Greetings Campers! After much discussion and consultation with other events and analyzing areas that needed more throughput and structure than before, we’ve revised our staff lineup with new staff, and new open positions for people wanting to be staff!
Being staff in this event is a demanding role, no matter at what level. You will work hard, have several sleepless nights and nearly always will spend time on your feet. While roles may be specific, we all must cooperate with eachother and help eachother as a community to make this event work. If you have any personal quarrel with any person in a staff role, please do not apply! There will be staff meetings held at regular intervals from January up until the event itself, ranging from skype teleconferencing to in-person meetings. You must be transportable and willing to structure your time for these meetings within a one month window. We like our staff to at least have some kind of experience in attending Campfire Tails or other long duration festivals to get a good feel for the environment they will be working in, as this is not a hotel convention in any way, shape or form. Any role someone is assigned to must be one of creative passion and drive to see the event work successfully; To give less damages not just your relationship with staff, but also that of the attendees who are counting on you to make their experience one of the best they’ll ever have!
Q: Do these jobs include compensation?
A: No. 
We’re all here and doing this solely because we want to. On one hand, helping to organize an event does provide you with practical experience in service-related fields as well as technical and organizational skills development, all of which can be practically applied(albeit with a degree of discretion) to a work-related field in the future. Providing your role is satisfactorily fulfilled, I’ll be happy to provide myself as a non-profit work reference and offer letters of recommendation to those who need them. On the other hand, depending on numbers of attendees and overall costs, things such as gas recompensation might be a future option, although as things stand, even most staff pay for their own registration and many have contributed beyond even just that for the sake of the event. It’s a job that requires a lot of sacrifice and little return, save the undying gratitude of our attendees and being a contributing force in a rapidly growing event! We will, however, offer free advertising for your place of self-employed business!
Q: I want to be staff! What do I need to do?
A: Send an email to crowley[AT]campfiretails[DOT]org. In this email, include a statement of what role you wish to fulfill, why you would like to play this role and why you would like to contribute. Include examples of relevant work/experiences that relate to the role you want to fill. Staff will discuss your application and will send you a notice as soon as we are able to.
Q: Hey I know someone who may be good for the job but they’re not a furry. Is that a problem?
A: Not at all. While a majority of our attendees are furry, the focus of Campfire Tails is not on celebrating furriness, but the community and friendships that result from it. By extension, that includes your nonfuzzy friends!
Q: How are major additions/plans handled?
A: During a meeting, major proposals will be presented and open for discussion. A general vote of staff coordinators will be held, however I myself will have the final voice under the advisement of staff for proposal approvals. The jurisdiction for decision-making extends down to department directors under the advisement and input of their assistants as needed.
Q: Can I get help with my job?
A: Absolutely. While our number of permanent staff are fixed for roles, Riley or myself are absolutely willing to give you all the time you need to have your duties ready and able to be fulfilled by the time we’re onsite. If you feel you will need extra hands onsite, you can speak to our volunteers coordinator and work out times and numbers of people, within a reasonable volume.
That all being said, here’s a list of the new staff structure and people already in roles. Please read below for role descriptions on open positions.
Chairman: Crowley
Logistics Coordinator: Riley
Website Administrator/Registration: Koinu
Registration Assistant and Financial Director: Ramidi
Art Directors: Crowley, Koinu, Davey_Wolf
Conbook/Schwag: Mara-San
Tshirts/Signage: Mike Richards
Decorations/Information: Copper Scales
Happenings Coordinator: Koda
Happenings Co-Coordinator: Z
Counselor Director: Bennet
Counselor Co-Director: Kage
Counselor #1: Blackwolf
Counselor #2: Nogohoho
Counselor #3: Bluefire Jaguar
Counselor #4: Accophox
Kitchen Logistics: X_Panther
Kitchen Assistant: Crowley
Breakfast Chef: Crowley
Breakfast Sous Chef: Lufftet
Lunch Chef: Sparky
Lunch Sous Chef:
Dinner Chef: X_Panther
Dinner Sous Chef Okami
Volunteers Coordinator: Star
Art Department: Conbook/Schwag
This role is a crucial one for attendees to obtain their initial information/event content and gifts for sponsors and patrons. You will be in charge of obtaining art donations and content from other staff and assembling it in Adobe InDesign for an out-of-house printer. You will additionally be in charge of collecting information from our patrons for their customized gifts. You will be working with the art director and the other members of the art department to collaborate and assemble gift packages and schwag. We are looking for someone with a strong sense of design and a good turnaround for production. Artistic skills would be delightful, but not by any means mandatory. Skills in copy editing and policy writing are crucial to this job, and an ability to form and adhere to a strict budget and plan for execution within a timeframe is mandatory. Furthermore, you will be responsible for organizing our conbook advertising in terms of selling adspace and setting submission deadlines.
Counselors
The newest and possibly the most fun of roles you can do at CFT is be one of our camp counselors. In our tent village, the natural geography of the campground splits up tent sites into four distinct areas. As counselor, you will actively camp in these locations with our attendees and act as their Liason for other staff and events. Your role is a triage of first aid, security and public relations. You will maintain your area’s information kiosk and stay in constant communication with con ops to be able to provide up-to-the-date information for the campers for whom you’re responsible, organize group outings to one of our several lakes and hiking trails and maintain a roster of who is and who isn’t physically at camp. You will be furnishing battery-operated FM radios to your site for picking up our half-watt-powered radio station, administer first aid with your site’s first aid kit and ensure adherence to policies and keeping our attendees safe at night.
When at mealtime, you will be assigned a table to sit at, and will be responsible for collecting food info from the table, then picking it up from the kitchens and providing it to your table family-style. Duties also include: establishing shifts with other counselors for a campsite nightwatch, maintaining the cleanliness(with volunteers) of your site, and acting as the voice representing the cluster of tents in which you’ll reside. To be in this role, you must have great people skills and First Aid and CPR certification. Practical experience as a camp counselor is highly valued for this role, but not mandatory.
Kitchen Staff
Each day, a chef and sous chef will be responsible for a single meal service. We will have two kitchens available, providing room and time for prep, cooking and cleanup while not interfering with the next meal service. Assisted by volunteers for prep and cleanup, you will need to establish a mealplan with our Kitchen Logistics Manager that strictly adheres to a spending budget and is high on the glycemic index. Typical camp food is not encouraged for our lunches and dinners. A valid oregon food service card and practical commercial kitchen experience is mandatory for this role, and an ability to improvise with kitchen handicaps is advisable. When you apply, please include a work history.
Volunteers Coordinator
You get to work with all the departments coordinating volunteers onsite for setup, throughout the festival, and for breakdown/land restoration. We need the right kinda friendly, high energy fuzzy who knows how to recruit help and then coordinate it onsite. Experience with management a plus.
June 30th: Staff Positions are now filled. Thanks everyone!
