NECSS
This past weekend the New England Skeptical Society and the Ne w York City Skeptics held the first Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS – pronounced nexus). It was, by all accounts, a success. We sold out our 400 seat auditorium, the line-up was fantastic, the lectures and panels were interesting and well-received, and the feedback so far has been glowing.
We plan to make this an annual event – which means that currently there are three annual skeptical conferences. The biggest and oldest is The Amazing Meeting (TAM) held by the JREFand in July in Las Vegas held it’s 7th iteration (actually 8th if you count TAM 5.5). About 1000 people showed up to this conference, which has evolved over the years into the de facto official meeting of the skeptical movement.
Last weekend in Atlanta was DragonCon 2009 which now includes a podcasting, a science, and a skeptics track. The skeptic track, organized by Derek Colanduno of Skepticality fame, in its second year this year filled a room with over 260 skeptics.
So now it seems to me we have three annual skeptical meetings geographically spread out nicely in Las Vegas, Atlanta, and New York. Even more exciting is that the skeptical movement can clearly support these three meetings. We do need to space them out throughout the year better, and we are considering moving NECSS to March for that reason (stay tuned – we will announce dates as soon as we have them). This is a very healthy sign for skepticism.
NECSS attracted a very high caliber of speaker, including John Rennie, Carl Zimmer, and Paul Offit – scientists and science journalists who have mainstream fame and appeal. In addition we have a great deal of talent familiar to the skeptical community – Richard Wiseman, Massimo Pigliucci, George Hrab, Jamy Ian Swiss, the cast of The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe (which includes, of course, me), and Rachel Dunlop from the Australian podcast, the Skeptics Zone. James Randi could not appear due to his health, but took the time to send us a video to show, wishing us success. And there were some new faces perhaps not as well known from prior skeptical meetings but extremely talented and enthusiastic, including Howard Schneider, Michael DeDora, John Snyder, and Kaja Perina. It was literally an international lineup of science and skepticism.
What I take away most from these meetings is the energy and excitement of the skeptical movement. We had a few attendees who flew in from other countries (including the UK and Sweden) to attend the conference. The room remained packed through an entire day of lectures and panels – something rarely seen at science meetings. And we are already looking toward the future – how to make the conference bigger and better for next year.
Successful skeptical meetings are not limited to the US. TAM London, which will be held October 3-4, sold out its 500 seats within an hour of opening registration. And there are plans for a large Australian skeptical meeting in November 2010 (which the SGU will attend).
There is no question that the internet has allowed the skeptical movement to explode, but people are still people and there is an aspect to live meetings which just cannot be matched, in my opinion, in the virtual world.
Now the challenge is to make these meetings not only a way to serve and energize the skeptical movement, but to grow and expand it. While we are thinking about how to do that, we could also use your feedback. What can we be doing differently and better. We don’t want the three meetings to be repetitious, so where would you like to see us take these meetings – what can we do that’s new? The advantage of a smallish movement is that your feedback really counts, so tell us what you want.
Looks like you’re being stalked by a moron. When they can’t back up their nonsense with provable facts, notice how they resort to childish name calling, swearing, and slander?
Steve, congratulations and thank you to you and everyone else involved with these conventions. I watched as much of TAM as I could online, but I didn’t realize it was even available online until right before your second SGU show, and then later that day, I missed much of it because I had my friend’s wedding to go to!
I’m really thankful that I was able to watch TAM on the Internet. I hope that for future years, it’s advertised a bit more so that people won’t miss the live broadcast. (There isn’t much video of TAM available on YouTube except for Rebecca’s wedding. It’s too bad that the great speeches and panel discussions aren’t available to those who missed TAM, or a broader YouTube audience.) I’d also love to see the other two skeptical events available online.
P.S. I enjoyed the energy and excitement in the recording of your show at DragonCon, but I couldn’t understand a damn thing Bob said. I blanked out for his discussion of magnetic monopoles.
PROOF of what? I don’t know what you’re even argueing about!
