Progress Report

Thank you for registering with BiCon 2003. This is the first progress report, intended to give you advance warning of some of the things that will be happening at BiCon this year, ask for your help (BiCon is to a large extent what you make it) and generally give you confidence that it is all actually going to happen.

As you can see from the report, plans for BiCon are already well advanced, with the ents and sessions programmes starting to fall into place. The BiCon committee has been working on and off for over a year to bring you the 21^st BiCon in London, and we're looking forward to seeing you all in a couple of months. Indications from early registrations are that this is going to be the largest BiCon for a few years, with a large influx of first-time attendees.

Getting to BiCon

The venue is right next to Cyprus station on Docklands Light Railway. Detailed instructions on how to get there from London bus, rail and air termini will be sent in the next mailing, and will appear on the web site soon.

If you are coming by car or motorbike, the venue has a large car park on site and is basically at the south-eastern end of the A406 North Circular, about five miles from the end of the M11. Again, detailed instructions will follow. If you are disabled and require a parking space directly next to the accommodation to unload, please let us know in advance so we can arrange it.

For those of you planning to come to BiCon by rail, please note that National Rail has helpfully scheduled engineering work closing the West Coast Main Line between Bletchley and Hemel Hempstead, and also closing the line from Paddington to Reading (the latter is spectacularly well-timed to also coincide with the Reading Festival). Alternative routes and replacement bus services will be operating, but leave yourself extra time to travel if you're intending to use those routes.

Useful links:

• The Docklands Light Railway
• London Buses
• The Tube
• streetmap.co.uk map of the venue and surrounding area
• Network Rail

Entertainments

The ents at BiCon this year are looking pretty good! On the Friday night, we'll be running a disco from 9pm until 2am, and on Saturday we'll be having a Cabaret Night, starting at 8pm. It is an important feature of BiCon that members of the bi community have an opportunity to showcase their talents, and accordingly the DJ-ing/performances on both of these nights will feature some of the best bi talent from our own ranks. There'll be dance, comedy and music galore!

The BiCon Faerie Tale Ball on the Sunday will be a truly glittering affair, and you can rest assured there will be something for everyone. It will begin at 8pm and end - in honour of Cinderella - at midnight. Bring your own pumpkin*.

Worried about what to wear? Don't be - dressing up is not compulsory and jeans and a T-shirt will be absolutely fine and groovy! If you do decide to dress up, though, then you have a huge range of options: good old fancy dress, as a specific faerie tale character or a generic elf, for example, black tie and evening gowns or indeed your favourite fetish or club gear that makes you feel a million dollars. You can do/wear/be whatever you want; the only limit is the horizon of your imagination.

Even if you don't bring a costume to BiCon, you'll have a chance to buy something to wear from the BiCon market on Saturday afternoon, and we're also intending to run a costuming/mask-making workshop on the Sunday, if you're feeling creative.

We don't want to give too much away at this stage but we can tell you that the music will be varied and there will be a dancefloor. There will also be plenty of areas to sit and chill out, and sundry other amusements to while away the enchanted hours.

All in all then, we have an exciting programme lined up for this August bank holiday weekend. Let's have the party of a lifetime...

Looking forward to seeing you there!

* No, you don't really have to bring a pumpkin, as the accommodation is close by. Bring one if you really really need one though, as the BiCon 2003 team regrets that due to licensing regulations, we are unable to provide them.

Up-to-date information about the ents at BiCon can be found on the ents page.

Deadlines

We can accept registrations for BiCon up to the day of the event itself, but accommodation must be booked on or before July 11, as this is when we have to give the venue a final list. It may be possible to accommodate a limited number of people after this date, but we'll be relying on the goodwill of the venue and probably won't be able to offer it at the discounted rate. If you haven't booked accommodation yet and need to, make sure we've got your money by this date. If you know anyone else who wants to come to BiCon, make sure they know about the accommodation deadline.

July 11 is also the cut-off date for applications for the Helping Hand fund. This fund exists to provide access to BiCon for people who would otherwise have difficulty affording it. If you would like to find out more about it, especially if you know someone who'd like to come to BiCon but is being put off by the cost, then e-mail helpinghand@deleted.

July 11 is also the deadline for applying for the crèche. We have a professional, accredited mobile crèche team to provide care for a limited number of children at no extra charge to you, but because places will be limited we ask that you give us the details of the children who'll be using the crèche before July 11.

Note that even if you are applying for the Helping Hand fund, we do at least require a registration fee before July 11. If or we can't meet your needs from the Helping Hand fund (or the crèche becomes full) and you are therefore unable to come to BiCon, then we will of course refund your registration.

See also:

• Booking BiCon
• About the venue
• About the Helping Hand fund

Programming

We've already had many people volunteering for sessions (thank you!), and the programme is starting to fill up nicely. We've got sessions on belly-dancing, polyamory, SM, creative and erotic writing, massage, parenting, fun and games, meditation and mediation (plus some that are directly related to bisexuality, honest). Because we're expecting a lot of first-time attendees at this BiCon - and going on current registrations, we're going to get them - there will be a set of sessions specifically targeted at first-time attendees.

Sessions will mostly be streamed into one or more 'threads': lifestyle; activism; sex and sexual health; fun and games; first-timers. These threads aren't meant to be prescriptive - a session can be in more than one thread, and some sessions simply defy categorisation altogether - but will act as a guide to suggest sessions you might like to attend, and will help me to avoid scheduling similar sessions alongside each other.

If you have any ideas for sessions at BiCon, either a session you'd quite like to run, one you've been to in the past and would like to see run again, or one that you think would be a good idea, please contact David Matthewman (programming@deleted), and we'll try to make sure that it happens.

Up-to-date session information can be found on the sessions page.

Volunteers

BiCon could not run without volunteers. Aside from people to run the sessions mentioned above, we need volunteers to staff the registration desk, stewarding and general gophering. Volunteers will not be required to work all weekend and, it will only take up a few hours of your time; the more people volunteer, the less hours each of you will have to work.

If you'd like to volunteer, please contact Laura (laura@deleted). If you can offer counseling or are a qualified First Aider and are prepared to offer assistance during BiCon, please let us know that as well.