4 Weeks To Go

- a headline calculated to cast fear into the minds of any BiCon running team. But also one to cast a sense of urgency into the minds of anyone planning to attend - now you really do need to get those booking forms in, think about what workshops you’re running, what CD you’re making for the DIY disco, and what the hell you’re wearing every night for those four days.

For those not familiar with it, BiCon is the biggest bi gathering in the UK each year, a long weekend of discussions, guest speakers, performance, dancing and making new friends, held in a different city each time.

Now in its 22nd year, BiCon is in Manchester for surprisingly just the second time, given the city’s long history of bi activism - over the last decade, there have been anything up to five different social, support and campaigning groups running in the city at one time.

The daytime programme for the four-day conference now has over thirty sessions confirmed, with an evening programme of DJs, singers and performers in place. The grand finale will be the Beach Ball (Manchester being an internationally famous seaside resort) with Bisexual Pride three-coloured sticks of rock.

There will be another art exhibition / auction for bi community causes, as at the ’96, ’99 and 2000 BiCons. Submissions need to fit in a 10”x7” comic bag (available from the BiCon postal or email addresses on request).

On the Saturday afternoon, BiCon will close down for a few hours. This is principally to encourage participation in the big LGBT Pride march taking place three miles up the road in the city centre, though there will be some alternative activities lined up as well.

There will also be some research into who attends BiCon this time - everyone taking part will be invited to fill in a two-page survey looking at who comes to BiCon and who keeps coming back to BiCon, organised by the bisexual academics group BiBlio. Taking part is in no way compulsory but it will help both researchers and future BiCon organisers, and hopefully the research will be improved upon and repeated in years to come to provide ongoing information about how the BiCon community changes over time.

Head of Finance for 2004, Matt, has some handy words for those of you who have not yet got your booking paperwork sent in: “Advance registration by post has to close some time ahead of the conference due to the time taken for BM mail to reach us, so if you want to be sure of getting a bedroom you will need to get your forms in the mail by 7th August.

“However, there is more flexibility for online bookings sice they arrive pretty much instantly, so if you miss the 7th August deadline, you can register for an extra week using the PayPal facility on the website.”

If you get lost on the way to the conference or need to contact the organisers over BiCon weekend, the reception desk mobile number is [deleted as line no longer in use].