BiCon 2004 retrospective

[memevector]

Good things about this year's BiCon, from my perspective:

• All buildings non-smoking. Very much appreciated.


• All rooms wheelchair accessible - not that I use a wheelchair myself, but I feel a lot happier knowing that people who do are properly included.


• Workshops providing excellent food for thought: my faves were one by ippola and plumsbitch exploring the idea of safe space, one by werenerd on BDSM aftercare and one by voodoopussy on self harm. They were all well run with interesting questions, and having been to quite a few BiCons now, I always like it when the topics aren't the "same old same old".


• Various unplanned chats with wandra, snagglepat, ippola, plumsbitch, and others not on LJ, although I would have liked to hang out more with all of them and with artremis.


• Introducing baby Anna to lots of people.


• In-house entertainment at our flat from the exuberant offspring of cujosmurf.


• Someone thanking me for writing my thing about planning workshops and saying it had helped them to run their first ever BiCon workshop. Cool!


• Excellent venue site in general - nowhere too far to walk, but ents noise well away from sleeping areas. (Evidently I missed experiencing the workshop room(s?) which some people weren't happy with.)


• Chilled out, approachable organising team who (despite their jests) seemed to have things more or less under control. That ease during BiCon speaks of excellent planning beforehand.


• The way we agreed at the plenary to lend djm4 the float money to run BiFest (or whatever it's going to be called this time). I think the mutual trust, and mutual awareness of skills, expressed in that process & decision is a huge asset of the bi community.

Big thanks to the organising team, especially barakta who I think did an outstanding job on access.

Thanks also to everyone who contributed to the workshops I was in (namechecked here or otherwise) and especially to the "Stitch & Bitch" participants and artremis for organising it - an opportunity to rant a bit was just what I wanted at that moment (though not about BiCon organisation, I hasten to add :-) )

Things I would have liked to be different, and why:

• I'd prefer it if the decision-making plenary weren't the final one, when a substantial minority have already left and the rest of us mostly want to socialise and celebrate. I don't think I've heard any arguments against that idea so far, and I think we should consider sticking it into the BiCon guidelines. Or if not, it should at least be heavily recommended in the proposed "How to run BiCon" resource.


• I think there's an argument for the photo being on one of the middle days as well, again because of people leaving before the end. (I wouldn't put that in the guidelines though, 'cause I don't really think of the photo as crucial to BiCon.)


• I was pretty happy with the accommodation (especially the bath, which was capable of delivering oodles of hot water in a very short time), but the standard was let down by (a) the lack of a bedside lamp, and (b) the cold, and the central heating being off. Seems a bit cheapskate of the venue to me.


• There seem to have been an unusual number of problems in the runup this year with lack of communication to people who'd offered to run workshops. I'm aware (via LJ or in-person chat) of at least six different workshop leaders who were affected by that, and the printed timetable omitted some things which were planned and confirmed beforehand. I wasn't running anything this year, so it didn't affect me directly, but I remember being in a similar position in a previous year (offering to contribute and then waiting ages to find out what was happening) and how intensely frustrating it was. I think it's an important area to manage, because it's about taking care of volunteers, which is crucial for things that basically run on volunteer energy.


• I think the process of amending the BiCon guidelines could be fine-tuned some more.
  
  It definitely works to have the proposals come from a workshop beforehand, and it's good that the proposals get stuck on the wall before the decision-making plenary so people know what they're going to be asked to vote on.
  
  In an ideal world, pretty much all the debate would happen among interested parties at the workshop, so that what happens at the plenary is highly succinct. However, this time I gather that only a few people went to the workshop, and it seems to me that was reflected in the amount of "remaining" debate at the plenary. (Plus I suspect that quite a lot of people hadn't read the notice, though that'll probably always happen to some degree.)
  
  I think if I were managing that in future, I'd get first suggested drafts of all the proposals read out at an earlier plenary, or at least stuck on the wall in good time before the workshop. The ideas might then change a lot before being formally proposed, but it'd be a heads-up so that people with strong feelings about that particular area, and/or counter-proposals, can be attracted into the workshop and get most of the arguing done then.
  
