Day 89: Oxford BiFest 2010 - We Did It!!

[anarchist_nomad]

What an incredibly awesometacular weekend! It was truly fantastic -- in some ways that were expected, and in other that were very much unforeseen!

First and foremost, of course, was Oxford BiFest... which I count as an amazing success! Working with such a great organising team, and set in such a wonderful venue, I can hardly say that I am surprised! Nonetheless, watching one's work materialise into Something Good is always a spectacular feeling. After watching and listening to the people who attended, I do believe that what we made happen was very much a Good Thing. Hooray!

There is much more to say about the weekend... and it shall be said! But it shall be said in a later post. Likewise, responses to the lovely LJ entries that I have seen from some of the lovely people who came along will also happen... soon. Today, I need to focus on being an uber-scientist. There are some very busy days ahead, as this week holds several deadlines. It is not time to rest yet.

Meanwhile, let me just say "thank you", once again, to everyone who came out to play this weekend! It was great to see y'all again or -- in some cases -- to meet you![*]

---

[*] Particularly my excellent new friend, just_becky.

Comments

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Yes, in fact just_becky has already mentioned you. And that you mentioned J and me on your tour. I had to tell J and he's tickled pink (or whatever color he chooses) that you mentioned us. We wish wish wish that we lived closer to you guys.

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

*nods vigorously* Oh, yes yes yes! I completely agree that I either need to get that teleporter working at last... or we need to shrink down part of the Atlantic! Have not seen you lovely lovely people in about five months now -- and that's too long! At least Summer is coming... and I shall see you then, my dear! *big smiles*

[sweetcyanide.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that it went so well- and was so happy to have been able to attend :-)
Having two of my favorite people get on so well is a massive bonus, too! :-) xxx

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

As always, Sweetie, it was wonderful to see you! So very glad that you enjoyed our BiFest! (Guess that means you're likely to come back next year, huh? *wink*)

Am in overdrive right now, catching up on all the things that I said "Not until after BiFest!" to last week. *grin* Will send you a private e-mail as soon as things quiet down a bit here. That way we can sort out scheduling and find some proper time for you to get me alone again and whatnot! *mischievous wink*

Meanwhile, thank you for coming down... and for the delicious brownies... and for being so sweet and wonderful! *bounces happily*

P.S. Yes, it was fantastic meeting ! She is great! Twas also lovely to introduce you to my beloved cheshcat and my darling bunnypip at last! *smiles and bounces some more*

[just-becky.livejournal.com]

*blush*
Was lovely meeting you too, and I hope our paths cross again very soon. :-)

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

Likewise! Oh... and I love the icon! *grin*

(Thanks for remembering that we had been talking about it! *hugs*)

[darkfloweruk.livejournal.com]

Thank you for a fantastic event!

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

You are quite, quite welcome, hon! Twas a blast... and most wonderful to see so many smiling face -- both old and new!

Thank you for coming along... and for doing a most excellent reading!

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

With people like you and cheschcat and bunnypip running it, how could it have been anything other than awesometacular with awesomesauce and a side order of w00t? ;-)

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm... given that we three are also running the Sooper Sekrit Oktober Pagan Festival this year, I hope that you are quite right, my dear Ace!

Speaking of which, significant progress is being made on that front, too. This isn't the proper place to speak of it... but all is going quite well!

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to it with great antici...pation! ;-D
(That's the only festival I've ever gone to; the others always seem to be too expensive, too far away, or held at a time when I need to be somewhere else. But I always go to the one in October!)

[bethanthepurple.livejournal.com]

Well done. I had a great time.

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

Yay! Very glad to hear it! Seemed the least we could do, since you gave us such a great time in Brum last November! :-D

[latzoni.livejournal.com]

Congrats! You and cheshcat, and all other organizers, should be very proud.

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

*big smiles* Thank you, my dear!

Now then... speaking of things that cheshcat and I are organising... how can I tempt you back to the Sooper Sekrit October Pagan Gathering? You know the one I mean, yes? It's been too long since I've last had the pleasure of your company; as long as we're running the show this year, let me know what I can do to get you to return! *wink*

Hope all is well with you!! *big hugs*

[latzoni.livejournal.com]

Well, lemme see... do you feel like paying for respite eldercare for my mom for the entire weekend? (This usually costs $150 a day or more, the times we've used it.)

