Queercon!

[tprophet]

NI HAO from Beijing all you awesome queer people and friends!

The original Queercon crew is going to have a real challenge making Queercon happen this year. Two of us have started full-time businesses, and I moved to China. Also, DJ Bolivia can't make it. So, basically four legs of the stool that has been keeping Queercon running just all fell off at once. That doesn't mean that queercon can't happen. It can and WILL...

...if you help.

We really need your help and a space and a theme and cuddly pillows and happy people and all the things that go into making a successful event. As you can imagine, the complexity of everything in general increases by a few orders of magnitude when trying to get things done across 9 time zones, the International Date Line and the Great Firewall of China! We're also thinking of making the party more CHILL this year. The crowd at Defcon has changed a lot and throwing a banging rave isn't really something that people seem to like all that much anymore. Last year it basically turned into a cuddle party so why not just do that instead? :)

We will need:

- A SPACE - preferably on the small side without high ceilings - This is relatively complicated to arrange, believe it or not.
- Pillows and bean bags and soft things for a cuddle zone!
- PA and DJ gear.
- Talented DJs who can play chill music.
- Some really awesome decorations to make the space look beautiful.
- Donations! Salaries are not high in China, and most of my money is in Chinese RMB. It's increasingly difficult for me to fund this entirely on my own.
- People in a North American (preferably Pacific) time zone who can help coordinate stuff that needs to be coordinated. This is everything from working with Defcon staff on space assignments and security concerns to working with rental companies to arrange gear.

Hoping that this gets carved out into a separate sub-board ... and looking forward to seeing everyone at DC20!

If you want to get involved, please do - Queercon is always a volunteer effort. If you're wondering whether you have anything to offer or any way to help because of (blah) or (whatever), the answer is YES! We love you, you're awesome, and we would love to have you on the crew. :)

-TProphet

[TheCotMan]

Re: Queercon!

NI HAO from Beijing all you awesome queer people and friends!

The original Queercon crew is going to have a real challenge making Queercon happen this year. Two of us have started full-time businesses, and I moved to China. Also, DJ Bolivia can't make it. So, basically four legs of the stool that has been keeping Queercon running just all fell off at once. That doesn't mean that queercon can't happen. It can and WILL...

...if you help.

We really need your help and a space and a theme and cuddly pillows and happy people and all the things that go into making a successful event. As you can imagine, the complexity of everything in general increases by a few orders of magnitude when trying to get things done across 9 time zones, the International Date Line and the Great Firewall of China! We're also thinking of making the party more CHILL this year. The crowd at Defcon has changed a lot and throwing a banging rave isn't really something that people seem to like all that much anymore. Last year it basically turned into a cuddle party so why not just do that instead? :)

We will need:

- A SPACE - preferably on the small side without high ceilings - This is relatively complicated to arrange, believe it or not.
- Pillows and bean bags and soft things for a cuddle zone!
- PA and DJ gear.
- Talented DJs who can play chill music.
- Some really awesome decorations to make the space look beautiful.
- Donations! Salaries are not high in China, and most of my money is in Chinese RMB. It's increasingly difficult for me to fund this entirely on my own.
- People in a North American (preferably Pacific) time zone who can help coordinate stuff that needs to be coordinated. This is everything from working with Defcon staff on space assignments and security concerns to working with rental companies to arrange gear.

Hoping that this gets carved out into a separate sub-board ... and looking forward to seeing everyone at DC20!

If you want to get involved, please do - Queercon is always a volunteer effort. If you're wondering whether you have anything to offer or any way to help because of (blah) or (whatever), the answer is YES! We love you, you're awesome, and we would love to have you on the crew. :)

-TProphet

Few things for this:
* I moved this to Defcon 20 planning, because people rarely look at the bottom of the contests/events forum for threads. (A redirect will exist in the old location for 3 months.)
* From observation, you will probably want to hand this off to someone else to be leader/organizer who will be at Defcon 20
* If this would just be a "one time thing" for someone else to run it just for DC20, and you plan to return to manage this later, you should spell this out to whomever is your candidate to run this.
* Once you have someone to run things on-site, you'll want to contact Nikita or Pyr0 (or whoever you have talked to in the past about getting space) and make the hand-off and request for space, "official."
* Once there is a new forum, I'll move this thread into that forum.
* You'll want to do all of this, "soon" : the sooner to better.


Once you have a new person selected to run it from Defcon 20, if you could let us know by replying here, we can make a forum for you while waiting for an official response on the event being transferred and good to go for Defcon 20.

Thanks, and good luck!

[Abstrct]

Re: Queercon!

DJ Bolivia will be big shoes to fill but, if you are looking for a DJ, I certainly don't mind throwing my name into the hat. I will mix up a new demo and send it off to you in the very near future. I do have some DJ equipment too but I don't think traveling with it from Canada will be practical.

