[Noisebridge-discuss] Hosting a sexuality unconference at Noisebridge? KinkForAll San Francisco wants to make some Noise. :)

maymay bitetheappleback at gmail.com
Mon Oct 26 09:22:27 UTC 2009


On Oct 26, 2009, at 1:22 AM, Christie Dudley wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 10:21 PM, maymay  
> <bitetheappleback at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'll happily discuss why I think Noisebridge is more suitable than
>> these other venues with you, if you're interested.
>
> I think this would be a meaningful discussion.  I suspect many of  
> the truly unfortunate misunderstandings we've had with outside  
> groups coming in and using the space could have been alleviated if  
> expectations were established up front.  More or less like good sex,  
> I suppose.  We do a lot with managing the space via culture and  
> expectations without much in the way of written rules, so these  
> sorts of discussions are exceptionally meaningful.
>
> Christie

That makes sense to me, and it's precisely why I wanted to bring up  
the topic as a discussion first. It's not dissimilar to what  
KinkForAll does. I've worked very hard to make sure that there are as  
few external rules as possible placed onto the KinkForAll unconference  
model. (It's funny how people have a tendency to add extraneous rules  
to systems that don't need them….)

The gist of why I believe Noisebridge to be better than other venues  
is because it meets the event's venue requirements[0] better than most  
other venues. I'll explain below, but feel free to request  
clarifications or further discussion and I'll do my best to supply  
answers.

It's my understanding that Noisebridge encourages people "doing  
interesting things" to "come do them at Noisebridge." KinkForAll is an  
attempt to bring people together around sexuality topics they find  
interesting, and to connect them with one another. I believe these  
goals are highly synergistic.

Moreover, Noisebridge is a very welcoming, near-public venue. Public  
venues are important because they are typically more accessible to  
more people. KinkForAll has no requirements for registration, no  
ticketing or fees, and attempts to create a respectful public space in  
as much as our venue contracts allow. We don't even know exactly who's  
going to show up. The walk-in/walk-out anytime nature of a KinkForAll  
makes any space that requires advance notice of individual  
participants unusable.

Another reason is that Noisebridge is not a sexuality space. This is  
perfect for KinkForAll because, again, KinkForAll is not a sex- 
specific event, so being hosted by a non-sexuality-centric venue has  
the advantage of creating a sexuality-neutral environment. This is  
extremely helpful in remaining accessible to a diversity of  
participants. Among others, Josh Myer suggested The Citadel and The  
Armory as venues, both of which are sexuality-specific venues and thus  
less ideal for KinkForAll than Noisebridge.

Another reason is that Noisebridge has both the physical capacity and  
the layout to make for a great KinkForAll because it is extremely  
"unconference friendly." Its new 2169 location is large enough to  
comfortably support 100+ people (as evidenced by recent Five Minutes  
of Fame gatherings), and it has breakout rooms with enough space to  
hold 15-30 people. KinkForAll unconferences run at least 2 sessions at  
a time in separate rooms, 3 presentations per room per hour, chopping  
each presentation into 20 minute blocks with zero downtime in between  
them. That's a *really* fast pace, and so the close proximity of the  
rooms to one another is extremely helpful in maximizing the use of our  
time.

There are probably more reasons, but it's late and this is the gist of  
it anyway.

Does this give you a clearer picture of why I think Noisebridge is  
better than other venues I'm aware of?

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

[0] http://wiki.kinkforall.org/Venue


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