(no subject)

[soc_puppet]

Hey folks!

You may remember my post a while back on my efforts to promote accessibility at our local anime convention, AnimeIowa. Well, we're back in convention planning mode now, and while I'm planning to repeat the stuff that worked and implement as many other things as I can possibly think of, I could use a bit of advice from people who may have a bit more experience in this area.

First of all, I'm getting sanitizer squirt bottles set up at every water station (we have what amount to water coolers set up at different spots in the main hallways; they don't always get refilled regularly, but it's way cool that we have them and aren't stuck relying on the few and far-between water fountains/bubblers). Does anyone have a working ratio for ounces/liters of sanitizer to number of attendees? We're expecting somewhere upwards of three thousand people, and I'd like to avoid running out if possible.

Next, we're one of the few conventions left that still runs a consuite. For those unfamiliar, consuites are basically a room or set of rooms hosted by the convention where attendees can go and get their snack on. Sometimes there's more "real" food - our consuite team is aiming to get as much fresh fruit and veg as they can on their budget, but that stuff tends to be expensive and goes fast - but mostly it's junk and snack-type stuff: chips, candy, that sort of thing. I've been in contact with the consuite team about what to label. I figure that eggs, dairy, peanuts, and tree nuts are the bare minimum for our expected fare, but I've also asked about getting the full ingredients lists for as many of our foodstuffs as possible (we're still working out the logistics of that). I'll also be asking the team to offer and label some gluten-free options, though I doubt we need to worry about that for much of our fare. Oh, and I'm talking to them about getting sanitation stations set up in the consuite as well. Basically, is there anything in particular I'm forgetting or overlooking for food-related concerns? And should I ask about offering alternative diet options (Vegan, possibly religious diets, though I don't think that's too much a concern for our snack food options outside of stuff with dairy and/or eggs? Please correct me if I'm wrong), and if so, what and possibly how?

I think that's it. If you're interested in a progress report on any of the other things I mentioned in my previous post but haven't addressed here, I'd be happy to share details in the comments. I'm also open to suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Edit: Thank you so much everyone for all of your input! I'll do my best to get it organized and sent off to the consuite staff ASAP. Hopefully they will implement as many as possible; we still have a good four months before the convention, which will give us some time to organize this. I'll be pulling for all of the most safe and accessible options, and passing on the more widely applicable ideas as best I can (scentless sanitizer, sign height, no PDFs/alternate options, etc).

I'm up for input and suggestions as long as y'all are willing to share them, so if you think there's something missing here or if you forgot something, or even if you just want to second someone else, please feel welcome to do so. I want our convention to be the best it can be, and if attendees aren't able to experience everything they want to or are harmed by our current practices, then we definitely don't qualify.

Thank you again, and I'll be replying to individual comments shortly.

Comments

[jenett]

While it's more wastage in terms of packaging, getting serving-size-pre-packaged stuff (especially for stuff where people need to avoid allergens and/or want kosher) can be a huge saving grace - people can figure out for themselves if they can eat it, and you don't need to worry about, say, gluten contaminating your gluten-free snacks.

(About to help run a much smaller convention this coming weekend: we have a bunch of good varied restaurant options nearby, so we deliberately aim at snacks rather than meal-substitutes.)

Honestly, these days, I'd have labels out for *everything* - lots of people may not have allergies or hospital-level reactions, but a lot of people have either some things they don't eat, or some things they'd love help spotting faster.

Other useful stuff:
- Whatever (accurate, recent) info you can provide about good sources of vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free sit down meals will be gratefully received. In the program book is best, but a printout or two in the con suite with info is better than not. (Or con suite, registration table, a couple of other places, etc.)

(The hotel we're using has an Indian place, a Chinese place, two places with explicit gluten free menus, and the hotel restaurant which does a lot of Kosher catering, and therefore tends not to blink too hard when you ask them for cooking details. There are many reasons we love that hotel, but the availabilty of food options even for people with diet limits is a big one.)

- Prep your con suite staff with what to *say* about it. If someone comes up and says "I'm gluten intolerant: do you have stuff I can eat?", ideally they should have a way to answer questions about cross-contamination of utensils, which stuff is sealed and packaged, what stuff they really shouldn't try. Not every con suite person needs to know all of this, but there should be someone who does and/or documentation they can check reasonably quickly.

- In terms of soda and drinks: providing stuff that doesn't rely on artificial sweeteners but is not full-sugar SODA will often go over big - flavored or plain seltzer, real juice drinks, etc. (Also a mix of stuff with and without caffeine.) Some people get migraines from artificial sweeteners, some people get gastric stuff from them, etc.

[soc_puppet]

Wow, this is amazing. Can I just copy-paste your whole comment and send it to the consuite team?

I'll be sure to use as much of this as I can. Thank you so much!

[jenett]

Please! Glad to be helpful!

[krait]

I'd just like to add that the idea of a "here's places around here to eat, and what it is" sort of list is awesome, even speaking strictly as a con-goer with no dietary issues. Lots of people travel to cons, and that means they may not have transport (got dropped off at con hotel from airport, or friend they're staying with is at work) to get to restaurants; others (women alone, or parents of young kids, especially) might not want to go wandering solo in an unknown place.

Places to eat can be hard to find if you don't look them up ahead of time - tucked down side streets, or behind another building, whatever - so it would be just all-around helpful to know that there are places to eat, along with which ones can meet dietary needs! (Or, alternately, that there aren't many nearby eateries, and thus one should pack water bottles/kid snacks/whatever.)

[soc_puppet]

We already tend to list/advertise for restaurants in our program books, so expanding this a bit shouldn't be too much trouble. (In fact, there's a few chain restaurants up the hill from the hotel that have explicitly welcomed AI attendees in their signage in the past!)

[elialshadowpine]

Yes, if you guys are putting out drinks that aren't pre-packaged, info on whether the drinks contain HFCS, sugar, artificial sweeteners, or are totally unsweetened is helpful. I say this as someone who gets glycemic headaches from HFCS and migraines from Splenda. Recently, it seems to be a Thing for a lot of places to make their flavored iced teas with both sugar and Splenda. Sigh.

[soc_puppet]

Yowch; that can't be fun.

We actually have (access to?) our own soda fountain, so things could get a bit tricky there WRT cross-contamination; I don't know if we actually assign flavors to spouts, but I rather doubt it. I can definitely do signage at the very least, and will try to pull for bottled/canned drinks in addition.