At the closing session of the Fifteenth National Bisexual Conference in London this year, I rather foolishly offered to run BiCon in 1999, which will be the seventeenth. The logic behind this is that there's always a last minute panic as to who's going to run BiCon next. If I succeed in what I've planned I will not only be able to say who, but will have a date and place by the end of BiCon 16.
The last three BiCons have been in the South (from my point of view, at least) and the next is due to take place in Cambridge. I've offered to make sure BiCon 17 is at least north of York, and preferably in Edinburgh.
Since like everyone else on the planet I think that I can run things better than anybody else. I stated when I put in my original bid that I will be running this as a dictator. This doesn't mean that I don't want help or won't accept advice - it just means that when a final decision has to be made I am in charge. From past experience with projects in the bi community I believe this is a good structure, especially for events with a deadline...and I like to think I have shown in the past that I can run things like this without becoming totally power mad.
There was an interview with me in the December Issue of BCN in which I put forward some of my ideas so far. Here they are again in the hope of getting some feedback...
Me: Ooh loads *rubs hands and looks shifty*. So far I've pretty much decided that it'll be Edinburgh or nothing as that's where my small team are based and they're all too lazy to go anywhere else. The snag with this (and it's a big one) is that Edinburgh is lousy for wheelchair access, which means we have to chose between a venue with no bar or coffee or anything and one with stairs. I'm coming to the reluctant conclusion that we might have to put up with stairs, but I'd be interested to see what other people think about that.
Our current preferred venue has larger rooms and fewer of them, as well, so we'd be looking to run fewer workshop but make up for that by having the bar open all day with a variety of stalls, speakers, an art exhibition, outings to go swimming or play Lazerquest or something, and generally more fun things to do.
BCN: How do you react to Tom Robinson's call to open Bicon up as a more pansexual festival?
Me: I'm all in favour of moving away from a workshop based structure and toward events with a wider appeal, but I don't want it to stop being mainly a bisexual event. I don't want to lose the name and our identity in an attempt to be more popular, which is something I feel Pride, for instance, has done to some extent. I can't help but feel that Tom should actually attend a BiCon before he starts telling us how to run it.
BCN: Are you looking for help at this stage?
At the moment I'm more interested in ideas and feedback, and if anyone has any offers of fun events we can fit in a Cabaret bar (legal ones, for preference), I'd be interested.
Last modified: 7th October 1997
BICON® is a registered trade mark of BiCon Continuity Ltd, and is used with permission. BICON® is a registered trade mark of BiCon Continuity Ltd, and is used with permission.BiCon 1999 email address removed