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SALT LAKE CITY — Johnna Hansen busily sorts boxes of Salt Lake Comic Con merchandise at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
In a roped-off area across the room, hundreds of people — many dressed in elaborate costumes — wait their turn to enter the showroom floor.
"The atmosphere is wonderful," Hansen said. "Seeing how creative people get with their cosplay … and even though we have different fandoms, how all those fandoms can bind us together (in) coming into a place like this to where we can share in the joy of our nerd-dom … it's just amazing."
At another area of the Salt Palace, Comic Con volunteer Kevin Hancock sits behind an information booth, answering guests' questions and directing them where to go.
As for Hancock, he's right where he wants to be.
"Last year I wanted to volunteer at Comic Con, but my work sent me out of town so I had to cancel," he said. "This year I took my use-or-lose vacation all week so I wouldn’t miss it."
After two highly succesful conventions, joining Salt Lake Comic Con's volunteer staff has become a coveted and complex job, attracting about 1,200 applicants from all corners of the state. That number had to be cut nearly in half, whittled down to a 700-person army through a series of interviews.
"In my opinion, volunteering is the real event because not only do you get to see the show, you get to help put on the show," said Nick Dianatkhah, Comic Con's volunteer director. "What I wanted to do was make Salt Lake Comic Con's volunteer program an elite program."
Volunteering at Salt Lake Comic Con has become a tight-knit social experience, as well as a way to get into the convention for free. The hundreds of volunteers use Facebook to stay connected and get to know one another for months leading up to Comic Con. Once they arrive, they are met with plenty of perks.
You get to see the other cosplay people walk around, and it's fun to see the other ideas that people have, which I think is a great perk.
–Loralyn Butler, Salt Lake Comic Con volunteer
Volunteers have their own break room at Comic Con, complete with food and massages, as well as shirts, backpacks, lanyards, pins and water bottles. When the convention ends, Salt Lake Comic Con organizers throw a huge thank-you party and raffle off gift cards, convention merchandise and signed memorabilia from celebrity guests.
Another benefit of the job, several volunteers said, is meeting new people and seeing the interesting and sometimes elaborate costumes they're wearing.
"You get to see the other cosplay people walk around, and it’s fun to see the other ideas that people have, which I think is a great perk,” volunteer Loralyn Butler said.
Weeks before the convention begins, volunteers come to Salt Lake City to attend an orientation and return later for training. For nearly three months, Dianatkhah and his team have put on trainings almost every weekend to accommodate schedules and travel needs.
With a background in psychology and customer service, Dianatkhah threw himself completely behind Salt Lake Comic Con, putting together a customer service training program specific to the convention and writing a 54-page handbook for volunteers to use.
As Comic Con guests have questions or encounter problems during the three-day convention, they're not going to turn to convention organizers for help; they're going to turn to volunteers, Dianatkhah said. It's his job to make sure they're ready.
"While it's all well and good for the volunteers to manage lines and just keep people moving along, they're not just wrangling humans," Dianatkhah said. "I wanted to make sure that they're equipped to be the ambassadors that we wanted them to be."
And Dianatkhah has tried to make the program as convenient as possible. Volunteers choose their own schedule and the amount of time they contribute. Some volunteers are so enthused they sign up to help all three days, open to close.
Dianatkhah expects the program will keep growing as Salt Lake Comic Con's popularity continues.
"The event needs those unsung heroes, the volunteers, to make sure everybody is safe, everybody is having a good time and all questions are answered," he said. "I'm just grateful we have so many people who are interested in doing it, because without them we really wouldn't have an event."
