But I can tell you this, having lived in a very conservative, small (less than 100 people), scene area this is easier said than done. And I wasn’t even in the MOST conservative area of the south. It’s a completely different mindset than NY, DC, Chicago, San Fran. The entire FEEL of the communities are different. More closed. More secretive. MUCH more xenophobic (both to people and ideas). You can’t just “show up” to things, you have to be brought in.

So, it’s great to say “Go organize this” – but it has to come from within those areas. And things change much slower outside the cities. MUCH slower.

Most events will not set aside that much class time unless you happen to be a TOP TOP name. They are more interested in doing many small classes. As a presenter I’ve actually told events what some of my classes require and been told to pare them down to fit the arbitrary slot they have decided on.

Well time for people to organize them in the less blue areas.

If not, well, then there’s an issue. A big event in a metropolitan city on it’s best day is like herding cats. In a middle of nowhere place without a major transportation hub, it’s like herding badgers. Rabid badgers.

I like the Un-conference idea. I like that it’s gaining steam in forms of GRUEs and KFAs and Sex2.0s. But they are still mostly happening near major metropolitan hubs where the politics are, frankly, a little more “blue”.

Having a GRUE concept for areas, like the South East and Deep South, is a nice idea but unfortunately, those localities by there nature lend themselves to a LOT of paranoia and secrecy in their scenes. So again, the people who live there go to events like BR when they can to bring back their knowledge to the group.