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Like each chaotic event the 31C3 will not be possible without the help of many volunteers. YOU can be one of them and really be a part of the event!

Volunteering is actually a lot of fun!

As a volunteer, you will be doing important stuff, meet many interesting people and generally have a great time. Furthermore, we will provide a volunteers-only area with a small Hackcenter and some kind of never-ending breakfast.

If you have any questions after reading this page, you can ask at engel at lists.ccc.de or add your question below.

How do I become a Volunteer?

  • Read this page carefully.
  • If you never volunteered at the C3 before, please go to the angel area Heaven and get an introduction at the shift coordinator desk.
  • In order to sign up for shifts, you need to register an account at https://engelsystem.de/ (Available latest from December 20th)
  • If you want to sign up for special shifts like Audio-/Video-Angel, Herald-Angel or others, please check for requirements below.
  • Please bring a DECT or spare GSM phone as this is vital for communicating during your shifts.
  • Participate in the angel meetings.

What would be my job as an angel?

Angels are the heart and soul of every congress. Since there is a lot of work to do 24/4 we need help day and night on various tasks ranging from audio angels over entrance angels to wellness angels. Please check the list below. Pro tip: Night shifts are not as hectic as day shifts and often come along with some sort of network access.

What kind of volunteers are needed?

Lecture oriented


All events will be archived and streamed. We need people who ensure our video cameras (camera angels) and microphones (audio angels) are up and running. In addition the angels help handing out microphones in the lecture rooms for questions to the panel. This time the video angel job was split into camera work and switching between the different sources (mixer angel). There also is the VOC (Video Operation Team) that takes cares of providing the video streaming infrastructure and publishing the recordings. There is an technical lecture room coordinator from the VOC in each room during the start and end of each lecture.

All audio-, camera- and mixer-angels are required to participate in an introduction lecture given on various dates during the conference. Specific dates are to be announced. You can not sign up until you have participated in the introduction lecture.

Please check the audio and video angels page for more information.


We need Heralds with strong English skills who feel comfortable while speaking in front of the crowd at the beginning of each talk. Heralds are primarily responsible for each lecture hall from the beginning to the end of a talk. Heralds ensure that the speakers are on time, ready to go and properly introduced to the crowd. During the talk, they fix any problem that may arise. Finally, they make sure the speaker wraps up before the session is over to keep the congress moving along.

Please check the Heralds page for more in-depth information.


Signal Angels care for all those listening to talks via the Streams from home. They watch Twitter, IRC and other communication channels and provide feedback/questions to the speakers in the Q/A session after the talk. Signal angels need to bring their own laptop in order to do their job. Since most of the talks are held in English, decent skills here are required.

See Signal Angels.


Speaker-Desk-Angels (or "Referentenbetreuung") care for everything a speaker might need before or after their talk. This might include help with printing stuff, making coffee/tee and other random tasks a speaker might come up with. The real list of tasks varies a lot which makes this a very interesting and sometimes challenging job. You need to have basic human-human-interaction skills. A decent level of English will also be need for most of the speakers. As a small bonus, you might get to interact with the speakers at a more personal level.


Since not everybody speaks German, we try to translate the German talks in realtime. If there is some spare time, some of the big English talks are also translated back to German.

See Translation for more information and contact.


This year we want to provide as many live-subtitles as possible for a more barrierfree congress. To achieve this we need your help! The live transkript will be visible on a webinterface and in Saal1 even on the screen! (No more etherpads like last year!)

If you are a user of speech recognition software or a fast typist (>400 strokes per minute, roughly > 80 words per minute, http://10fastfingers.com/typing-test/) you can do that. If you are a fast typer you won't be alone: In every room there are 5 special seats only for the subtitles angels, with a desk and electricity and maybe even LAN.

You can rotate as much as you want during the talk - even every sentence, just as you like.

The subtitles angle role is restricted, please give me (percidae) a call to receive a login for the live-interface. Don't be afraid, if you think you type too slow, just try it! Having a live transcript with the most important words is always better than having nothing. It helps a lot with the understanding, especially for hard of hearing or deaf people or for non native speakers.

If you are a speech recognition user - especially for English - we will have a very special interface for that with the possibility of a second person checking the input before it is visible for everyone. Please get in touch with me if you are used to speech recognition software like dragon naturally speaking (Laptop with version 13 de/en is available).

