Paths to Leadership & Roles

• Department: Virtual Coffee Chat/Zoom Chat
  • Virtual Coffee Room Leader
  • Virtual Coffee Note Taker
  • Coffee Coordinator
  • Virtual Coffee Chat MC
• Department: Virtual Coffee Lunch and Learns
  • Lunch & Learn Hype Person
  • Lunch & Learn Coordinator
  • Lunch & Learn Host
• Department: General Virtual Coffee Operations
  • Coffee Table Groups Coordinator
  • Virtual Coffee Moderator

Our Virtual Coffee Chats (or Coffees) are our most important and visible event. We try as much as possible to be consistent and organized in running these and the volunteer team are a massive part of that!

Role Department:

Virtual Coffee Chat/Zoom Chat

Role Purpose:

Facilitating a Virtual Coffee chat breakout room. The role essentially moderates the conversations that happen once attendees are put into small groups for intimate conversations.

Role Duties and Responsibilities:

• Moderate the breakout room conversations
• Guide the conversation through appropriate topics
• Foster an inclusive environment where members feel comfortable sharing

Role Qualifications:

• Attended at least 10 coffees
• Reviewed the official Room Leader documentation
• Co-led at least 3 times with another Room Leader
• Approved by existing Room Leader in good standing

Role Benefits:

• Public speaking practice
• Practicing empathetic communication
• Moderation practice

Working Conditions:

• Approximately ~2 hours per week
• Primarily during Virtual Coffee chats

Role Department:

Virtual Coffee Chat/Zoom Chat

Role Purpose:

This role gives members a chance to review the conversations that take place during Virtual coffee events.

Role Duties and Responsibilities:

• Recording the responses to icebreaker questions in the VC breakout rooms
• Creating synopses of the conversations that happen in the rooms
• Noting any resources attendees share that may be useful to others
• Organizing those notes into a clear and readable format
• Sharing your notes in the Slack after the meeting is complete

Role Qualifications:

• Attended at least 4 coffees
• Reviewed the official Note Taker documentation

Role Benefits:

• Active listening practice
• Efficient summarization skils

Working Conditions:

• Approximately ~3 hours per week
• Primarily during Virtual Coffee chats

Role Department:

Virtual Coffee Chat/Zoom Chat

Role Purpose:

This role is vital to ensuring the smooth operation of the Coffee Zoom chats. They are responsible for managing both the technical aspects of the zoom and breakout rooms as well as coordinating the coffee chat volunteers before and during a virtual coffee chat event.

Role Duties and Responsibilities:

• At least 12 - 24 hours prior to the next coffee event, if an individual is coordinating that event, they must release create the breakdown of relevant details for that event, including:
  • What is the icebreaker question for that chat?
  • What is the backup topic for that chat?
  • Who are the room leaders and note takers for the session, chosen based on volunteer responses to availiability?
• Right before events, the Coordinator may make micro-adjustments to those room plans
• During the zoom, the Coordinator creates the rooms and assigns leaders and notetakers as defined by the schedule
• They assign all zoom participants to their rooms
• They announce the return to the main room and close the breakouts at the end of the conversation
• They end the Zoom

Role Qualifications:

• Active in the community & member in good standing
• Reviewed the official Room Coordinator documentation
• Must have been a Coffee Chat Room Leader or Note Taker for at least a month
• Prepared to undergo an apprenticeship period where they coordinate at least two times under the supervision of an existing Room Coordinator
• Prepared to demonstrate they understand the nuances of creating rooms based on different community member personas

Role Benefits:

• Practice with Zoom meeting controls
• Training in coordinating groups of volunteers

Working Conditions:

• Total volunteer time is ~5 hours a week
• Availability 30 minutes prior to, and for the entire duration of, a VC coffee chat
• Availability to release volunteer schedule at least 12-24 hours before coffee chat

Role Department:

Virtual Coffee Chat/Zoom Chat

Role Purpose:

Master of Ceremonies/main speaker for a Virtual Coffee chat. This role is the "face" of the chat, and the primary speaker for the event.

Role Duties and Responsibilities:

• The MC puts together notes on All VC activities that would be relevant for that week's announcements, spanning all events and operations
• Delivering the opening welcome
• Explaining the format of the event, how to use the code of conduct, and external resources
• Giving the Coordinator enough time to configure the breakout rooms
• Delivering final announcements
• Sending off all attendees

Role Qualifications:

• Been a Room Leader for at least 3 months
• Led a room at least 10 times
• Recommendation by an existing MC
• Approval by a maintainer

Role Benefits:

• A safe space to practice public speaking

Working Conditions:

• Approximately 3 hours per week
• Mainly required during the actual coffee events themselves

Lunch and Learns are the primary avenue for VC members to share information with other members and a great opportunity for members to build skills in public speaking, and technical presentation. There's a lot that needs to be done to make sure our members are supported on every step of the speaking journey.

