Volunteer/Gophers
Capricon needs you! We are a 100% volunteer-run convention, and we can’t put on a great con without lots of help!
Why be a gopher? After all gophers are rodents, pests in most societies, but here are some reasons to be a gopher.
- If you put in enough volunteer hours, you may qualify for badge reimbursement (finances permitting, reimbursements will be issued after the convention).
- We give our gophers a free meal Saturday night so you can save some meal money
- For those who might not be able to afford a room, we do have some limited rooms to share set aside for our gophers
- Almost all our volunteers, board members, and department heads started out as gophers
- You get to see all the departments, and meet the people who run them. Maybe you want to be part of a con, but not sure what part is good for you, or want to see before completely committing
- Crowds can get overwhelming at times, volunteering is a nice way to get some downtime, and feel productive at the same time
- A nice gopher ribbon
- If you want to learn how cons run, and how to put them on if you’re interested in doing it on your own this is a great way to see
Even if you can just volunteer for a couple of hours it makes a HUGE difference. If everyone pitches in just a little bit, then we can all spend more of our convention having fun!
What do gophers do?
Nothing too dramatic. We support the various departments throughout the con. In the morning and early afternoon on Thursday, the first day of the con, we help set up mostly in the art room and the dealers room. We also help put up the signs for the parties, and the various con rules. When the con runs we support the various departments. Nothing too serious. Most of the time it’s watching the various rooms, and checking for badges. If we have a mask policy this year we make sure it’s being followed, and directing people. This year we are monitoring our quiet room (the only place I’ll have just one person at a time). It’s our new room where people that feel a bit overwhelmed can go to a quiet place and catch themselves. We want to make sure people are being quiet, and if by chance a real emergency comes about we want the attendant to find someone in the operations department to help address the situation. We are also keeping track of the front hallway in front of the vendors/artist room. Where we have our freebie stuff. There are other events going on at the hotel and we want to make sure our guests are going to the right event, also helping the freebie section. Keeping it clean and stocked. Sometimes departments need stuff from another department, so they may send you to get things. Other times they maybe need you to watch their area, so they can run some errands themselves. Usually people sign up 2-4 hours at a time. They help out a bit here and there then enjoy the convention, help out a bit, enjoy the convention. Plans are still being made for the con so some tasks may be added. On Sunday when the con is winding up we help clean up.
If you’re interested in being a gopher, email volunteers@capricon.org. Title your email “Attention gophers”. We’ll ask you to fill out a quick survey. Eventually the schedule for the con will come out. I’ll email you shortly afterwards and you can choose where you want to volunteer at and at what times. Outside of the quiet room I am hoping to be able to double up people as much as I can so you have someone to talk to.