I keed, I keed... we will probably find a way to pay it ourselves.
But if you don't see us there, it's not because we didn't try!!

[barakta]

Congrats on a very efficient and organised event - your venue was indeed super and I had a great time. I hope you guys get some rest now (even you with your prodigious spoon supply!).

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

You know what they say about "no rest for the wicked", yes? ;-D

There's been a lot of stuff about which I said: "No way until after BiFest." So this week is all about getting those things done!

After cleaning up the venue on Saturday night, I was able to score a few hours of sleep before bell ringing on Sunday morning and then hosting six hours of walking tours for BiFest attendees. This was followed by a big meeting of our poly tribe. Monday, I finished writing the draft of an important proposal for work, then had the BiFest debriefing meeting. Now I'm frantically putting together a half hour lecture on neutrino physics to give this afternoon... and there is a date with the lovely miss_amaranth lined up for tonight. Tomorrow, I am the guest lecturer for the Cody Astronomy Society... so I have to get that talk ready, too.

I think that I can rest on Thursday, in that it is only a normal day at work. If not, I can certainly finally get some of that mythical rest thingie on Friday, when I actually don't have to do anything until my date with the beautiful bunnypip in the evening. *grin*

Really, I'm so glad you made it down and had a good time at our BiFest. So much of the work that you have done has been an inspiration to us on the team! So thank you!!

P.S. Sorry for babbling. I do that. You may have noticed. The sleep deprivation may be exacerbating it just a wee bit. *wink*

[emanix.livejournal.com]

*Views all the many comments about BiFest and picks yours at random to respond to* Sounds like everyone had a great time and I wish I'd been there. Maybe the next one. :)

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks! It really was boatloads of fun[*] and I'm sorry that you were not able to make it! But... the good news is that we had a large enough turnout -- eighty-three people -- to ensure that there will be an Oxford BiFest 2011! Wahoo!

So whatever they say about life not giving second chances? Forget it! ;-D

---

[*] Not quite sure how much fun one can load into a boat, but...

[(Anonymous)]

Crikey 83 people thats a great turnout, congratulations. Just wondering, if the outreach was successful in attracting people who had not been to a bi related event or group before ?

Laurence

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

That's a good question -- thanks for asking it!

Judging roughly, by eye, I would say that about half the people there were newcomers and half had been to a BiFest or a BiCon before. So I think that is a reasonable success for our outreach efforts.

We had prepared simple feedback forms for attendees to fill out. About half of them did so. Looking at them, it seems that our multi-pronged outreach did work. Some people heard about us through BCN or the BiCon LiveJournal community, of course... but others found out from notices posted in libraries or the fliers that we distributed. This is very encouraging!

[(Anonymous)]

Crikey, award yourself extra gold stars, thats really encouraging, and definitely something other bi events including bicon, should consider developing a way to monitor, maybe a simple ask on the registration desk could do the trick.

Laurence

[anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com]

*grins* Brokie-dokie -- gold stars awarded, as you instructed! :-D

Seriously, though, one of our explicit aims in developing Oxford BiFest was to do outreach to new people. So in addition to the tried and true means of advertising to the existing UK bisexual community (e.g., BCN, the BiCon LJ com), we met with local and semi-local LGBT groups, we put notices up in one dozen Oxfordshire libraries, we advertised on local community sites like Oxford Gumtree (http://oxford.gumtree.com/) and the Oxford Daily Info (http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/). You get the idea. I am happy to report that these efforts appear to have been a success.

As far as the monitoring goes, we had a very simple feedback form at the event. We deliberately kept it short so that people would fill it out -- about half of the attendees did so. One of the few questions that we asked was whether an attendee had been to a BiFest or BiCon event before... to which about half said "no". One of the other questions we asked was whether the attendee would go to similar events in the future -- thus giving us a means of determining how effective Oxford BiFest was at bringing new people into the support of the existing community.

Cheers,
Nomad