Possible venue

[Syd Gottfried]

I posted on the KFABOS google group, I thought under the explanation of the loss of venue, that as an Emerson student I could call Emerson and see if they would be willing to host the event, but now I can't find the post.  Either way, I was basically just asking what else I would need to know (if anything) besides the estimated attendence to tell Emerson. 

Best,
Syd

[bostonpup]

Hi Syd,

 

Thanks for volunteering to reach out!  I'm at work and going to be tied down here until fairly late--it seems from the silence that a lot of other folks are in the same boat, though, so here are a few quick thoughts I had.  What does everyone else think?

 

I would think the best possible angle is to have a student group sponsor this as an event; I remember we talked months ago about this and if I remember you had some connection/co-leadership position at the time.  If I were a university administrator, that would be comforting to me.  Your group is more than welcome to sponsor/lead the event.  We could subtitle/retitle it KFA-Emerson for all I care, on my end :-)  It would be great if the University simply approved the room reservations without requiring a lot of justifications but as they might (and should)... some more thoughts:

 

-- We're a totally free event, we don't charge anyone money, we're educational.  If they host us, we'll poster all over campus (assuming thats ok) and hopefully will get a huge Emerson student turn out (we'll try!)

 

-- We're about discussing sex, sexuality, gender, and sexual cultures in all their diversity, in an academic/intellectual way; we're about empowering attendees to be presenters and creating an on the spot symposium of peers.  [Not sure who you're dealing with at Emerson but this is really what we're about, and that might spark some interest]  We mix students with young graduates and graduate students with members of the community and Boston area population at large, to cross polinate in an academic setting.

 

-- I'd guess attendance of 35 to 60 people; its probably safest to low ball the estimate since anything higher than 35 is very easily possible but also speculative!  I don't think it hurts to emphasize that our physical footprint is likely to be very small.  There will not be mobs of outsiders descending on the university upon a weeks notice.

 

-- All we really need is two rooms; ideally one has enough capacity for 35 or so people, the second room could be smaller.  Obviously, however, we'd love to get bigger rooms (and more, up to four classrooms) if they are available and if it doesn't provoke controversy.

 

-- we're aiming for 10 am to 6 pm, or thereabouts, but we'll take whatever we can get!

 

Lots of other little technical things too (internet access, etc) but what we really just need is space and permission to use it, everything else can be worked out!

 

Mike

 

 

 

--

[Mz. Manduley]

Hey everyone!

Hopefully some of these venue possibilities work out, 'cause I'm
really excited about the event. Anyway, I was wondering how people
feel about potentially holding it at Brown University in Providence,
RI? It's 50 minutes away from Boston, basically. If you take the bus/
train/whatever from Boston to Providence, you can walk over to campus,
take a bus up, or take a cab. The possibilities are endless, really. I
usually just walk, but I know some disabled folk couldn't make it up
the hill or would need other forms of transportation.

Anyway, we have a Sexual Health Education and Empowerment Committee at
Brown and we could reserve some spaces under that group (and having it
at Brown would definitely make it much easier for our students to
attend who may have otherwise chosen to stay on campus and not go to
KFA). I'm one of the co-leaders, so I'd have to check in with my other
co-fac, but I'm sure she'd be super pumped about it.

If this happens, we will need to rework flyers and posters to include
our group name (otherwise we couldn't put them up at the university),
but that's about the biggest snag I think we would be facing. I'd be
honored if we could host the event. :)

Let me know, 'cause I can get on making a space request. :)

[Mz. Manduley]

Oh, and one more question--as far as rooms, do we need big, wide, open
spaces? Some classrooms have movable desks/chairs, while others don't,
so this would probably be an important consideration. I'd probably
shoot for the ones with movable chairs just in case.

And now the more I think about it, the more doable this sounds. Hm! :D

On Sep 5, 3:45 am, "Mz. Manduley" <supersonic.vita...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[maymay]

Hi Mz. Manduley,

As I'm almost certain both Mike and Heliotrope are asleep right now, I
don't think they'll be able to get back to you on this immediately.
However, since time is of the essence I wanted to give you some input
quickly. Ultimately, I'd like to get at least one of them to weigh in
as well, but it's better to do something now than do nothing and wait.

