Read on Twitter
A detailed account on the history of WFC. I didn& #39;t know about the earlier events pre-2018, but the account of what has been happening with 2020 feels sadly and uncomfortably familiar. https://twitter.com/tinytempest/status/1314687334022082561">https://twitter.com/tinytempe...
I left the concomm in late April/early May b/c I simply had enough. Every discussion around ordinary, simple, procedural things that surrounds any convention of this magnitude was questioned, scrutinized, and vetoed or heavily modified to the point of ineffectiveness.
Here& #39;s the thing: I& #39;ve worked at conventions and helped run them, as a professional event manager, in a different industry. I& #39;m familiar with the SOPs needed to ensure a successfully executed event. But the things we were getting pushback on? Boggled. My. Mind. They were insane.
Things like the fact that staff/volunteers can& #39;t be marked or stand out from attendees in any way, like with a badge ribbon, or an armband, because it& #39;s "against the board& #39;s policy." Are you kidding me?
How would attendees know who to go to for help -- everything from something as innocuous as asking for directions, to something more serious like a harassment complaint -- if staff/volunteers are not CLEARLY visible, and there are no CLEAR escalation points every step of the way?
Then COVID-19 hits, and all of those battles became immeasurably harder b/c suddenly, there was this very tangible problem to address, and it wasn& #39;t being addressed. It was dodged, ignored, deflected, dismissed, minimized. Leadership "hoped" the problem would just go away.
Yeah, we were all reeling from having the world abruptly shut down. But I watched as every single other big SFF event immediately pivoted, and we didn& #39;t. And I could not in good conscience be a part of putting attendees at risk. So I resigned.
When WFC2020 went virtual, I shook my head b/c even the wording of the announcement put the onus of the decision on the hotel, which had cancelled the contract. Nowhere was there a sense of ownership from the leadership to say yes, WE are making the decision to put safety first.
I was asked if I& #39;d be interested in returning to help run a virtual event. I declined -- not b/c it was virtual, but because by then, I knew what kind of environment I& #39;d be working in, and I was NOT volunteering for extra emotional work only for my input to be ignored.
So this latest blow-up over diversity, language, inclusion, et al? I& #39;m sorry to say I& #39;m not surprised. Because the issue was handled exactly the way others were handled. They dodged, ignored, deflected, dismissed, minimized the issue--until they couldn& #39;t anymore.
The leadership has a clear pattern of playing the victim (con chair) and gatekeeping traditional values and customs (the board). I experienced it as both a member of the 2020 concomm and as an attendee/panelist in 2019, to the point where I no longer feel comfortable going back.
