Volunteer Opportunities

The PharmaSUG conference is run entirely by volunteers, and everyone is invited to help! Volunteering is fun, and enables you to meet more of your fellow conference attendees. You may even want to get involved in planning a future PharmaSUG conference.

To volunteer for a position, please check the volunteer box on the online registration form. If you have already registered for the conference, please email the Volunteer Coordinators, Craig Brelage and Susan Fehrer (pharmasug_volunteers@yahoo.com), and let them know which position(s) you would like to volunteer for.

Volunteers are needed for the following duties:

Bag Stuffing is completed before the conference even starts! A dedicated group of volunteers usually begin on Saturday morning. These volunteers put together all of the goodies that go into each attendee’s conference bag. This is always a fun filled event and a great way to meet people involved with the conference. Estimated commitment time is 3-4 hours. However, helpers are welcome to come and go as their schedule allows. Sometimes lunch is even provided!

Best Paper Judges review the papers and presenters to determine the Best Paper award winners [prizes awarded at the Closing Session] for each Section. A Paper Judge is required to view all papers presented in a specific Section and rank each paper using the provided scoring form. For obvious reasons, the identity of the paper judges is kept in strict confidence. Estimated commitment time is the length of the assigned Section.

Photographer (optional) duties include wandering around the conference (all areas and all scheduled functions) capturing conference attendees at their best [or most interesting], and shoot the general conference areas. For example: Registration Area, SAS Institute Demo Room, Poster Presentation Area, Vendor’s Exhibit Area, Volunteer Party, Conference Meals, and Opening and Closing Sessions.

Poster Set Up & Tear Down volunteers assist the Poster Section Chairs and Poster Authors in setting up and taking down the poster boards. These boards are supplied by SAS Institute for the poster presentation displays. The designated set up and tear down times are usually on Sunday morning/afternoon and Tuesday late afternoon, respectively. Estimated commitment times are approximately 1 hour for set up and/or 1 hour for tear down.

Registration Volunteers assist the Conference Registrar with checking-in conference attendees and distributing registration materials. Most registration volunteers check-in attendees who have pre-registered by distributing registration packets and handing out conference bags. Estimated commitment time is 2-3 hours.

Session Coordinators assist the Section Chairs with equipment, audience seating, room lighting, session attendee approximate count, and time keeping to ensure that the paper session run smoothly. A session is usually a half-day segment of a Section. Additional duties may include passing out speaker materials or keeping the conference room doors from banging. Estimated commitment time is usually 3-4 hours (including a break).

Hands-on Workshop Coordinators assist the Section Chairs with the operation of this very unique Section. Must assist in Sunday afternoon computer setup and Presenter practice in order to be knowledgeable about the presentations and be able to help attendees during specific workshops. Additional duties also include all those under the Session Coordinators description above. Estimated commitment time can be as little as one workshop (1½ hours) or a half-day session (2 workshops).