For those who attend Fan Expo every year, you may recall TIFF Midnight Madness at the convention. I've never quite made the cut for volunteering there (granted from the stories I've heard, it can be more insane that fun at times).
My most memorable (and by that I mean most fun) TIFF volunteer experience outside of TIFF was at Pride 2006, when I signed up for "button distribution" on Church St! It is exactly how it sounds, my job was to grab a big bag of buttons (the first year TIFF made buttons!) from the marketing department at 2 Carlton (where TIFF offices used to be) and hand them out on Church Street.
My boyfriend at the time and I were supposed to do shared duty but he got tied up somewhere so I went solo to party up and down the gay village handing out bright blue buttons to every person I met. Tough job ;)
The rounds included catching my friend Jory DJ-ing on the street, dancing and chatting with friends old and new. Walking by one of the restaurants patios and getting asked by girls to dance with them. Hurdling myself in the middle of groups saying silly stuff like "you look like you need a button!"
The whole volunteer "shift" was like being at a daytime rave. People would follow me down the street for buttons, or would want to trade buttons and stickers with me, or give me random hugs (ok, the latter now seems less appealing with age). I did do proper TIFF duty as people asked me how to get involved with volunteering and I met others that had worked for the festival.
At one point I even strolled up to the group of completely naked old men, who always seem to frequent pride, and offered them a button to pin on their shoulder bags. For those who know who know Zanta is, I gave him a TIFF button that year too!
[Photos of me at Pride 2006 may or may not be forthcoming depending on what crazy outfit I was wearing!]
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