The lesson learned - people are full of ****.

Fixed that for you.

While I had a great time at KeyCon SLC and thought NovelKeys did a great job for their first time organizing, I have to say I'm disappointed to hear about some of these changes. I agree that having the opportunity to tour GMK's factory is awesome, and understand that organizing and hosting such a large event is a massive undertaking, but unilaterally choosing the location of the meetup without consulting the community leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Traveling internationally will not be feasible for many of the US community members, and we'll be left with no large "community wide" meetup for the year. After going five years between the last two KeyCons it truly hurts me to think about not having the opportunity to meet up with so many of my dear friends at once for all of 2025. At the very least I'd like to see a "KeyCon EU" (or just combine with Mechanicon) and "KeyCon NA", preferably with the opportunity for possible attendees to have input on the location(s) chosen.

Additionally, the mention of Keycon 2026 being "possibly in Tampa" is not only another disappointing failure to allow the community to have input on location, but is worrying to me as a visibly LGBTQ+ person. Florida is actively hostile to queer people, and I'm sure there are other keyboard enthusiasts who would share my legitimate concerns about attending a meetup there. Again, I'd prefer to see community input/voting on the location, but if that's not an option I urge you to reconsider hosting KeyCon in a location that would be alienating to an already marginalized segment of our group.

In my view, KeyCon has always been a "for the community, by the community" sort of meetup, and I know many were worried that NovelKeys taking over would change that vibe. It's very unfortunate that it seems they may have been right.

This post sums up my thoughts as well.

Manufactured by Hongtu but no CN vendor, what a shame
paying extra shipping from other vendor doesn't feel right for me

While I had a great time at KeyCon SLC and thought NovelKeys did a great job for their first time organizing, I have to say I'm disappointed to hear about some of these changes. I agree that having the opportunity to tour GMK's factory is awesome, and understand that organizing and hosting such a large event is a massive undertaking, but unilaterally choosing the location of the meetup without consulting the community leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Traveling internationally will not be feasible for many of the US community members, and we'll be left with no large "community wide" meetup for the year. After going five years between the last two KeyCons it truly hurts me to think about not having the opportunity to meet up with so many of my dear friends at once for all of 2025. At the very least I'd like to see a "KeyCon EU" (or just combine with Mechanicon) and "KeyCon NA", preferably with the opportunity for possible attendees to have input on the location(s) chosen.

Additionally, the mention of Keycon 2026 being "possibly in Tampa" is not only another disappointing failure to allow the community to have input on location, but is worrying to me as a visibly LGBTQ+ person. Florida is actively hostile to queer people, and I'm sure there are other keyboard enthusiasts who would share my legitimate concerns about attending a meetup there. Again, I'd prefer to see community input/voting on the location, but if that's not an option I urge you to reconsider hosting KeyCon in a location that would be alienating to an already marginalized segment of our group.

In my view, KeyCon has always been a "for the community, by the community" sort of meetup, and I know many were worried that NovelKeys taking over would change that vibe. It's very unfortunate that it seems they may have been right.