Maybelline is WAAAAAAAAAY of the the old psych meds. What is its major malfunction any ways. Randi caused 9/11? He’s an even better conjurer then I thought he was.
Who’s this “we” Maybelline? Those voices you are hearing are auditory hallucinations caused by not staying on the meds. I know I know when you are on the meds you don’t feel sick so you must be well and only sick people need meds so why would you need to take hem? Look a the nonsense you’re writing there’s the proof.
On the other hand you are an entertaining wack-a-do.
Gee, Dave….
You seem to have a lot of pent up hostility.
but then, i are not a mental health professional.
I could only stay for the morning, but I was impressed by Dr. Offit and entertained by the panel. I look forward to more of the same in the future. This is an idea who’s time has come!
NECSS was my first ever skeptical event that I’ve been able to attend and it was absolutely great. All the talks were really good and I got to meet so many great people.
Wow, world class crazy troll today.
I would think even the religionists don’t want this dude associated with them.
The northwest is lacking in skeptic conferences. There are skeptics here. My only suggestion would be to turn these conferences into tours like a musical group would do. Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, L.A. for example. I will travel to The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas. It’s just so expensive to do with the air-fare,hotel,etc. I think only two or three people went to TAM out of our local group with 200 plus members. Is the home of Bigfoot scaring everyone away?
P.S. I think someone’s tin-foil hat is on too tight!
Wow, now we know Skepticblog has really made it, it’s being spammed by a crackpot! :-)
Pat
Oh and on topic, I really look forward to a north eastern skeptics conference in the future. I have to admit I would prefer the conference be help in Boston instead of New-York, but hey… thats just a personal preference :)
I love the Ali G link at the end of your inane rant, like how he completely stumps kent hovind
Wow.
Troll learn cut. Troll learn paste. And paste. And paste…
Is… that… you… Lord?
I think local meetings are a great place to build up ideas and activities that can move the big meetups. I have not yet had the opportunity to attend a skeptical meeting that does not require a long drive or airfare. Is there a resource out there to help put together local groups?
Have you tried meetup.com ? You might find a group in your area.
FYI – Dave Mabus is a sick individual who has been previously banned from this blog. He has now violated the ban, but we will take appropriate steps. Don’t bother responding to him.
Understandable, of course, but kinda sad.
On one hand, I’d almost prefer to let his level of crazy stand. It really speaks for itself, and whacking him with the banhammer only allows him to whine about being supressed and censored.
On the other hand, people who are that completely obsessed will just keep spewing until they bring the site to its knees. He’s clearly not interested in rational debate at any level (and probably not even capable of it).
Hello Steve. I had the pleasure of meeting you at TAM 7 and I briefly shook your hand and said hello at NECCS. Here are my thoughts.
Though I’ve only been officially part of the skeptic movement for about 3 years and I’ve only attended two events, both this year, I see a dilema. How to we attend to all needs without being redundant?
There are core essentials to being a skeptic – the logical fallacies, the scientific method, and Bayes theorem are three that comes to mind immediately.
There are topics that are commonly addressed in skepticism. One group of topics may be lumped as debunking topics – counterattacking the anti vaccinationists, the young earth creationists, medical quackery, pseudoscience, conspiracy theorists, and the true woo believers who manipulate the public, such as psychics. A second grouping may be thought of as topics in science itself, such as medicine, biology, evolution, physics, astronomy and even chemistry. Thirdly, magic. And finally, skepticism and the media, which ranges from science fiction to music to movies/TV to publishing to communication strategies to the internet and beyond.
At meetings, we must be diverse, yet inclusive. Presently, I sense a great deal of redundancy. We must be diverse because, first of all, we are diverse, as we are scientists, physicians, IT people, artists, magicians, journalists, astrophysicists, actors, bartenders , atheists, agnostics, and apathetics. And we are also novel skeptics and experienced skeptics and somewhere inbetween.
