Gopher Bucks
noun. An incentive for gophers and other volunteers.
Many conventions have done this different ways. Some have used it to help an ailing dealers room and to promote volunteering. Some like Anime Mid-Atlantic use it as the convention center does not permit outside food and so they eat at the convention center food service.
Some of the Gopher Bucks concepts fall under the general plan for "if and how you will feed your staff, volunteers and guests". I.e. Staff Lounge, Gopher Hole, Green Room, etc.... see Hospitality.
Groats
In the UK, Groats, from Gopher Reward Tokens, are paper scrip handed out to volunteers to thank them for shifts worked at the convention. Useable at the bar or hotel restaurant, and sometimes to buy t-shirts, they are more a novelty than a cash substitute. These are employed at British cons, which don’t issue membership refunds.
Often done in pretty patterns, and easy to overlook in a pocket, many a con treasurer is delighted when they are not all redeemed by the end of the con.
The volunteer nature of conventions means everyone works for pleasure, there are no employment or minimum wage issues that might occur in other professionally run events.
