Volunteering at international events allows you to receive first-hand professional experience and get inspiration from the leading experts in the industry. Many events cover accommodation and catering for volunteers, making such trips more affordable. Today we will cover five volunteering opportunities for youth interested in economics, music, vocational education, and technology.
The List of 5 International Events to Volunteer in 2021.
Economics: Internships at the World Economic Forum
Internships are a great way to acquire industry-specific skills and demonstrate potential employers that you know how to apply the theory you learned at school to real-life work. The World Economic Forum Global Internship Programme allows international students to contribute to the work of this organization through paid three-to-six month-long internships. Students of diverse skills and backgrounds have an option to intern at any of the WEF offices in Geneva, New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Tokyo or Mumbai.
About the Forum
The World Economic Forum is a non-governmental organization founded in 1971 and based in Cologny-Geneva, Switzerland. Its mission is to improve the state of the world by engaging political, academic, and business leaders to shape local and global agendas. Every January the WEF hosts an international meeting that brings 3,000 leaders, economists, journalists, and influencers to discuss matters across 500 sessions. The meeting is held in Davos, a mountain resort in eastern Alps region of Switzerland.
WEF Internships
There are two cohorts every year, starting in February and June. Interns must be enrolled in a programme of study at the time the internship begins or should have graduated within the last month. You will be able to join teams in project management, event design and execution, data analysis, impact measurement, and strategic communications. To apply, candidates should submit their CV and a cover letter for the internship opportunity that is most relevant for them. Many interns come from universities in the countries where the internship is based as interns may need to have the appropriate work authorization before being selected.
Education: TEDx Events Around The World
How cool would that be to bring a world-class TED conference to your hometown? Local communities around the world can host their own mini TED-style conferences aka TEDx events. These are coordinated and implemented by independent community members under a free license from TED. Such events are always in search for local volunteers to assist with advertising, content creation, protocol and speakers.
About the TED
TED Conferences is an American media organization distributes free videos online under the slogan “ideas worth spreading”. Every year the organization hosts the main TED conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at the Vancouver Convention Centre. TED speakers have a maximum of 18 minutes to elaborate on their ideas in the field of science, culture, technology, design, and more.
Volunteer with TED Offline
You may find a TEDx event near you by using the search engine on the website. It indicates the date, location and available tickets for each conference. In order to request additional information regarding the volunteering positions, please contact the specific organizer via the contact details provided on the website or search for the event on social media.
Alternatively, you may volunteer with TED from the comfort of your home. To do that, you simply need to know a language or two. TED heavily relies on volunteering support when it comes to transcribing and translating their talks into other languages.
Transcribing allows the videos to be accessible to deaf viewers as well as be indexed on search engines like Google. Translating involves at least two volunteers working together under the supervision of a language coordinator from TED.
Technology: The Next Web Festival in Amsterdam
While tickets to some of the tech conferences may cost a fortune, volunteering allows you to get access to the event with the benefit of closely working with the speakers and organizers. This year’s TNW Festival will cover sessions on retail, sustainable societies, rebranding, artificial intelligence, future of work, and more.
About the Festival
The Next Web is an online platform and annual series of conferences that focus on new technology and start-up companies in Europe. The company was established in 2006 and in 2019 the Financial Times purchased a majority stake in TNW. Some of the speakers at TNW have included Gary Vaynerchuk, Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, and Robert Cailliau. This year the New Web is hosting a conference on 1-2 October in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
TNW Volunteering
Volunteers are invited to join one of the following teams at the event: registration, customer success, speaker team, usher team, production, matchmaking team. Organizers will provide access to the festivals talks, catering and uniform as well as an invitation to the TNW2020 afterparty.
Music: Verbier Festival in Switzerland
True classical music lovers will be elated once they learn about the opportunity to volunteer at the Verbier Festival. This international music festival convenes experienced musicians in the mountain resort of Verbier, Swtizerland. For two weeks over the summer, the audience enjoys a number of concerts by the most renowned musicians and orchestras.
Volunteer at Verbier
Volunteer recruitment for this year is over, however, here is some key information to keep in mind for the next year. Volunteer positions are confirmed in April/May and volunteers are to commit about four hours of work daily. Here are the available volunteering positions: information offer, masterclasses greeting team, VF Kids events welcome team, press assistant, protocol assistant, social media content creator and more.
Candidates should be 18 years old or older. Volunteers will receive a welcome gift, official VF T-shirt, a limited number of free tickets for concerts, free use of TéléVerbier ski lifts/cable cars and the Verbier swimming pool, and an invitation for the Opening Party and Closing Party. Volunteers who commit for the entire period of the Festival receive free accommodation.
Professions: EuroSkills Competition in Austria
If you enjoy watching creators bring life to majestic art pieces or elaborate dishes, you will enjoy volunteering at EuroSkills. This is a biennial skills competition that promotes professions to young people, motivating youth to reach world-class excellence in skills and provide a better understanding of job market. EuroSkills is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in Europe. Young people up to the age of 25 from countries across Europe compete in more than 40 different skills at the event. The 7th biennial EuroSkills event will be hosted in Graz, Austria on 6-10 January 2021.
Volunteer at EuroSkills
In order to become a volunteer, candidates need to fill out an online form and include information on their education or work experience, personal skills, driving license availability, medical restrictions, language proficiency, and volunteering experience. Accommodation will be provided by the organizer. Candidates should be at least 15 years old.
These are just a few ideas of international events that look for volunteers every year. To combine work and leisure, you may coordinate with a few friends from university and form a volunteer delegation or even a club!
Photos: Shutterstock / Edited by: Martina Advaney
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