So in answer to your questions:

On Sep 5, 2009, at 12:51 AM, Mz. Manduley wrote:

> as far as rooms, do we need big, wide, open
> spaces? Some classrooms have movable desks/chairs, while others don't,
> so this would probably be an important consideration. I'd probably
> shoot for the ones with movable chairs just in case.

Either works. :) The most important consideration is that the
classrooms be within a 1 or 2 minute walk of one another.

The ideal layout has different rooms for different presentations,
since having one large room for multiple presentations creates noise
issues. Rooms of any size work; a room can be small (as little as 15
people) or it can be larger (as many as 75, for example).

> On Sep 5, 3:45 am, "Mz. Manduley" <supersonic.vita...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> Hey everyone!
>>
>> Hopefully some of these venue possibilities work out, 'cause I'm
>> really excited about the event. Anyway, I was wondering how people
>> feel about potentially holding it at Brown University in Providence,
>> RI?

I'd personally be sad to lose a Boston venue, but given the
circumstances I think that a KinkForAll in Providence is so much
better than no KinkForAll in New England at all. And, if you can
secure a few classrooms at Brown, I think it would truly be a
fantastic venue. :)

>> Anyway, we have a Sexual Health Education and Empowerment Committee
>> at
>> Brown and we could reserve some spaces under that group (and having
>> it
>> at Brown would definitely make it much easier for our students to
>> attend who may have otherwise chosen to stay on campus and not go to
>> KFA). I'm one of the co-leaders, so I'd have to check in with my
>> other
>> co-fac, but I'm sure she'd be super pumped about it.
>>

That's actually extremely exciting. I know there was a lot of hope
that by having UMass Boston hosting, we would be able to engage with
many of the UMass Boston students, but as that no longer seems
possible, it makes a lot of sense to me to try and engage with Brown
students instead.

>> If this happens, we will need to rework flyers and posters to include
>> our group name (otherwise we couldn't put them up at the university),
>> but that's about the biggest snag I think we would be facing. I'd be
>> honored if we could host the event. :)
>>

That's not a problem at all. Flyers can be changed in a matter of
minutes (literally). Furthermore, all of our materials are publicly
available, and this kind of quick turnaround is exactly why I want to
make sure that all our materials are *always* publicly available. You
can download and edit the flyers, for instance, with any PDF editing
application. See this thread:

http://groups.google.com/group/kinkforall/browse_thread/thread/2c7afb2244bce9b6#

>> Let me know, 'cause I can get on making a space request. :)
>>

Please do make a space request and let us know if Brown University can
host KinkForAll on September 12th! And thank you so much for reaching
out to the group!

Cheers,
-maymay
Blog: http://maybemaimed.com
Community: http://KinkForAll.org
Volunteering: http://ConversioVirium.org/author/maymay

[Mz. Manduley]

Excellent. I'll get on it right now. I just emailed the other SHEEC
leader to get her input, but I'm pretty sure it'll be positive, like I
said. The room requests can be canceled if need be, so that's not a
problem on my end, I guess, as long as it's like...with 48 hours of
anticipation at least. We won't know about the request until Monday, I
assume, since right now it's the weekend? But, like I said, I'd be
REALLY surprised if we couldn't get a room--we have a zillion. I'm
gonna aim for four rooms (better to have more than less!) with
capacities of 65, 25, 36, and 20.

Also, it would be SO convenient because we have a lecture that day
from 7 to 8 titled "Sex at Brown: Doing what you want not what you're
just ok with" and it's supposedly really cool...and a nice segue from
KinkforAll? :)

Complete Description:
Alexis Saccoman, `04, has been researching and giving lectures on the
seven stages of sexual desire for 6 years. His talk has been one of
the most popular workshops on campus and now he's back from grad
school for one night to keep spreading the word. Go to this one
because you really want to, not because you're just ok with it.
(You'll find out what we mean!).

