Steward

From Conbledegook

A member of the at-con staff whose job it is to make sure that only con members are allowed in the con-only areas of the con hotel, to prevent/break up fights, to make sure fire and health and safety regulations are enforced, and to keep an eye on anything valuable.

In the past Gophers, Stewards and Security were separate branches of the staff with their own badges and chains of command:

• Gophers carried things from place to place;
• Stewards sat at doors to check badges, enforce rules like "no drinks in the dealers' room", look after valuables, and report problems like potential fights;
• Security roamed the site looking for trouble like thieves and bombs, and to respond to any calls to action from the stewards.

The term "Security" fell out of favour in the late 1990s as it apparently made some fans feel unsafe; the old UK security team (a tightly-knit group of responsible fen led by John Harold) have since dispersed into Operations, Art Show and Gophering, but still recognise each other as 'people who can be trusted in an emergency'. "Steward" as a separate job description has to some extent fallen into disuse along with other aspects of Big Ops; more often these days Stewarding jobs are given to gophers who can be trusted to act on their own.