Pre-con responsibilities:

• Attend meetings regularly to stay up to date on happenings of the team and con.
• Assist Team Lead with vetting AA applicants as necessary.
• Familiarize yourself with Artist Alley maps/table placements to better assist artists during load-in.

At-con responsibilities:

• Supervise load-in of Artist Alley.
  • Assist artists with finding their tables at con.
  • Distribute badges to artists.
  • Assist with booth setup as necessary.
• Supervise opening/closing of Artist Alley daily.
  • Supervise locking/unlocking of the Artist Alley rooms (Conference B and C).
• Be available to help badge AA as necessary.
• Periodically check on artists throughout the weekend to make sure they have everything they need 
  • Offer food/drink from Con Fuel or the Staff lounge.
  • Also offer them a break if necessary (you are not required to sell their items while they are away).
• Supervise load-out of Artist Alley.
• Contact Team Lead with any questions/concerns.

Position Requirements:

• Good communication and listening skills.
• Strong customer service skills.
• Ability to show up on time and be somewhat flexible with hours.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team.
• Familiarity with how anime convention Artist Alleys operate is a plus.

The Art Prod team is responsible for creating the beautiful works you see as part of the convention; our promo art, badges, and our wonderful new mascots! 

Team members will be expected to work collaboratively with each other to ensure deadlines are met, consistent quality and standards are achieved, and cohesive works are produced. This may mean revisions or edits by other team members, or requests for adjustments. 

The types of work that will be related to this position and its duties are as follows:

• Artwork to be applied to printed materials (by any definition of “printed”), merchandise, decorations, and promotional materials.
• Physical decoration and embellishment of the convention space and convention-related activities. Such items may be created, donated, or purchased (with prior authorization).
• Collaboration with other Teams in the pursuit of art or decoration that suits their needs or purposes (i.e., a character playing a video game for the Gaming team).
• Other duties as may be assigned.

Ownership rights disclaimer

For original works, the Team Member retains ownership rights to the artwork until submission: Upon which, all ownership rights shall be transferred to Anime Fusion by default. For works featuring the mascots and brand characteristics of Anime Fusion (or Quad Cities Anime, Inc.), ownership rights belong exclusively to the Proprietor, copyrighted or otherwise.

Con Fuel is the light snack and easy-eats corner that helps keep you going throughout the weekend! We have a variety of items to accommodate food allergies and sensitivities, though we may not be able to account for all possibilities. 

We cook rice, make jokes, and have fun with the attendees that come to our room – what more could you ask for?

Job Details:

• Help keep the Con Fuel room clean.
• Help refill drink containers (lemonade and water).
• Help clean and keep neat condiments and other tables as needed.
• Help direct con goers to the items they are looking for or that suit their needs.
• Hand out and help make ramen cups, rice, and other quick-serve items.
• Refill condiments, cookies, chips etc as needed or directed.
• Be friendly, knowledgeable, and have fun while working.

As part of the Cosplay team, you will organize and facilitate the cosplay contest and its associated paperwork, technical needs, and backstage setup; hosting the cosplay lounge and cosplay repair station; and building the cosplay programming track through application jurying and panelist sourcing.

You will support a diverse group of entrants each year, fielding communications, medical requirements, contest expectations and preparation, and real-time problem solving in multiple rooms and locations relative to Cosplay’s activities.

You will also work with our esteemed Cosplay Guests and ensure their experience is a smooth, quality, and enjoyable one.

Must-haves for this role include:

• Critical/Adaptable thinking skills 
• Organizational skills 
• Sociable and approachable attitude/demeanor 
• Technological competency (computer programs and radios/headset) 
• Time management skills

A Dealers Room staffer plays a critical role in creating a vibrant and engaging experience for attendees while supporting vendors in showcasing their merchandise. This individual is responsible for ensuring a smooth and successful weekend for everyone, overseeing all aspects of the Dealers Room operations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Operational Oversight:
  • Arrange for tables, chairs, signage, and other necessary equipment.
  • Supervise setup and teardown activities, ensuring vendors adhere to designated times and procedures.
  • Monitor the room during operating hours for any potential concerns, and address any issues or concerns that may arise.
  • Implement crowd control measures as needed to maintain a safe and orderly environment.
• Customer Service:
  • Assist attendees seeking information about vendors or specific merchandise.
  • Address any customer complaints or disputes professionally and courteously.
  • Collect feedback from attendees and vendors to identify areas for improvement.