> http://groups.google.com/group/kinkforall/browse_thread/thread/2c7afb...

[bostonpup]

I'm actually just heading to bed after being stuck wayyy to long at work. 

On Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 4:18 AM, maymay <bitethea...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Mz. Manduley,

As I'm almost certain both Mike and Heliotrope are asleep right now, I
don't think they'll be able to get back to you on this immediately.

I know I've been pretty active trying to get KFA Boston going but I'm not sure why anyone's opinion matters more than anyone else's.  If by posting a lot I give any impression of being a leader, I don't intend to, and this may be a good sign that I should slow down :-)  ALSO a good sign that others should shout out <grin>

I do seem to have a number of opinions, though so here's what mine would be -

KFA at Brown would be fantastic!  An event is much better than no event.  This also goes back to the comment Sara made a few threads back, which I definitely agree with - we ought to do *something*.

If there's an event at Brown on 9/12, I don't think that's really KFA Boston, though.  Maybe call it KFA Providence or KFA Brown?  I'll definitely be going and hopefully presenting if a venue doesn't appear in Boston.  However, given the huge distance and the time/cost of getting out to Brown from Boston, I think there will be a relatively small fraction of the registered list of folks who pile into cars and go down.  My concern is that it will further slow the momentum of KFA Boston by holding it somewhere that most Bostonians won't attend.  I'd rather than when KFA Boston happen, as many people in the target community as can attend, do.  And we're thankfully in no danger of having the event canceled, there's just a good chance we'll need to postpone.

BUT I think this is an awesome opportunity to get a whole new movement started, with lots of publicity and leverage from the start.  This is a real chance to turn a setback into a major jump forward by starting a whole new conference.  It makes more sense to have it be its own event and then encourage everyone who can to head over there. 

For KFA-Boston, we've got leads on three spaces in Boston, any one of which could work, although I'd put the odds at somewhere greater than 25% but less than 50% for September 12.  I propose by Wednesday we formally postpone if nothing develops at that point, which gives folks plenty of time to make other plans (including attending KFA Brown, which can be organized in parallel and should run regardless!). 

So please keep us posted Mz. Manduley! 

As a general note, I seem to be getting accused a lot lately of being uncharacteristically optimistic ;) but I'm not particularly worried about KFA Boston happening.  It's a set back losing the UMass space for the time being, but we've got a flood of really strong alternatives now, and although I think it will take luck for them to pan out on just a week's notice, I'm 100% sure that given a couple weeks we'll find a new venue, and retarget KFA Boston for sometime in October.

Mike

 

[Mz. Manduley]

Okay, that sounds good! I'll keep you posted about if we get the
approval and all that jazz. If KFA Boston happens on the 12th, we
wouldn't be having KFA Brown on the same date, obviously. :)

I'd love to eventually have a KFA Brown, though. Thing is, if we were
starting it out kind of from scratch, I'd be a bit wary of having it
on the 12th, since we wouldn't have had time to do much (especially
publicity in our area), y'know? KFA Brown would be stellar on the 12th
if it were a temporary "replacement" for the KFA Boston, but if we
were to do it more centered on our campus and Providence community,
we'd probably like a little more time to sort out details. I just
hopped on the KinkforAll bus and would need to rally troops (slash get
my bearings?) before strapping on to give this a go. Brown hasn't even
started classes yet. ;)

On Sep 5, 4:42 am, bostonpup <stray...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm actually just heading to bed after being stuck wayyy to long at work.
>

> >http://groups.google.com/group/kinkforall/browse_thread/thread/2c7afb...

