Saturday, February 21, 2015
12:30 PM

Location: Black Rock

Do you want to be a part of this year’s Skepticamp? Of course you do! Tentatively scheduled for the first weekend in June, we’re looking for speakers, planners, and attendees with opinions. Bring yours along to Black Rock on the 21st, and we’ll make this year’s Skepticamp even more amazing than before. (What’s a Skepticamp, you ask? Click this way…)

…and if you don’t want to help with Skepticamp, Jairus will still be presenting Skeptic News for your edification and entertainment so you should come hang out anyway.

Since Skepticamp is FREE, it is entirely a participant-supported event. The spirit of Skepticamp is that everyone contributes in some way. Since we know that not everyone is able to give a talk or run the show or help move chairs, “help” can also include making suggestions, offering opinions, joining the planning committee, providing feedback, or even just making a donation to help offset the costs involved in an event of this size.

So how can you help? I’m glad you asked! Here’s just a few of the roles we’ll be looking to fill:
Clever opinion havers: A very important position. We need to know what you like! What you don’t like! How we can improve from last year!
Logical planning committee members: Do you want to help with the event but not in public? We have space for you! There’s plenty of behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into Skepticamp for helpful folks who don’t necessarily want to be in any spotlight, ever.
Connected venue suggestors: While the IAHC has been great to us over the last couple of Camps, we’ve outgrown their Fifth Province space and had to waitlist people last year. Sadness! We’re looking for something similar to what we had there, but BIGGER.
Smart speakers: The bread and butter of Skepticamp! We need knowledgeable folks to present their expertise in a series of short, 10-to-15-minute talks.
Helpful setup and teardown crew: Interested in helping out on the day of the event? That’s super important, and we appreciate you taking the time out of your day to “work.” Just basic stuff like setting up for lunch and keeping things organized, we generally have so many offers of help that everyone’s job is small enough to enjoy the whole day.
Amazing speaker wrangler(s): The essential stage manager of the whole show, our speaker wranglers keep things running smoothly (and on time!) throughout the day.
Super-crucial A/V team: Make sure that the speakers are heard, slideshows are displayed, and there’s a recording of the day for posterity! Some equipment may be available depending on the venue.
Go-getting publicity/fundraising: We don’t seem to have much trouble generating interest, but we gotta make sure people KNOW about Skepticamp so they come! And fundraising may come up since we’re growing.

I’m sure there’s some crucial job that’s missing from this list… so yes, we need your help! Even if you think we’ve got things covered, we can always use more input. If you’re interested, come help kick off our Skepticamp planning, shoot us an email, Tweet at us, send smoke signals, whatever’s clever.

Help make a great Skepticamp. We have the technology. We can make it even better than it was. Better, stronger…okay, maybe not faster, but you get the gist.