2025Q3 Reports: Student Volunteer Chairs
ACL 2025 Student Volunteers Chairs Report
This report provides some details on the following items about the student volunteer program at ACL 2025.
- Call for Volunteers
- Deadlines
- Submitted Applications
- Final Selections
- Challenges and improvement suggestions
Call for Volunteers
The call for volunteers was sent out more than one month before the deadline. We updated the application form from ACL 2024 and validated it with the event assistant. The application form was used to compile a list of information that is needed from the applicants (e.g., name, email, address, CV).
Deadlines
The application was closed on June 6, 2025, and the decision notifications were sent out on June 16, 2025, more than two weeks before the early registration deadline (July 2, 2025). So all applicants were given a chance to register for the conference under the early registration fee.
Submitted Applications
ACL 2025 received a total of 396 in-person and 38 virtual volunteer applications. Figure 1 depicts the country frequency of the applicants’ current affiliation. Figure 2 shows how many applicants for each position (e.g,. PhD) we received.
Figure 1: Country frequency of applicants
Figure 2: Position frequency of applicants
Final Selections
- We selected 137 in-person and 10 virtual volunteers. 10 virtual volunteer applicants were shortlisted.
- To select among the applicants, we prioritized applicants with paper authorships, taking care to include both main conference and workshop authors. Then we selected among authors, considering country of affiliation, whether they had a letter explaining financial need, previous volunteer experience, and whether it was their first *ACL conference. When two candidates had similar profiles, we prioritized non-male applicants.
- Each volunteer was expected to help for 10 hours during the conference period.
Challenges and improvement suggestions
- Challenge: A number of selected volunteers were uncertain about their availability expectations. We had to answer a number of emails regarding that and ask some volunteers to withdraw because they would not be available for the full conference days.
- Suggestion: Make availability expectations very clear already in the Call for Volunteers. Remember to include the day before the conference, when registration opens.
- Challenge: The availability expectations meant that some volunteers had to drop out just because they could not be available for 1-2 days.
- Suggestion: Include in the application a question asking applicants to select which days they would be available. Then use this as a criterion for selection.
- Challenge: We ask applicants not to register before the acceptance notification deadline. However, some of them required a visa and could only download the invitation letter upon registration. Our solution was to ask them to register, select “wire” as the payment method, and then the registration team would manually insert volunteer codes in the registrations of selected applicants. This required a lot of communication and manual processing.
- Suggestion: Include a question in the application form asking if the applicant requires a visa. Coordinate early with the visa chairs to try and find a way of getting invitation letters for such applicants.
- Google Forms did not register responses for some applicants. We do not know if this was a Google Forms glitch or a mistake by the applicant.
- Suggestion: Consider using alternatives to Google Forms. Or maybe configure Google Forms to send a copy of the responses to the applicant.
Other recommendations
- Coordinate with the D&I Chairs early---to maximize the distribution of grants and volunteer positions.
- Contact the event manager early and ask for the exact number of local in-person, in-person, and virtual volunteers in advance for better planning and selection.
- Clarify from the beginning that among the outcomes, applicants can also be shortlisted (not just accepted or rejected).
- Include comprehensive FAQ information in the acceptance letter email to ease communication. This proactive approach significantly reduced follow-up questions and confusion. This year we created a detailed FAQ e-mail communication that addressed:
- Full availability requirements and expectations
- Information for shortlisted volunteers about their status and benefits
- Clear policies on volunteer role changes (no switching between in-person and virtual allowed)
- Registration and refund processes for volunteers who registered early