I have attended many American and European diabetic meetings and I am ripping off my idea from how they present these meetings. Thus as we grow, especially at TAM and NECCS ( I have a feeling that Dragoncon may serve a different purpose, but since I did not attend I may be wrong ) I propose that each meeting have tracks specifically based on the discussed above sections – basics, debunking, what’s new in science, magic and media. I think in addition to tracks there should be a highlighted lectures ( that do not compete with other track meetings )in EACH of the above sections. You ,in part, addressed this with the well done medical offerings at TAM. The tradition of a live SGU session should also continue as it is a shared common joy for most. Finally , social events are necessary, as this was the major difference between TAM and NECCS and the opportunity to bond should be emphasized.
We need to serve the beginners and the advanced. As we grow, we must be careful not to excessively repeat ourselves, unless necessary for further learning.
Steve, congratulations on the NECSS. 400 attendees is pretty impressive for a 1st time conference. You are quickly becoming a major force and well respected leader in the Skeptic community, and the SGU podcast is consistently one of the best. I think the blend of fun humor and good science is the key to getting and keeping new people interested in Skepticism, and you and the Rogues hit that note well. Keep up the good work, and the momentum.
It’s a different sort of event, but the “Skeptics Tool Box” (http://skepticstoolbox.org) has been meeting since 1989 and predates TAM.
As a sceptic in the UK I was devastated that TAM London was sold out in minutes. I had been following the progress for a while and was looking forward to buying my ticket. Unfortunately due to the speed of the sales I missed out.
This got me thinking that the biggest problem that faces all of these sceptical conferences is that they run the risk of becoming insular. If an enthusiastic sceptic in London can’t get a ticket to the first TAM in his city what chance do other members of the public have?
Perhaps some individual tickets for certain lectures or workshops etc could be held back to be sold on the day? If they do this already apologies!
I would just echo what someone else said earlier. Make these meetings viewable online. If not a live feed like TAM 7 did, then film them and put them on YouTube later. Film them and sell them on DVD like the JREF does with their TAM DVD sets. It’s expensive to attend these meetings for people who do not live close by. Making the meetings available online would be a great way to include even more people who couldn’t make it.
Hey Steve,
Whatever happened to the interview and Michael Jackson seance we did at TAM7? Was it too weird or are you saving it up for Halloween?
The soon to be banned (again) person is Dennis Markuze. See PZ Myers’ Dungeon for David Mabus. He is presently spamming several blogs and a few forums.
It was great meeting you at Dragon*Con and I’ve been wondering about this kind of thing getting too repetitive. It could for me and the other die-hard skeptics, but one of the cool things about Dragon*Con was that there were people who stood up and said they had wandered in last year out of curiosity and had now started joining in–so that was one of the best things about having it at a con.
I think one way to keep it fresh would be to invite skeptics who may not label themselves as such, like they did this year with Seth Shostack. Jeff Wagg was great and mentioned Consumer Reports as the best-selling skeptical magazine. You guys mentioned great kids shows like “Fetch with Ruff Ruffman” that teach science and critical thinking. Inviting people who do this kind of work to speak might be a way of injecting new voices into the movement. Other scientists, journalists, educators and consumer advocates that also fight for reason and critical thinking.
Thanks for all your work!
I brought my Christian husband to NECSS. He’s an electrical engineer (therefore intelligent) and was not put off by the tone of the conference, which I think is a big plus. He thought it went a little heavy on the vaccine problem, but I disagree; I thought the balance of topics was great.
Seating was tight: my husband is 6’6″ and just didn’t fit in any of the seats. We arrived very early, chose a seat for him at the end of a row, but he was asked to move over for a man who weighed in the +500 lb range. My husband was in pain all day with his legs jammed. I vote for a new venue.
The best part for me was just being with kindred “spirits” (as the saying goes) all day, since I live in an area that’s far-right Republican, fundy, and even has its own KKK. People who found the same things funny, knew the same names, followed the same podcasts, thought the same things important. The speakers and crew made themselves friendly and available to talk for a long time afterwards.
We made a 3-day weekend out of it in NYC for my 9-11 birthday and will definitely be back if it’s held again. If you hold it the same weekend you’ll get a Christian back in the hall!
Death threats?
I guess it’s time to send this nut-cases IP to the authorities…