At The Amazing Meeting 8, we worked with the James Randi Educational Foundation to put on a workshop about grassroots skeptical organizing. During the session on planning skeptical events, SkeptiCamp creator Reed Esau gave a talk explaining the utility and benefits of this open conference model, and how to use it to spread critical thinking. His presentation is available to download here.
TAM Workshop: Promoting & Expanding Your Group With Technology
At The Amazing Meeting 8, we worked with the James Randi Educational Foundation to put on a workshop about grassroots skeptical organizing. During the session on planning skeptical events, Boston Skeptics tech guru Maggie McFee gave a talk about leveraging technology to promote a skeptical group, and making skeptical events more engaging. Her presentation is available to download here.
TAM Workshop: Pick Your A-Team
At The Amazing Meeting 8, we worked with the James Randi Educational Foundation to put on a workshop about grassroots skeptical organizing. During the session on planning skeptical events, Atlanta Skeptics organizer and Skepchick blogger Maria Walters gave a talk about the importance of making your event planning a collaborative effort. Her presentation is available to download here.
TAM Workshop Materials (coming soon)
After far too long, we’re finally going to be posting a selection of the materials that were presented during our Grassroots Organizing workshop at The Amazing Meeting 8. The presenters in our second session, on planning skeptical events, have graciously allowed us to post their slide presentations. We’ll be posting each of them, along with short description of their content, early next week. So check back starting Monday for lots of useful tips about planning and running a skeptical event for your group.
TAM Grassroots Workshop Lineup
The Amaz!ng Meeting 8 kicks off on July 8th, and we’ve been busily working out the details of our workshop on Grassroots Skeptical Organizing.
The workshop starts at 2 pm on Sunday, July 11. We’ve got two hour-long sessions planned, featuring a fantastic lineup of local skeptical organizers and activists. They’ll share short presentations, and answer audience questions, in order to arm you with plenty of practical advice for starting a local skeptics group, attracting new members, and planning great events.
The first session will focus on founding and growing a local skeptics group. The presenters are:
Travis Roy, co-founder and president of Granite State Skeptics
Chip Denman, co-founder of National Capital Area Skeptics
Michael Feldman, co-founder of New York City Skeptics
Robynn “Swoopy” McCarthy, co-host of Skepticality and co-director of Skeptrack at Dragon*Con
This session will be moderated by Michael Blanford, Director of Education at the James Randi Educational Foundation.
Session two is all about planning and running events for local groups. The presenters are:
Maria Walters, member and event organizer for Atlanta Skeptics
Maggie McFee, tech wizard for the Boston Skeptics
Naomi Baker, founder of the Houston Skeptic Society
Reed Esau, creator of the SkeptiCamp open conference model
This session will be moderated by Desiree Schell, host of the Skeptically Speaking radio show and podcast.
We’re really excited about this event, and we hope to see you there. You can register for TAM and get more scheduling info at the JREF’s website, randi.org.
Grassroots Skeptics Speakers Bureau Is Live
Today, we’re proud to announce the launch of our brand new Skeptical Speakers Bureau. We’re hoping to make it easier for local skeptical organizers to find speakers for their events. We also want to help budding skeptical activists raise their profiles, and make it easier for them to get their message out there.
Whether you’re a skeptical organizer planning an event, or a skeptic with something to say, please check out our new Skeptical Speakers Bureau. Browse our fabulous lineup, submit a request for an appearance by one of our speakers, or add your name to the list for organizers to find.
We also would like to welcome Patrick Jerome to the staff of Grassroots Skeptics. Patrick is the president of the Jackson Skeptical Society in Jackson, Mississippi. He joins us as the Coordinator for our Speakers Bureau. He’ll be responsible for handling the requests for appearances that we receive.
Finally, we’d like to thank Kylie Sturgess, host of the Token Skeptic podcast, and Desiree Schell, host of the radio show Skeptically Speaking. In addition to signing up to speak, they’ve both worked hard behind the scenes to recruit speakers in the weeks leading up to the launch. Ladies, thanks for everything.
A copy of our official press release is available here.
Speakers Bureau Preview
Our Skeptical Speakers Bureau goes live this Friday, April 5th. We’ve signed up speakers from all across the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia. You can get a preview of our lineup of fascinating speakers at the Speakers Bureau index page. On Friday, you’ll be able to click through for more information about each speaker, and to submit a request to have a speaker appear at your event. Enjoy!
Are You On Our List(s)?
If you’re a skeptical group organizer, podcaster or blogger, here’s an easy way to help get the word out about your work. On our Resources page, we’re compiling indexes of skeptical groups, blogs/websites and media. Go check out the pages, and if you don’t see your particular project featured, don’t panic. At the top of each page, you’ll see a link to a handy update form, where you can give us all the information we need to add you to the list.
While you’re there, consider signing up for our brand new Skeptical Speakers Bureau. We’re trying to help organizers find the perfect speaker on a range of skeptical and scientific topics, and to help speakers who want to share their expertise to get themselves noticed. If you’ve got the urge to do some speaking out on science and skepticism, please sign up!
Speaker’s Bureau Signup
If you’re interested in being a part of our new Skeptical Speakers Bureau, you can add your information to the signup form. We’re hoping to make it as easy as possible for skeptical groups to find speakers on a wide range of topics, and your participation is a great first step. Thanks!
Skeptical Speakers Bureau
Have you ever had this experience? You’re sitting down to plan a skeptical conference, meeting, shindig or hootenanny. You want to schedule a presentation on some fascinating subject. You’re sure it will be a hit, if you can just find the right speaker to anchor your event. But where do you start looking to find that perfect presenter?
Grassroots Skeptics is pleased to announce that we’ve started working with writer, educator, blogger and podcaster Kylie Sturgess, to build a brand new Skeptical Speakers Bureau.
Kylie knows a thing or two about bringing skepticism to the public in a way that’s both smart and accessible. She’s given presentations on skepticism and the paranormal at TAM, Dragon*Con and the Australian Skeptics National Conference. She contributes interviews to The Skeptic Zone podcast, and recently started her own podcast, Token Skeptic. Her writing on various skeptical topics is collected on her blog, PodBlack Cat.
Our goal is to put at your disposal all the information you need to find just the right speaker for your skeptical event, and we’re excited to have Kylie’s help to bring it together. We’re in the development stage right now, but there will be more information coming shortly. Stay tuned!
EDIT: If you’re interested in being a part of our new Skeptical Speakers Bureau, you can add your information to the signup form. We’re hoping to make it as easy as possible for skeptical groups to find speakers on a wide range of topics, and your participation is a great first step. Thanks!