(no subject)
Mon, Mar. 11th, 2013 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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access_fandomHey 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.
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.
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 03:07 am (UTC)I have chronic reflux/GERD, & therefore a long list of things to avoid that don't fit other "normal" restricted diets. Things to avoid include citrus/citric acid, carbonation, mint, tomatoes of any kind, lactic acid, & more. For this diet, things like citric acid can be in just about anything, so a list of ingredients = your best bet.
As for me, I typically avoid all con suites, assuming that at most I'd be able to eat popcorn or chips, if anything.
idk if this answers your questions.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 03:15 am (UTC)(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.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 03:20 am (UTC)(Back-up options for if individual packaging is outside of our budget: Getting ingredient list printouts and make them available at the Info Desk, with a note in the program book about their availability; and talking to whoever's in charge of our Guidebook app to see if it's possible to get the info in there somehow. A PDF maybe?)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 03:23 am (UTC)I'll be sure to use as much of this as I can. Thank you so much!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 03:26 am (UTC)Labeling stuff: Peanuts as well as tree nuts. Soy. Wheat.
Other sanitation/allergen issues: Have serving utensils for anything people might otherwise grab with their hands (bowls of chips, trays of cut veggies, etc). I've also seen Wiscon do single portions of stuff pre-made in bowls/cups (also works with condiments). Uses more paper, but it does prevent people from reaching into communal bowls. Serving utensils cut down on people touching the food and spreading germs, as well as reducing the chances of cross contamination with allergens (I suspect most people with serious food allergies avoid things where this seems possible, but I think it's good to try to minimize it).
Hand sanitizer outside of party rooms (if you have an area for official parties, as opposed to room parties) is also helpful-- then people can clean their hands before eating at the party, and maybe after shaking hands with a lot of people or whatever.
Note: I'm not an expert at food safety or anything, I just feed a lot of people with food allergies/intolerances on a regular basis. And my partner's a transplant patient, so his immune system is compromised, and therefore I'm a huge fan of measures that reduce the spread of con crud.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 03:39 am (UTC)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.)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 03:44 am (UTC)I dislike PDFs, they are the least accessible of all web documents.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 03:49 am (UTC)Hand Sanitizer doesn't go bad-- it's alcohol-- so you can store it for next year. Just remember that it should be used in addition to hand washing, not to replace hand washing. With that many people attending, I'd look into buying bulk/getting a discount somewhere if possible. Maybe ask a hospital how much they go through?
Good luck!!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 03:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 04:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 05:59 am (UTC)Relatedly, signs INSIDE the Consuite explaining what cross-contamination is and how to avoid it. It is so easy for someone without a restricted diet to absent-mindedly reuse a serving utensil, or stick a cheese-dust-y hand into a bowl, or whatever. And then your ingredient labeling is no longer effective and you're back looking at anything from sick evening to ruined weekend to hospital trip again.
Also, I don't know what your space is like, but if you can group things targeted for restricted diets - the gluten-free table, the vegan table, the raw foods/fruit and veg table - that could help reduce the risk of cross-contamination AND help your Consuite staff direct congoers with restricted diets to the relevant areas of the Consuite.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 08:44 am (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2013-03-12 08:56 am (UTC)budget, make simple grazing
food available all the time and
"real" food at limited meal
times. It's possible to make
quite good food in large
quantities cheaply if you know
what you're doing -- especially
meatless dishes. Beans and rice
is a good example. Chili is
excellent if you want something
with a little meat. Many types
of soup are cheap and can be
kept in a crockpot for a while.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 09:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 11:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 11:57 am (UTC)Re: sanitation. Pleeeez get the unscented version when you order that case. Otherwise every hand-washing station becomes an asthma-attack trigger for those of us with breathing impairments.
Some of the more noxious pathogens -- I'm looking at you, norovirus -- are not destroyed by alcohol gels. Stress hand washing in the bathrooms. I am all for snarky signs: "Con crud is the gift which makes your fellow members hate you. If you haven't washed your hands you can be a vector." I'm sure there are anime-relevant heroes and villains to reference.