Qualifications:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a customer service-oriented mindset.
• Ability to remain calm and composed under pressure, with a proactive approach to problem-solving.
• Flexibility to work long hours – often sitting – with weekend availability. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Communicate well with others (answering questions, guiding people around activities in the Gaming rooms and the rest of the con).
• Flexible with scheduling (able to coordinate schedules with other team members to achieve a balance between enjoying the con and working hours – typically approx. 6 hours per day). 
• Staff will need to monitor activity across the console room and sometimes also the event room, watching for potential unruliness or con rule violations (particularly the presence of unattended kids – orange and yellow badges). 
• Staff also need to have working knowledge or prepare to be trained on the console room’s equipment – including TVs and all gaming platforms – enough to understand how to connect and maintain them properly.
• Staff should be familiar with any Partners supplementing Gaming’s activities for the year enough to be able to answer questions from them, or advocate on their behalf to other teams and/or the hotel.
• Staff should also be comfortable with the clerical work of maintaining the inventory tracking system, particularly for the sake of keeping track of games and equipment that move on and off the floor.
• Staff are to maintain as much cleanliness and organization – particularly in the console room – as possible throughout the weekend, mostly in terms of making sure that items that are not meant to be out on the floor are checked in and vice versa.

The Hotel team serves as the liaison between AF staff and the staff of the Crowne Plaza hotel (both before and during con). This can range from simple requests like water refills or trash refreshes, to coordinating information for AF-managed hotel rooms and function spaces to ensure that our staff, our partners, and our guests are set up with the spaces and resources that they need.

During the interim part of the year, you would be involved in email correspondence and data management, the latter of which would include contact information, dates, furniture/resource setup, room layouts, and hotel room assignments.

At-con is primarily focused around answering questions for staff, being a go-to liaison for our staff and the staff of the event site, and smoothing any hiccups that might arise in relation to the above areas.

You will work very closely with the Convention Chair, and gather information from all the different teams within Anime Fusion. 

A calm and professional demeanor, quick responsiveness, thorough informational organization, and a service-oriented mindset are all key skills for this team.

Logistics is the team that coordinates entry to the AF storage locker throughout the year, enabling team members, leadership, and our Marketing Roadshow crews to access necessary items and materials. Logistics also handles the distribution and delivery of team’s items at con, and maintains AF-specific function rooms. 

You will work closely with the Con Chair and Treasurer.

Responsibilities include: 

• Maintenance and inventory of storage locker and its assets. 
• Working with other teams to transport and obtain assets.
• Collaborating with Team Leads, Chair, and Treasurer to invoice and pay for orders, and ensure accurate records. 
• Transporting assets to and from the Event Venue and Anime Fusion’s storage locker. 
• Mostly communicating through emails, texts, and Discord; though occasionally through phone call as well. Responding in a timely and reliable manner. 
• Providing Quad Cities Anime with inventory market value for insurance purposes and budget considerations.
• Assisting teams with distribution of their items to the proper places for con setup.
• Making sure the correct items are delivered to convention-hosted function spaces (Quiet Room, Family Activities Room, and Manga Library), and handling the setup and tear down/repacking of those spaces. 

Requirements for the role: 

• Ability to lift up to 45lbs repeatedly. 
• Familiarity with flatbed carts and safe and efficient packing/storage principles. 
• Thorough organizational and communication skills.
• Driving of 15-20ft moving truck. 

Pre-con:

• Attend meetings regularly to stay up to date on happenings relative to the team, and within the larger con.
• Assist Team Lead with organizing merchandise orders/reorders as necessary.
• Assist as needed with inventory of all items Thursday before convention start.
  • Set aside all pre-order/Patron shirts before convention start; keep separate from other inventory.
• Assist in assembly of Patron goodie bags Thursday evening, to be given when they pick up their badge. 