Role Department:

Virtual Coffee Lunch and Learns

Role Description:

• Ensures the community is aware of upcoming Lunch & Learn events

Role Duties and Responsibilities:

• Gathers community interest for lunch & learn topics/speakers
• Sources/encourages community members to submit lunch & learns
• Gathers community interest in various lunch & learn platforms
• Assists lunch & learn speakers with form submission, event description writing, topic formulation, etc

Role Requirements:

• Active in the community and a member in good standing

Working Conditions:

• Approximately 2 - 3 hours per week
• Work is done primarily in VC Slack

Role Department:

Virtual Coffee Lunch and Learns

Current Coordinator

A special thank you to Shelley McHardy for her work as our Lunch & Learn Coordinator.

Role Description:

• Manages the overall organization of Lunch and Learns, from submission to final presentation.

Role Duties and Responsibilities:

• Reviews lunch & learn submissions and acknowledges their receipt
• Ensures event description is clear, asks clarifying questions if necessary
• Coordinates lunch & learn scheduling on VC calendar
• Coordinates host availability
• Checks in with lunch & learn speakers and hosts in weeks leading up to the event to confirm readiness/speaker and/or availability
• Ensures speaker bio is up to date for the lunch & learn
• Acts as a point person for lunch & learn hosts

Role Requirements:

• Active in the community and a member in good standing
• Previously attended a Lunch & Learn session

Working Conditions:

• Approximately 3 - 4 hours per week
• Work in VC Github repo, CMS and Slack

Role Purpose: The Lunch and Learn host is the MC for a Lunch and Learn event and supports the presenter and viewers in having an enjoyable event.

Role Duties and Responsibilities:

• Facilitates Lunch & Learn events via designated platforms (Zoom, Twitter Spaces, etc)
• Moderates Lunch & Learn chat, Q&A, and other portions of the event as required
• Ensures the VC Code of Conduct is followed
• Ensures the event is recorded to the cloud for later processing by our AV team
• Facilitates any speaker AV checks/tests as needed

Role Benefits:

• Public Speaking practice and training
• Moderation practice

Role Requirements:

• Active in the community & member in good standing
• Comfortable and proficient in the event’s designated platform
• Previously attended 3 to 4 Lunch & Learn sessions
• Bonus: VC-advisor, Coffee Table leader, Coffee MC, Coffee Room Leader, Lunch & Learn coordinator

Working Conditions:

• Approximately 2 - 3 hours per event
• Takes place primarly in Fridays in Zoom

It takes a lot of moving pieces to keep this all coordinated. Operations works behind the scenes to make sure all the other arms of Virtual Coffee are running smoothly, and they take a birds-eye view over our various divisions.

Current Coordinator

A special thank you to Abbey Perini for her work as our Coffee Table Groups Coordinator.

Role Department:

Virtual Coffee Operations

Role Purpose:

Our Coffee Table Groups are an important part of our community. The responsibilities of our Coffee Table Groups Coordinator:

Role Duties and Responsibilities:

• Oversees, observes, and manages the Coffee Table groups
• Ensures all event descriptions are clear and accessible for members
• Checks in with Coffee Table hosts for feedback and to ensure hosts are supported
• Acts as point person for hosts; fielding questions and assisting with onboarding
• Reviews applications for new coffee table groups

Role Benefits:

• Oppourtunity to learn group organization
• Opportunity to work with several different VC endeavours

Role Qualifications:

• Virtual Coffee member in good standing
• Member for at least 3 months
• Attended at least 10 coffees

Working Conditions:

• About 3 - 4 hours per week
• Time is split between communications in Slack and potential Zooms

Role Department:

General Virtual Coffee Operations

Role Purpose:

Uphold the tenets of the Code of Conduct in all community spaces. Ensure that member conversations and interactions aren't harming themselves or their fellow community members.

Role Duties and Responsibilities:

• Monitoring the communication in VC Slack channels
• Stepping in to potentially heated conversations and performing mediation
• Recommending members for further follow up conversations and disciplinary actions
• Reporting incidents to the rest of the moderation team for discussion
• Removing harmful content that violates the Code of Conduct from shared VC spaces
• Temporarily revoking person's access to VC digital spaces where they have caused harm

Role Qualifications:

• Uphold the Virtual Coffee mission and Code of Conduct
• Be willing to maintain an environment of support and healthy communication in Virtual Coffee spaces
• Investigate any and all potential violations of the Virtual Coffee Code of Conduct
• Mediate in any conflicts involving VC members

Role Benefits:

• Opportunity to learn and practice Non Violent Communication Techniques to diffuse tense situations

Working Conditions:

• Approximately 5 - 10 hours per week
• Takes place primarly in Slack but also during our Zoom events, Github, etc

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