NaNo News: 2022 Updated In-Person Events Policy

As a nonprofit, NaNoWriMo works year-round to make creative writing more accessible to people: helping people to tell their stories the way they want to tell them. One way we do this is by working with volunteer Municipal Liaisons (or MLs) who host writing events in neighborhoods around the world.

After much discussion and feedback from our community, our organizational position is that as of July 5, 2022, we will once again allow MLs to host virtual, in-person, and/or hybrid events.

At this stage of the pandemic, both acute and long COVID present risks to ourselves, loved ones, and those in our immediate and global community. Each person’s needs and relationship to that risk are unique! We do expect our MLs and participants to accommodate to the best of their ability the needs and health risks of participants who opt-in to in-person events, per the policy guidelines below. We appreciate your care and solidarity with those who are often most at risk, including those members of our community who are disabled, immunocompromised, and/or elderly.

This means that:Municipal Liaisons who are interested in doing so will be planning in-person events: Write-ins will be announced through the NaNoWriMo website. (If you haven’t already joined your local region, you can find your region here to get these announcements.)

MLs are not obligated to host in-person write-ins. Please remember that different people have different situations, health conditions, and reasons for not being able and/or willing to participate in in-person events. 

If your ML is not hosting in-person events, and you would like to attend an in-person event in your region, you can plan to host one yourself and submit the event information through your regional landing page.

Your event cannot require payment of any kind (not even a “please purchase at least one food/drink item”).

Your event cannot be held at a private home. It must be in a public space, or business that is open to the public.

In-person events can once again be promoted on our website and forums. The “in-person” option for the events tool on the website will be re-enabled as soon as possible.Important Caveats:NaNoWriMo reserves the right to shift our position on in-person events, based on how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic evolves. We are counting on our community to support and protect one another in accordance with ever-changing health risks, and we expect MLs to abide by any future policy changes, including a return to virtual-only events if necessary.

NaNoWriMo HQ will be providing risk mitigation and harm-reduction guidelines for MLs and participants who are interested in hosting in-person events as safely as they can.

NaNoWriMo HQ will continue providing virtual events regularly for those people who can’t access in-person events and/or prefer virtual events. We’re highly encouraging all MLs to continue providing virtual events to their regions (either themselves or through other local volunteers), but understand that volunteers can only do so much based on their own capacities!Our Process:

In late March of this year, we sent a survey to our 800+ ML volunteers to get their perspective on in-person events. Here are some takeaways:

Question: Please share which of the below options is your preference for HQ in-person event policy in 2022.

Continue [NaNoWriMo’s] policy from the last two years of not allowing any in-person events: 14.8%Allow MLs to choose to be an “in-person ML” or a “virtual ML”, and offer guidance as best we can for “in-person” MLs who choose to coordinate in-person events: 65.3%Allow all in-person events: 9.4%

We then sent a survey out to the rest of our participants, and received 1,253 responses. 

Question: Would you feel comfortable attending an in-person, NaNoWriMo-related event this year?

Yes: 51.1%Yes, if certain safety precautions were in place: 36.2%No: 12.7%

Question: If in-person meet-ups and virtual meet-ups were available this year, which would you attend?

I would attend both in-person and virtual events: 67%I would attend only in-person events: 16.6%I would attend only virtual events: 15.3%I am not interested in events of any kind: 1.1%

Finally, we surveyed the libraries and community centers that we often partner with through our Come Write In program. We had 58 respondents. 

Question: What kind of events is your location holding currently?

In-person events only: 12.1%Virtual events only: 6.9%In-person and virtual events: 79.3%We do not hold/are not holding events: 1.7%

Based on these surveys, the shifting policies of governments around the world that are grappling with COVID-19, and staff discussion of the perspectives of trusted medical professionals and disabled community members, we made the decision to allow in-person events while also maintaining our increased level of virtual events. We also decided to provide trainings to MLs who are hosting in-person events, and to share harm-reduction/risk-mitigation strategies with our writing community.

Final Thoughts and How to Provide Feedback:

Thank you so much for your feedback, your patience during these last two years, and for all that we’ve done together to see this creative community thrive and become more inclusive and thoughtful of people with disabilities, health conditions, and family considerations. If you have any additional feedback for us, please email us at dei@nanowrimo.org.