Code Of Conduct, Privacy, And Diversity
Seattle 2025: Code of Conduct
Code of Conduct: Preamble
Worldcon exists for the enjoyment and enrichment of the fannish community. This code of conduct exists to ensure that the behavior of any one person, or group, matches the community expectations of the Seattle 2025 bid as a whole. The code of conduct applies to all bid staff, volunteers, and pre-support members.
In reading and applying this code, please consider the following:
- Ask first! Before engaging in behavior that you are unsure about, check in with the person you’re engaging with first. It is always easier to ask first rather than inadvertently harming, offending, or hurting someone.
- We are a multicultural event with people coming from different regions from all over the world. Cross-cultural misunderstandings can and do occur! Consider whether your joke or interaction could be misconstrued by someone who does not share your cultural context.
Code of Conduct: Principles
Everyone should feel welcome and comfortable at our bid events and all related events. We ask all our attendees, volunteers, and staff to work together to achieve this goal.
Discrimination against individuals based on—but not limited to—gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, neurodiversity, physical appearance, body size, or physical/mental disability) will not be tolerated.
Harassment will not be tolerated. No means no. If someone asks you to leave them alone, you are expected to cease your interaction with them immediately. Because people may feel uncomfortable saying no or asking to be left alone, the absence of no is not sufficient to assume consent. Only yes means yes.
Actions which may constitute harassment include but are not limited to:
- Verbal or physical assault;
- Intimidation, stalking or following;
- Comments that belittle or demean others;
- Inappropriate remarks or behavior, including those of a sexual nature;
- Inappropriate physical contact;
- Deliberate misgendering/deadnaming of people or continued; misgendering/deadnaming after being corrected
- Non-consensual behavior towards another member, volunteer, or attendee;
- Disruption of events;
- Sexually graphic, racially biased, or other offensive images in public spaces, including hate group iconography;
- Costumes/cosplay that is historically or otherwise offensive;
- Attempts to weaponize this code of conduct; or
- Advocating for or encouraging any of the above behaviors.
Anti-racism Statement
Seattle 2025 is committed to being anti-racist. Anti-racism includes working to exclude bias from our event, acknowledging our prejudices and benefits accrued from systems of power, and working to educate our members about racially-motivated aggressions and microaggressions.
Code of Conduct: Reporting Process
If you feel that you are being discriminated against or harassed, or if you see someone else behaving inappropriately, please let us know. If you feel comfortable doing so, point out the inappropriate behavior to the person(s) involved; however, if you do not, that is okay and a report can still be made.
To report a violation of this code of conduct, contact our bid at seattle2025worldconbid@gmail.com.
Seattle 2025 staff will interact with all individuals making a report in a respectful manner designed to center the experience of the individual making the report. Our goal is to listen to your experience and help reestablish your well-being. We will never move faster than what you are comfortable with. We will also tell you what our next steps will be and follow-up with you at your request.
Seattle 2025 will keep private the identities of persons involved as much as possible, restricting identifying information to those parties with a need to know that information in order to perform their duties.
Seattle 2025: Privacy Statement
This Privacy Statement is designed to provide details about how we manage, share, and secure the information we collect. We strive to provide a fair balance between gathering information to provide needed services and protecting individual privacy.
For the purposes of this document, personal information is defined as information that is linked or linkable to an identifiable individual.
The personal information collected by Seattle 2025 is stored and managed in compliance with applicable US federal laws, and in the event the State of Washington passes a state-wide privacy law, we will comply with that as well.
Changes to this Policy
Seattle 2025 may change this policy. When changes are made, we update this privacy policy page with the changes.
General Information
In regard to the storage and management of the data collected by Seattle 2025, the convention acts to ensure that all personal data is collected for lawful purposes, relevant and not excessive, kept up to date for accuracy, kept secure, only accessed by authorized Seattle 2025 staff, and not shared without permission.
How We Use this Data
In order to conduct the business of Seattle 2025, we collect personal data submitted to us by people who interact with our convention in order to provide the agreed upon services and to share information and updates regarding our services and events.
Required Data
While a variety of data types may be requested and collected for use by Seattle 2025, only an individual’s name, email address and country is required.
For potential program participants, we will also request information about areas of interest and experience in order to place participants on program items. While demographic information (such as ethnicity, national identity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, etc.), this information will be optional.
We will provide a space for members to provide data (optionally) for the purposes of making reasonable accommodations. To ensure that we will not over-collect information, we will never request medical records or require health documentation from members.
Accessing Data
Any member may request to have their personal information changed and/or deleted in the Seattle 2025 data systems by contacting seattle2025worldconbid@gmail.com from the email address that we have on file to make their request.
Destroying Data
All data collected on individuals will be changed, deleted, or modified upon request. In addition, all personal data in the Seattle 2025 systems will be deleted two years after the convention unless we have a legal requirement to retain it.
Securing Data
Data collected by us will be stored securely and managed through appropriate protections.
Contact
If you have any questions about this policy or Seattle 2025’s data policies, please contact Seattle 2025 at seattle2025worldconbid@gmail.com.
Diversity
Seattle 2025 wants to invite the Worldcon community to our city to experience Pacific Northwest fan culture and to continue to build upon and engage with our fandom community of learners, readers, doers, makers, and creators. We want to bring the Worldcon community back to experience Seattle, and to give our local community who cannot travel, the opportunity to learn from and create with our Worldcon community.
To accomplish the above, we will make Diversity, Inclusion, Access, and Affordability separate, yet intertwined, poles of all our planning. This will come from the top down and include ongoing work to reach out to under-represented groups to join our bid and to be advisors in areas where we lack lived experience, as noted above in forming an advisory committee.
We are engaging our local community with fan tables, panels, and eventually room parties at our local conventions. We plan to recruit local fans to work alongside Worldcon regulars on our eventual con committee.
Outside of fandom groups, we also are in the process of developing a sponsorship plan to direct our relationships with local groups such as Clarion West, MoPop, Amazon, Microsoft, Wizards of the Coast, F5, Arena Net, Starbucks, Seattle Public Library, and many others.
We acknowledge that we are bidding to host a Worldcon on the unceded traditional lands of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish people. A people that are still here, that are still creating, and that are still stewards of their land.