You can find contact information here: http://c3voc.de/wiki/subtitles#communication

IRC: hackint.org #subtitles


The Security Team takes care about physical security such as the entrance controls and security related tasks such as theft or deescalaction of conflicts.


We are dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable experience for everybody attending our events, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, physical appearance or disability. We do not tolerate harassment of participants of the Congress in any form. As stated previously, we also don't tolerate life forms who refuse to share this openness towards others.

The Congress has always been a place where people can enjoy technology and culture, no matter what their background is. To keep it that way: If someone is misbehaving and you want support, let the Congress Volunteers (Engel resp. angels) know, they will be glad to help. Have the courage to ask us!

Contact Information Phone number for 31C3 security during the event please call 31C3 local DECT 110 or 31C3 local GSM 110.


This is where tickets are sold, badges are fixed/checked and exits are secured. The entrance team includes cash desk angels, entrance angels and exit angels. We will need a considerable number of reliable volunteers here.

Entrance / Exit

Entrance and exit angels require patience and some social skills. Sometimes deconfliction skills, especially at night are very important. Other than that no requirements have to be met. Entrance angels check the badges of everybody who wants to enter the building. Exit angels keep people from entering the building through the exit or smoker doors. They are basically bouncers.


Cash desk angels handle the selling of tickets and the validating presale-tickets. They have to participate in an introduction lecture prior to their first shift at the cash desk. Dates for the lectures will be announced prior to conference start.


People at the congress need their mate - lots of it. The bars ensure that the constant stream of caffeine. Bottles start out in the storage where Supply-Angels get the to the individual bars. There they are sold by Bar-Angels who also handle the stocking of the fridges at the bar. Once the bottles are empty they are placed at one of the bottle-drop-points. Bottle-Angels collect all the empty bottles and get them back to the storage, where they are driven away by the beverage-suppliers. Collecting bottles is a very fun job, because you get the see the whole building. Also, people are always nice to you, since it's immediately visible how your are helpful to them in person.


The angels of the CERT (Chaos Emergency Response Team) are the first responders and provide first aid in case of a medical emergency. We are looking after the fire protection in this building also, for example by making sure that the emergency exits and escape routes are not blocked. You will need medical skills for some of the jobs, so paramedics or doctors are very much welcome here.

Take a look at the CERT page for more information.



Angel coordinators are the contact person for specific tasks/jobs. They should be contacted, if you have questions about the specific task and they can give you access for restricted shifts, after your introduction/briefing for the restricted angeltask.

The list of the coodinators will be extended.


Chaos angels and the crew are self-catered. So we need some angels that take care of that.

For info ask around in the Heaven. There are night and day shifts.


Netangels help the NOC to build the network and to provide support and service to the participants. They should have a basic knowledge of computer networks, but don't need to be network wizards. They don't have to setup switches and so on, so you don't need to have a working knowledge of how to do it.

For further information please talk to the NOC Helpdesk.




The infodesk helps visitors on their way around the congress as well as Hamburg itself. The infodesk is open 24/4, you will be working in a team of about 4 volunteers during the day, 6 during rush hours and 2 at night.

A nice and kind type of personality is needed. You'll be required to answer the same questions over and over again. Preferrably you know your way around in Hamburg. Typical questions are for telephonenumbers of certain crew-members, the location of workshoprooms, where to get vegan food, the next train to place xy, how to get tickets for the gym, and so on. Therefore, there has to be an introduction before your first shift. Please ask timely before your first shift at the infodesk for an introduction.

See Infodesk

cloakroom / wardrobe

With your help, we try to operate the Cloakroom 24/4 during the congress.

If you are interested in helping out at the cloakroom, just sign up for a shift in the shift system and try to arrive 10 minutes early, so the previous shift can explain everything to you.

Build up / Tear down

The 31C3 is a big congress. There is loads of stuff which needs to be (a) put in place beforehand and (b) removed when we pack everything up again. This is a very important job. You should be in good health, and hard work shouldn't bother you. People who are technically talented (e.g. handling powertools and so on) are very welcome here. But since there are many many different tasks to do here, almost everybody can help!

As a bonus, you might get the opportunity, to see the secret parts of the CCH or the congress itself.

