Charmed! Event Rules

Guiding Principles

The interpretation and enforcement of these event rules are governed by these principles:

Confidentiality – What goes on at Charmed! is PRIVATE. Not everyone is, or can be, open and out. All attendees, staff, and volunteers are expected to be discreet and to maintain the confidentiality of everyone attending the event.

Consent – All activity at Charmed! involving hypnosis, NLP, or other influence techniques must only be conducted with the informed prior consent of all participants. Any violation of this principle will be considered a consent violation and handled according to our Consent Policy and Report Handling Procedures.

Community – This event is being held by and for the erotic hypnosis/BDSM community, and we expect all attendees, staff, and volunteers to act as good citizens of that community.

 

General

We want to create a space in which you can be yourself and express your individual kink while at the same time maintaining a good working relationship with the hotel and the public. These rules are intended to help ensure that we can meet that goal. Unless otherwise noted, violation of any of these rules may, at the discretion of the Con Committee, be cause for expulsion from Charmed! without refund.

Even though Charmed! has exclusive use of specific parts of the hotel, it is important to remember that we are sharing the venue with hotel staff and their other patrons not related to our event. The event hotel and the conference organizers expect everyone to dress and behave appropriately – meaning, in a manner that is generally accepted in public places – in the public spaces of the hotel. Please refrain from involving others in our scene.

You must be at least 18 years old and a registered and paid-up attendee to be in Charmed! Con space or exclusive Charmed! hotel floors and rooms. Minors and persons allowing minors to enter will be ejected.

The Charmed! staff reserve the right to remove any person who, in its sole discretion, is found to be endangering the event, its participants or the hotel, or who violates the event rules. No refunds will be given for participants who are ejected from the event.

Please do not damage the convention space. This includes painting or sketching on walls, slamming doors, etc. Please do not hang any flyers or other items on any wall or other surface of the hotel or convention space. We generally get prior permission from the hotel to hang up butcher paper for “Overheard at Charmed!,” people organizing dinners out and advertisements for dinosaur fights. Please use that.

Charmed! and the hotel are not responsible for missing items. Any bag(s) or other items left unattended around the convention space will likely be picked up by either a Charmed! staffer or another attendee and be taken to the hotel front desk or coat check; please check with both places to locate your item. The item may be turned over to the police if deemed necessary.

All staff and attendees are required to abide by the consent, harassment, and accessibility policies of Charmed! as well as these event rules.

 

Registration

You must register using your legal name. Your scene name is acceptable for your badge name. To ensure that all participants are of legal age to attend Charmed! and that you receive the correct registration, we will ask you at registration for a government-issued form of identification that contains your legal name, birth date, and photo. Acceptable IDs include state-issued driver licenses, military cards, and passports. No one will be admitted without acceptable identification. Only a very limited number of people have access to the legal names of attendees.

 

Convention Badges

Convention badges ensure your access to all convention events and must be worn where visible at all times while in convention space. You must have your badge with you to get into any convention event. There will be badge checkers throughout the convention space and you will be asked to return with your badge if you do not have it on you in order to access convention areas. If you find a convention badge, please turn it into a Charmed! Staff member; you likely will make a fellow con-goer very happy.

The convention organizers reserve the right to revoke the badge of any attendee not following or ignoring these rules and guidelines and to request that person leave the convention without a refund.

In the event you lose your badge, please check with both with Charmed! Ops and Registration as well as the hotel’s front desk. If you pre-registered, please show your photo ID to the Registration staff and they will locate your registration in our pre-registration list. If you registered at the convention, please bring your receipt as well as your photo ID as proof of registration. In the past, replacing badges hasn’t been enough of an issue for us to charge for it, please help us keep it that way.

 

Public Areas

The public areas of the hotel are defined as any space that is not explicitly designated as Con Space. This includes, but is not limited to:

The hotel lobby
Hallways, elevators, stairs, stairwells
Public restrooms, restaurants, and the entire bar area
In general, if people who are not attendees of the event or hotel staff can be in an area, it should be considered a public area.

While in public space, please maintain a “vanilla” appearance and conduct. All clothing in public spaces must cover breasts, nipples, genitals, and buttocks. Collars may be worn at your discretion. Refrain from using or displaying toys, engaging in erotic hypnosis activities, or any other conduct that may attract attention from people who are not part of our event or that would be considered inappropriate in any other public space. In particular, do not conduct erotic hypnosis demonstrations or activities, or use triggers, while in public space. Do not perform even vanilla hypnosis demonstrations with anyone who may be underage or who does not explicitly ask to be hypnotized.

Please be respectful of the hotel staff. They are here to help us in any way they can but they are not part of our event or our community. Do not offer to hypnotize them, even in a purely vanilla sense.

Under the laws of Maryland, a person is prohibited from smoking in indoor areas open to the public, indoor place where meetings are open to the public, in government-owned or government-operated means of mass transportation including buses, vans, trains, taxicabs, and limousines as well as in indoor place of employment. – See more at: http://smoking.uslegal.com/smoking-regulations-in-maryland/#sthash.EgiFegwU.dpuf .

