Leadership Opportunities

Come be part of this great team of people, learn
and expand your volunteer and leadership experience.

Org Chart
Production Roles
Selection Process

On top of the 10 guiding Principles that shape burner events, the most significant difference between a “typical” festival and Burning Man Regional events like What If (BitF) is citizen participation.
Whereas at most commercial events, you pay your admission and in exchange become a spectator for whatever entertainment the producers have prepared for you, at What If all activities, stages, theme camps, workshops, art, and performances are independently produced by What If citizens and offered free of charge for the benefit of everyone. The Producers and Team Leads have all volunteered their time, and every participant purchases a ticket at full price.

Please refer to the Leadership Applications page on the GVIAS website for remaining open Production team positions.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE!

If you’re interested in joining this year as a Team Lead, reach out to the What If Event Committee to discuss applying for a Team Lead role: [email protected].

BitF 2024 Org Chart

(last year’s for reference)

Production Role Descriptions

Producers, Associate Producers, and Team Leads work together to make What If happen.

Producer

Producers coordinate all the Team Leads for their group and help carry out the creation and execution of What If for the year. Producers are responsible for ensuring their pod stays on track for production deadlines and leading the group in a manner that supports Team Leads in taking ownership of their responsibilities. Producers should lead in a manner that fosters and exemplifies good teamwork; group cohesion; respect and care for others; and support their team leads to become experts in their role and carry out the function of their role in a way that fosters team-building, ownership, pride and cohesion within the team, and with other teams. Returning Producers will mentor new Producers, and Producers are expected to mentor their Associate Producers, who presumably intend to be considered for Producer in the future. The Producer Team ultimately answers to the community, among other stakeholders. Each member of the Producer Team has Production Shifts onsite, during the event, for which they are required to be sober and on radio.

Associate Producer

Associate Producers, ideally, are Producers in training, participating in all the production meetings and decision-making conversations, to learn about the inner workings of the event, share in the responsibility of ensuring the event runs smoothly, and sharing in the process of coordinating and organizing the Leads of their group and all the teams.

Associate Producers can begin to contribute to the organization of the coming year’s event as early as December or January, depending on when they express interest in joining the team, and their time contribution is likely very close to that of producers.

Team Lead

Team Leads typically begin to organize in March to ensure that the Volunteer Team has all the information they need when ticket sales begin so that people can sign up for shifts at the coming year’s event. April can be a relatively relaxed month with respect to organization for the event, but in May things begin to pick up and by June Leads are likely working closely with the Production Team, and other Leads to organize their team for the event and coordinate the Crew teams onsite.

Selection Process

Associate Producers and Team Leads are people who are, or wish to become, leaders in our community. They may be new or long-standing community members who want to contribute more, or in different ways than they have in the past.

It is important that all members of the What If production team can work together respectfully and with care for each other, despite differing opinions. All team members must maintain a good working relationship with the rest of the team.

Expressions of interest for Associate Producers and Team Leads must be seconded by the Producer/s of the respective Production Pod.

The following qualities are valued highly by the production team:

Inspiring : A great leader inspires others.
Collaborative : A great leader collaborates with all key stakeholders on any issue.
Actively Listening and Communicating : A great leader actively listens to others’ ideas and communicates timely and important information.
Accountable : A great leader is accountable, reliable and follows through on commitments.
Self-Aware : A great leader is self-aware of their abilities, development, and communication.
Patient : A great leader is patient with themselves and others.
Appreciative : A great leader shows appreciation to everyone who contributed to a particular project or idea.
Acts with Integrity : A great leader has personal integrity and is honest, ethical and professional.
Emotionally Intelligent : A great leader is in touch with their emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals and recognizes their impact on others. An emotionally intelligent leader also displays empathy for others.
Comfortable in the Gray Areas : A great leader has the ability to navigate issues that do not have a clear-cut solution by using intuition, collaboration and mindfulness.
Looks for Greatest Benefit vs. The Immediate Goal : A great leader is focused on the maximum benefit for the community, as opposed to personal or short-term gains.
Perceives the Big Picture : A great leader is focused on seeing the largest possible perspective of any particular project, and communicates this vision to others on the team.
Leads by Example : A great leader is someone who leads by example, and is not afraid to get their hands dirty in the process.
Leaves Ego Behind : A great leader is in it for the greater good and not for personal gain.
Leads outside of the organization, in the community : A great leader is one who embodies these values even when they are not on duty.
Open to New Ideas : A great leader is someone who is open to new ideas.
Curious : A great leader suspends assumptions and judgment and brings inquiry and curiosity into everything they do.
Fun!!!! : A great leader knows how to make work fun for everyone involved.