Let's start again #2
May. 28th, 2002 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lovingbothHello lovely people. Here are some questions which I think are reasonable regarding BiCon 2001. I'd like to hear people's answers to them.
#1 Do you think that paying £2,200 to rent the accommodation for Monday night was the correct decision?
#2 (If you are a 2001 team member...) What alternatives were considered?
#3 Do you think that concealing this from everyone at the time was the correct decision?
#4 I have suggested that those of us - I'm one of them - who paid to stay elsewhere on the Monday night deserve at least an apology. Do you agree?
#5 Do you think that paying the full cost of the flight and other expenses for someone from Australia was a reasonable decision?
#6 (If you are a 2001 team member...) What financial planning was done that persuaded the team that it was affordable?
#7 What should 2002 and subsequent years do to avoid a similar situation in future?
#1 Do you think that paying £2,200 to rent the accommodation for Monday night was the correct decision?
#2 (If you are a 2001 team member...) What alternatives were considered?
#3 Do you think that concealing this from everyone at the time was the correct decision?
#4 I have suggested that those of us - I'm one of them - who paid to stay elsewhere on the Monday night deserve at least an apology. Do you agree?
#5 Do you think that paying the full cost of the flight and other expenses for someone from Australia was a reasonable decision?
#6 (If you are a 2001 team member...) What financial planning was done that persuaded the team that it was affordable?
#7 What should 2002 and subsequent years do to avoid a similar situation in future?
some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 07:00 am (UTC)No, but that is not to say that I would not have sanctioned it at the time ... depending on options and time available to research them, stresses operating etc. etc. etc.
#2 (If you are a 2001 team member...) What alternatives were considered?
Not relevant to me.
#3 Do you think that concealing this from everyone at the time was the correct decision?
Definitely not. Information about the rooms being available for the extra night should have been given at one (or ALL!) of the plenary sessions if not in advance of the conference.
#4 I have suggested that those of us - I'm one of them - who paid to stay elsewhere on the Monday night deserve at least an apology. Do you agree?
Yes. I was not personally affected as we opted to stay in a hotel room on grounds of cost - it is always cheaper for three of us to do so instead of living in onsite accommodation. In a town with a Formule 1 hotel it is ridiculously so. Accommodation for *all three of us* cost less than £30 per night IIRC ...
#5 Do you think that paying the full cost of the flight and other expenses for someone from Australia was a reasonable decision?
It could have been made to seem so if the reasoning had been good and the budgeting sound IMO. It does not seem so in the absence of transparency.
#6 (If you are a 2001 team member...) What financial planning was done that persuaded the team that it was affordable?
Not relevant to me, again.
#7 What should 2002 and subsequent years do to avoid a similar situation in future?
As "the community" is not clearly defined and there is no constitutional body as such it is difficult if not impossible to suggest organised ways of avoiding such things. When I discovered at my first BiCon how these things were organised and how they are run by volunteers I was absolutely gobsmacked. That anyone is willing to take on the task and responsibility of organising a BiCon is still amazing to me ... It seemed to me then that some kind of structure was needed ... but I've been associating with Bi folks for longer now and am less convinced that structures or organisations actually work in our illdefined community. BiCon is just a small tip of the iceberg in terms of the "community" in any case ... What seems to be needed is some guidelines, some limits and boundaries, shall we say ... but WHO for goodness' sake is qualified or mandated to set these limits or boundaries for us all? Who even COULD be? BiCon *does not equal* the bi community ... yet it was my first exposure to such a community and my first reassurance that such a community might even exist. Setting up a limited company seems a complicated route ... and doesn't seem to be the answer - I wonder if a charitable trust of some sort might be better? If anyone out there reading this knows the history of the gay pride movements and festivals surely that would be instructive?
Gonna stop rambling now - feet hurt.;-(
Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 08:09 am (UTC)Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 08:16 am (UTC)Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 08:35 am (UTC)Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 09:44 am (UTC)Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 08:11 am (UTC)Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 08:25 am (UTC)Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 08:30 am (UTC)Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 02:33 pm (UTC)Something that most of the community, what's left of it, doesn't seem to do anything like as much of as I'd like to see. But then I'm busy being smug about my successes under the guise of Manchester group on such things!
Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 08:34 am (UTC)I'd be surprised if that were the case, but experience tells me the Charity Commissioners have an infinite capacity to surprise.
Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 09:18 am (UTC)Re: some answers, more questions ...
Date: 2002-05-28 09:33 am (UTC)Is Kevin Spacey forbidden from going to see something at the Old Vic, or even using the toilets, never mind acting there?