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PoleCon 2022: Recap

Thank you so much for coming to PoleCon 2022 in Atlanta!

This is my seventh, live PoleCon as CEO/owner, the eleventh overall live event since its founding, and it was one of the most joyful we’ve ever had.

From one attendee: “ I truly believe that everyone left Atlanta with a sense of community that has been missing since 2020, and a renewed love for their own personal pole journeys. I know I did!”

PoleCon 2022 officially had just under 1,000 people attend, including attendees, exhibitors, and workshop leaders over the course of the weekend; not everyone is at the convention all at one time and not all of us are in one place all the time.

Showcases

This was the first year for our new Sport Showcase and we reprised the other 18 showcases for a total of 19 unique showcases highlighting the diversity of pole throughout the weekend. BGP remained the largest showcase with the most live attendance of ~500 people!

This year we also continued our livestream, featuring all showcases free/pay-what-you-can on our YouTube channel. Thank you to everyone that tuned in and donated! We will be posting individual HD videos on our YouTube channel per usual once we receive them from our amazing videographer. Any video that does not appear is because of music copyright issues on that platform NOT because we censored it OR because a performer has requested their video not be posted.

We had some awesome returning troupes including Team Taboo and Vertical Joes, an impressive Peacemaker cosplay, some very touching and personal performances and some creatively absurd pieces throughout the weekend on our giant main stage.

People from all walks of life, all gender expressions, all colors, all shapes, and all sizes performed on our stage and had a great time! PoleCon really is a family affair, and several generations of pole dancers and pole dance enthusiasts came to take part in some aspect of the Convention.

Panels

All our panels (stripper/sex worker, race and cultural appropriation, queer, plus size polers) were back in person! These panels offer folks an opportunity to learn and share with each other. Pole brings people from so many different walks of life, it’s important for us all to share in a way that promotes learning with each other.

Survey and Next Year

Per last year, after I review survey responses (going on now!) I may make some adjustments to aspects of the event moving forward. I will write another blog to explain the changes so y’all are prepared. Typically, we announce next year’s location in our event booklet. We instead made this announcement (which was the same last year):

The past few years have been very difficult times for all of us.

Due to these challenges, we have not booked a location for PoleCon 2023.

We have started the search to understand options but have not committed to a contract with any location.

Please watch our social media and our email newsletter for information about future events

Refunds and Next Steps

Refunds were (and still are!) readily available for anyone who could not attend due to a COVID-related issue such as testing positive before the event. Refunds process almost automatically from our account and take a few days to show up in your account.  Email [email protected].

Keep tagging #polecon2022 in your memories and we’ll keep sharing them!

Thank you for believing in PoleCon and in the community we all love and support.

 

Colleen
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