I was talking to a friend one day in the middle of that process, and put into words: I\u00a0think BiCon 2021 ought to be online<\/strong>, not in person – supposing there is one at all.<\/p>\n Even though I’ve been thinking about this, I don’t consider it my decision. There are other people who are far more invested in BiCon these days than I am. However, I thought it would be a good idea to explain my reasoning, in case it was helpful to other people.<\/p>\n By the same token, there are people for whom the idea of no 3D BiCon this year would be much more of a downer than it is to me. I’m sorry, folks.<\/p>\n Short version of why:<\/p>\n If anything, circumstances have moved even more that way since I first said it: a\u00a0new covid variant which is evidently a bit more infectious than the original, and the relatively slow roll-out so far of the vaccines.<\/p>\n In terms of getting the best possible outcome from some difficult circumstances, I think it would be useful to the BiCon community to think about the possibilities & implications now<\/strong>, and re-focus on the lemonade which could be made given these lemons – rather than let the decision drift further into the year and potentially be made in more of a hurry.<\/p>\n I do also think there are some worthwhile up sides to developing the online framework! I like that BiCon 2020 was accessible to some people who couldn’t have come to the 3D one. In the long run, I think it would be good to have both.<\/p>\n And I’d like to encourage organisers to invent new local\/regional events outdoors<\/strong> for the summer of 2021, which would enable people to meet in 3D at low risk for covid.<\/p>\n Here in more detail is what I’ve been thinking: for, against, and a positive way to look at the possibilities.<\/p>\n (a mix of difficulties and up sides)<\/p>\n And will our current government ever properly go for Zero Covid<\/a> like New Zealand, Taiwan, Vietnam etc? I’m\u00a0not counting on it, because the people with the most power (a)\u00a0are incompetent in practical matters, and\/or (b)\u00a0aren’t that bothered if a lot of people die.<\/p>\n So on top of the complexity already involved in running a BiCon, the next 3D BiCon<\/strong> will probably also require decisions about protocols to reduce covid transmission<\/strong>. Would people be required to wear masks in sessions, for example? If\u00a0someone turns up at the event, and they’re saying “covid’s only like the flu, may as well catch it, not doing these pesky precautions”, what happens next?<\/p>\n Even if the decision were “we’re not making any rules, it’s up to individuals” (I hope not)… someone still has to decide that and communicate it. But I think more likely, there’d be discussions about it, either on principles or at least to think through the details. That’s a fair amount of extra time & responsibility for the people organising.<\/li>\n (And, touch wood won’t happen, it’s also possible that a new variant will emerge which doesn’t match the current covid vaccines, so\u00a0that people would have to get vaccinated all over again – potentially also meaning a new round of restrictions.)<\/p>\n Rather than having uncertainty<\/strong> for several months and then a late decision<\/strong> to either confirm or reschedule, it\u00a0would be a lot less stressful to start planning now<\/strong> for an online one to be really good.<\/li>\n Switching to an online BiCon would immediately reduce the scope of what the team needs to handle<\/strong>, e.g. no accommodation bookings to worry about.<\/li>\n Although a lot of the central direction-setting must be led & guided by people of colour, there’s also practical stuff which could do with logistical support from white BiCon organisers.<\/p>\n Imagine a situation where it’s just about possible to pull together a 3D BiCon for summer 2021, but not much has changed yet on the anti-racism front. I\u00a0don’t like that picture.<\/p>\n If\u00a0enough people genuinely do have the energy which would be required to produce a 3D BiCon this year, I\u00a0think it would be better invested in the anti-racism work<\/strong>, and other foundational improvements.<\/li>\n How valuable does BiCon have to be, to justify the risk that someone catches covid there and dies or becomes disabled – even if they chose to be there?<\/p>\n How big is that risk at a given time, e.g. summer of 2021?<\/p>\n Who’s de facto excluded because they’re not willing to take the risk? What alternatives exist for them?<\/li>\n 2021 could build on that experience<\/strong> – it\u00a0wouldn’t be starting from scratch.<\/li>\n For example, if the current volunteer-shortage continues, it might work well to alternate online one year, 3D the next. Or\u00a0if in future, BiCon were to resolve its volunteer-burn-out problems and become more sustainable, there could be a 3D BiCon each summer once again and<\/em> online events in the rest of the year – perhaps even a whole “Winter BiCon” which happens online in Jan or Feb.<\/p>\n Until it’s better at anti-racism and not burning people out, I\u00a0wouldn’t encourage BiCon to grow any bigger – but supposing those weren’t problems, it’s a fact that online events can complement 3D ones, and in the long run support the 3D event to grow and thrive. For\u00a0one thing, an online event provides a great opportunity for new people to dip in.<\/p>\n So, overall, the creativity & learning involved in building the online framework would be an investment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n On the other hand…<\/p>\n (If people conclude it might be best to postpone, an\u00a0obvious next move would be to look at getting part or all of that deposit transferred to 2022.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n I suggest that if people still think they would<\/em> have the time and energy to run a 3D BiCon this year, that abundant energy gets channelled instead<\/strong> into:<\/p>\n (One new possibility is to have a social space in GatherTown<\/a> or something similar. Thanks to Anna S for showing some of us round a GatherTown mini-world the other week!)<\/li>\n Under this heading, I’d suggest also reactivating the biconorganisers private discussion group, and opening it to future team leaders & key volunteers. (It\u00a0still exists on dreamwidth<\/a>, it’s\u00a0just nobody’s been posting in it.)<\/li>\n For\u00a0example, in 2020, Nottingham Bitopia<\/a> had an outdoor meetup at Attenborough Nature Reserve, pre-organised into subgroups of 6 to fit then-current group-size regulations. (Tip of the hat to Alan for inventing & organising!)<\/p>\n It’s true that BiCon is different from local events, and special to a lot of people… but our in-person meetup options aren’t limited to “BiCon or nothing”.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n Like I said, I don’t think this is my decision. However, I’m happy to engage in a bit more practical-thinking-through if people want to talk about it more, either here or somewhere else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BiCon 2020 was online. Here’s my reasoning for why I think it’s probably best to do it that way again in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,51,28,46,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bisexuality","category-covid","category-ethics","category-systems","category-uk-bi-activism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1852"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1871,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1852\/revisions\/1871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![\"alt](\"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/BiConOnline2021.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/a>Reasons to have BiCon online again in 2021<\/h2>\n
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<\/a>Reasons to have a 3D BiCon in 2021<\/h2>\n
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<\/a>Looking on the positive side…<\/h2>\n
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<\/a>Disclaimer \/ offer<\/h2>\n