San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc.

Should we win the bid to host Westercon 74, we intend to establish the policies here as part of the convention’s Code of Conduct. Our parent non-profit corporation, SFSFC Inc., requires that all of their convention committees establish codes of conduct. Westercon in general also authorizes conventions to establish codes of conduct by authority of Section 1.3.3 of the Westercon Bylaws.

SFSFC, Inc is chartered to promote and develop fantasy and science fiction in all their forms. SFSFC events include educational and social activities. Our goal is to show how fantasy and science fiction can be serious and artistic, and fun and accessible to everybody. We fail in that goal if we create an environment where harassment of attendees and participants is condoned. Victims of harassment will not enjoy an event and will not find fantasy and science fiction to be fun or accessible. SFSFC and its event-planning teams are committed to responding respectfully to reports of harassment and taking appropriate action to ensure harassment that is brought to our attention is stopped.

Our policies are established with the assistance of other SFSFC-run conventions including SMOFCon 36, Westercon 66, and CostumeCon 39.

Member Code of Conduct

We expect all our members, guests, and staff to follow normal standards of proper behavior. We will not tolerate harassment of people at our convention in any form. Everyone is entitled to a harassment-free convention experience, regardless of disability, physical appearance, gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, body size, race, national origin, or religion.

Harassment includes inappropriate physical contact, unwelcome sexual attention, offensive verbal comments, deliberate intimidation, stalking or following someone, making harassing photographs or recordings, or disrupting talks or other events. Anyone asked to stop any harassing behavior is expected to comply immediately. A request to “stop” or “go away” means exactly that. If anyone engages in harassing behavior, the convention committee may warn the offender, remove the offender from the room, or expel the offender from the convention with no refund, consistent with Westercon Bylaws Section 1.3.3.

If you feel that you are being discriminated against or harassed, or if you notice someone violating convention or hotel policies, we respectfully suggest the following:

• Point out the inappropriate behavior to the person(s) involved. Often this will solve the problem immediately.
• If you do not feel comfortable talking with the person(s) involved or if talking to them does not resolve the issue, please report the situation immediately to Operations Staff, or a Convention Committee member, or email us. We will provide complete contact information at the convention. Try to provide a name, badge name, badge number, and/or physical description of the persons involved.
• In order to take action at the convention, we need to know about any incidents during the convention. Issues can still be reported later to the Convention Chair as well, or, if the Convention Chair is a party to the incident, to the President of the Board of Directors of SFSFC Inc.
• We will respect the wishes of the affected parties within the constraints of law.

Accessibility

We take accessibility seriously. The Convention Center and all other programming venues are ADA compliant. Unfortunately, we may not be able to make every piece of the convention experience barrier-free. We are limited by finances, volunteer staffing, the historic nature of some of the properties involved, and practical reality: Sometimes the accommodation essential to one person (a helper animal, for example) is a barrier to another (those allergic to animals). Let us know, please, if you encounter difficulties or if you can offer suggestions or help.

Photography and Recording Policy

Westercon is a public event. Members may be photographed, recorded, or filmed in any public or convention space and cannot have an expectation of total privacy in such spaces. Specific events may ban photography, filming, and/or recording. Such restrictions will be announced on the website, in the convention program, and/or at the specific convention event. If a staff member or other attendee requests that you refrain from recording/filming/photographing them, please respect their wishes.
Westercon reserves the right to record video, audio and images of convention programming over the course of the weekend for archival, historical, and promotional purposes. The Westercon Business Meeting will be recorded, and this recording will be posted to YouTube and/or other video-sharing services.

Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting the privacy of our members. We use the information that we collect in the following ways:

• We use the information you provide about yourself when purchasing a membership or placing an order only to fulfill the membership or complete that order. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to accomplish this.
• We use return email addresses to answer the email we receive.
• If you want us to provide your contact information to future Westercons, you must explicitly OPT-IN for us to be able to do that, except that if you participate in the election to choose the site of Westercon 76, we are required by the Westercon Bylaws to provide your voter information to the committee selected to host Westercon 76, regardless of your opt in/out preferences for other use of your contact information.

Weapons Policy

Weapons can be a key part of many good costumes. We encourage the creation of brilliant weapons props. However, our venues are public space and the safety of everybody is everyone’s responsibility, so please familiarize yourself with our weapons policy.

• No live firearms of any kind, including CCW. Unless you are law enforcement required to carry for duty reasons, please leave your guns at home.
• No DWAT guns or parts kits guns. If it looks like a real gun, we — and Hotel security in particular — will treat it as a real gun. Airsoft and other plastic models must be marked with a blaze orange barrel or plug.
• Sci-fi guns must look like sci-fi guns. If there is any question, please mark them with an orange indicator or zip tie as mentioned for airsoft above. If you need a zip tie for “peace tying/bonding” they are available at Convention Operations, but we encourage you to bring your own.
• Bladed weapons must remain sheathed and peace tied. Bladed weapons of any kind may not be drawn in any public place at con unless pre-authorized by the convention (like sanctioned demonstrations or blade vendors).
• Do not brandish any weapon at any time. You may know it’s fake, we may know it’s fake, but it’s bad manners and it makes people jumpy. Don’t point guns, knives, swords, ninja stars or small tactical nukes at anybody (unless it is a photo op, everybody involved has consented, and you are a SAFE distance from other con goers).
• Unsanctioned dueling of any kind is forbidden. No play fighting or “killer tag” games. Again, we don’t want you or the innocent getting hurt. To that, no swinging weapons of any kind in a public space (see brandishing above). It’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye!
• No illegal weapons of any kind. Please familiarize yourself with Nevada state law before bringing a live blade/bludgeon weapon of any kind to the con.
• Although Nevada is an “open-carry” state, if you are asked to leave by a person of authority for carrying a weapon and you refuse to do so, you can be cited for trespassing. Please don’t make it necessary to do this.
• Don’t act like an idiot.

Parties, Alcohol, and Illegal Substances

We do not tolerate serving of alcohol to minors. If you are hosting a function where alcohol is being served, it is your responsibility as host to ensure that the age of anyone drinking alcohol is checked. The legal drinking age in Nevada is 21. You should also designate someone not to drink, so that there is a fully competent person present to deal with any emergencies that might arise.

We do not tolerate the use of illegal substances.

Violation of any of the above guidelines may result in corrective action by Convention, Facility, or Hotel staff, potentially including revocation of your membership, removal from the premises, and/or involvement of local law enforcement.