  (There ought really to be an officially impartial chair to manage the plenary discussion, as well - rather than leaving it to the proposers to call upon people wanting to comment. In practice I think that worked OK this time, thanks to the integrity and common sense of ciphergoth and djm4 who were making the formal proposals, but I think there are good reasons for the usual convention of having a separate chairperson.)

To muse further on the whole BiCon thing from a slightly different angle...

I was reading an LJ thread today about reasons for coming back to BiCon year after year, after the first amazement has worn off. I first came to BiCon in 1995, and I think that's an interesting question.

I do have a bi community at home (mainly-bi household, and bi-identified friends I see regularly, besides the virtual bi environment I can access via the net), which I didn't have to that degree when I first came out. But there's still something unique and really good about the BiCon atmosphere. And of course it's an opportunity to see friends (although not necessarily a very good opportunity sometimes, because often the friends are busy being with their other friends and/or lovers that they hardly ever see, and then I actually get to talk to them less at BiCon than if I just rang up at any old time :-) ).

On the other hand, last year and this year I was beginning to question what I was there for and whether I could be arsed to go next time. Like, just being in the environment isn't "enough" any more and it is beginning to be a challenge to me to make sure I'm not bored. Workshops which would have been fascinating to me in 1995 or 1996 aren't now, either because I've talked about that stuff as much as I need to, or because the level I want to talk about them now is beyond what the workshop will cover and is better served by a conversation with a friend. Sometimes there's a new topic, or a new angle on an old topic, and then I can get interested (as mentioned above), but looking down a typical BiCon workshop timetable, it shows up in my world as much more skinny than it used to.

So for me, the direction I seem to be going in is that the only way to make BiCon interesting enough is to invent and contribute stuff - like the "fitting and misfitting" workshop a couple of years ago. The year I did that, as I recall it was by far the most interesting bit of BiCon for me, even more so than playing the gig. It's a venture into uncharted worlds, where I get to experiment and test my skills and see what happens.

But then I run into the question of energy expended and what cooperation is necessary from the rest of the world to set up these interesting things, versus what value I get myself from doing them. Partly it goes back to the thing I was talking about last year about leverage & frustration. I haven't given up on BiCon as a source of interesting-to-me opportunities, but I can easily imagine a situation where I'd want to put my energy elsewhere. I feel like I'm on the brink of that, although I may well stay on that brink for some years yet and still manage to generate enough interest to keep coming back.

Not that it's a bad thing to change direction, if & when I do - yay diversity.

Comments

[hieroglyphe.livejournal.com]

Well, it was a pleasure to talk to you a little bit and to be able to idebtify you as more than just 'the badge lady'.

Anna and your blokey were also equally lovely. And I still believe that Anna should be involved in running a BiCon before long just to make sure that smple, amusing childish thing happen that please me and a sizeable contingent of the bi community :-) Anna was such a good baby (from what I saw) and seemed to enjoy it lots and it was also a pleasure to meet her, even if she was very tiny and will not remember.

As for workshops - I think I did a bad job at mine, but lack of sleep and food plus pre-workshop stress didn't help. I feel that a lot of people (yourself included) made some very valuable input and I'm grateful for that :-) Still on the workshop vein, I am thoroughly impressed that you invented the 'fitting/misfitting' workshop - although you didn't run it last year, when I went it really helped me last year as a first timer and I was disappointed that it wasn't on this year because I found it so helpful and it would have helped a lot of other people - plus you can also feel you've 'lost' your place in the bi community when you've been around for a few years and feel your sexuality has changed. Anyway, I'd be more than happy to run it next year if you or nobody else volunteers :-) And looking at the link you put for running workshops, I wish I'd seen it beforehand seeing as it was very sensible and helpful - I'll bear it in mind for future workshops.

Anyway, 'scuse the spelling, I've been drinking champagne to celebrate. And I hope you don't mind me posting this comment either.

Cat x

[ippola.livejournal.com]

It was so lovely to meet Anna. I'm glad you decided to come in the end and I'm in awe of how you managed to attend such an event only a month after giving birth! I'm looking forward to resuming our thinks very soon.

[ludy]

and i also wish we'd had more of a chance to talk - but i kind of went splat on monday afternoon/evening with swollen glands.
However what i did see you you and Anna and your bloke was lovely.

