Opportunity to volunteer at the SPEVI 2025 Conference in Brisbane!
Are you a young person with blindness or low vision from Queensland? SPEVI wants you! Every two years The South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment (SPEVI) organises a conference to bring together people from Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific Region who are involved in and interested in the education of people with blindness and low vision. The 2025 SPEVI Conference, with the theme ‘EmPOWERment through connection, inclusion and education’ will be held in in Brisbane, from 13 – 16 January 2025. SPEVI offers an opportunity for Queensland youth with lived experience of blindness or low vision to be volunteers and help facilitate and enrich the SPEVI 2025 Conference.
If you are interested in being a volunteer, or for more information: please email admin@speviconference.net by 15 October 2024.
What may be expected of volunteers at the SPEVI 2025 Conference?
Volunteers will help empower the conference to run smoothly. This may involve a variety of tasks. For example: you may be directing people to conference sessions, food and amenities, assist conference delegates with tasks during some sessions and mingle with educators and presenters during break times.
Please note: You will need to provide your own transport to and from the conference venue and arrange your own accommodation. We require you to attend an orientation session, either online or in person, prior to the conference.
What will you get out of volunteering at the SPEVI 2025 Conference?
You will receive morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea. During free times you will be able to attend some presentations of your choice, if space allows. If you are interested, there will be opportunities to discuss your own education experiences and ideas with educators and conference exhibitors, including NV Access, the developers of the free NVDA screen reader.
Opportunity to gain work experience
As a volunteer you will be given the opportunity to experience what an “entry level” job will be like. As with all volunteer opportunities, the tasks at conference may be simple or repetitive or not suit your exact skill set. As a volunteer you will be given the chance to suit your skills or experiences to allotted tasks, to develop new skills, to seek assistance, and provide it to others; perhaps to find areas of interest that you had not considered before.
Opportunity to “give back”: volunteering in society
Most people find the opportunity to “give back”, to participate or volunteer, very rewarding. The opportunity to volunteer at the SPEVI 2025 Conference is your chance to give back to your community, to demonstrate your skills and enthusiasm, to begin or continue the fulfilling role of volunteering that often enables people to feel more a part of our community, to grow friendships and to feel valued.
Opportunity to add new skills to your resume
All volunteers will receive written recognition of their contribution to SPEVI 2025 Conference which they will be able to use in CVs as they seek work experience, employment or promotions.
Prospective employers value applicants who have some previous work experience and who can demonstrate that they have strong community links and have volunteered in the community.
Contact us now!
We’re sure the experience will be both fun and rewarding! Tell your friends who have lived experience of blindness and low vision about volunteering at SPEVI Conference 2025. They may want to come along!
As we may extend this invitation to young people from other States and Territories too (provided they can arrange their own transport and accommodation) we welcome expressions of interest from outside Queensland too.
If you are interested in being a volunteer, or for more information: please email admin@speviconference.net by 15 October 2024. We will then get in touch with you.