Re: con suite signage. I appreciate a "pantry list" in program book or large print on walls OUTSIDE the consuite and on main floor if the consuite is elsewhere. That way I can see what's available without piloting my wheelchair through the hungry mobs (and without craning up to see on tables which are probably out of reach). Visibility for wheelchair users loses to "out of reach of toddlers." More of them.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 12:45 pm (UTC)And as someone who will get sick from the smell of pizza, I beg of you not to buy pizza as a quick option
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:26 pm (UTC)Thanks for the tip on PDFs; I'll be sure to pass that info along.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:32 pm (UTC)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.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:39 pm (UTC)Shoot, completely forgot about soy. It's probably in a million and one things, too.
I'm not sure what I'll be able to do about party rooms, though I'll pass the suggestion along. Parties are usually hosted in individual attendees' hotel rooms, though we do try to keep them all on the same floor. (Same floor as the consuite, incidentally.)
I actually got my ServSafe certification in December, I'd just been vainly hoping that conventions got some sort of magic pass on a lot of this stuff. Sigh. Clearly this was both wishful and privileged/ablist thinking on my part. Maybe the convention will be willing to compensate me for training our staff in food safety...
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:45 pm (UTC)Ooo, hospital, good idea! I'll probably also ask at my school (I'm a bakery major in a hospitality center).
Thank you!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:50 pm (UTC)I'm definitely going to be making a list of signs to have in the consuite.
group things targeted for restricted diets - That's a great idea! I'm almost certain we can pull that off at the very least.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:50 pm (UTC)Also I urge you to recruit an Access Team. Doing all this yourself can lead to burn out. You have a large convention and other people may be ready and willing to share in those warm and fuzzy volunteer feelings!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 06:52 pm (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2013-03-12 06:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 07:07 pm (UTC)Ah, norovirus; you and hepatitis are the reason "fecal-oral route" is now a part of my mental vocabulary. There's actually an anime and manga - Moyashimon(sp?) - that's all about a person who can see microbes without a microscope. It's got some great pics we could definitely use, though whether we can will probably depend on copyright issues.
I'll definitely talk to our publishing team about making sure signs are visible at lower levels. I'll see what I can do about the pantry list; more and more it seems that a very limited number of food options is a good idea - or at least more viable than a large variety.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 07:14 pm (UTC)...Shoot, this could be difficult. We've actually just added a position to run meals to staffers who can't escape their positions during the day (mostly in registration and the dealer's hall, to the best of my knowledge). I can almost certainly make sure the deliveries are covered up/otherwise enclosed, and I'll do my best to keep pizza off the list, but we've done things like walking tacos in the past. It'll clearly be a delicate balance between keeping our staffers fed and keeping the attendees safe from the food.
I can almost certainly promise no pizza in the consuite, at least. We've stopped providing meal-type food there, so as long as no attendees bring any in (touch wood), we should be relatively safe there.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-12 07:23 pm (UTC)Sadly, our Staff Recruitment meeting was last month, and I'm a bit slow to get organized; it was only our second meeting of the year. Next month is the volunteer recruitment meeting at least, so I might be able to pull some people in then. I'll either send out an e-mail or post on the forums as well (sob sob I am terrible at forums sob), to see if I can't get more people on board that way. I just need to figure out everything that needs to be done so I can start delegating.
Edit: Come to think of it, one of my classmates might be able to help out, at least with food stuff. Her kids have been dying to go to AnimeIowa, and we require minors to have a chaperone on site; a lot of parents like to spend their time volunteering. I don't think she could make it to staff meetings, but she might be up to help out at the con itself.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-13 04:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-13 05:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-13 06:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-13 06:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-14 03:37 am (UTC)Re: you. GO TEAM! You're getting a lot of wonderful things done! On the off chance you need something more to do, feel free to share your experiences in the wiki (link under the comm name)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-14 04:09 am (UTC)Re: Me. Thanks! I'm quite proud of myself for all the work I'm putting in here.
Re: Needing more to do. Hahaha! Ha ha. Ha. (Sob.) Let me get a dozen assistants or so, then I'll think about it. I do plan to post my organized list of consuite food stuff to my journal and share a link here, though?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-14 05:40 am (UTC)I'm no SMOF, but I've already seen how quickly our great ideas disappear in the mists of history. Document!
Soap tip (or is that soap drip?): We use Dr Bronner's unscented. Hotel products are dispensed as-is; Dr B's is so thick that it gums up the pumps. Dr B can be diluted 1 soap:3 water and still work well, but 1:1 works better in the pump dispensers.
Cross Contamination PSA
Date: 2013-03-20 06:18 pm (UTC)http://www.flickr.com/photos/robdamnit/6878855017/in/set-72157629324497717/