[mistdog.livejournal.com]

Sometimes there's a new topic, or a new angle on an old topic, and then I can get interested (as mentioned above), but looking down a typical BiCon workshop timetable, it shows up in my world as much more skinny than it used to.

Mine too. Too thin, in fact, for me to get together the enthusiasm, time and £250 quid to attend. I don't think it's just that my needs have changed with regard to what I want to talk about, though they undoubtedly have. BiCon has a lot less political/activist/theory workshops than it used to. 10 years ago there were plenty; it was already declining by 1995 (despite my efforts that year).

I was talking about this to a friend this lunchtime (who hasn't been to BiCon for even longer than me) and he suggested that the format of BiCon no longer fits very well. Being organised around workshops is appropriate for a theory/activist centric event, much less so for an event where many people seem to go for the socials. Maybe the whole format should change if the main thing people want is dressing up, chatting up and partying.

[mankylarry.livejournal.com]

"BiCon has a lot less political/activist/theory workshops than it used to. 10 years ago there were plenty; it was already declining by 1995."

At one point, I felt very much the same, but came to the conclusion that that all part of the ebbs and flows of people into and out of BiCon that makes the thing in itself changing and organic, and have accepted that for what it is, rather than getting frustrated by it. Also it should be note dthat Queer politics per se has had it's heyday, and a general emphasis has shifted generally.

The history project that Kay's getting involved with is pretty interesting, I'd be very much interested in using textual analysis to map the changes in BiCon just simply looking at the workshop schedules, titles and texts over a period of time, you can simply map on the surface the shifting patterns of BiCon over time.

However that's not the only story, there is the organisational/structural element in terms of programme planning, by the programme bod, that can very much influence the shape and variety of the programme at BiCon.

When I was involved in the programming in 2000, I used a model based upon the IBC5 at Boston, which used basic programme tracks to try and have a varied programme, which had something for nearly everyone. Where certain tracks were a bit thin on the ground, I persoanlly contacted people and asked them if they would run a workshop on a particular theme, or area, so that the programme looked a bit more balanced. This is one way of doing it, also there has been discussion in the past about using the different days for different areas, so all the theory and academic sessions are held on one day, which means that those who are interested can attend for one day, while they aren't obliged to attend the days that hold no interest for them.

I wasn't too sure if I'd be at BiCon this year, so I didn't offer to run any sessions. In the past I've run sessiosn either academic type sessions or political/activist sessions, simply becasue I felt that if I didn't then there wouldn't be any of these type of sessions in the programme that year. It's nice to think that over the last two years that new people are getting involved and offering to trun these type of sessions, and it definately feels like there is the seeds of a renewal in activism/theroy although it's still early days.

One of the problems about BiCon is that it's on for one weekend a year, for things treally to flourish, they need to flourish outside of BiCon, to really take route, the activist weekends as well as the academic group BI-BLIO are doing just this, organising it's main business outside of BiCon, but feeding back to BiCon as well. Lets hope this forsight continues with other projects and plans.

Laurence

[davidmcn.livejournal.com]

[now with unmangled hyperlink]
to your comments about the guidelines debate, and the group photo. In fact, the group photo was scheduled in the provisional timetable for Sunday morning (perhaps an ambitious time of day for bisexuals), but it didn't appear in the programme, and on the weekend there was no announcement about when it would be. I had to leave the closing plenary early (had already arranged transport based on the provisional end time of 2.15 - again, no announcement they had changed this) so missed the photo and most of the plenary.

Sorting out registration also needs to be a priority for BiCon organisers - registration had shut by 10pm on Thursday (not much use if you were travelling after work in Glasgow or London - I remember in 2000 they were open until well past 11pm), and wasn't open before the first Friday workshops. Friends of mine had already paid for day registration on Saturday, but again nobody could register them until about 10:20 - by which time none of the workshops in the first slot were admitting latecomers. And nobody suggested to them they just walk in and register later. I don't know if it was just an unexpected shortage of people to do it or what.

[topbit.livejournal.com]

You had a bath in your flat?

That, and all the good discussions. It would be very useful, I think, to link to this from the 'Collected Wisdom' site.