[maymay]

On Sep 5, 2009, at 2:03 AM, Mz. Manduley wrote:

> Okay, that sounds good! I'll keep you posted about if we get the
> approval and all that jazz. If KFA Boston happens on the 12th, we
> wouldn't be having KFA Brown on the same date, obviously. :)
>
> I'd love to eventually have a KFA Brown, though. Thing is, if we were
> starting it out kind of from scratch, I'd be a bit wary of having it
> on the 12th, since we wouldn't have had time to do much (especially
> publicity in our area), y'know? KFA Brown would be stellar on the 12th
> if it were a temporary "replacement" for the KFA Boston, but if we
> were to do it more centered on our campus and Providence community,
> we'd probably like a little more time to sort out details. I just
> hopped on the KinkforAll bus and would need to rally troops (slash get
> my bearings?) before strapping on to give this a go. Brown hasn't even
> started classes yet. ;)

That all makes sense to me, and I think you're spot on the notion,
although it really doesn't necessarily take a lot of time to put
something like KinkForAll Providence together. :) A month or two, tops.

On Sep 5, 2009, at 1:42 AM, bostonpup wrote:

> If there's an event at Brown on 9/12, I don't think that's really
> KFA Boston, though. Maybe call it KFA Providence or KFA Brown?

> […]

> My concern is that it will further slow the momentum of KFA Boston
> by holding it somewhere that most Bostonians won't attend.

Mike, why are you concerned that that's likely to happen? I think this
fear is unfounded.

> I'd rather than when KFA Boston happen, as many people in the target
> community as can attend, do.

Right. The "target community" is anyone who is comfortable being in a
public space, publicly recorded, and sharing information about
sexuality and the intersection of related topics with the rest of
their lives with each other and the Internet. Who were you thinking of?

As Manduley said, if Brown University can host an event on the 12th it
makes perfect sense to steer people in that direction. Not doing so
just is just turning down a good opportunity. If a venue for
KinkForAll Boston on the 12th works out, then a Boston location makes
sense, of course, but since you've said the chances of doing KFA
Boston on the 12th is less than 50%, then why not steer everyone to
the most likely possibility for an event at all? Postponing seems the
worst option. People who don't want or can't come to Providence from
Boston simply won't, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't encourage
them to experience, as you said, *something.*

Your concerns seem to center around the notion of calling it
KinkForAll Providence instead of KinkForAll Boston, which is easily
addressed; just edit the wiki page:

http://kinkforall.pbworks.com/KinkForAllProvidence

[C.C.]

> If there's an event at Brown on 9/12, I don't think that's really
> KFA Boston, though. Maybe call it KFA Providence or KFA Brown?
> […]
> My concern is that it will further slow the momentum of KFA Boston
> by holding it somewhere that most Bostonians won't attend.

Mike, why are you concerned that that's likely to happen? I think
this
fear is unfounded.

Having lived in both Boston and Providence (some of that time spent
commuting from one city to the other), I think Mike has a point.
Especially if you don't have a car - the commuter rail from BOston to
PVD was not always reliable on weekends.

[maymay]

On Sep 5, 2009, at 1:50 PM, C.C. wrote:

> Having lived in both Boston and Providence (some of that time spent
> commuting from one city to the other), I think Mike has a point.
> Especially if you don't have a car - the commuter rail from BOston to
> PVD was not always reliable on weekends.

My question is why there's some fear that this will "slow down the
momentum of" KinkForAll Boston. I still don't understand that concern.
(I understand that some Bostonians won't come to Providence, that's
not what I was asking.)

Cheers,

[bostonpup]

I'm not sure I communicated my point well enough, I think KFA Providence/Brown is an awesome idea, whether it is on the 12th or some later date!  My only consideration is that we should not "move" KFA Boston to Brown, I am suggesting is that is a separate conference.  A lot of work has gone (and is still going) into making a KFA happen in Boston, and relocating to Brown is going to leave out a substantial number of people who have been involved.  So, lets have KFA Providence happen ASAP, this weekend if possible!  And we'll have KFA Boston (most likely) a month or so later. :)

This was the point I thought I made in my last post but sorry if I wasn't clear enough.  I could go into why holding "KFA Boston" in Providence would sap momentum away, but I think this is just a misunderstanding of what I think should happen.

Mike