At con:

• Assist with getting items from rental truck for load-in/set-up of Merchandise area.
• Assist in set-up of Merchandise table(s) and displays.
• Distribute Patron goodie bags to Patrons throughout the weekend.
• Distribute pre-ordered/Patron shirts throughout the weekend.
  • Keep track of picked up shirts, and note any discrepancies.
• Process payments for merchandise via cash or Paypal Zettle reader.
• Keep inventory of sold items.
• Keep openly available items (lanyards, glow sticks, etc) stocked on table.
  • Shirts will be kept stocked behind the table on shelves.
• Assist with inventory of all items at the end of con.
• Assist with storing items and bringing items to truck to be transported to storage locker at end of con.
  • Set aside some items for Marketing Roadshow; make sure these are easily accessible and marked.
• Contact Team Lead with any questions/concerns.

Position requirements:

• Good communication and listening skills.
• Strong customer service skills.
• Simple inventory management skills.
• Ability to show up on time and be flexible with hours.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team.
• Familiarity with Paypal Zettle or other card processing apps a plus.

Operations serves Anime Fusion as its communications hub; taking reports (and logging incidents as necessary), providing information to con goers and staff alike, administering lost and found, and monitoring the radio net for key communications (incoming and outgoing).

Ops also handles after-hours maintenance of our Registration and Volunteers systems – both of which are typically slow in that time-frame (9pm onward).

Interested members should have basic computer skills, great service and listening skills, and the ability to work effectively as part of a team in a busy customer-driven environment.

This team is responsible for coordinating with our many wonderful collaborators that help bring the convention to life and give it more dimensions of interest! This can include other conventions, business sponsors, groups that provide featured content for us, local businesses, specialty events and activities, etc.

The majority of this team’s work is done during the interim part of the year, and is year-round. 

Your primary duty will be timely and consistent correspondence, focused on synchronizing details, promotional exchanges, resource arrangement, and accommodations.

It’s a fairly straightforward and uncomplicated role, but it requires intentional care and investment of time along with relationship building that is invaluable to our event, and our standing within the community.

Critical competencies for this role are public and professionally-minded communication, good written grammar, situationally appropriate etiquette, time management, email and inbox orderliness, and organizational skills.

The Programming team manages attendee panels and the video rooms both during and before the convention. Panel requests are submitted to the Programming team, which organizes, schedules, and approves or declines each submission. 

Programming also has primary responsibility for the overall convention schedule and makes sure guest panels, mainstage events, gaming tournaments, and other activities are scheduled appropriately in the correct spaces while avoiding schedule conflicts.

This team also determines what anime will be shown in the video rooms, obtains screening permissions from the license holders, and develops the video schedule. At the convention, Programming team members maintain the video rooms and take regular headcounts of the various panels and activities in progress.

Members of this team participate in 3-4 team meetings each year to process panel requests and create the schedule. During the convention, team members have scheduled shifts in which they are responsible for changing discs in the video rooms and recording headcount statistics. 

There is no previous experience needed to join the Programming team.

The duties of the Publications team focus on three aspects:

• First, creating the program guide that is available to con-goers over the weekend of Anime Fusion.
• Second, it creates signage to help guide and educate attendees, which gets hung up around the event site.
• Third, Publications assists in the creation of the convention badges.

Publications’ core focuses

In order to have an accurate program guide and accurate signage it is vital to communicate with the different areas of Anime Fusion to gather the necessary information. 

The information to be collected will include but may not be limited to:

• Names and details of Guests, performers, vendors, and Partners.
• Information regarding the details and functions of specialty and activity rooms.
• Full programming schedule including panels, performances, special events, viewing rooms, dances, etc.
• Collecting necessary materials from any sponsors who wish to advertise in the program guide, groups that we do an ad swap with, etc.
• Full updated staff list (name of team, all team members, and who the Leads are).
• Artwork credits (both for our Art Prod team, and the Bijutsu Contest winner).
• Updated artwork to be used as design assets in guide and on signage.
• Sending all materials off to printers and picking up all materials once available.

Desired skills

• Prior experience in publishing, copy editing, or graphic design strongly desired. 
• Document formatting and layout design software experience preferred; at least, a adeptness for picking up and learning new programs. 
• Extremely detail oriented, with a keen eye for errors; experience in proofreading preferred but not required. 
• A high level of patience and tolerance for repetition. 
• Organizational acuity with an understanding of public-facing communication structure.
• An eye for appealing visual arrangement. 

Registration is the backbone of the convention; often the first happy face each con-goer gets to see, and a natural home base. We greet guests with a friendly smile and strive for a smooth check-in for everyone. A great convention experience should start as soon as someone arrives!

