You absolutely can run an in person convention capable of prioritizing people's health and safety in real and tangible ways and if you dorks make me prove it I stfg
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While I absolutely want to see more in person cons being sensible about this shit, I'd also like to see someone other than you (or me - this is me not volunteering for WisCon, heh) doing that work, because dang, that's a lot of work.
The craziest thing is that people that go to a convention are your bread & butter consumers & fans. Why someone would deliberately want to harm them so they are not anymore especially in this age of instant smackdowns about this from the community the con professes to support is definitely a choice.
It is not hard. Making your organization a pariah through insufficient protections for vulnerable people (but being willing to hoard and not return their money once they've discovered you intend to fail them) is a choice.
GeekGirlCon requires masks (here in Seattle), but is in Nov, so I’m torn about attending. Also very torn about attending WorldCon25, but it’s right here in my city, and I’ll have a few books out by then. I heard Glasgow was a huge super spreader event.
If people aren't masking inside at worldcon I will just zip on through the lobby on my way to outdoor dining. I don't even want to catch a cold! Why would I play chicken with covid?
I plan to go (Seattle here too) but I plan to where a full-fledged respirator and goggles if they aren’t gonna mask. I want to go but no way am I getting COVID again.
I know Glasgow said that I’m at least some areas (the SEC concourse, for example, it was public space and so they couldn’t go beyond the site’s policy. I don’t know about the hotel parts of the venue: of course, bars and restaurants are a major problem. Can one get masks with built-in straws?
You can get a straw valve that can be fitted to any style of n-95, kn-95 or cloth mask, and moved to a new mask when the old mask is retired. It fits straws up to 6 mm, and comes with 10 4 mm straws. If you have a favorite disposable mask, this will let you keep using it and stay hydrated too.
Note: I'm not affiliated with the Sip Valve people in any way except that I've purchased their product and found that it works as advertised. The included straws are very skinny and rather short, but I tend to use them rather than larger straws on the theory it's less wear on the valve.
Just because some of it is public space doesn’t mean you can’t have protections elsewhere, and CR boxes in that space wouldn’t inconvenience anybody. It’s just an excuse to do nothing because they don’t care.
I took my Aranet CO2 monitor to GGC last year as I vended there. Never got above 550 in the dealer’s hall. Masks and their stellar ventilation kept me safe. Love GeekGirlCon for this!
I would love to see it! COVID in 2020 (pre-vaccines) left me with multi-organ damage. The number of concom folks telling me too bad, so sad, guess you don’t get to con anymore is just… yeah. I want to see more cons giving a shit about EVERYONE’s health. Please do this.
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But yeah, giving a shit and being willing to tell That Fucking Guy to behave or fuck off sure are risk factors for burnout