With September quickly approaching, I wanted to re-post a blog post I had originally posted on my “Strange and Wandering Mind of Mr. Dietz” blog, a blog that I don’t really keep up anymore. This was posted on April 21, 2014, just after FanX ended.  It outlines a little bit of my experience volunteering for the event, something I really enjoyed.  I wanted to post here, because I am sure they are trying to round up some volunteers for Comic Con in September and would love have you join.  This was just my experience, but I am sure if you talked to any one of our awesome volunteers, they will tell you similar things.  So, without further ramblings from me here is the original post, in its entirety:

A few months ago, as my team at work began to select our dates for time off, I decided to ask for three days off that corresponded  to FanX.  I had not spent as much time as I wanted at Comic Con the previous September, so I was determined to spend as much time as possible there.  I didn’t want to miss a thing.  So, as I was checking out the official Salt Lake Comic Con webpage (saltlakecomiccon.com), and I saw a link connecting to their volunteer page. I saw that, and thought, if I really want to spend as much time as possible there, then volunteering might be the way to go.  Plus I have always loved seeing and being behind the scenes for this kind of stuff, so I submitted my application, and kept my fingers crossed that they would pick me to help out.  Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

Fast forward a few months to April 16, and here I was, anxiously (and unsuccessfully) trying to sleep.  I was so excited to get to work.  I knew that as a Czar (glorified grunt), I would be there all day and be worked pretty hard, but I couldn’t wait.  I knew it would be long hours on my feet dealing with crowds and crowds of people, things that would normally deter me from a regular job, but this was different.  Why?  Let me tell you.

First of all, it was an opportunity to be a part of something fun that I really enjoy.  I have always been a geek, or at least, I have always been into geeky stuff.  While other kids I knew were in little league on the weekends, I was watching Ninja Turtles or Thundercats.  I can’t remember what my first comic book was, because I was probably too young to remember.  The first Christmases I remember involved action figures of Superman, Batman, The Flash, Aqua Man (I’m not proud, but it is true).  When I got married, I tired to hide all of this from my wife, but it soon caught up to me, and then I found out, that on some level, my wife was secretly an undiscovered geek herself (Her main “fandom” is Doctor Who).  It has always been a part of who I am.  Events like Comic Con and FanX give us the opportunity to come out and be with people who are just like us, who understand us and accept us for who we are.  I just couldn’t wait to be a part of something like that, and to volunteer, it was like a badge of honor.

The second reason was the people I had already met at the meetings and orientations and trainings. These were people who were just like me and wanted to be a part of this stuff, just like me.  There were so many cool people who were willing to give of their time and work so hard for nothing, except they wanted this event to be awesome for all the people who came to it.  These people gave up evenings for orientation, mornings for trainings and meetings, not just any mornings but Saturday mornings.  They were people who knew they were not going to get paid, unless you count a T-shirt and water bottle.  These people knew that before they started, and they gave up their time anyway, because they wanted FanX to be better, and bigger than before.  I saw a team of leaders get together when there was an issue, and instead of waiting for someone higher up to come down with a solution, they worked together and came up with one on their own. I saw countless volunteers show up and report to one area, only to be moved to a completely different area, and they went, just happy to help.  I heard a lot of customer comment about how organized we were and how nice our volunteers were.  It was incredible to see that many people come together and work that well together.  I think it speaks volumes about the guy behind the curtain and his team.  Nick Dianatkhah is one heck of a human being, and he is the man who took the madness and turned it into magic.  I know he worked harder than any of us, but he passed that passion down to us, and it showed on the floor.

The third reason I really enjoyed all of this, and the main reason I did it, was seeing all the people who came.  The fans of the different genres and shows, who came and spent their hard earned money.  It was amazing to see their reactions to the celebrities they got to meet, and the things they got to see.  I had one experience that stood out to me more than any other.  It was a lady and her teenage son.  They had come on Friday, and they were there to see and meet one celebrity: Karen Gillan.  I ran into them as we were preparing for her first autograph line on Friday night.  She was asking me questions about the line for the autographs, and I was directing her to where she could purchase the autograph.  Then she asked me where they could go for the photos, and I was directing her there, and in the madness, she was looking apprehensive about finding her way there, so I walked her toward the photo ops area. As we were walking, she was asking me for advice, asking me what I would do.  If I would get a picture or an autograph.  I told her that in this situation, I would go and do the photo op that night, and then come back the next day, when Karen would be signing again, and have her sign the photo from the night before.  She wasn’t sure about that, so I told her if they were only going to do one, just do the photo.  So she did.  I had the opportunity to be helping out at photo ops, directing the people to the scan out area after their pictures were done.  It was crazy wherever Karen was going, so everybody needed extra help.  So as I was helping people there, I ran into this mother and son again, this time post pictures, and so I got to see the picture of her son with Karen Gillan, and she let me know that he was so nervous, and I realized, this was probably his celebrity crush.  So I looked at the picture, and told him he didn’t look nervous at all, and that the picture turned out great, and what an awesome memory that was going to be.  He was just beaming, and you could tell this experience had made his whole year.  I ran into these two again the next day, this time in the autograph line for Karen Gillan, and the mom just laughed and said they were taking my advice  and having her sign the photo from the night before.  The son was just grinning from ear to ear.  He was so excited to see Karen again, and to have her sign his photo with her.  It was really fun.  The last time I saw them, they were on their way out, and the mom stopped and thanked me for all my help.  It had meant a lot to her son, and she was able to make the experience special for him, and she wasn’t sure how to do that before we chatted.  I think any one of the volunteers I worked with would have been just as helpful.  For me, seeing how excited this boy was to meet his crush, it was all worth it.  That made the sore back, blistered feet, tired eyes, all worth it.  I think I speak for most of the volunteers when I say that.

So, if you’re among the geeks out there who came to FanX, you are awesome, and you made this weekend just incredible for me.  Geeks really are the best fans.  But, if you want to meet the awesomest of the awesome, and you have what it takes, come volunteer with us in September.  It’ll be worth it, I promise!