This year we introduced a new shift: LOC runners are helping the LOC to manage the teardown and channel all good to their destinations. Introduction meetings are day 2, 3, 4 at 1500 in Storage Hall H. For info ask in #LOCc3 @hackint.

Special Jobs


Sometimes there are unplanned jobs which need the attention of somebody right now. An Jumper/Flex/Emergency-Angel sits in the heaven, probably hacking on something, waiting for exactly this to happen. Most of the time people will need you to do quick jobs (e.g. tape something down, carry something around) or help out at one of the bars. The people or angles you are helping here are usually very happy about your existence, because you are basically coming out of nowhere just to solve a problem they are having in this very moment.


On 30C3 we introduced a new group of angels that are taking care of press teams. Over the years the public interest of the congress has grown and so the number of media teams reporting about the congress. One the one hand, this is a great opportunity for the CCC to spread its message. On the other hand, this often turns to collide with personal interests like privacy and informational self-determination.

Press teams showing up on the congress hit on a different world. They are used to be welcomed and allowed to move around everywhere they like on events where they show up. So they tend to take photos and videos of everything. This is, where media angles come in: They have the responsible task to walk along with press teams bringing cameras to ensure that they respect any claim of privacy.

Media-angels need a good understanding how visitors of the congress think about their privacy. They are responsible to decide, where camera-teams are allowed to film and other things.

Questions and answers

Do I get a reduced entrance fee as an angel?

Volunteers won't get any reduced prices. Everyone of us is paying the full price! But since we value your support a lot, we will hand out special limited edition t-shirts for all angels who have done enough shifts at the end of the congress. Additionally you get exclusive access to the Heaven which includes free (basic) food, coffee and water.

When and where are the angel meetings?

Angel meetings will be held in the Heaven daily. Exact times will be announced here in the near future.

What the hell is Heaven?

The Heaven is a place for angels to take a break between their shifts and socialize. As a thank you for hard working angels there will be coffee, tea, and sometimes food. The Heaven will be located at first floor. If angels are needed at short notice free angels at the Heaven will be asked to support.

What is the Shift System?

The Angel System will be used to centrally coordinate shifts and Chaos Angels. If you want to register as an angel, you need to create an account for yourself. You can find the Shift System at https://engelsystem.de (Available from December 20th)

To find available shifts, click "available shifts" on the left hand side, then select the area in which you would like to help out, and then use the date links above the shift table to jump to the individual days. Note the "available shifts" page also contains a "show everything at once" link which shows all areas for a given day. Under "my shifts" you can also cancel your shifts up to 3 hours before they start.

Please choose your shift there and show up around 10 minutes before your shifts start, especially for audio and video angels.

What and who is an Arch Angel?

Arch Angels are people, who have been working at the congress for many many years. They know the staff, they know who is responsible for what, who can help in case of a specific problem, they know the venue, and mostly they are cool and relaxed. So, they take care of a volunteer/ chaos angel in the case of a problem. They should be contacted, if something went wrong and there is no contact person for the job, the angel is doing at that moment or the contact person is not reachable and last the coordinator is not reachable. Also, the arch angels should be contacted for problems, that are not related to specific angel tasks.

Contact them personally in the Heaven, via DECT or via mail to erzengel at lists.ccc.de

The team of arch angels this year:


Is there anything I have to bring?

  • Please bring a DECT phone or a (spare) GSM Phone and register it at eventphone
  • Something to put your coffee, tea or cereals in (if we would buy cups every day it would go off the Engel budget)
  • Knife, spoon and fork or spork (although there should be plastic variants readily available)
  • Equipment for your tasks if pointed out above.

How long do I have to work as an angel?


Working hours also vary with individual motivation. As a rule of thumb, four hours a day may be considered normal. But even doing one or two hours would help the congress.

I'm only XX years old. Can I help?


Badge - Where do I get my Angel badge?

As soon as you have registered with the Angel System, you may obtain your badge at the Heaven.
From experience, badges won't be available until late evening of Day 0, so don't be there too early.
If in doubt, just call INFO.

Also, you may want to bring your own lanyard, as those tend to be out of stock fast.

More Questions?

If you have any question that is not answered here, please add it in the list here.

You can also get in contact with us directly: