opencon

(cross-posted to ukbitalk)


OpenCon will be a weekend of workshops, discussions, socialising and community-building among non-monogamous people in the beautiful Dorset countryside. It'll run from the evening of Friday 14th October until the afternoon of Sunday 16th October, and it costs £90 for a bed, full board and unlimited cups of tea over the weekend.

OpenCon is envisioned and organised using the unconference model: the idea is that attendees bring their ideas and run workshops themselves on topics they'd like to see discussed. Essentially, we're trying to provide a space in which conversations can happen - we as organisers don't necessarily know what poly people should be discussing, but you do, so we've put the programme into your hands.

A few workshops have been arranged in advance to kick off the weekend, including discussions on being bi and poly, poly activism, and feminism. When attendees arrive, they'll see a big schedule with a small number of pre-arranged workshops, a large number of empty timeslots in our five workshop spaces, and a stack of post-its and pens for adding their own sessions to the mix. We haven't published the schedule in advance because we don't want the small number of pre-arranged workshops to be the focus!

We've actively chosen to not advertise OpenCon very much because this is intended as a community event for people already practising non-monogamy, rather than an outreach or an introductory event. We're happy to let news spread slowly via word of mouth, because this is more likely to lead to a group of really awesome people making the event happen!

Last year's event included pre-arranged workshops on poly activism (which created Polytical.org), relationship anarchy, and poly and spirituality, and we also saw people arrange workshops on queer poly, sexuality, sci-fi and many more. It was a brilliant weekend! This year, we've more workshop space, more people coming and a shiny new chillout and craft area, and I think it's going to be even better!


The website is here: http://opencon.eu/
Here's the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=195253240495464&view=wall&notif_t=event_wall

Please make use of this LJ community and the Facebook event to discuss and plan anything you like - workshops, ride-shares, music preferences... and if you can think of a better way for us all to chat, please do make it happen!

There's also a Google doc for signing up for tasks, and suggesting other stuff that needs doing: it's for everyone attending, please use it!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14r4ryQVCxDGnix6fvSFqCPibKw0TENh3ArkusiI6LZI/edit?hl=en_GB

I'm very happy to answer more questions in the comments here as well, though it's worth noting that, as it's an unconference, I'm not in charge and I don't know about everything that'll be happening - that's up to you!

All the best,

Ludi

Almost sure I'm going to this now; just need to check details with work. I'm really looking forward to the morning meditation sessions.

I, and a few other people, I'm sure, really like fresh coffee in the mornings (meditation notwithstanding :D). Do you think that if some of us made an arrangement to bring in some bags of coffee, the venue would have a cafetiere we could use?

Hello!

If you were at OpenCon last year, I'd be really interested in hearing your thoughts!

The big questions:
- what shall we do differently?
- what shall we do with some extra money?
- how should we advertise?

- er, is anyone using this LJ community?

Also, here's a shiny new facebook event!

Best wishes,

Ludi

The next Opencon will be 14-16 October 2011 in Dorset, UK.

In addition to Opencon - which I hope is progressing well - the next Polyday will be in Bristol on 20th November.
See: http://imakeawesome.co.uk/polyday/
A one-day event held in Bristol for everyone who knows that happy and honest relationships don't have to be monogamous, Polyday combines a day of discussions and an evening of cabaret and socialising to give you a chance to meet like-minded people, to build our community and to celebrate its diversity.

Some news about OpenCon.

OpenCon will have 2 high profile guest presenters from the USA, Deborah Anapol and Baba Dez Nichols. More about them below.

Secondly, one change. The retreat centre we’re using for OpenCon, Osho Leela, is also hosting a week-long Sexual Healer Training during the same time we’ll be there. The main impact this has on us is that the Sexual Healers want Osho Leela made an over-18 only space during their event, which affects our event as well. As no one had booked space for children for OpenCon, we have agreed to this.

We’ve received a number of proposals for workshops, and we’re putting together a schedule now. Here’s a list of some of the workshops that will be run at OpenCon.

How do You do it?: many ways of being non-monogamous
Poly Relationship Issues
Non-monogamous but not Poly
Community Building and Activism
Relationship Anarchy
Non-monogamy and Spirituality with Baba Dez
Kink and Open Relationships
Poly Families
Balancing poly/mono relationships
Polyamory in the 21st Century with Deborah Anapol
Speed Friending

We’re open to further suggestions, and we have a block of time set aside for smaller discussion groups. There’s lots of small discussion areas at Osho Leela.

Saturday evening we’ve arranged to throw a joint party with the Sexual Healers. This will involve a massage space, a disco with bar, a sensual touch party led by Baba Dez, quiet space for socializing and tea, and a huge outdoor sauna with plenty of outdoor sitting space (if clear, the night sky is amazing in Dorset)

OpenCon’s guest speakers:

Dr. Deborah Anapol is the highly respected author of several books including: Polyamory: The New Love Without Limits, Compersion, and, The Seven Natural Laws of Love. Her latest book, Polyamory in the 21st Century, has just been published in the USA (UK release is scheduled for October 2010, and she’ll have copies on hand). She is also the co-founder of Loving More Magazine and writes a column on the subject of polyamory for Psychology Today. Without question, if you were to name the 3 biggest international names in poly, Deborah would be one of them. Deborah will be joining us from her relationship therapy centre in Hawaii.

Baba Dez is the world’s most renowned sexual shaman. He is a highly sought after international speaker and teacher, and an activist proponent of non-monogamy. He is currently promoting the release of his book Sacred Sexual Healing: The Shaman Method of Sex Magic. He is the founder of the School of Temple Arts and the Annual Daka-Dakini Conferences for sacred sexual healers, Tantra teachers and practitioners. Baba Dez joins us from his Sedona Temple in Arizona.
____

OpenCon will be held on October 15-17 at the Osho Leela Tantra and Meditation Retreat in Gillingham, Dorset, SP8 4RE.

OpenCon: A 3-day event in the English countryside for everyone who knows that happy and honest relationships don't have to be monogamous. OpenCon combines discussions, workshops and socialising to give you a chance to meet like-minded people, to build our community and to celebrate its diversity. Brought to you by the same people who've been running Polyday for the last few years.

For full details and booking, see: www.opencon.eu

Hiya,

The OpenCon site is live and taking bookings. So far we've had 15 bookings, so I'm encouraging people to book, and to spread the word so that others do as well.

You can use the following tag to promote it.

Thanks -- Erich

OpenCon
Join us on October 15-17 in Dorset, UK for a weekend of discussion, workshops, socialising and community building with other people who know that happy and honest relationships don't have to be monogamous.
http://www.opencon.eu

Welcome to the OpenCon LJ community. Here's a place to discuss issues related to Opencon. The community is open for anyone to join. For the latest info about Opencon, check out www.opencon.eu