If you do smoke, please request a smoking room. The hotel will charge a cleaning fee to attendees who smoke in a non-smoking room. The attendee who books the room, not Charmed!, is exclusively responsible for that fee. Smoking rooms may not be available on all floors.

The legal drinking age in Maryland is 21. Anyone serving alcohol to people under 21 will be expelled from the convention, as will the underage drinker. No alcohol is allowed in any Con Space. If you appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you will be asked to leave Con Space until you sober up.

Restrooms provided in public areas of the hotel are public space. You should treat them as you would restrooms in any public area such as a shopping mall or restaurant.

 

Con Space

Con Space is defined as the areas of the hotel that are set aside for the exclusive use of our event. These areas are the meeting rooms where classes and play take place and any other area designated as Con Space through signage. If you have any questions as to whether a specific area is in Con Space or not, ask Ops or a member of the concom.

Event staff, volunteers, and hotel security will be on hand to ensure the privacy of Con Space. All security personnel have the authority to step in and stop any inappropriate behavior. We hope that no such incidents occur, and we thank you in advance for helping us to create a friendly, safe environment for everyone.

When in Con Space attendees, staff, and volunteers are expected to adhere to the Con rules and basic BDSM etiquette, including:

Display your event badge at all times while in Con Space because this is how we can recognize who is authorized to be in the space. If you see someone in Con Space without a badge please alert event staff or event security.

Always obtain consent/permission before initiating a scene or trance of any kind. If someone says no, accept ‘No’ gracefully and do not ask again. Strict enforcement of this requirement is key to creating and maintaining a safe environment. If you wish to do a consensual non-consent scene, advise the DM or Con staff prior to starting so that there will be no misunderstandings.

Respect people’s scenes. Do not interrupt a scene in progress or attempt to join in unless invited to do so. If you suspect something is wrong with a scene, speak to the DM or a member of the consent team and let them handle it if there is a problem.

Respect people who are in conversation. It is very rude to trigger someone into trance, even if they gave prior consent, while they are in the middle of a conversation with someone else.
Absolutely no photography or sound recording of any kind is permitted in Con Space, even if everyone in the photo/recording gives consent.

Cell phone usage in con space is allowed, but all attendees are asked to be respectful of the privacy and comfort of the other attendees. Do not use the phone camera or record audio in con space. If you see someone violating this rule, please alert con staff or event security. Presenters may set more restrictive rules on cell phone activity during their classes, and if they do we expect attendees to honor those rules. If you see someone violating this rule, please alert con staff or event security.

Alcohol and drugs (particularly prescription or illegal drugs) are not permitted in Con Space. They do not mix with hypnosis, and Charmed! is open to attendees who are below the legal drinking age in Maryland (21). Prescription drugs may not be shared. Marijuana, medical or otherwise, is illegal in Maryland and therefore also prohibited in Con Space. Public drunkenness (defined at the discretion of the con staff) will result in your being sent back to your room to sober up.

Smoking is prohibited throughout Con Space. None of the Con Space areas are smoking areas; if you feel the need to smoke, you will need to go outside and away from the hotel entrance. This is a public area, so public area rules apply.

Solicitation for paid sexual/BDSM/erotic hypnosis services, including pro dom/sub activities, is not permitted. Violators will be removed from the event without refund.

Weapons, including (but not limited to) stun guns, tasers, firearms (including realistic replicas and toys) are not permitted in con space. This is a matter of Maryland law as well as Con safety. Please note that some toy bags either are, or strongly resemble, gun cases and may cause concern from the hotel staff, so please use another type of case to carry your toys in.

Restrooms inside Con Space are treated as gender neutral. Please feel free to use the facilities with which you feel most comfortable.

 

Private Space

Private spaces are defined as areas that are not generally accessible to the public or to Con attendees. The hotel rooms are private space.

Generally you can do anything you wish in private space within the bounds of consent and legality. However:

The Maryland drinking age is still 21. Do not serve alcohol to people under 21. If you have alcohol in your room or are having a party, keep it out of view.

Please be respectful of the condition of the room. Any damage to the hotel room will be the sole responsibility of the attendee(s) who registered for the room.

 

Vending

Only authorized vendors may vend at Charmed!. Anyone vending without permission of the Charmed! concom will be removed from the event without refund.

 

Refund policy

Please see our new Refund Policy

 

Service and Emotional Support Animals

If a person wishes to bring a Service or Emotional Support Animal into the con space please reach out to the Charmed! ConCom via info@charmedhypno.org or the Charmed! Discord to discuss the particulars prior to the event starting. Our goal is to be respectful to all con goers and to make sure we’re providing the best possible experience for all who come.

 

The Charmed! Attendee Rules, Harassment, Privacy, and Accessibility Policies were developed, with permission, from Intervention Con’s policy, which in turn is based on several other policies, including the Ohio LinuxFest anti-harassment policy, written by Esther Filderman and Beth Lynn Eicher, and the Con Anti-Harassment Project. Mary Gardiner, Valerie Aurora, Sarah Smith, and Donna Benjamin generalized the policies and added supporting material. Many members of LinuxChix, Geek Feminism and other groups contributed to this work.