Unfortunately, I cannot offer much help elsewhere. I will (hopefully) be running my own event already so I don't want to spread myself to thin and then do a bad job running both.

Hopefully we find some others willing to help and Queercon lives on :)

-Abstrct

[iridium]

Re: Queercon!

I would like to attend events related to queercon, and certainly wouldn't mind helping where I can. I might not be able to get to town on the first day though (depends on work) but wanted to through in my offer to help.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Queercon!

All of the people that have organized Queercon, and want to organize it this year should really get together and make some decisions... I've not heard anything more about this as something that is going to happen this year at Defcon 20. Deadlines to submit your information are quickly approaching. Is someone going to run this at DC 20? Who? Have you contacted your Defcon departmental people for the resources you want to use, and to plan a schedule for it to happen?

[iridium]

Re: Queercon!

For myself I can say no to those questions, since I have never organized anything at DC, nor do I even know who to contact. Well darn - if there's no movement on this thread I'm at least game for a group trip out one night to the aforementioned bar district. I'm willing to make some contacts if I knew with whom in order to get a Queercon social meeting setup at least. This must at the least require reserving a room and a possibly a drinks station? If possible for me to do I will try and step up for that =). Thanks CotMan!

[thebrink]

Re: Queercon!

Hey Cot, I've had my replacement already in contact with Charel and Nikita. Sorry I didn't get you on the thread as well. As the central planning contact for the past couple years, they've kept me CC'd for info and guidance. I didn't think things are as chaotic as they sound. That said, if there are hard deadlines, they haven't been communicated our way. I've given the new guys a basic run-down on milestones that need to be met before the con, but if the timelines are super tight this year, a private message with info would be appreciated.

Iridium, Thanks for your enthusiasm. We've established the standard of a Fri and Sat afternoon mixer and a Fri evening party. The mixer doesn't need much planning or organization. The party is still in motion and I'll ask you to stand-by as the new guys may need your assistance in a bit. At last check, they were sorting out the room with defcon staff.

Thanks!

[TheCotMan]

Re: Queercon!

Hey Cot, I've had my replacement already in contact with Charel and Nikita. Sorry I didn't get you on the thread as well. As the central planning contact for the past couple years, they've kept me CC'd for info and guidance. I didn't think things are as chaotic as they sound. That said, if there are hard deadlines, they haven't been communicated our way. I've given the new guys a basic run-down on milestones that need to be met before the con, but if the timelines are super tight this year, a private message with info would be appreciated.

Iridium, Thanks for your enthusiasm. We've established the standard of a Fri and Sat afternoon mixer and a Fri evening party. The mixer doesn't need much planning or organization. The party is still in motion and I'll ask you to stand-by as the new guys may need your assistance in a bit. At last check, they were sorting out the room with defcon staff.

Thanks!

Thanks for the update... I'll talk to Nikita about this and see if she has all the info she needs for this as an event. If it is all good, then I'll make a forum for this, and move this thread into that forum.

Good luck!

[TheCotMan]

Re: Queercon!

Thanks for the update... I'll talk to Nikita about this and see if she has all the info she needs for this as an event. If it is all good, then I'll make a forum for this, and move this thread into that forum.

Good luck!

I talked with Nikia, and though not everything is settled, enough is known that it is expected to return to Defcon 20.

The forum description and links from last year have been copied forward. If you have a new facebook page, or twitter feed, or web page, or other resources with URL, please let me know so I can update them. If you want to revise the description of the forum, that is also possible; let us know what you want. (descriptions are usually short.)

Thread moved into Queercon forum, redirect from old location to new location will remain in Defcon planning for 2 weeks.

Good luck!

[d4em0nsp4wn]

Re: Queercon!

As usual I will help with setup and tear down, just tell me what needs to be done. As for event planning I'll leave that to the more experienced, but I am down to help out where I can just let me know.

[DJ Jackalope]

Re: Queercon!

I'm offering an hour or so of DJ time if you need some skillz. I probably won't have any equipment with me tho, but just wanted to put the offer on the table!

[painterj360]

Re: Queercon!

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of information on this forum, but I wanted to jump in and let everyone know that Queercon is back this year. We are still in the process of finalizing most of the details and are working with the Defcon crew on a space for the party, but to squash any rumors that might be floating around, Yes there will be a Queercon this year.

As TProphet mentioned earlier, we are still looking for some volunteers to help with the setup and takedown on Saturday night.

Thanks! and stay tuned for more information.

[painterj360]

Re: Queercon!

Thank you to everyone for showing up this year for Queercon. We had an amazing turn out and a bunch of new people are now part of the family.

Next year we are turning 10, and want to plan something special for the anniversary. If you can please take a minute and fill out the post queercon feedback survey it would help a lot in planning for next year.

Survey

Thanks and looking forward to next year.