8 April 2010 by Jennifer
Just a few minutes ago I checked my email and I found out a thing just got announced! and I am happy about it!
It’s called “Big Bi Fun Day”.
It is a bi event suitable for families! and not even that far from me geographically!
Hurrah!
and thank you very much to the people organising this.
Edited to add: The edge has gone off my joy as on further scrutiny I realise that half the event is up stairs and there’s no proper lift, only a chair lift.
“Lots of people are ready to give you advice..” Indeed, but only some of it is constructive.
Without that last paragraph, I expect this post was exactly what the organiser would have wanted to hear. But the ‘edited to add’ ending destroys that. It caused me to go ‘ARGH!’ and I suspect that I am not the only person who did so.
Perhaps the announcement could have been made clearer that this event is the result of one person having the idea and deciding to do something, including searching for a venue with a usable private garden close to the station in their city centre and on bus routes with parking nearby, paying for it themselves, and then hoping people will come. It does not have a team organising it or any other support, including any money from anywhere other than their pocket.
So, yes, an ideal venue would be even more accessible. But it may not exist! Someone else who lives in Leicester and has organised numerous things there does not know of a better venue for the event. Venue finding is often the hardest bit of organising events: I know I spent more time on it for BiCon 2008 than everything else combined. So if I were the person who did all the work, alone, I would be feeling distinctly got at.
The people who have been an enormous help with getting access issues treated as a serious priority within the bi community have made it clear that given the resources, not everything can be perfect. (Even events with more money thrown at them than we have ever dreamed of do not do that.) They do appreciate knowing in advance what the situation is, and this is what has happened here.
You may have missed the fuss about one venue used for various BiFests and PolyDays in London (which, incidentally, does have a lift, but an imperfect one and which has other issues). The people who kick off about imperfections are usually those who have done nothing themselves – you are not in that position, but the goodwill you have got from everything over the years is at risk with comments like this.
I also think it risks putting off their being such events at all. Organising things like this is often a thankless task, and I suspect to have someone who has helped organise stuff in the past criticise a new and, as you say, very welcome initiative in this way is doubly painful.
Thanks Ian – comment noted, & as you know I do intend to reply to it more thoroughly.