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I personally live in the Netherlands but wouldn’t it be fabulous to organise a small Keystone type event in the UK? I see more and more British girls joining CDH. I don’t know if the Beaumont Society do this? But a franchised CDH event would be really good. I would definitely fly over for an event like this. Brighton conference centre would be a fantastic venue.
I have no idea what the attendance stateside is or if there would be enough attendees in the UK to make it float but the idea is great.
I love the idea too 🙂 I don't see anything like it on the Beaumont Society website though, so there's probably a reason we don't have such an event over here.
Keystone is for the whole trans community, and one of this year's event descriptions mentions this being about 0.5% of the population as a whole. Assuming the same percentage in the UK, where we only have about 1/5th of the population size of the US, that might be just 335,000 people in total. Then, only a certain proportion of the community are going to be out and/or able to travel, afford to stay in hotels etc.
I'd love to be proved wrong, but the chances are that the numbers are just not there that would allow such an event to float in the UK.
I'd also note that Keystone isn't some ComiCon sized event. The total attendance is somewhere between 700-800 - a very modest sized event. So you don't need a US-sized population to get that level.
Everything of this nature needs a few people to start the ball rolling! 😉
The 2023 Keystone Conference had about 750 attendees. For your reference, the First Event Conference in Boston has about 500-550 attendees.
I know little about the Beaumont Society but a quick look at the website seems to imply that it is almost exclusively for transgender or transitioning ladies and gentlemen. How much time the society has for 'simple' cross-dressers I don't know, but I suspect it's not much. I expect someone will enlighten me if I have got this completely wrong.
Hi Helene,
I would certainly support the idea although I suspect if we UK girls want it to happen we would have to organise it ourselves. I know there are events and there have been some useful posts outlinining these.
Same here, I like the idea, but living in The Netherlands wouldn't be conducive to a well organised convention in the UK. I think I could organise a Dutch contingent for a visit.
Thank you Helene for starting this conversation and thank you for everyone’s thoughts on the subject, this is definitely something that I would seriously consider attending in the near future.
Samantha xx
Hi every one , this is a good idea , we could meet people that we only chat to on the CDH site , it would also help with the shy c/ dresser who could dress as much as they felt comfortable with , it should be somewhere central , Birmingham ,Leeds ,Manchester .Also some of the suppliers might set up a market stall offering outfits etc, the list is endless but might be best to start small and work up to bigger better events .
I'm a bit confused as to what Keystone actually is? I've looked on the website & other than saying there are a number of speakers I can't actually figure out what goes on there. It's obviously popular so I'm intrigued as to what it is.
Hi Sasha, Sorry about my late reply to this thread but I've been moving households and my life is currently disjointed. Anyway, if you go to www.keystone-conference.org you will get to the main conference screen and then if you choose Schedule in the drop down menu and select 2024 Workshops & Seminars you will get a listing of all the speakers that presented during the 2024 Conference. I am listed alphabetically under my presentation title Intersex People, The "I" in The LGBTIQ+ Community. The Keystone Conference usually takes up a whole hotel for 4 days and each day several people give presentations in various rooms to those conference members that wish to observe. So, think 20 presentations an hour for 8 hours for 4 days and you begin to get and idea about what Keystone is. Along with that there are various lunch and evening dinners and dances. So, I hope that this helps you to get the idea. It is very well run and it's a great place to get lots of information and make connections and friends. Of all the conferences that I attend, I find it the most beneficial. I think that Emily Alt has given excellent advice on how events are started and evolve. Good luck on your side of the pond. I think that you have a good core of folks to get things started with Ellie Davis, Melanie James, Janet Woodham, Fiona Findlay, Fiona Black, Rebecca Baxter, Samantha Jo, Sarah Car, Allie and Helene van der Tee who along with you have all been involved in this topic. Perhaps it will be as simple as The CDH and TGH Folks will meet for friendship and camaraderie on the first floor of the Leeds Corn Exchange at ??? (time here) on ??? (date here...suggest perhaps a Friday night, a Saturday day and/or a Sunday morning ) wear something red is the theme. And then go shopping, have a pint, take a pic, exchange info as desired and and see where it all goes. It might work best to be scheduled initially as 4 times a year and then people who learn about it can somewhat plan ahead if they wish to attend but miss one. Since this would all be loosely arranged, everybody could just make their own plans for arrival and lodgings etc. Sort of a surprise come as you are or can party. Just a thought here based on my experiences in organizations in the States. I hope this all is helpful, Marg