfortable handling cash, credit and personal check transactions. We have a standard issue wireless credit card machine.

Fan Outreach

You will work at the booth and work the convention floor, handing out printed material about our upcoming events. If folks have questions about our organization, you will need to be prepared to discuss the Austin Browncoats and our charitable work. This is a networking position. We have 4 hour shifts available during this two day event. You can work multiple shifts, but we require at least a 30 minute lunch break for all Fan Outreach Volunteers. You will work closely with the Chairman.

Publications

You will provide all required printed materials for this event. This position does not have to be at the event, but will need to deliver the printed materials to an event volunteer prior to the event date. Materials will primarily be printed in black and white on white or off-white paper.

Want to use that innate artistic ability you know you possess to do charity work? We know you do! We are in need of folks to paint Kaylee parasols, and that just might be the creative, charity outlet you're seeking. We'll provide the parasols, but as a volunteer, you will need to provide your own paint and, of course, painting skill!

We will need some parasols completed in time for Dragon*Con (September 4-7th), so the sooner you can work your artistic magic, the better!

Write to volunteer@austinbrowncoats.com today and let the creatin' begin!

Austin Browncoats finally have a storefront, even if for only 6 weekends out of the year. We are participating in the new and highly anticipated Sherwood Forest Faire in Paige, TX (not terribly far from Austin). We have a 15x20 booth, #201, near the main stage and next to a large beverage booth. We're so excited to really run a shop, and try out a new demographic for all of our custom made items. The theme for our booth is a Trading Post or Bazaar; we want to give people a place to get a little bit of everything, including knit goods, custom blended teas, jewelry and pirate maps! There is a lot of work ahead of us, though, and that's where you guys come in! We need all kinds of volunteers for this event, considering its magnitude.

We currently have the following positions filled:

Manager: Elizabeth Nelson
Sales Director: Ryan Campbell
Interior Designer: Claudia Drinovsky

We still need the following:

Booth Design

You will work with the Interior Designer and Manager, as well as any carpenters or painters we hire, to help create the look of the booth and set up merchandise. This is an extremely important job because we need to transform a 15x20 barren space into a welcoming, efficient, well-oiled sales machine! Your job will only be required prior to the opening of the Faire. It will be at least a 4 day commitment.

Carpenter

You will work with the Interior Designer and Manager to turn a 15x20 blank slate into a working store, appropriate for a 12th century setting. We cannot compensate you for your labor, but we will pay for all required materials. We can also offer volunteer hours, as well as all meals while working. Our primary concern is a sales "table" and a way to display our merchandise (tables, shelving).

Painter

You will work with the Interior Designer and Manager to turn a 15x20 blank slate into a working store, appropriate for a 12th century setting. We cannot compensate you for your labor, but we will pay for all required materials. We can also offer volunteer hours, as well as all meals while working. Our primary concern is ensuring that we paint the interior and exterior in a manner that will draw attention to our booth. This job will require artistic skills and familiarity with the 12th century England time period.

Booth Salesman

You will work closely with the Sales Director and Manager. You must have sales or customer service experience for this position. We have 5 hour shifts available during this six weekend. You can work multiple shifts, but we require at least a 30 minute lunch break for all Booth Salesman. You will need to be comfortable handling cash, credit and personal check transactions. We have a standard issue wireless credit card machine. You will need to be prepared to speak with a 12th century English accent (or any accent from that time period that would be suitable), as well as wear appropriate attire. If you need accent or costuming assistance or if that is the only thing holding you back from volunteering, we'll have people on hand to assist you with both. We will need at least 4 Salesman per day, but this includes any management staff on hand.

Fan Outreach

You will work at the booth and walk the faire, handing out printed material about our upcoming events and any special sales we're offering. You might be responsible for roaming sales, as well, if we have any items that would sell well in that medium. If folks have questions about our organization, you will need to be prepared to discuss the Austin Browncoats and our charitable work. This is primarily a networking position, but will require basic sales skills. We have 2 hour shifts available during this six weekend event. You can work multiple shifts, but we require at least a 30 minute lunch break for all Fan Outreach Volunteers. You will work closely with the Chairman and Sales Director. You will need to be prepared to speak with a 12th century English accent (or any accent from that time period that would be suitable), as well as wear appropriate attire. If you need accent or costuming assistance or if that is the only thing holding you back from volunteering, we'll have people on hand to assist you with both.

Publications

You will provide all required printed materials for this event. This position does not have to be at the event, but will need to deliver the printed materials to an event volunteer prior to the event date. Materials will primarily be printed in black and white on white or off-white paper.

Artists

You will work with the Sales Director, Interior Designer and Manager to assist us is producing homemade goods to sell at the faire. We are in need of leather workers, jewelry makers, map makers, knitters and stationery makers. We will pay for all required materials.

The Austin Browncoats are in need of volunteer grant writers. If you are interested in helping research, prepare and submit grant applications, please write to volunteer@austinbrowncoats.com.

The Austin Browncoats need some knitting help. Many of you heard about our knit-a-thon at Dragon*Con 2008. Claudia knit 12 hats during the course of booth hours, which is an impressive feat. The hats are so popular that we have pre-orders coming in weekly. We're looking for individuals that are interested in helping us knit hats for charity. For more information about the charities we support, visit: Austin Browncoats Charity.

We will provide you with a starter kit, that will include the pattern or pattern and yarn (according to if you want to donate your knitting time or your knitting time AND yarn). We will provide receipts to all knitters to document time, as well as monetary donations.

We are in need of knit wool and acrylic hats, but are not in need of crocheted Jayne hats currently. We are working on being able to provide acrylic yarn, but as of right now, we can only provide wool yarn.

If you can't knit, but would like to help us make Jayne hats for charity, think of this:

$15 makes 3 Jayne hats.

By donating $15 to the Austin Browncoats, you are helping us produce three Jayne hats. That $15 turns into over $100 that goes straight to Kids Need To Read, Equality Now and our other supported charities.