Key tasks include verifying both pre-registered and walk-up guests, badge printing, check-in for groups and Partners, taking payment for walk-up passes, and ensuring everyone receives an appropriately designated official badge. 

We also serve as a knowledge resource to answer attendee questions or get them connected with someone to resolve any concerns.

Basic computer skills are invaluable, along with having the ability to manage a rapid and hectic environment while maintaining a calm, customer service-oriented attitude.

Room Parties is the team that helps coordinate the logistics for attendees that are interested in putting on their own room party during the con. RP acts as a resource for questions, room assignments, and on-site assistance: It also monitors the parties themselves, and ensures everyone has a safe, excellent experience!

Team Expectations

• Act in the best interest of Anime Fusion, its attendees, and its staff, as well as our host hotel and their staff.
• Provide assistance with respect and de-escalating tactics. 
• Maintain assigned shifts and key communication with the Room Party Lead. 
• Communicate with RP Lead, Operations, or Safety staff as soon as any urgent concerns or safety needs arise.
• Monitor noise levels and room capacities, ensuring they are within reasonable bounds.
• Coordinating trash pickup with the host site staff. 
• Clearing hallways, stairs, and the path to the elevators. 
• De-escalating situations whenever possible, and being a friendly source of authority for hosts. In the event of an urgent situation, you should contact Safety, Operations, or the host site staff. 
• Reporting key information to the RP Lead and keeping them aware of situations. 
• Enforcing the hotel, convention, and legal policies equally amongst all party rooms. 

Qualifications 

• Experience with de-escalation tactics; within a social or crisis services setting preferred but not required.
• The ability to remain composed and calm in high-stress situations, including when dealing with inebriated individuals. 
• A firm but friendly demeanor, and a service-oriented attitude. 
• Organizational skills and good time management. 
• A lot of compassionate patience. 

Members of the Safety team roam the con and provide a visible, friendly, and approachable staff presence for convention attendees. They answer questions and serve as an easily accessible contact point for attendees.  

While roaming they will keep an eye out for any problems, and may field calls ranging from orderliness to safety/hazard concerns: Typical calls will involve helping to corral lines, noise complaints for Room Parties, prop checking, and questions on clothing guidelines. 

More urgent and infrequent calls may include attendee complaints or concerns, handling a disruptive or volatile situation, and assisting with locating individuals. 

It is crucial to have an approachable, compassionate, and kind-but-firm attitude in this role. Must be comfortable with engaging strangers, large crowds and noisy environments, handling emotionally-charged situations calmly and respectfully, and dealing with combative or argumentative individuals.

The Volunteers team is often the first step in someone’s journey to becoming an Anime Fusion staff member! They process and respond to the inquiries we receive from the public about joining staff or volunteering for the convention in some way.

Year-round responsibilities for this role include:

• Monitoring the Volunteers inbox for new messages, replies, and questions.
• Processing and onboarding interested parties, by way of:
  • Sharing our Team Overview document.
  • Sending them introductory and core materials.
  • Sending them the Staff Intake form.
  • Reviewing the Intake form for proper completion, and sharing this form with the Con Chair and relevant Team Leads for assessment.
• Assist the Chair or other members of con leadership with recruitment efforts and outreach. This may include creating short write-ups or tailored materials based off of existing documentation.

At-con responsibilities for this role include:

• Assisting con-goers with finding appropriate areas and functions to donate their time to based off of interest, physical or other limitations, and suitability (such as age).
• Answering questions about the teams and what one could expect while volunteering for them.
• Being able to direct volunteers to the areas that have an active need; either at that particular moment, or at a designated time.
• Maintaining and monitoring the volunteer prizes, ensuring access to the correct items and keeping materials secure.
• Coordinating with AF staff directly regarding questions and updates.
• Assisting volunteers with their time tracking.

The Web Admin team builds and supports digital tools for the convention, including the website, Discord server, and associated apps!

This team sees activity year-round with the various updates and announcements that are made during the convention cycle, on top of day-to-day management of the Discord server and Google Drive. 

The task load is fairly steady, but relatively light. Tasks include updating website content, managing email accounts and groups, performing web server and application maintenance, managing file shares, and an annual refresh of the website following each convention.

Members of this team do not need vast experience in web administration or the tech field, but some amount of experience with WordPress, Linux servers, Discord management, and/or Google Workspace is preferred. We are also open to adding new tools to the organization.