The Makers of MozFest — Spike
To get the most out of the MozFest volunteers, and for volunteers to get the most out of the experience, they need organising. Thankfully, we have Spike who is the volunteer co-ordinator.
Describe your MozFest experience!
My festival experience usually starts about nine months before MozFest — the festival is the last bit! Most of my time is spent recruiting volunteers. I also spend months beforehand trying to work out how we can make this year better than last year.
I take the role seriously and I like to improve the volunteer experience, which is hugely important to me.
The event itself in some respects can seem a bit of an anti-climax because all the planning comes to fruition and you can’t do much about it at that stage — it is either going to work, or it isn’t! I don’t see much of the festival because I am in the crew room, receiving emails from volunteers, addressing problems and sorting out scheduling. With more than a hundred volunteers it can take a bit of juggling to make sure people are in the right place at the right time — it can be like herding cats!
My two main responsibilities are to make sure we support the festival, and to make sure the volunteers have as rewarding an experience as possible. What’s gratifying is to see how many volunteers come back year after year — we can’t be getting it that far wrong!
I am very proud of what we achieve each year and very grateful for the brilliant volunteers and the great Mozilla staff that I get to work with.
What motivated you to become a part of the open movement?
It’s fair to say I fell into it by accident. I’ve always been interested in tech, ever since I can remember. My first brush with tech was at the age of five when I wired up a mains lightbulb and a switch and a plug. I copied what my dad was doing, and asked my mum to plug it in to see if it worked. The idea of that happening now is probably a bit scary, but was my introduction to tech and electronics.
I got into open source only a few years ago, relatively speaking. I found myself running BarCamps in 2010 after the Haitian earthquake. It was a big introduction to open everything — open engineering, open tech, open culture. I think the BarCamp movement has made a big impact on the open world. I moved on to running things like hackathons and so on.
I have an interest in open software and hardware. I find the open hardware, like Raspberry Pi and Arduino, really interesting. As an engineer I have mixed emotions about it. On one hand it’s great that people can make tech do things without knowing too much. The professional in me wonders why I spent eight years studying to do this properly! I very much believe in open source — otherwise I wouldn’t be involved.
What are your MozFest highlights?
My highlights might all seem a little strange or unusual! One incident I remember three or four years ago. There was someone that I vaguely knew from the tech world via Twitter who was at MozFest with her young daughters. While roving about, someone handed me a child’s jacket that had been found on the stairs. I handed to lost property. A few hours later, I encountered this lady with her children and she asked me to direct her to lost property. I was able to go there myself, collect the jacket and everyone was happy. The three year old was so, so happy to get her favourite jacket back! I was delighted to be able to help someone. It illustrates there’s a wider element to MozFest, that it’s a circle that overlaps lots of other circles, it’s not an exclusive club.
Last year I was honoured to be asked to be part of a session, because I don’t get to attend many. I took part in Erika’s session about jobs in tech. I found that really interesting because usually I am involved in the logistics and see very little, so this was great. I do always try and make one sweep of the building to get a sense of the festival but I rarely go to any sessions — I’m too busy!
The most bizarre question I have been asked in six years was if I knew who made the fox costume? I actually now know this — it’s the same people who make the outfits for Disneyland.
Why should people come to MozFest?
You get an awful lot for your money! An enormously packed agenda, free food, refreshment, entertainment and fun. It’s a hugely good value.
I believe MozFest is a unique event.
Many think it’s a tech event but over the years it has surprised me, and others, at the depth and breadth of the issues and ideas that get covered. You wouldn’t necessarily expect to go to a tech event and visit an art installation. I love the crossover between tech and creative art, I love that side of MozFest and there’s plenty of that.
Describe the festival in three words
Intense. Friendly. Sharing.
