Wearing tennis shoes, khaki pants and a dark blue polo shirt with the letters VOLUNTEER across the back, I stood in the grand foyer of the convention center holding a sign with a big question mark on it. I certainly didn’t feel like I was making a fashion statement, but had high hopes for a day of interacting with training and development professionals from all over the world.

For the first ten minutes I thought I would die of boredom. But once people realized I might have answers to their questions on this first day of the ASTD International Conference & Exposition (ICE), I had a steady stream of customers. Of course, I didn’t have all the answers, but when I couldn’t answer someone’s question, I rallied all the resources I knew about and went in search of the answer. I think it comforted each person I helped to know someone was there supporting them in their quest – whatever it might be.

By the afternoon, I felt like an expert on just about anything related to ICE and the convention center --and I was having a blast! I literally spoke to people from about 15 different countries. I was not only a friendly face in a crowd, but I actually could help them get where they were going!

At the end of the day I turned in my ? sign and received a free one-day pass for ICE. Not bad for a day of serving my fellow training and development professionals!

To volunteer at the next ASTD ICE, May 22-25, 2011, and earn a free day for every day you volunteer, go to http://www.cfc-astd.org/Default.aspx?pageId=877754. As the saying goes, you’ll be able to have your cake and eat it, too!

-- Denise Lamonte