A message from Jason Lucas, who is coordinating the volunteers for the BUCLD this year. If you're interested, please reply directly to Jason: jlucas@bu.edu == Dear BULA member: Every year, students in the Boston University Program in Applied Linguistics plan, organize, and bring into being the BU Conference on Language Development. This year's conference takes place November 5-7, 2010 and relies on student volunteers for support. We are in the process of recruiting volunteers, and hope you will consider helping us out! If you can give us four hours of your time, you'll get free admission to the entire conference, which is a great way to find out about research currently going on in language development. A short description of each of the available volunteer tasks is provided below. Take a look at these options, and if you're interested, fill out the brief form at the following link indicating what tasks you might be interested in. http://www.bu.edu/bucld/conference-info/volunteers/ More information on the conference, including the schedule of talks and invited speakers, can be found at: http://www.bu.edu/bucld/home/ If you have questions about volunteering, please don't hesitate to contact me at jlucas@bu.edu. Thanks! Jason Lucas BUCLD 2010 Volunteer Chair ** Handbook copyediting Several volunteers will be needed approximately one month or so before the conference to check the final draft of the conference handbook for errors before it is sent to print. Folder assembling work party Shortly before the conference, volunteers gather to assemble the folder of materials -- nametag, handbook, etc. -- that will be given to each person attending the conference. This usually takes less than 2 hours and is a decidedly social event. A date for the work party will be set in October. Registration desk We need students to staff the welcome and registration area at the conference. Greet and register delegates as they arrive and help provide general orientation to the conference site. Requires a short training session. Chairing It is the chairs' task to introduce speakers and oversee sessions at the conference. Introduce yourself to speakers at the beginning of each session, check that audiovisual materials are in working order, then start each talk by introducing the speaker to the audience. Requires a short training session. Co-Chairing Working closely with the session chair, the co-chair monitors the timing of each talk, making sure that presentations start on time and advising the speaker as her allotted time is coming to a close. Requires a short training session. Book exhibits Publishers of texts and journals in language and linguistics will have their books on display during the conference. We'll need help bringing these books to the display site, setting up the display tables, and repacking books at the end of the weekend. Several volunteers are needed to relieve publishers staffing the tables throughout the conference as well as to staff tables which are not staffed by publisher representatives.