Many hands make light(er) work for a successful Convention!

When reflecting on an event as significant and complex as the Ignite Change 2023 Human Rights Convention, there are the obvious folks who deserve a great deal of recognition. The partners, speakers, core event support, and funders are the folks who are the recognizable aspects of an event. But there are those hidden in the background, selflessly giving their time, skills and presence to ensure an event goes smoothly. These are dozens of volunteers who contributed not just over the 10 days of the Convention from December 1-10, 2023, but in the months of pre-planning that came before the first day’s opening remarks.

Naming every person and their volunteer role(s) would take you quite some time to read, as we need to acknowledge and thank over 120 volunteers who contributed to the planning and successful execution of this massive event! But each role and person held a special piece that helped in the creation, facilitation, and delivery of this immense undertaking that was the Ignite Change Convention.

Volunteers were part of every aspect of this event - from building the framework and planning to promotion, to ensuring successful flow and documentation of online sessions and providing in-person event support. As the Convention took shape, volunteers within the planning committees met monthly to review action items and give feedback that informed decision-making, and supported with promoting the Convention within their communities. Volunteers who supported our Communications and IT helped promote the event and provided technical support at in-person events. The core event team can only be in so many places at once, so volunteers helping online were an essential contributor to the success of an event of this magnitude. Many of the volunteers had to orient themselves on how to use and navigate an event platform so they could assist with supporting speaker technical needs and ensuring accurate session documentation for the evaluation team. Each volunteer played a valuable role, no matter how long a shift or small an effort - every volunteer who was part of the Ignite Change Convention deserves massive thanks and appreciation!

Your contributions meant that our team could focus on logistics and smoothness more easily, increased awareness which helped attract attendees, supported event flow and attendee engagement, and ensured accurate documentation was done for reporting and evaluation purposes. We thank you all for your commitment to helping bring these important human rights issues forward and supporting the voices that spoke up during the Convention to share their knowledge, thoughts and experiences bravely. We hope this was a meaningful experience for you as a volunteer and hope to see you in future spaces!

Whenever possible, thank a volunteer. These folks give so freely of their time even when juggling their personal/professional lives, all for their dedication and connection with the community, cause(s) and organizations they support. To the many volunteers who supported the Ignite Change Convention, THANK YOU for your support!