Volunteers Needed: help us grow the Exilian community!

[Jubal]

Once again, we're looking for a number of additional volunteers to join the Exilian team! Our small core team, currently comprising four members (Chair/Exec, Treasurer, Voting Members Officer, and Site Adjudicator) is urgently in need of additional support to keep Exilian running.

We're advertising for four committee-level posts as of now: Tech, Membership Development, Social Media, and Content Editing. The holders of these roles aren't necessarily expected to cover every part of the brief, but they will be taking overall responsibility for these areas of Exilian's activity as part of our admin committee. We have formal titles for each role: except for the Tech officer who is designated as the Technikos, a choice of "despot" or "heteriarch" may be made by the successful applicant for this set of roles. Exilian is a democratically run organisation and in-post committee members will need to be ratified by the voting members and annually thereafter.

All of the available roles will come with the best support we can give: we're happy to train people in their roles and do not expect people to come in with prior experience. We have a strong ethos of supporting our volunteer officers and ensuring help is at hand: for all roles, there will be volunteers around with experience in the role who can help with any problems or queries. If you have any questions about any of the posts and what they entail, please leave a comment below.

The roles are as follows, with the information on how to apply in the post below.



Technical Officer

Key roles
The Technikos has responsibility for the front-end site and the technical aspects of keeping Exilian running - server issues, hosting, the site's programming and software, and so on are all within their remit.

Important powers/functions
- Control over the technical aspects of the forum and website
- Responsibility for look & layout
- Responsibility for the integrated functionality of site applications and content
- Along with the Basileus, responsibility for contact with site hosts

Regular tasks
- Website tech updates and edits
- Helping other staff and mod teams use the site
- Adding updates and mods to the forum to increase user utility
- Ensuring backups are up to date and available

Social Media Officer

Key roles
The Social Media officer will help promote Exilian and our members' creative projects across our social media accounts (Currently Facebook, Twitter, and Mastodon, but this may change and the Officer will have a lot of leeway to help our strategy evolve).

Important powers/functions
- Managing & building up Exilian's social media accounts
- Recruiting new members for the site
- Promoting Exilian's content
- Feeding back to the rest of staff on public perception of our activities

Regular tasks
- Schedule regular social media posts
- Engage & chat with interested parties on social media
- Find optimal audiences for specific pieces of content
- Directly message and invite creators to the website

Content Editor

Key roles
The Content Editor will be responsible for two significant areas: the Exilian Articles section, and the monthly newsletter Updates from the Forge. This is a wide role that involves commissioning and editing/formatting articles, as well as keeping an eye on news from across Exilian's activities.

Important powers/functions
- Editorial control of Exilian's main front-end "voice" via our newsletters
- Commissioning & engaging with article writers
- Representing the needs of the content section in staff meetings

Regular tasks
- Editing & helping write "Updates from the Forge", our monthly newsletter, and getting it released on schedule
- Finding news items from across Exilian's activities that can go into the newsletter
- Finding volunteers to write regular articles for the articles section, and deciding on bursary applications
- Editing and formatting the articles and posting them on time

Membership Development Officer/Forum Admin

Key roles
The Membership Development officer is a more classical "forum admin" role. The holder of this post will be there to engage with and support creative project managers across the site.

Important powers/functions
- Works with Exilian's creators and users to support their use of our website and other systems
- Wide-ranging remit to improve forum structures & functionality to help users
- Feeds back to other staff on how regular members & creative team leads are finding the website
- Responsible for keeping & updating our email list and getting monthly emails out to members

Regular tasks
- Greet new members, discuss projects with game developers and writers and be willing to engage with their work
- Get project developers settled into the site, creating new subforums for them where necessary
- Let developers and new members know about Exilian's democratic features/system and help enable them to take part
- Running creative competitions and/or game jams for the site
- Putting a brief email out once a month with links to our recent newsletter and announcements of other important upcoming events or similar