MIR Preparations

Less than two weeks to go! I'm anxiously anticipating a weekend of rubber fun and ACTUAL vacation away from my less-than-fulfilling work life.

There have been several call-outs for volunteers and demo masters in the MIR Market. I had been asked to help out with both but I got an email from the MIR organizers last week that they want me to be on a panel discussion during the weekend (one of several planned). The panel discussion is based on our thoughts and ideas on building your own kink community. What are the venues and strategies and their opportunities? Through play, building a contest, building a club, creating families, and using the internet.

Each panelist will have (a) 5-7 minutes to introduce themselves and their background. (b) We have 30 minutes to cover a few topic points which each panelist will have a chance to comment upon and (c) the final 15 minutes to open up to the crowd for question and answer.

Here are some possible questions for discussion:

How do we build communities in smaller towns vs larger cities?
Titles vs. non-titles in engaging community involvement.
Social clubs vs sex play events.
Formal structures (clubs and contests) vs informal structures (private gatherings)
How can we use the internet and blogsphere?
How can clubs work together and share events without cannibalizing on each other and avoid burnout?

Sounds like a very interesting topic, and fortunately one that I have a lot of thoughts about :) I had told the volunteer coordinator that I couldn't commit to working shifts or doing any demos in the Market as I am committed to doing Rubbout promotion the entire weekend, passing promotional materials to other organizers and venue owners around the continent in the hopes they will post them up when they get home. On top of that, since last year was all work and no play at MIR, I just wanted to go and have a good time this year, and I plan on doing that but I also want to contribute, as it seems my input is appreciated by people in the rubber community.

I got two media mentions this week in preparation for MIR: one was in the Rubbermen of San Francisco Bay article in the Serious Male Bondage Journal last week and the other was in G-Man's article in Chicago's Boi Magazine - MIR Edition that came out on the weekend. How cool is that???